Page 80 of Out of Bounds

Felicity scooped up a heaping portion of the warm artichoke dip in front of her with a piece of garlic bread and shoved it in her mouth to avoid having to respond to her friends. They all had excellent points but were still wrong. She couldn’t explain it, but she felt down deep that what she was doing was right. Even if it was the last thing she wanted to do.

“I will just say one last thing, and then no more on the subject, promise,” Heather said. “I understand why you’ve stayed at Southland all these years, and I think you have done amazing things. I am incredibly proud of you. However, maybe this is your chance to branch out. Do something new and different. Start your own company. You’ve always loved charity events, just like your mother, so maybe something in non-profit. You don’t have to solve all the world’s problems tonight. Just think about it.”

My own company? Why hadn’t I thought of that?

Her phone buzzed on the bar, making her jump slightly. Heart skipping a beat, she said a prayer it was Gunnar, telling her he’d found the magic answer to solve this whole thing, or at least that he loved her and was thinking about her. She knew it was completely unrealistic to hope for the L word to show up in a text after she’d walked away and hadn’t said it to him either, but as long as she was hoping for magic, she was going to go full throttle.

Talia: Hey. I’m sorry for what I said yesterday. I didn’t mean it, honest. It was just a shock. Still friends?

Felicity stared at her phone for a moment, rereading the text over and over. She had no idea what to make of it. There were a hundred and one things she wanted to reply, every last one of them sounding stupid as she started to text them out. Her emotions were all over the place, and there was just too much to say with just a text, so she tapped out the best thing she could think of.

Felicity: Still friends. Lunch tomorrow?

She placed her phone back down on the bar, but it buzzed almost immediately with a response. Her heart leapt, thinking that maybe there was a way to get this all back on track. That everything could be okay. But her heart sank again when this time it wasn’t Talia’s name waiting for her.

Tripp: My office, 10a tomorrow. No excuses.

Well, it was time to face the music…

Chapter Thirty

Mrs. Carr waggled her fingers in a friendly hello, her office phone pressed between her shoulder and ear, typing away at her computer as Felicity walked into Dalton’s office. For as nervous as she was about this meeting, seeing the older lady sitting there, the same as she had every day for what seemed liked forever, was a comforting feeling. Felicity couldn’t imagine walking into this office and having someone other than Mrs. Carr right there.

The dark purple carpet paired with the mahogany furniture had always made this room feel stiff and stuffy to Felicity, which was not helping her nerves. Seeing Jonah sitting in one of the two large leather guest chairs that sat opposite Dalton’s desk made things even worse. Her brother was perched behind the desk, glancing up at her as she closed the French doors behind her and made her way toward the two men.

“Thank you both for being here this morning,” Dalton started.

“What’s she doing here?” Jonah asked, hooking a thumb in her direction.

I could ask the same about you, asshat…

“I wanted to talk to you both at the same time. I figured that would be the easiest way to let you know what I’ve decided regarding the role of president for the Atlanta Rising,” he continued, ignoring Jonah’s question. He let out a long breath, and Felicity could see in his eyes that what he was about to say was not going to be well received. “I’ve thought long and hard about this, and I really do feel that this is the best way of going about things. So, that said, I will not be appointing either of you to the role.”

“What?” Jonah exclaimed.

Felicity squeezed her eyes shut, as if somehow blinking was going to make what she’d just heard more clear. He wasn’t giving either of them the role? Then who was it going to?

“I’m going to stay on as acting president, while I conduct a search of outside candidates.”

“Outside candidates?” she repeated, trying to wrap her mind around this. He was going to bring in someone none of them knew to run this team? She’d been killing herself for months, all so he could look outside the company?

“This is bullshit! You can’t do this, especially not after yesterday’s fiasco. Your father made me promises. I’m owed this job,” Jonah insisted.

“Based on my conversations with him, he promised you nothing,” Dalton replied.

“You can’t do this. That job is mine. If you don’t name me president of the Rising, then I’ll walk, and I’ll take all my contacts and ideas with me.”

“Go ahead and quit—saves me from having to fire you.” Dalton shrugged.

“You can’t fire me!” Jonah screamed, jumping up out of the chair, flailing his arms out wide.

The motion sent Felicity back in her chair, trying to avoid being hit. She looked back at her brother, who was sitting behind his desk as if the man in front of him wasn’t about to throw a fit any second. Was this really happening? She knew she should probably say something, but she was too busy watching this play out in front of her. Dalton was firing Jonah? Her heart leapt at the thought—getting rid of Jonah had been a fantasy of hers for years.

“Oh, but I can. You were there yesterday. Southland Holdings is mine to do with as I wish. And my wish is that you no longer work here.”

“You don’t have grounds to terminate me!”

“Georgia is a right to work state, so I don’t need grounds. However, if you really feel that I need to provide some, we’ll start with harassment and your unsubstantiated claims of Felicity providing sexual favors for advancement.”