‘Have you got a sec?’ I ask him.

‘Sure,’ he says without looking up from Strava. I roll my eyes at the side of his stupidly handsome face. So hot, but so rude. It’s a standard correlation in men. Just as today’s little threesome is probably standard for guys like Brendan—though usually he’s probably juggling multiple women.

‘I’ve been selected for jury duty, I’m afraid. It starts in two weeks and they expect to need me for another two.’

He looks over at me, frowns, then returns to his phone.

‘That’s fine. We can get you out of it. Elaine can help you.’

‘I’m afraid I’ve already tried. I got the call-up a week ago and I’ve been fighting it, but they’re resolute.’

That gets his attention. He throws his phone onto the expanse of leather between us. ‘Fuck’s sake. Escalate it. I can’t spare you.’

‘I have escalated it,’ I say, trying to keep my voice steady. ‘They won’t budge. I’ve declined it twice before, which hasn’t helped my case.’

He glares at me. ‘What the fuck am I supposed to do while you’re away?’

‘I checked the protocol with Camille. She said they can send in a replacement.’ Though the thought of sending in another woman to bend over for my gorgeous, entitled boss while I’m away is strangely horrifying. Maybe it’s just because our entire setup is so strange, or maybe it’s because having someone else take over both sides of my role would underscore precisely how disposable, how replaceable, I really am. ‘Or I can ask Elaine to cover,’ I add. ‘And I can get online every evening and play catch-up, too.’

In reality, I’ll be logging in from the hospital, but he doesn’t need to know that.

He’s still scowling. That good-looking face of his gives excellent petulance. He’s actually sticking that plump, suckable lower lip out. He’s so sulky it makes me want to burst out laughing, but it also hardens my resolve.

‘It’s ridiculous,’ he spits out. ‘Let me know who to call and I’ll do it. People like us don’t need to bother with shit like that. There are enough lazy tossers sitting around on their arses and collecting the dole while we hold down actual jobs. Why can’t they find someone else to do it?’

This is the problem with people like Brendan—people who’ve accumulated so much wealth and power that they believe it absolves them from any civic responsibility, or any responsibility that causes them the remotest inconvenience, for that matter. He thinks that because he and his company pay billions in taxes, that lets him off the hook, and it bloody well doesn’t. His attitude is the epitome of entitlement, and elitism, and double standards, and just—grrrrr.