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Now, a new chapter was beginning, and Phoenix was excited. It was his first day on the job, and he was sequestered with a group of about fifteen people, most of whom were around his age, in the grand lobby of the office tower getting his security tags. The person from HR at the firm had checked his photo ID, and he was grinning happily at the security guard taking his photo for his access pass.
“There you go,” the woman said a few moments later, handing him a card that looked much like a credit card, the silver chip included.
“Thanks.” He stepped away, rejoining the group of new hires who were sipping on coffee and eating pastries as they waited to be escorted up to the firm’s conference room for their first day of induction.
Half an hour later, they were ready, and Phoenix was anxious to get started. He couldn’t wait to dive into whatever cases the litigation department was looking after. Big or small, he didn’t care. It had been a dream of his to be in court ever since he could remember. It was his parents’ doing. They’d always done their best, but hand me down uniforms and last year’s textbooks were the norm for him. Both his parents worked hard, endless hours every day just to make ends meet, and Phoenix had quickly learned to help where he could. His mum had begged him to study hard so he could get into university and be anything he wanted. He’d taken it to heart. High school legal studies had given him a taste of law. RereadingTo Kill A Mockingbirdafter studying American colonial history and realizing the similarities with the indigenous Australian experience had cemented it. He wanted to make a difference. To help the disenfranchised and be able to stand up in court and fight for the people who needed it. The firm’s extensive pro bono policy—the work done for the benefit of the community at no charge—had inspired Phoenix to apply. Now, he was itching to get started.
“Welcome to Stark Williams Lawyers. My name is Maisie Wilkins, and I am the human resources director.” She acknowledged the indigenous elders, past and present, and got started, instructing them to open the induction pack and reviewing the plan for their first two days at the firm. Much of it was learning the basics of the computer systems and hearing about the specializations of each of the divisions within the firm, how the national and international offices worked together and meeting each of the executive partners. Once they were placed in their divisions the next day, they would meet with their supervising partners and have a chance to get started.
“Right, so now that you’re settled in, I’d like to introduce our first guest. Mr Denyer is one of the executive partners here at the firm and has a long and prestigious list of clients. Please welcome him.”
Phoenix clapped along with the other new hires and swivelled in his chair to get a glimpse of the salt-and-pepper-haired man walking in. His heart stopped, lodging in his throat. Right there, dressed in a navy-blue three-piece suit with a crisp white shirt and charcoal paisley tie, was the man who had ordered his ousting from the apartment. Different eyes haunted him—cold dead ones—but he knew who the real powerhouse in that relationship was. Mr Denyer hadn’t laid a hand on him, but he’d turned Phoenix’s special night into a nightmare, one that he kept reliving every time he tried to sleep.
Shrewd blue eyes scanned the faces at the table until they came to a halt at Phoenix’s. He swallowed, waiting for a reaction. But other than Mr Denyer’s eyes narrowing fractionally, there was none. Phoenix slowly released the breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding as the other man’s eyes slid away from him.
Mr Denyer looked to Ms Wilkins, and she stepped forward, tilting her head close so that he could whisper in her ear. With her back to the boardroom’s other occupants, she didn’t see the cold glint in Denyer’s eyes when they locked on Phoenix’s. A shiver ran down his spine, and he tapped the pen against his hand in a rapid beat. Clenching his teeth, Phoenix held the other man’s gaze, refusing to back down. His hands may have been shaking and sweat trickling down his spine at the stare, but Phoenix wouldn’t show him any weakness. Not after he’d already seen him naked and impaled on another man’s cock—his son’s.
Ms Wilkins nodded and stepped away, walking out the door.
“Good morning, and congratulations. Stark Williams is a leading multi-national law firm. We are the best because we employ the best of the best. Some of you will thrive here. All of you will be challenged—”
The door opened, and the same lady who’d taken his identification slipped in. “Mr Denyer, my apologies for interrupting.” He turned to her, giving her a gracious smile before locking eyes with Phoenix. His blood ran cold. That look—the smug satisfaction Denyer flashed him was all too familiar. It was the same look he’d given Cassidy when he’d told her to sit down and shut up before Phoenix had been hauled out of the room. “I need to borrow one of our new recruits. Mr Black, can you please come with me?”
The frenetic tapping of his hand stilled, his body reacting while his mind screeched to a halt, processing the words that she’d just spoken. He swallowed, his mouth as dry as the Sahara, and nodded. Placing the pen in the supple leather portfolio, he closed it and moved to pick it up. “Leave it there,” she instructed with a professional smile that did nothing to ease his nerves. He picked up the phone he had facing down on the table and slipped it into his pocket as he stood.
“Excuse me,” Phoenix murmured as he pushed the chair out, buttoned his jacket, and studiously ignored the other eyes on him. The door closed behind him, and he looked back to the woman who’d collected him. “Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Please, step in here.” She motioned to a smaller meeting room, with a round table and four of the leather high backed chairs in the main boardroom. Seated at the table was Ms Wilkins, and standing in the corner, looking down at Phoenix with a cruel glint in his eyes and a smirk on his lips, was the bastard who’d dragged him out of the apartment and thrown him to the ground, not caring in the slightest that he was still half-naked.
“Mr Black—”
“What’s going on? I don’t think I should miss Mr Denyer’s presentation—” He couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. Not miss Mr Denyer’s presentation? He wanted as far away from the man as possible, not to work for his firm. Not to bill clients for time where a share of those profits went to a man who’d humiliated and hurt him. Not one whose voice he could still hear as he disrespected both Jake and Cassidy, not to mention himself. He wanted to help people, not work for a firm whose executive partners and their minions behaved like they were above the law.
“Mr Black,” Ms Wilkins started again. “We regret to inform you that the department you were slated to work in has reconsidered its resourcing requirements for the next year and no longer require a graduate to join them.” She held out her hand, motioning for the security pass hung on a rainbow lanyard around his neck.
Phoenix stood and slipped the card out of its clear plastic sleeve. “I’m not an idiot, Ms Wilkins. I know exactly why my employment is being terminated. Do your other LGBTQIA staff know how homophobic Denyer is?”
“Excuse me?”
“He was there.” Phoenix pointed to the man glaring at him. “Ask him what set Denyer off.” He dropped the card on the table and walked out of the office, head held high. He didn’t get far on his own though, before Denyer’s hired muscle grasped his elbow roughly and escorted him out, down the lift and out the front doors.
The morning sun hit his face, and a breeze straight off the harbour blew around him. Phoenix squared his shoulders and took his first step of… unemployment.
Fuck.
Twelve
Jake
T
he location of Cassidy’s family’s holiday home was amazing. No wonder she had fond memories of holidaying there. Right on the water, there was a sun-drenched jetty with two deck chairs sitting at its end. The back garden wasn’t much more than a sloping lawn, but Cassidy had shown him the box filled with old lawn games they used to play and the hammock that hung from hooks perched halfway up two thick palms. Come nightfall, he had every intention of curling up with Cassidy in it.
The house was exactly as he’d expected a holiday home to be. Straight out of the seventies, complete with a green- and mission-brown kitchen and timber panelling with the ugliest patterned carpet he’d ever seen. But the original retro styling was cool in its own right, giving the house a vibe so detached from Sydney’s modern hustle and bustle that it forced them to slow things down.
When they’d first arrived, the air was stale, and a layer of dust had settled over everything. They’d turned the green refrigerator on, wiped everything down, and opened the house up to let it air. It had kept him busy, his focus off his phone, but he hadn’t let it out of his sight. The second day was worse. They’d spent it following the shade, shifting the deck chairs around the yard as they stared out at the water watching the boats and jet skis pass them by. Jake lost count of how many times he’d lit the screen of his phone up, checking over and over again for a missed call or text.
But one never came.
