Page 32 of Collin: Episodes 4-6
Collin met his hand shake. “Collin.”
The next three, two women and another man, made similar introductions. The last man, also older than Collin, smirked and kept his hands in his pockets. “Pretty brazen of your boss.”
Collin raised an eyebrow. Perhaps it was all the customer service jobs he’d held, but he could see a lewd innuendo when it was tossed in his face. He turned his eyes back to the lunch table where his boss and the other two men were pulling out napkins and preparing for the food to be served.
“Shy?” The unnamed man tried again.
“Knock it off, Smith,” Greg said. “We’re not here to make noise.”
Collin forced a smile. He turned his head toward the other assistants. One of the women was biting her lip trying not to smile, and the others were pretending to be checking their phones.
“It’s not the seventeen hundreds,” Smith retorted. “We work for these guys. We’re not serfs. Besides, Mr. Bernstein doesn’t care if I make friends or not.”
Bernstein. Collin forced his face to remain blank. So that’s who the unexpected guest was. Olsen was expected. But who was Bernstein?
“How long have you worked for Mr. Reevesworth?” One of the women, who had given her name as Sally looked up from her phone. She had a nice smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Collin inclined his head to her and looked back at the lunch table. “Just started.”
She raised one shoulder and dropped it indolently. “Well, make sure you make friends outside of Reevesworth Industries. You’re going to need them.”
“Why?”
“Because if your boss doesn’t watch out, he won’t have a company. Why do you think he had to bring you today. You don’t even have a degree. No one wants to work for a loser.”
Collin let himself smile politely and didn’t answer.
Greg coughed lightly. “I’m sure Mr. Reevesworth knows what he’s doing. Reevesworth Industries is an established entity.”
The other woman, Chen, nodded. She seemed, like Greg, to belong to Olsen’s group.
Smith sniffed. “That’s not what word on the street says. It seems that someone’s suing him and his sister for ownership. And they’re going to win.”
Greg turned toward Smith. “That’s ridiculous. Successorship was settled over a decade ago.”
“Well, sometimes you get lucky when you run your DNA.” Smith shrugged. “Seems like their old uncle wasn’t as childless as everyone thought.”
Collin forced his face to remain blank. He turned back around and faced the table. A few moments later, Mr. Reevesworth held up two fingers and motioned Collin over.
“The report in the red folder, please.”
Collin opened the briefcase and retrieved it.
“Thank you, Collin. That will be all.”
Collin stepped back.
As the meal wrapped up, Collin hoisted the briefcase strap over his shoulder and made to leave. Smith stepped in front of him, so close they were almost chest to chest. Smith held his business card between his fingers, pointed at Collin’s chest. He tapped him with it twice.
“If you want to be more than a fuck toy, my company is always looking for people who can keep a face a blank as yours. We won’t even ask you to bend over.”
Collin forced himself to say nothing. He stepped to the side, trying to go around. Smith moved with him. Collin paused. “Excuse me, Smith.”
“Ah, ah, ah, you still haven’t taken my card.”
“I don’t want your card. I’m one of those young people who can just look you up online.”
“And here I thought you had manners.”
