Hired, page 8
It felt really, really good to be wanted like that. “I’ll think about it.”
He had a lot of thinking to do, starting with how on earth to tell Caitlyn he’d accidentally stolen her job.
8
When Sebastian walked from his office into the hallway, Hadley was alone. Sebastian wasn’t sure where Beryl had gone, but he didn’t care. Hadley was bent over his desk, using scissors to cut something from a magazine. Sebastian came closer. He recognized the travel magazine he was subscribed to. He'd already read that issue and had put it with the recyclables, and Hadley must've found it there. But what was he cutting out?
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Hadley's head came up with a jerk, and his hand flew to his heart. “Damn, you startled me. I didn't hear you coming.”
“Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you. What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I'm doing? I'm cutting out a picture.”
Smartass. “I can see that, but why?”
Hadley closed the magazine and put the picture facedown on his desk. “Does it matter? You threw out this magazine.”
“I'm not bitching about you using the magazine. I'm just curious. I don't think I've seen anyone cut a picture from a magazine since, what, kindergarten? Maybe elementary school?”
“Maybe I'm creative and want to use it for some kind of art project.”
Sebastian crossed his arms. “Or maybe you're full of it.”
“You're questioning my creativity?”
“I'm questioning the truthfulness of your statement. Why are you being so evasive?”
“Why do you need to know everything? Don't I have a right to keep some things private?”
“Sure, but then tell me it's none of my business. Don't lie to me.”
Silence hung between them, and then Hadley looked away. “It was a picture from an article about Alaska.”
“Alaska? Why are you interested in that?”
Hadley shrugged. “Not in Alaska specifically, though I wouldn't mind visiting there, but it was a picture of the aurora borealis. The northern lights.”
“I know what they are. I've seen them.”
Hadley met his eyes. “You have? Where?”
“Believe it or not, Alaska. My dad and I went on a business trip to Anchorage a few years ago in late November and took advantage of the opportunity to travel a little farther north and see the northern lights. Magical. The most surreal experience of my life.”
Hadley sighed. “I'm so jealous. That's why I cut out the picture. It's one of the items on my bucket list.”
“You have an actual bucket list? I thought that was always something more hypothetical, something proverbial.”
Hadley took out a letter-sized notebook from his messenger bag and held it up for Sebastian to see. The cover said “Hadley's Bucket List” and was decorated with pictures of tropical islands, a house, and the northern lights. “I have a physical bucket list, a notebook where I collect pictures of the things I want to do at some point in my life.”
“And seeing the northern lights is on there?”
Hadley nodded. “I've read about them when I was a teenager, and ever since, I've wanted to see them. But I'd have to travel, and so far, that hasn't been an option financially. The best place to see them, from what I understand, is Iceland because of the complete lack of light pollution there, but that’s an expensive trip.”
“ A couple of years ago, I spent two weeks hiking in Iceland with a buddy of mine, and while we didn't have fantastic weather, it was a wonderful experience. The nature there is stunning, so different from anything I'd seen before. I’d love to go back sometime.”
Hadley looked away again. “I'm jealous.”
“What other things are on your bucket list? Or are they too private to share?”
Hadley hesitated, then said, “I won't tell you all of them, but some are not all that original. You know, I'd love to go on a cruise sometime, visit the Caribbean. Own my own house someday, preferably looking over some water, like a lake or river. Go skydiving. Climb Mount Rainier. Like I said, nothing of it is original or shocking.”
Maybe not to him, but Sebastian was quiet when Hadley was done speaking. He'd done all those things. He had climbed Mount Rainier, had seen the northern lights, and he'd visited practically every Caribbean island. He owned a house that overlooked Lake Washington and had the best views in Seattle, and while he hadn't enjoyed it, he'd even gone skydiving back in college. What did it say that these activities that were dreams to Hadley were things Sebastian had done? He'd never been confronted so sharply with their differences in upbringing. Come to think of it, what was Hadley's background? Sebastian didn't know anything about him other than that he'd passed the security clearance.
“Are you from Seattle originally?” He didn't think so, though he couldn't explain why. Maybe because every now and then, Hadley had a bit of an accent, though it was a subtle one Sebastian couldn't place. Definitely not from the Northwest.
“No, I grew up in Chicago.”
That explained the accent, then. “Do you still have family there?”
Hadley's face closed off as if someone had shut the blinds. “No. All my family is here.”
His tone made it clear that wasn’t a topic he wanted to talk about, which, for obvious reasons, made Sebastian all the more curious. But he would respect his privacy. He could hardly press for more details when he hated it so much himself when people asked questions he didn't want to answer. “Do you have some kind of plan for how you want to achieve any of the items on your list?”
Hadley seemed surprised by that question. “All of them involve money, and I don't have any to spare.”
“Do you live by yourself?”
“You're asking an awful lot of questions suddenly. Why this interest in my personal life?”
“Your bucket list brought it up. It made me realize I don't know a lot about you.”
“Yes, and? I work for you, just like the other two thousand people in LeClerc Robotics. You can't tell me you know anything about them other than their name and maybe if they're married.”
“I don't work as closely with any of them as I do with you. By the way, you're not married, are you?”
Hadley wasn’t wearing a ring, and though Sebastian, for the life of him, couldn't have explained why, Hadley didn't act like a married man. Which was a stupid thing to think because what did married men act like? He couldn't have pointed it out, but maybe it was gut instinct.
“No, I’m not married. No, I don't live by myself. I share an apartment with… Technically, he's a friend, since we're not related by blood, but he's like a brother to me.”
Why that statement should fill him with relief, Sebastian had no idea, but it did. “Oh, good. Not that it would have mattered if you were married, of course. Or lived alone. Or lived with somebody else. I was only curious.”
“I noticed.”
“You can return the favor.”
“What, ask if you're married? I already know you're single and that there’s a revolving door of men in your life. And by the way, no judgment at all from me. Power to you. I also know that you live alone and that you have the most gorgeous house.”
Sebastian quirked an eyebrow. “You've seen my house? When?”
Hadley's cheeks colored. “Some online article about the rich and famous in Seattle. They had pictures of the house before you bought it. So I don't know what it looks like now, but man, that's a million-dollar view right there.”
“It's the primary reason I bought that house. I told my Realtor I wanted something with a view over the water, close enough to downtown that it would be an easy commute but still set privately. When she sent me this listing, I knew I’d found my perfect home.”
“I'm envious of the space you have there.”
“I assume you live in an apartment?”
Hadley nodded. “They call them micro-apartments. It's a one-bedroom apartment with a tiny kitchen. Enough to have everything we need, but so small we’re constantly in each other’s space.”
“One bedroom? You guys share a bedroom?”
Hadley blinked. “That's a bit personal, don't you think?”
“You're the one who brought up the bedroom.”
“True, but… Never mind. It's not like it's some kind of big secret. Yes, Lagan and I share a bedroom. And a bed. We have for years now, and we're used to it.”
He shouldn't ask the question that was on the very tip of his tongue, but he couldn't refrain. “How on earth do you manage to get laid in a situation like that?”
Hadley's eyes widened, and then he broke out in laughter. “Oh my god, you really don't have any sense of personal boundaries, do you?”
“Again, you're the one who mentioned hooking up before and then told me you share a bedroom, so obviously, I'm curious how you make that work. Unless you and your brother share…”
Hadley made a face of disgust. “God, no. He may not be related by blood, but he is my brother in every other sense of the word. We grew up together, so no, I keep my sexual encounters far away from him, and he provides me the same courtesy.”
“Okay, but that begs the question of the logistics. How do you manage it?”
Hadley rolled his eyes. “Not that it's any of your business, but we both have one evening a week when we promise not to be home. I usually spend it with friends or at the library or hang out in a coffee shop or something for a few hours. And on the weekends, we alternate, though we always both try to hook up with somebody who has a place at their disposal, or we make it work in, you know, bathrooms, places like that. Not glamorous, but whatever.”
“I use hotel rooms,” Sebastian said. Had that really come out of his mouth? Why the hell was he talking about this with Hadley?
“Hotel rooms? You don't want to bring them back to your house?”
Sebastian shook his head. “My house is my safe place, my private space, and I don't want strangers there. For obvious reasons, I don't want them to know who I am or my net worth. Some find out anyway, or they recognize me, but it’s rarely been a problem. Seeing my home would raise way too many questions, so I use hotel rooms.”
“I can see why that would be a suitable solution for you, but I didn't think the kind of hotels you're accustomed to would rent out rooms by the hour.”
“They don't. I have a standard reservation for the weekend. I hook up, the guy leaves or spends the night in the hotel room if it’s late already, and in the morning, we each go our own way. Perfect solution.”
“God, it must be amazing to have money. No offense, but I couldn't even imagine having that kind of budget at my disposal.”
Sebastian shuffled his feet, as always uncomfortable when his wealth came up. “I have a complicated relationship with the balance of my bank account. I didn’t grow up rich, but my father sold a patent for a lot of money when I was a teenager, and everything changed. I understand it wasn't my choice, and I don't resent or reject the money, but… The change affected me profoundly. And then I sold some patents myself and became even richer, and now I have more money than I could spend in a lifetime. If I say it's not always easy, I sound spoiled, and I don't mean it like that. It's just… I don't know what it's like to not have money, but I can tell you that having a lot of money isn't perfect either. It changes everything. People treat you differently, and your world becomes this ivory tower that's almost separated from normal life. While on the surface, it makes things easier, it also results in a lot of complications. I have a hard time trusting people.”
Hadley's face had softened during Sebastian's confession—a minirant, really—and his eyes were full of empathy. “I have no idea what that is like, since I've never had money in my life, but I believe you when you say it's not easy. It must be nice to have enough money not to have to worry about paying the bills or losing your job or getting into a car accident and not being able to pay your hospital bills, but as much as you have? I'm sure that's not ideal either.”
“I never tell people this because it makes me sound so spoiled, so… I don't even know if there's a word for it.”
“Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think you tell people anything. You’re very closed off.”
“I am to anyone outside my direct family, meaning my parents and my sister, and a handful of close friends. I didn't use to be, but I got burned a few times and had to learn the hard way that people suck.”
“Tell me about it,” Hadley said with a sigh. “I'm not cynical enough that I stopped believing in the good in people, but in my experience, it's a challenge to find people who have your best interest at heart. That being said, I wouldn't trade my brothers for all the wealth in the world.”
“Brothers? You have more than the one brother you live with?”
“Yeah, there are four of us, none related by blood. We grew up together, and since we don’t have any family worth a damn, we decided to stick together.”
“Wow. I've never heard of something like that. You don't have parents or anything?”
“I wasn't born by immaculate conception if that's what you mean, but no, I don't have parents, and I haven't had them in a long time. Maybe never. My biological parents weren’t people who should've ever had kids, let me put it that way, and they died years ago.”
He said it so matter-of-factly, but a picture was starting to form, and Sebastian's heart went strangely soft, not a feeling he was accustomed to. “I'm sorry.”
“So am I. I deserved better, but we both know we don't always get what we deserve. Life doesn't work that way. It's painfully unfair at times.”
“Yes, it is. And I've been fortunate to have a supportive family, parents who love me and accept me the way I am.”
“They don't have an issue with you being gay?”
Sebastian snorted. “God, no. My father was a scientist, an engineer who, way before it had become commonplace, decided that the black-and-white thinking of there only being two genders and one sexual identity was bullshit. He'd seen examples in biology of gender changes, of homosexual behavior among animals, and he'd read the many examples from classic literature about gay relationships. The man himself is as straight as they come, but he was open to it even before I was born. My mom comes at it from a different perspective, that of a mom who just loves me the way I am. She looks at me as a whole person, not as gay or single or whatever. It's a rare quality, and I consider myself lucky to have her as a mom.”
“You are lucky, and I’m glad to hear you acknowledge that. Many people take parental love and support for granted.”
“I never have. All you have to do is look at the numbers for homelessness among queer youth to see the effects of a lack of parental acceptance. I’ll never understand parents who disown their child for being queer. Why the fuck would you even have kids if you can’t love them the way they are?”
After becoming aware of those numbers, he’d found a few charities to support that focused on offering help to homeless LGBT+ youth. They were making a difference, and he was grateful to be able to fund that. His dad had suggested starting his own charity, but Sebastian had no intention of doing that. Where would he find the time? He was already drowning in work as it was.
Hadley shrugged. “Don’t ask me. My parents couldn’t even be bothered to feed me half the time.”
His casual words hit Sebastian hard. What kind of childhood had Hadley survived that he’d even had to worry about food? “I would say some people shouldn’t have kids at all, but then again, you wouldn’t be here if that were the case, so…”
“I’ve had that same thought myself more than once. I’m glad to be alive, so I guess it was worth it? I don’t know. That all gets too philosophical for me, and I’m more of a practical guy. Speaking of practical, I have a question for you about open applications.”
Accepting Hadley’s need for a change of topic, Sebastian switched gears with him. He’d learned enough about him for today.
9
The more responsibilities Sebastian gave him, the more Hadley loved his job. He'd brought order into the utter chaos this office had been, had reorganized, labeled, and categorized to his heart's content. The filing system was sorted out, the online system perfectly in order, and Sebastian's emails were slowly but surely being reduced to manageable levels. Oh, Hadley was still reaching out to people who had emailed him ages ago to inquire if their question or problem was still relevant, but he'd solved all the urgent issues.
Hadley now sat in on most of the meetings, making brief, organized notes for Sebastian, and he'd taken over making notes of the board meetings as well. In short, he was now truly Sebastian's PA, and he loved it. Sebastian appreciated what he did as well. The man had an issue saying the words “thank you,” as they never came across his lips, and yet Hadley knew he was grateful. He just expressed it in a different way.
After Hadley had mentioned to Sebastian that the desk chair he was using was uncomfortable, he’d come back the next day to find some expensive state-of-the-art chair where everything could be configured and adjusted to make it perfect. It was, but Hadley didn’t want to know how much money Sebastian had spent on it. When he’d brought it up, Sebastian had waved it off as unimportant, and maybe to him, it was.
He’d also told Hadley to purchase an electric kettle so he could make tea at work, a gesture Hadley appreciated, since he hated making tea with lukewarm water, and he’d put a second minifridge in Hadley’s office to keep his lunch and snacks cool. Small things to Sebastian, maybe, but they meant a lot to Hadley. Despite never hearing the actual words, he felt appreciated.
Beryl was a different matter. While she still wasn't hostile to him and had voiced some measure of gratitude for the work he'd done, she hadn't gotten over whatever she had against Sebastian. And she was zero help. In fact, Hadley had no clue what she did all day. He’d broached the subject with Sebastian, who told him he couldn’t fire her, and that was it. Fair enough. If he wanted to pay somebody for fucking around, it wasn't any skin off Hadley's back.
