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“What’s it about?” Alarm bells ring in my head.
He clears his throat. “Rivera has been reassigned to beat reporter. I would like you to take over for me while I’m out a couple more weeks.”
“I was hoping Rivera would be fired and not just reassigned,” I admit, though I’m happy he trusts me in his absence even though he said I had enough on my plate when he didn’t select me the first time.
“I know you were, but this is what we’ve decided while we investigate the claims brought against him. I’ve been in touch with human resources and how we handle his position is between them and me at this point. We’ll be in touch if we need more information from you.”
“My claims are that this is harassment and a breach of my privacy,” I mutter. “And now I have to face my offender at work every day.”
“Well, that’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about,” he says, and he sounds a little uncomfortable with his words.
“What’s that?” I ask, and something tells me I should pull over for his next words, but I don’t. I keep driving toward the office because I’m almost there.
“I should’ve done this the moment you told me you were in a relationship with Nash.” He heaves in a breath. “I’m reassigning you due to conflict of interest. I know you’re a professional and I trust you, which is why I let you hold onto the position while you were keeping this secret. But now that it’s out, we can’t have our viewers thinking you’re not reporting on the team objectively. Even if it’s not a true conflict of interest because you can be objective, it’s still a perceived conflict of interest, and you know how that sits with viewers. We’d love to continue having you host your podcast with Nash and highlight it on all our broadcasts, though.”
He just said conflict of interest three times, and somehow that’s all I can focus on.
Not the fact that he’s reassigning me. Not the fact that I’m losing my job.
The job I worked my ass off to get. The one that showed women belong here, too.
That’ll all crash down in a second, and when it does, thankfully, I’m pulling into my parking spot.
It’s fierce. The emotions twist through me, but I hold it together long enough to thank Marcus for the opportunity to give me the dream of covering the team, and then I tell him I have to go because I feel it coming. I need to get off the phone. In a moment, I’ll need to go into the office and stand in for the man who just told me he’s taking my job away from me. I’ll need to face the man who has been harassing me for months. I’ll need to pretend like I’m happy I’ve been reassigned, and I realize too late I didn’t even ask what I’ll be assigned to but I’m guessing I’ll be demoted to a beat reporter. Either that or because I’m a woman, I’ll be covering all the women’s sports teams in Vegas, which is good and important but it’s not the dream I’ve had since I watched those reporters on the football field when I stood in the emergency room after my dad was injured.
The well of grief tears through me as it all crashes down on me in an instant.
I worked my entire career to get the team correspondent position.
Lincoln Nash has been in town five whole months, and I’ve already lost the job because of him.
CHAPTER 16: JOLENE
I realize much too late I didn’t ask who was going to be the new Aces team correspondent, and I think it’s because I can’t bring myself to admit it’s no longer me.
Before I head inside, I take a few deep breaths.
I need to hear Lincoln’s voice. I can’t fully blame him for this mess considering I’m one-half of the equation, and he’s going through a hard time right now, too. The only way we’ll get through it is if we’re in it together.
I try calling him, but I’m diverted to voicemail.
And I know I’m diverted because usually it rings six times before voicemail picks up. Today it was two, and somehow that just sets off my anger even more.
He’s avoiding me and I lost my job. Can this day get any worse?
Well, don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to, because apparently the answer to that is yes.
When I head inside, nobody will make eye contact with me, and when I get to Marcus’s office, I find none other than fucking Ryan Rivera sitting behind his desk.
I storm past the office and right up to human resources. “Peggy?” I ask, my voice sweet as sugar. “Mr. Rivera hasn’t vacated Mr. Dean’s office and I’m supposed to be playing Marcus while he’s out. Given the sensitive situation between us, can someone from human resources talk with him please?”
She presses her lips together and nods. “I’ll send Paul right down.”
“Thanks so much.”
I wait until she calls Paul and explains the situation, and I wait even longer until he takes the elevator down to the first floor where the sports division is located. I wait until he returns, and he pauses when he sees me.
“Mr. Rivera has vacated the office, Ms. Bailey. You’re free to head down,” he says.
