CHAPTER 15 JOLENE

It's a long weekend where I don't hear from Lincoln, but he has a game so I'm trying to forgive him of that. I'm working, too—long hours since the season is now underway even if it's just the preseason, and I'm working on a few of the stories we'll tell all season long. Who to watch for, who's stepping up to the plate with this new squad, what they're doing on their days off, what charities they're supporting.

Lincoln is focused, and while he grants me a pre-game interview, it's a formality. It's not personal. He gives no indication that he feels any way at all toward me, and I know viewers will be tuning in just for that. Maybe this entire scandal will help boost ratings after all. Maybe they already have. I know our podcast downloads have skyrocketed in the last few days.

And ratings are up at the station, too, which is great. I've avoided going into the office, which is usually quieter over the weekends anyway even though the news never stops, and I haven't heard from Marcus yet on how he's handling Rivera, so I imagine he'll be fired on Monday.

At least that's what I'm hoping for.

The Aces win their third and final preseason game, and the team has a week off from games before the regular season begins.

But just because there isn't a game doesn't mean the team takes much time off. The next two weeks will be full of film and practices as they prepare to face the Seahawks. They'll get Tuesday off, as that's the standard across the league, but Lincoln won't take it off. He'll use the quiet hours to study film and meet with his coaching staff.

He won't take the time to meet with me, though. And I wish that didn't hurt as much as it does.

Everyone needs time off. I know he loves his job, and I know he's a fierce competitor at his core, but the amount of stress he must be under worries me.

And since we haven't really spoken much since he stormed out of Sam's house on Friday, I'm not sure where we stand on the Asher issue. I'm not sure where we stand on much of anything, actually.

Monday morning rolls around and as I'm heading into the office, my phone starts to ring.

I glance at the screen hoping it's Lincoln.

I always hope it's Lincoln.

It's not.

It's Marcus.

"Good morning," I answer, trying to sound bright but probably failing.

"Hey, Jolene," he says, and he sounds subdued.

"Is, uh…is everything okay with your mom?" I ask.

"Yes. She's doing well, thanks. This isn't about that," he says.

"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.