Page 16 of Break Points and Face Offs

I wait until the rest of the group are leaving at the end of the meeting to pull Will into a quiet corner and ask him how the hell he got in here.

He smiles. It’s infuriating. “It’s killing you not being in control for once, isn’t it?”

I smooth a hand through my hair, just in case I have a strand out of place. I noticed a couple of waitresses whispering behind their hands through dinner and looking at Will. Let’s just say, if he stands out here, it isn’t for the wrong reasons.

I grit my teeth. “I’m asking you a simple question. Why must you be so insolent?”

“Just admit one thing to me first.”

“What?”

“You had this meeting here so I wouldn’t be able to come, didn’t you?”

I scoff. “If I didn’t want you to come, why would I offer to bring you as a guest?”

“So, it was just to humiliate me then?”

When he words it like that, it makes me sound like such a dick.

“Not humiliate, no….” I trail off. I’m no longer sure why I did it. To exert my power? To remind him of our places? No, that doesn’t sound very good either. I am not a bad guy. This isn’t personal, it’s just business. Why can’t he see that? It’s a competition, for heaven’s sake.

He sighs. “I played juniors with a guy on the hockey team. He owed me a favor.”

“Hockey. I knew it had to be something like that.”

Will rolls his eyes. “Are you happy now?”

Not really.

I spot someone coming toward us, recognize him as an old friend of my father’s.

I stand up a little taller and straighten my tie. Will frowns, noticing the sudden change in my demeanor.

“Priestley,” George says. “Are you here with your father?”

I shake his hand. “No, sir. I held a group meeting here with my class from Princeton.”

“Ah, yes, of course. Your father told me you were on the graduate program. You’ll be joining him at work soon, no doubt.”

I glance at Will. His jaw’s doing that thing again.

“I expect so.”

Will’s nostrils flare.

“Mr. Wilkes, this is a classmate of mine, William O’Reilly.”

I see George Wilkes scanning his brain for the family name. Coming up blank.

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Will says, holding his hand out for George to shake.

I have to say, he looks the part. He doesn’t try to mask his accent, but then, most people wouldn’t recognize it as being particularly strong anyway. A lot of people have an accent.

“You’ll both have to join me for a round of golf some time.”

We both nod, then an idea comes to me.

“How about sometime this week? William, are you free? I know you have your job and everything.”