Page 35 of On Merit Alone
“No, I’m ready,” Manzinni grumbled.
“Right,” Ry began. Lacing his fingers in his lap as he sat back in his chair. “You already sent over your plans and expectations, so I’m not going to insult you and try to negotiate you out of what you want…”
Wait, what? I thought that was exactly what he was going to do. Trust him my ass.
Rob looked pleased and somewhat surprised to hear this, but Ry cut him off as he opened his mouth to comment.
“What Iamgoing to do is tell you what a terrible plan it is. As I’ve said before, and I will continue to iterate in the interest of my clientandyour organization, Ms. Jones works best at her job as a player. You ask her about her job, and she’ll do it well and gladly.She always has. So if she must suffer consequences for a small mistake at the beginning of a stressful season, then it would probably be in all of our best interests if she did so in a way that better suits her personal skill set.”
“That’s not what I want. I want her in an interview with Cherry apologizing on record for her behavior and in multiple clean-up chats to fix her nasty image before it stains the image of this team,” he grumbled.
Nasty.
I bristled, but Ryan just sliced me a staying look before slicing it back to the man across the room. “Which nasty image in particular? The one where she sold out the seats for the first time in history for a WNBA game or the time where she led the team to the longest run they’ve ever had in the championships?”
“She has been getting special treatment since she started here,” he said, getting upset.
“Though I don’t really know what’s so special about being given the basic respect she deserves as an athlete, that’s what happens when you’re good, Rob. And Merit is great,” he spit. “She made a mistake. A small one. One that didn’t involve drinking, or injuring others, or the law. Are we not being a little extreme about it? A little, how is it put? Emotional?”
“I still want the interviews, Carmen.”
“Oh, I know. I just wanted to let you know where we stood, which is firmly in opposition to your treatment of the situation. But since we knew you would insist on some image-saving interview tour, here’s what’s going to happen.” Ryan leaned forward, sitting up at attention for the first time this whole meeting. This is what I had recognized over the years as his kill stance. He was ready. “She’ll do three events. Two can be your interviews. Your choice on the avenues and outlets. The last is mine. As I’ve said a multitude of times, Merit is a basketball player. She thrives best on things that play into that. I’ll find accommodations for something that will dodamage control for both Merit,your star player, and the team she leads. I can have all the details to you for approval in a week.”
“Now, wait just a moment,” Rob blustered. “We have professionals employed to deal specifically with these things. I can assure you we have it sorted, Mr. Carmen.”
“Yes, and I can assure you you’re wrong, Rob. I'm not asking to organize the damn thing, by all means, put your teams to use. I’m just telling you that if we must go to these lengths formyclient, which you can always change your mind about, this is how I want it done,” he said. When nothing followed from the opposing party, Ryan continued, “Now. As I said, she’ll do the interviews, but she will not be apologizing. She acted out of anger, but we are not putting up a front that here in Denver sports we overlook the transgressions of others and punish a certain few. I’m not standing for it. Find a way around protecting Ms. Cherry’s ego if you must, but a public apology that will just open Merit up for more pointed and inappropriate questioning will not be one of them.”
More silence followed although I suspected Rob was just fuming at this point. Ry went on, “Speaking of inappropriate questioning, let’s go over some. She is not ever to be asked of her family. Not about it currently, in the past, or in the future. As a matter of fact, personal questions are off the table in general.”
“Ry.” This was me, finally finding my voice. “I can answersome.”
He harrumphed and I knew it was because he hated being interrupted in front of others. He was very much of the “united front”mentality. Which is why he didn’t argue with me in front of our enemy.
“She can answer questions that extend only as far as her likes, dislikes, and hobbies. Her discretion is always ultimate. And the moment anything is too personal or someone gets pushy, it’s within her given right to stop,” Ryan amended in compromise.
If you could call that a compromise. I wouldn’t complain. I was grateful he added it, knowing it was solely for my protection.
Rob crossed his arms, huffing. “What’d you do? Kill somebody?”
Ryan picked up a pen and swiveled it across a piece of paper. “That is a great example of a violation of her personal boundaries. And now is a good time to tell you that anything said in this meeting will be documented and filed for our cases here.”
I’ve never seen someone look like they wanted to leave more than my GM did right then. A bad feeling settled in my stomach, almost like a premonition, but it was outweighed by the fact that Ryan was absolutely ripping into Rob right now. Something I could never do by nature of him being my boss.
“Fine,” he said, waving his hand and rising out of his seat. “We’ll change a few things around to fit your concerns. But so you know, being difficult doesn't do you any favors. Get those shots up, Ms. Jones. Or you’ll be finding a way to be the least personable player on somebody else’s team.”
I bit my cheek to stop from sneering.
I didn’t think Rob hated me, but I did think he hated that he didn’t have complete control over me. Being pawns in the big man’s game was an inevitable reality of any business, this one included, but performance didn’t lie. My numbers and rankings protected me from the fickleness of management always looking for the “next best”. That and the fact that our owner liked me. But I guess my immunity was running out with this newfound target on my back.
I hoped Ryan wasn’t bluffing about the documentation after he literally just threatened and insulted me for no good reason.
“Do I at least get to know what the fun play date you’re putting together for me is?” I asked Ryan once Manzinni was gone. I didn’t mean to be so snarky toward him, I just hated this situation.
He rose too, immediately giving me his back as he strode back to his desk. He didn’t even turn to look at me. “Out of my office, Jones.”
Chapter Eleven
Ira
