A murmur spreads around the room and on the video conference. The remote offices look even more freaked than us.
“Think heavily about what you want to do.” He continues, unaffected by the tension in the room. “Nexus is a highly rewarding but competitive environment. We recruit only top calibre. We demand hard work and value add. If you are not willing to put in 100%, then it is not for you.”
“We’ll also be suspending the lease on this building and moving the company into the main Nexus headquarters. Still London Bridge, so your commute time will remain the same. Although hopefully, you’ll find the new offices a little more..,” he pauses, searching for the right word. “interesting.”
That’s an understatement. Our current office, where I’d spent the past five years, was a funeral parlour compared to the swanky, sexy Nexus headquarters.
I’d been given a tour once by Tristan. There was a rooftop chill-out area overlooking the River Thames, an on-site gym with jacuzzi, multiple cafes and restaurants, and a yoga studio. It was designed for staff to never leave the building and never dream of leaving the company. If you make it past their gruelling recruitment process, you are a lifer.
There’s a babble of excitement that flows through the room. If we make the cut, we get to leave our depressing drab office.
“That’s all for now.” He nods, informing us our time is up.
Most of us start piling out of the boardroom while some loiter. There are two categories of loiterers, the Jackie category who want airtime to execute their art of seduction, and the lick arse category who are looking for a chance to stand out to the new boss man.
I’m in my own category, the fool that dry humps the boss without his authorisation.
Mike stands near the podium, jutting his chest out in an extreme show of peacocking. “Any questions, let me know!” he shouts.
Everyone ignores him.
Danny Walker shifts his gaze to Stevie and me and slightly raises his eyebrows in acknowledgement.
I give a brief nod in return and bolt towards the door, barraging my way out through the bottleneck in the doorway.
“So?” Stevie stares at me when we get back to our desks. “Spill the story.”
“Fine.” I collapse into my wheely chair. “8 years ago, I was at a party at Tristan’s. Danny is always at Tristan’s parties, so of course, he was at this one. He never talked to me much at them, I was just the young silly sister at college, and he was the CEO running his big shot company. He was talking stocks, and I was talking shots.”
“And?” Stevie makes a motion for me to hurry up and get to the good bit.
“At this particular party, I was really drunk. That was nothing new back then. We were drinking this rocket fuel spirit that we had sneaked into Tristan’s house. Let’s just say it gave me an illusion of grandiosity. I misread his signals, climbed onto his lap, and manhandled him. But he rejected me and pushed me off.”
“You what?” Stevie roars. “This is brilliant. You’ve just made my day. You basically indecently assaulted the new CEO.”
“Glad someone is happy about it.” I tut, crossing my arms. “Ever since I’ve been so embarrassed,
I can barely speak to him.”
“It’s a lose-lose situation. Either I stay and have to hide from him in shame, or I quit and try to start again somewhere else. I can’t see him in this office for the next few months.”
Stevie looks over at Danny, who is still in the boardroom, a strained look on his face as he talks to Mike. Mike throws his arms around excitedly.
“It was 8 years ago,” Stevie shrugs. “He’s had so many women grab his dick since then he’s gonna have forgotten it, right?”
I shake my head. “He doesn’t like me. He never talks to me; he just sits there grunting and frowning.”
“He thinks I’m Tristan’s silly little sister.” I continue, logging into my laptop. How the hell am I going to concentrate on work now? “All he hears are Tristan’s stories about me going to parties and getting drunk.”
“Shit.” Stevie jumps up, looking at his watch. “Look, all you did was grab your boss’s boss’s boss’s dick. It could be worse.”
“How could it be worse?” I moan, putting on my glasses.
“It could have been Mike’s dick.” He gives me a dismissive wave and hurries back to his seat. I breathe out loudly and absently start checking our open support calls.
I can’t focus with this hanging over me,
I need to take matters into my own hands. I type London’s main job site into the browser and hit return. Let’s see what this city has to offer.
Someone clears their throat behind me.
Tilting my head around, I stare into his masculine, sharp face. He stands too close, towering above me. So close, I can smell his scent.
“Charlie,” He fixes his detached stare on me.
“Mr. Walker?”
Annoyance flickers over his face.
“There’s no need to call me that here. I’m still Danny.”
“Why didn’t you tell me on Saturday?” I ask, my voice faltering. “You knew I worked here.”
“Yes, I knew that.” His lips disappear in a tight line. “I couldn’t announce it before today.” He looks over my shoulder then back to me with a dark stare. “Looks like you are busy.” Shit.
The job site.
I bite down on my lip.
“Just in case you no longer need an IT support lead,” I swallow, my cheeks hot.
He hesitates but doesn’t correct me. He’s about to speak when a blond lady approaches, beckoning him to follow her; Cheryl, I think her name is. “If you’ll excuse me, Charlie.”
“Oooh,” Stevie calls out with Danny Walker still in earshot. “You could cut that tension with a knife.”
He hears it because he cocks his head slightly at Stevie before walking on. “Behave,” I hissed back.
***