“You want the truth? This is the biggest deal we’ll ever make or break. And no one knows the figures like you do Seb. The point you’re missing is the part where you act like a grown up and separate our business from your personal drama.”
“That’s rich coming from you,” I say. “Your personal drama almost allowed a criminal to walk free.”
Matt gets to his feet again. He looks pretty angry now too.
“Yeah you’re right. It did. I fucked up and I’m not afraid to admit it. But you were the one who had my life about it. You were the one who insisted that I should have been able to control myself and get the job done.”
“So that’s what this is. You’re punishing me for telling you that you screwed up?”
“What? No. This isn’t any sort of punishment or twisted game. You want to know why I didn’t tell you Kimberley was the Benton CFO? Because I knew you would over react like this. I thought if we kept it from you until the merger was underway, you’d see that it was too late to back out and that you’d man up and get on with it. Seb we need you on this and you know it.”
“I’m not over reacting. I’m taking myself out of a volatile situation that you and Chance created. This isn’t just about me Matt. It’s about Kimberley as well. Do you honestly think we’re the right people to negotiate any sort of deal?”
“Yes,” Matt says. “Because Kimberley has assured me she will be professional about this. Benton wants the merger and Kimberley knows her whole career is riding on getting this right. She’s not going to risk messing it up over some shit from the past. I honestly thought you would be able to do the same.”
If Matt had come to me and told me all of this before I encountered Kimberley, I would have thought the same. I would have honestly believed I could keep it professional and not let a bunch of old feelings and resentments affect me. But now I’m not so sure I can. How can I get Matt to let this go without admitting that though, because there’s no way in hell I’m telling him the truth; that even after all of this time, seeing Kimberley again has thrown me so far off my game I’m afraid I’ll never get back on it again.
I sit down heavily on the couch and run my hands over my face. Matt sits down in the chair opposite me. We fall silent for a moment and then Matt breaks the silence.
“Ok, you win. But Bradley is not handling that meeting. Come to my office first thing in the morning and talk me through everything and I’ll take the meeting. Clearly you’re still as frazzled by Kimberley as you always were and I won’t have the fact you’re still in love with your high school girlfriend ruin this deal.”
“I’m not still in love with Kimberley. That’s ridiculous. And I don’t get frazzled over any fucking woman. I’m the one who leaves them wanting more, not the other way around.”
I am so fucking angry that Matt could even suggest such a thing. As if I’m still in love with a girl who left me four years ago. I mean don’t get me wrong, I can admit that she’s fucking gorgeous and I could fuck her all night long, but that doesn’t mean I’m in love with her. It means that she’s nice to look at and nothing more.
Matt raises an eyebrow and watches me as I fight to swallow down my anger. If I bite now, then he’ll know he’s hit a nerve. I know exactly what he’s doing. He’s playing to my ego and he’s backed me into a corner.
He’s left me with two choices. I can suck it up and work with Kimberley, or I can back out and have him think I’m still in love with my ex and that her very presence is enough to throw me off my game.
“Well played bro,” I say, smiling despite myself. “I see you’ve been taking in some of my tricks after all.”
Matt smiles and gives me a single nod.
“Nothing like playing to someone’s ego is there,” he grins.
“You know what? I have nothing to prove here, but if you’re so determined to have me work on this merger that you’re willing to start using the tricks you claim to disapprove of so much, then screw it. I’m in.”
“Perfect,” Matt says with a smug smile that tells me he knew this would be the outcome from the moment we started to have this conversation.
“But know this Matt. If this deal ends up fucked up because Kimberley feels like she has something to prove and tries to play hard ball with me, then that’s on you.”
“Noted. But if you screw this up because you disrespect Kimberley and act like a dick to her to the point where she pulls the plug on the whole thing, then that’s very much on you.”
Chapter Seven
Sebastian
I glance at my watch. It’s fifteen minutes before Kimberley is due to arrive and my heart is racing and my palms are sweating. I jump to my feet and go into my bathroom. I run my hands and wrists under the cold water tap for a few minutes until I feel calmer.
This is starting to really piss me off now. I feel like I’m starring in some rom-com where the prom king asks the geek girl on a date. I’m the teenage girl in this scenario. Like her, I know something will go wrong, but like her, I cling onto the hope it’ll all turn out ok in the end. She’ll get the guy at the end. And I’ll get the
