The Boss

A platonic couple’s seemingly mundane life is thrown into chaos when they find out they have been having an affair with the same man.

An amoral boss. A naive pregnant woman. A closet gay. A confession. A crime. And a bunch of problems that have only one solution – a solution with a heavy price. The question is: who is going to pay?

When his flatmate and lifelong friend, Mandy, suddenly breaks the monotony of a weekday evening by announcing that she has been having a secret affair with her married boss and is now carrying his baby, Jack is both shocked and supportive. But the wheels of confession are in motion. Jack reveals that he is gay, and has also been having an affair, which turns out to be with the same man. To make matters worse, the local police have arrived to question Mandy over the smuggling of a consignment of jeans. As their secret lives begin to unravel and the truth sinks in, the penny drops: they have the same problem. A problem that only has one solution – the boss must pay.

PAUL ‘POPS’ WESTLAKE was born and raised in Plymouth, Devon where he still lives today. He served in the Royal Navy for 11 years, and has worked as a road sweeper, bookmaker, and security guard. The Boss is his debut novella. His previous work includes By Pure Chance and The Walters Boys.