Page 92 of Negotiating Tactics

There was a knock on the door, and I walked toward it, curious as I heard the keypad beep, and after a quick peek at the screen to see who was outside, I opened it.

“You’re dropping by unannounced, Beau?” I said as my brother entered.

He was dressed almost identically to me in a black tank top and basketball shorts.

“Well, I didn’t think I was unannounced. I came to kick your ass in the game we scheduled weeks ago,” he said, tossing the basketball from one hand to the other.

He looked relaxed, carefree, though I knew there was more than met the eye there.

“I forgot,” I said.

“Obviously,” he responded, looking around the place. It looked better than it had an hour ago, but it wasn’t nearly as tidy as I usually kept it.

“So, what happened?” he asked.

As he spoke, he went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer.

I shook my head, my stomach lurching at the thought of more alcohol.

“What makes you think something happened? And go ahead and make yourself comfortable,” I said as he settled on the couch and put his feet on the coffee table.

“You look terrible,” Bo said.

“Thanks,” I responded.

“So? Is this about Alex?” he said.

“What do you know about Alex?” I asked, my temper rising, but the exhaustion that hit me suddenly made it impossible for me to express it.

“Nothing much. But it sounds like there are some things I should know,” he said.

“No, there aren’t,” I responded.

“Look, Noah, I know this is all new to you, but…”

“What’s new to me?”

“Having a brother,” Beau said, like it was the most obvious answer.

I snorted. “Yeah, that is new to me.”

“I know. So, one of the things that you do when you have a brother or two or three, like we do, is you talk to them. They help you out with shit. It’s great,” Beau said.

I shook my head at him.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

“That’s where you’re wrong. Because you’ve only had brothers for a couple of years. I’ve had them my entire life. It’s definitely what we do.”

“I never got the sense that you Wilders were particularly close,” I said.

“I wouldn’t say we were either, at least not until the last couple of years. Just about as long as Father has been gone, though I’m sure that’s only a coincidence,” he said, rolling his eyes. “But even still, we were always there for each other when it really mattered. And I get the sense that Alex really matters,” Beau said.

“And what about Dana?” I asked.

It was a deflection, and an obnoxious one.

I shouldn’t try to turn the attention on Beau just to keep it off of me, but still, after that letter from Prescott and what had happened with Alex, I wasn’t exactly in the mood for a heart-to-heart.

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