Because I already had a feeling that curt, buttoned-up, straight-down-the-line Oliver Harvey could really eat me alive if I had the misfortune to make him angry.
Olly
Ace walked into the room.Keaton trailed behind him.He looked like he was doing his best to be invisible.
I got up and moved to my meeting area.I had a small coffee table with a few comfortable chairs scattered around it.It was somewhere to think and discuss.
I threw the contract down onto the table as Ace sat.
“Something’s wrong with it,” I said.
Ace looked up at me.He was quick.I saw the understanding flash across his face.He reached over and picked it up.“You think they’re trying to trick us?”
“I can sense it,” I said.I sat down in the next chair.“I just don’t know what.”
There was a hissing noise as Keaton turned the coffee machine on.Steam blew out of one of the spouts and he yelped quietly.I watched him with narrowed eyes.The fool had gotten his fingers too close to the heat.There wasn’t even a coffee cup under the nozzle.
I thought back to our first interaction.That job fair.I’d already been tired and irritated.He wasn’t supposed to get the brunt of that frustration.It wasn’t like I could go back in time and fix it now.I knew I’d come across as rude.Incredibly so.
At least he didn’t seem to remember me at all.That must have been the only reason why he would take this job.
“I’m not seeing anything just yet,” Ace said thoughtfully.“This is for Ridley?”
There was a crashing sound as Keaton fumbled one of the mugs.It landed on the marble tabletop but thankfully did not smash.He shot a sheepish look over his shoulder as I turned back to Ace.
“He’s been demanding we add a new sponsorship deal,” I said.It was only lucky that I had some deals on the table already.There was never really a time that I wasn’t scouting for more deals for my clients.That was part of what made me the best.
Ace knew by now how to read my moods.“You’re angry with him?”
I picked a piece of imaginary lint off the arm of my chair.“Hedemandedit.”
“Ah.”Ace leafed through the papers again.“And this is the best of the options?”
I nodded curtly.I tried to fix my eyes on the middle distance so I could think.
All I could see in front of me was Keaton.He was pushing all of the wrong buttons on the machine.If he carried on like that he was going to get burned.And probably ruin my carpet.
“Hang on,” Ace said urgently.He leaned forward over the table.“What’s this?”
He placed a sheet of paper flat in front of both of us and tapped one line with his finger.I read it over three times.I’d seen it before.But this time…
It clicked.
“There,” I said.I gave Ace a rare grin.“You found it.”
“How do you want to play it?”Ace asked.“Should we go back and tell them we’re not signing until they remove that clause?”
“No.”I studied the far wall thoughtfully.I valiantly ignored the urgent beeping coming from the coffee machine.“Tell them it’s off.And tell them we won’t deal with them again until they get a new contract lawyer.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Ace raise his eyebrows.“Okay, then,” was all he said.“I’ll go and give them a call now.What about the others?Anything worth going ahead with?”
I reached for the other bundle of stapled papers I had left on the coffee table.“This one,” I said.The machine had stopped beeping and now appeared to be spewing milk into its overflow tray.Perhaps Keaton did remember me after all.It would explain this act of corporate sabotage.
“I’ll let them know we’re going ahead,” Ace said.He stood up with the two contracts in hand.He knew that I was in charge of this decision even though Ridley Angus was his client.
Angus was the best client we had.He was the best football client in the world.Full stop.I trusted Ace.I still wasn’t going to let him run the biggest show on earth alone.
“Um,” Keaton said.
