Page 81 of Out of Bounds

Excuse me? Did he just say what I think he did?

“They are not unsubstantiated! She’s fucking Gracin!”

Felicity opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, Dalton rose from behind his desk, his face turning angry. “While she and Gunnar may have been conducting a personal relationship, it has been determined that the two of them entered it willingly and without agreement surrounding her interest in the role. Neither is a direct report of the other, and therefore their relationship is not against Southland policy. You, however, took it upon yourself to do no research into the matter before making wild accusations and airing confidential Southland business publicly. Which is against Southland policy.”

Holy shit, Felicity thought, her mind whirring faster than she could keep up with. Tripp is defending me. Her heart started to race, unable to believe what she was hearing. Not getting the job still stung, but the fact that her brother was taking her side, was standing there sticking up for her, outweighed that sting.

“I accept your resignation. From here you have two choices. You can get out, or we can have you removed.”

“You’ll be hearing from my lawyer,” Jonah spat, stomping out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

Dalton circled his desk, smiling as he flopped down into the guest chair that Jonah had just vacated and turning it so he was facing her. Felicity watched him, her mouth slightly agape, still in shock at the conversation that just took place. She wanted to say so many things, she just didn’t know where to start.

“Hey,” Dalton said, swatting at her to get her attention.

“You just fired Jonah,” she said.

“Won’t lie, feels pretty damn good.”

“At least you're using your powers for good.”

There was a beat of silence between them, neither one seeming to know what to say in the wake of the moment. There was no way that would be the end of it for Dalton—he’d be dealing with the aftereffects of this moment for weeks, she was sure. She knew that the decision wasn’t completely altruistic of him—he and Jonah had their own issues that went way back—but knowing that part of his reasoning was because of her made her smile. Their father never, ever would have done such a thing. He’d had a number of chances to take her side, to put Jonah in his place, but he’d never done anything more than tell her to get over it.

“So, Gunnar, huh?” Dalton asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah,” she replied, looking away from him. She still wasn’t quite ready to have this conversation with him, but at this point it seemed pretty unavoidable.

“And he was really worth risking the job you’ve been after for months?”

“Like you were ever going to give it to me,” she quipped. She knew it was kind of a low blow, especially considering how he’d defended her, but she didn’t care. Dalton was used to her snark at this point anyway.

“I was, actually,” he answered. Felicity whipped her head back around to look at him. Had she just heard that right? “At least that was my plan until a couple of days ago. But I can’t have a president who is sleeping with the coach.”

Felicity’s pulse kicked up a notch—her dream job had been within reach. She would have been president of the Atlanta Rising. She let out a sigh, thinking about how it would never be, but found that she wasn’t quite as sad as she would have thought. The idea of Gunnar no longer being in her life hurt a lot more than the loss of a job. He was what she wanted more than anything, not some title.

“I get it. But I meant what I said, he was worth it,” she sighed. She looked back out the window behind Dalton’s desk and across the Atlanta skyline and then back to him. “He gets me better than anyone I’ve ever met. He…he sees me.”

“I understand completely. But you know…the owner of the team can do whatever she wants.”

“Excuse you?” she asked, not following where he was going with this.

“I was sitting in the chair you are now when Big D told me he was dying and leaving all of Southland to me. My first question to him was ‘what if I don’t want it?’”

“What’d he say?”

“Told me it was mine to do what I wanted with. And I’ve spent every day since thinking about what exactly that is.”

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked, trying her hardest to not sound annoyed. This conversation had taken a turn, and she didn't have the slightest clue as to why they’d taken this tangent. Leave it to Dalton to decide to walk down memory lane now. What the hell did this have to do with her relationship with Gunnar?

“Because I don’t want to run this empire—at least not alone. I don’t want to be so consumed by it that I don’t have time for all the other things that matter to me. I need a partner.”

“A partner?”

She could feel the stunned look on her face, her jaw falling open again. A partner. Dalton wanted a partner in running this company? She’d known he’d been reluctant to take over, but he’d settled into the role so easily she’d always just assumed that he was loving it.

“Yes. And the best person I can think of is you. You’re the only other Sutherland out there besides Lulu, and this is our family legacy. I have all the papers in the works, and they should be ready no later than tomorrow, signing ownership of the Atlanta Rising Football Club over to you, as well as another fifteen percent of Southland Holdings. It would give you approximately thirty percent of the company in total. I know it’s not an even split, but I’m gonna be a little selfish here. You can have whatever title within the company you’d like. Well, except CEO—I’m keeping that too.”

“And if I don’t want it?”