Page 97 of Break Points and Face Offs

I laugh.

“Dick.”

“You won fair and square. Professor Moreno marked our papers without prejudice and yours was better. If she’d been prejudiced, she would have marked Alice Liang’s higher than mine. Everyone knows she’s a better person than I am.”

“Priestley.”

“It’s okay. I know I’ve been a dick.” I squirm. “I’m ashamed of that country club thing.”

“Oh … well … good, I guess.” He scratches behind his ear. “I mean, I don’t want you to be ashamed. It’s just good that you can see it, when you’re … less than admirable.”

I snort. “That’s a nice way of putting it.”

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I think about ignoring it, but then I see Father flash up on the screen. I’m going to have to face the music at some point. Might as well do it now.

“I have to take this,” I tell Will.

“Meet you later?”

I nod, deciding I’ll figure that out when I have to.

“Hello, Father.”

“I want you to come in for a meeting this afternoon.”

“This afternoon?” I think about all the things I could be doing with Will instead. Surprisingly they don’t all involve sex.

“It can’t wait. Leave now and get here as soon as you can.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Just don’t keep me waiting, Priestley.”

All the reasons my father could be so desperate to speak to me rush through my head as I take a cab from the train station to his office. After checking Jamie is okay, I realize nothing else really matters.

He is going to chew me out about being number two. It has to be that. He found out fast, but that’s my father. That’s what he does.

I expect to be kept waiting, but when I reach the office, I’m told my father is waiting for me and to go straight in.

He’s standing behind his desk, looking out at the view of the skyscrapers and construction work. His office is so stereotypical of an old-fashioned CEO, it’s embarrassing. Golf club with a putting mat in the corner. A tray with whiskey and a decanter on an antique side table. Expensive-looking paperweight holding down stacks of client files.

“So …” he says as I step inside and close the door behind myself. “Thwarted by an Irishman, hey?”

“Sorry?”

Father sighs, crossing the room to reach the whiskey decanter. He doesn’t ask me if I want one. He usually doesn’t so that’s no surprise.

“I’m disappointed, Priestley, but that goes without saying.”

I instinctively hang my head.

He lets out another big sigh. I keep my head hung while he loudly glugs his whiskey.

“Well, suppose there’s nothing to be done about it now. I knew that Moreno was going to be a problem. We’ll only cause more of a ruckus if we try to appeal the decision.”

“Professor Moreno has found some alternative internship options for me to look at over the summer, so⁠—”

He raises a hand, cutting me off.