Page 49 of Negotiation Tactics
Helowers himself onto his chair, sighs while rubbing his forehead, and shoots me a hard look. “No. Cancel whatever plans you have. We need to talk.”
I curse under my breath and send Josh a quick but apologetic message, saying that a work emergency has come up. It’s not quite what this is, but my hunch tells me things are headed that way.
“Alistair,” my dad clips. I’m transported back to high school, to that day when he scolded me for not placing first on an economy test. Only this time there will be real-life repercussions to whatever I fucked up. “I believe I made myself abundantly clear that you were to leave the commission alone so they can deal with the union issue we have. It’s their goddamn job!” He throws Josh’s proposal on the desk. “What is this?”
Shit. I’m so not ready to have this conversation right now.
I hunch my shoulders, wishing I was anywhere but here. Picking up the documents containing my notes, I clear my throat. “I went through the demands and some of the suggestions Josh—the Union Rep put together. I thought they were worth a discussion as they can really hel—”
“You went against what I told you to do. And not only that, you’re trying to force the commission to agree to the unreasonable demands of some rep!”
“That’s not—”
“Don’t interrupt me!” He slams his fist into the desk, but what makes me wince is his condescending tone. “This”—he grabs the folder from me and throws it on the floor. “Why else would your notes be in here? Don’t take me for an idiot, son! I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but we don’t,ever, give into the Union, or they’ll suck usdry. Or is that what you want? To ruin everything your mom and I have worked so hard for because you want to prove something to me?”
I hate this. I want to fucking scream, to hit something. This is not how this conversation should’ve gone.
Grinding my teeth, I avert my gaze. It was an unconventional thing to step in, yes, but I didn’t do it lightly. I spoke to the finance department to make sure the numbers aligned, and chatted with HR, too. It’s all in my notes, yet he’s still giving me shit for this. Did he even read them, or is he choosing to ignore the potential benefits just because I went behind his back?
It was maybe not the best approach, I concur. We do have an experienced commission specially appointed to deal with Union stuff. But I did what I did because he’d just shut me down otherwise.
“What were you thinking? You can’t do this to our company, son. Toyourcompany.”
My heart aches at the disappointment pouring off him. Did I make a mistake? But I checked everything, it made sense! Maybe he sees something I missed? A loophole. But everything panned out. Josh really did his best to come up with a solution that works for both sides. A lot of the people who’d be affected by the salary cuts are long-term employees. They are loyal, hard-working. They deserve a reward, not a punishment because we messed up our forecasts. Does dad not see that, or am I somehow missing the bigger picture?
What the fuck am I supposed to do now? I don’t know what’s right and wrong anymore and I hate that he’s making me doubt myself. I pressured the commission to agree to meet with Josh, so yeah, it would be a waste oftime if things didn’t go anywhere. But I was confident they would once they listened to what he has to say.
My dad scowls at me when I meet his gaze. This is not how I wanted things to go. But I was distracted, too caught up in Josh and his smiles. I should’ve brought this up myself, on my terms, but I was afraid things would blow out of proportion. And it’s exactly what’s happening.
“I ran the numbers, confirmed them with Lara from Finance, too. We can meet the Union’s demands if we did some maneuvering of budgets.”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t get this far by making compromises, Alistair. That’s not how empires are born and continue to thrive.” The anger disappears from his livid eyes, replaced by a concern that stabs me even deeper. “Maybe you aren’t ready yet…”
“No! I’m ready, dad!” I can’t have him take this away from me, I just can’t, because then what will I be left with? I’ve been working toward this moment all my life, I can’t just let it slip between my fingers because of a well-meant mistake. Because I let a gorgeous and witty man distract me too much and convince me that what we want can work together. “I… This is my fault. And I’ll fix it.”
Fear spears through me. But what if dad is right? What if I am not ready? What if I need his guidance for a bit longer? He’s got a point—you don’t run a business by making compromises, but Josh’s arguments… They were so compelling, so logical. I could see it all work out, both sides winning, but maybe that was just wishful thinking because I let my dick take the reins.
“You met with that union rep a second time? Barry told me,” my dad says next, his tone stern but worried. “Did he have something on you? Is that why you are doing this?” He sighs, pointing his chin at the scattered documents. “We can make it go away, son, you know that. But to propose to freeze the pay cuts… You made that decisionwithoutconsulting with me.”
Oh fuck, I should’ve mentioned that to him. But I saw no harm in it, and I was going to do it when I sat him down! He really wasn’t supposed to find out this way. “That was… It’s only temporary. Until the commission makes a decision.”
“A decision you are trying to influence!” He bangs his fists against the desk again. “Are you two involved?”
Shit, I didn’t think things could get any worse, but they just did. I know what he is thinking, and I hate that he doesn’t even need to say it to make me think it, too. To doubt everything that has happened between me and Josh in the past few weeks. My mind conveniently brings to my attention each and every instance where he’d brought up the commission, the negotiations, building a case to support what my father is insinuating—that I’ve let Joshua Anderson manipulate me.
But he’s a good guy. He loves helping others… He speaks his mind, he fights for what he believes in. He doesn’t kiss my ass. He didn’t even know who I was when we first hooked up.
Are you sure?
Ice floods me. I do, he told me himself.
Maybe he lied. Did you consider that?
Sure. But then I got to know him…
He knows you have a sweet spot for him, Alistair. All he needs to do is take advantage of it.
I don’t want to believe it, but the more I consider such a heartbreaking scenario, the more the evidence piles on. My gut tries to protest that, to defend Josh and me and us, but there is no us. We are just fucking, but I allowedhim to get under my skin and he worked his magic to do the rest.
