2. Bobby
BOBBY
Bobby loved his life. He had an amazing job he was shit hot at, and in six weeks he was marrying the love of his life.
Life couldn’t get any better than this. He had an awesome family himself, with supportive parents and two older brothers who gave him crap as the baby, but he knew if he ever needed them, they’d be there immediately, like he would for them.
The only thing bothering him was that his future brother-in-law hated him for some reason.
He wasn’t sure what he’d done to upset Gabriel.
He was such a lovely guy, and his sister doted on him, so it was really important that they got on.
When Gabriel had first seemed offish late last year, Bobby had tried to get some alone time with him, but he’d not been interested.
He was coming to his stag do in Las Vegas at the end of the month, but he wanted them to clear the air before then.
Gabriel would only know Bobby in the group, and he didn’t want him to feel left out.
His brothers weren’t attending for valid reasons, so it was even more important for Gabriel to be there.
Martin was a professor of law at Starhaven University, and it was exam time.
Ryan was the head chef at Knights Corner, a queer restaurant bar, which Bobby had been to many times.
The big boss liked to have meetings there as he knew the owners, so it was where he was meeting Daniel for lunch on the first Wednesday in January.
Bobby reported to one of the senior associates, but Daniel Harper was the managing partner, which was the legal equivalent of a CEO.
He’d founded the firm himself and was an incredible guy, the best legal mind Bobby had ever met, a boss who could make a shit tonne of money and still care about the people who worked for him.
He was annoyingly handsome too; the man had it all.
“Bossman,” said Bobby, shaking his hand.
They got on well, but weren’t at the hugging stage yet. He smiled and shook his head at the moniker Bobby had given him.
“Pick something from the menu so we can get down to business,” said Daniel.
“That doesn’t sound ominous.”
“Relax, Bobby, if I was firing you, we’d be in my office.”
“Good to know, if you ever ask me to attend a meeting in your office.”
Daniel chuckled as Bobby looked at the menu.
He knew it by heart, but he wasn’t fancying his staple of a steak sandwich today, even if it came with the delicious skin-on fries he loved.
The wedding wasn’t far away, and Alex had told him to be sensible.
He was ripped, with an average of fifteen per cent body fat, but he’d do anything the woman asked of him.
Bobby put his order in on the app, unable to resist adding a note for his brother.
“Right, now that’s done, I want to talk about a case with you,” said Daniel.
Bobby perked up. A case from the bossman had to be something serious.
“Have you heard of the charity Rainbow Futures?”
Bobby shook his head.
“They’re a charity that focuses on employment support for LGBTQ+ youth. They’ve only been going for two years and aren’t a big name, but they are doing some great work.”
Bobby nodded. He’d do anything to support the LGBTQ+ community. His brothers ribbed him about being the straight anomaly, but he knew they appreciated him being their biggest cheerleader.
“I’ll be honest with you, Bobby, the charity founder and CEO, Sarah, is a close friend of mine.
They engaged an agency to support their fundraising, but that agency recently got a new CEO who dropped Rainbow Futures as a client.
No discussion. They refunded the money paid and are withholding the strategy they spent months working on together, saying it’s their IP. ”
“What do you need me to do?” asked Bobby.
Daniel smiled. “From what we’ve been able to discover, the new CEO has some very strong homophobic views, and we believe that’s the reason they’ve been dropped.”
“So, we’re looking at breach of contract, unlawful discrimination in the provision of services, and potentially some reputational damages, especially if fundraising is impacted and they can’t deliver whatever they’ve committed to the trustees.”
“I knew you’d be perfect for this, Bobby. I know you’re great at digging around and finding shit people don’t want found.”
Bobby smiled, feeling a little embarrassed. It was something he was good at, but he always found praise uncomfortable. He was just doing his job.
“I’ve got time off next month for my wedding and honeymoon. That won’t cause any issues, will it?”
“Not at all. It’s going to take a lot of research to build the case. I won’t be putting the formal letter in until we’re ready.”
“You?”
Daniel smiled. “How do you feel about working directly with me on this one?”
“Fuck!”
Daniel laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes?”
“Absolutely,” said Bobby, just as their drinks arrived.
“This is obviously a pro bono case, but if we’re successful, there’s a fifty per cent bonus in it for you.”
“No pressure then, bossman.”
“I know you’re working towards senior associate as well, and this will definitely help with that.”
“You’re just adding that pressure on, aren’t you?” he joked.
“I wouldn’t have asked for your support if I didn’t think you could do it. This one is really important to me.”
Bobby nodded, knowing what Daniel was saying. It was simple: they had to win this case.
The week had passed in a blur as he started working on the Rainbow Futures case, as well as his existing caseload.
Daniel had asked him to think about passing on some cases before his wedding because Rainbow Futures would take up a lot of his time when he got back.
Some clients wouldn’t have an issue with a change of representation, but others would, so they would need to be handled delicately.
Thankfully, Bobby’s direct manager, Janine, was awesome, and she’d been fully supportive of the opportunity. Daniel had spoken to her first. Working with the big boss, and on something so important, was another thing he was loving about his life right now.
It was Saturday, and he was meeting his brothers for lunch, but not at Knights Corner.
Ryan didn’t want to eat where he worked, as he’d be tempted to go into the kitchen if they messed anything up.
Martin was complaining about how much marking he had, so they’d headed west to meet near the university campus at a pub on the River Thames.
Bobby could eat anything, so he didn’t care, but he lived in South London with Alex, so the journey was a bit of a ball ache.
When he met Alex two years ago, he was sharing a flat with his best mate, Dillon, and two other guys in North London.
A year ago, he’d moved into Alex’s flat, and the plan was for them to buy a place together once the wedding was out of the way.
He was hoping she’d want to move to a different part of London, but she loved being near her family.
“You’re late,” grumbled Ryan as Bobby approached the table.
“Only five minutes,” he said, looking at his watch. “You’re on the district line and Martin lives around the corner.”
“Keep me out of it,” said Martin, as the classic middle child.
You wouldn’t think it to look at him. He was thirty-seven, but dressed like a professor in his fifties.
If only he’d let Bobby help him with his style, he’d have a boyfriend in no time.
His brothers both had dark hair like their mum, but Bobby was a doppelg?nger for their dad.
Ryan was ten years older than Bobby. He was a beefy guy, but it meant he gave great bear hugs, which is what happened after the grumbling about his timekeeping.
Bobby might have been a “happy accident” as his dad had described him, but his brothers had always been supportive, even if they liked to rib him a lot.
Given that he was the youngest, Bobby was the most successful brother in terms of career and relationships.
Not that he’d say that out loud, but he knew he earned more than them, and he was getting married.
Come to think of it, he wasn’t even sure when his brothers had last had boyfriends.
Everyone needed to have their person, didn’t they?
“Are either of you seeing anyone?” he asked.
They both looked at him in that way only older siblings can.
“Do not set me up with someone,” said Ryan.
“I don’t know anyone to set you up with,” replied Bobby.
“What about that numbers guy you tried to set Martin up with?”
“He was an academic; I thought they’d get on. Especially as he doesn’t like any of my colleagues.”
“I’m not dating a lawyer who’ll lord it over me because he’s charging billable hours and I’m marking essays for a quarter of what he’s earning,” said Martin.
“That kind of money is partner level. You probably shouldn’t aim that high.”
Ryan snorted. Martin glared at him, but Bobby knew he wasn’t really annoyed. He’d learnt over the years to give back to his brothers as much as they gave him.
“What are we having for lunch?” Bobby asked Ryan.
“Order what you want.”
“I might have a fish finger sandwich. The one I had earlier in the week was disappointing.”
“I’m not making you a bespoke sauce, and adding mustard to tartar sauce isn’t normal.”
Bobby laughed. When he was at Knights Corner with Daniel, the docket had come out with his fish finger sandwich and “piss off” was written on it. Bobby had asked for tartar sauce and mustard, but he’d wanted it to be mixed in the kitchen.
They continued to rib each other and chat about their respective weeks whilst they had drinks and waited for food. They were all on soft drinks. Ryan was in recovery, and had no issues with people drinking around him, but Martin wasn’t much of a drinker, and Bobby didn’t feel like having one.
“Is everything okay, Bobby?” asked Ryan.
“Yeah, fine. Just thinking about a work thing.”
“You’re lying, but you know where we are if you need to talk about anything. You’ve got a lot going on at the moment.”