We all laugh as we stand up from the table. We shake hands with Dominik and Sebastian is the one to ask him, “So you’re not going to pay her any money?”
Dominik shrugs. “I might have them offer something really insulting. A take it or leave it amount like a hundred dollars. But no…we’re not going to even engage in any negotiations with her. If she wants to come after us, I’ll have my lawyers bury her in the deepest legal shitstorm she’s ever seen. But I’ll be fuck if I’m going to pay that twat when my guys have done nothing wrong.”
It’s in that moment that I realize that not only is the team’s owner, Dominik Carlson, extremely cool because he called Nanette Pearson a twat, but that he truly has his players’ and employees’ backs. No matter what the man might need from me in the future, I will always have his. I’m not sure how to accomplish it since I give my all, but I know I sure as shit will find some way to play just a bit harder for him after today.
Dominik walks to his office door and opens it for us to leave. “Thanks again for coming in.”
We start to file out but Dominik taps me on the shoulder. “Got a minute to chat, Erik?”
Dax shoots me a perplexed look and although I really want to get home to Blue, I merely turn to my boss with a smile. “Sure.”
“Excellent,” he says as he shuts the office door. He puts his hands in his pockets again, giving me an affable smile. It makes him seem friendly and non-bosslike.
I smile back at him and he makes no move for us to sit down somewhere so I expect whatever it is won’t take long.
“I got your email about the flight attendants,” he says and I blink in surprise. I hadn’t sent the email to him but to our general manager, Christian Rutherford, but he clearly forwarded it up the chain. “I have to admit…I’m quite perplexed why you would make an appeal on behalf of our flight crew. Are they unhappy?”
“Not that I know of,” I tell him neutrally. I hadn’t said much to Christian other than the attendants did an outstanding job and that they should be given a raise in recognition of it.
“And this wouldn’t have anything to do with Blue Gardner?” he asks slyly.
I’m not sure how to answer. I don’t want to lie to the man but I don’t want to put Blue in a spotlight that could hurt her. What if he thinks she put me up to this?
My hesitation is enough for him to say, “I know you’re dating her. Christian told me.”
“Yes,” I confirm to him. “I am.”
“Why so tight-lipped, Mr. Dalhbeck?” he asks me, and there’s no doubt by the tone of his voice that he’s taunting me. “If you want something from me, just ask it and tell it to me true.”
I don’t know much about this guy, but two things I do know. He has a romantic streak in him as evidenced by the fact he lent his plane to Bishop to get Brooke back. And he’s fiercely loyal to his team, as evidenced by what just happened in his office not five minutes ago.
I decide to just lay it out. “Blue’s brother is handicapped and lives in a group home.”
“Yes,” he says with a nod. “Billy.”
My chin jerks inward as my eyebrows shoot into my hairline.
Dominik chuckles. “Our background check before we hired Miss Gardner was very thorough, not to mention we discussed Billy in her interview. The human resources director has a summary in her file, and before I talked to you today, I read it so I could be fully apprised of what’s going on.”
“That’s kind of nosy,” I reply dryly, not caring if it pisses him off. I don’t like him checking up on Blue, as if she did something wrong.
“I pay yours and Miss Gardner’s salary,” he reminds me. “I’m entitled. But before you get your panties in a further twist, let me see if I can figure this out on my own. I’m going to assume that money is a bit tight for Miss Gardner since her parents died and she’s taking care of her brother now. And thus is the reason you asked for the raise?”
“Christ,” I mutter as I look away, dragging my fingers through my hair. When I look back, I give him a sheepish smile. “You nailed it. Right now she’s working a part-time job just to pay bills for him, but she had to take him out of a nicer home because her father’s life insurance has been denied.”
“Why?” he asks, his brow furrowing inward with concern.
I tell him about how Blue’s father died and that the life insurance company was denying the policy because he didn’t disclose a heart condition that he never knew he had. I also tell him that I’ve got my own attorney looking into it and he’s ordered all of the medical records, but that it will take a few weeks for all of that to come in.