Page 60 of Nash

“Yeah, that’s why they all do,” I say. “The attention is a good icebreaker for making deals. I’ve been setting up several meetings to talk spotlight edits with a bunch of different Badgers. I even have one set up for Liam’s friend, Darrell.”

“Oh, yikes, good luck with him.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know,” she says, hesitantly. “Whenever he’s with Liam, it’s like…they feed off of each other. Liam turns into a different guy when he’s around his friends, so I try my best toonly see him solo, which is pretty easy since he lives right next door to me.”

“If you think his friends are a red flag…” I say, letting my sentence hang there.

“I know, Blakely and Pax have already lectured me enough. It’s not like it’s super serious between us, we’re just having fun. Well, I am. He’s serious sometimes.”

“Meaning?”

“He does a lot of drop-bys,” she says. “Which I guess is normal since he’s literally right down the hall from me. But still, you know me, I like a heads-up. Plus, he keeps trying to lock down all these future plans and you know I’m not about that.”

“I know you hate planning too far out,” I say. “Have you told him it’s a more casual thing for you?”

“Yes,” she says. “But he laughs and jokes about if it’s not serious then why do I see him so much?”

“But you see him so much because half the time he’s dropping by unannounced?”

“Yep.”

“Sounds…fun?”

Monroe laughs. “It’s definitely interesting. I do have fun with him, especially when he’s not around Darrell or Jake. So, there’s that.”

“Okay, well, you know I’m here if you ever need to talk that out more.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m good now. Again, I’ve told him a dozen times I’m not a serious relationship person. If he doesn’t accept that soon, I’ll dip out.” She sighs. “Now, what are you going to do? It sounds like the video is mostly doing what you want it to do, which is get your player attention.”

“Right, it is. If I delete it, he’ll lose all that traction and won’t have it as a reference for deals. And I would turn off the ability to comment, but the interaction only propels the views.”

“Shit, I don’t envy your career right now.”

“I never envy yours,” I tease. “I could never learn every muscle name and function, let alone how to manipulate them to give the team relief.”

“We all have our talents,” she says. “Yours is definitely helping the team too, just in a different way. I don’t think the comments are bad enough yet to risk losing him a potential deal.”

I blow out a breath. “I’m leaning that way too. I’ll keep an eye on it though. Hopefully they don’t get worse, but you know the internet.”

“Yeah, feed it what it wants too much and eventually it’ll shit on you.”

“Exactly. Okay, thanks for talking this out with me.”

“Anytime, babe.”

“Love.”

“Love,” she says before hanging up.

I set down my phone, rubbing my palms over my face. I feel better after talking to her, but I still have that nagging sensation at the back of my mind that just won’t quit.

My phone vibrates on my desk, and I scoop it up, fully expecting it to be Monroe calling back because she forgot to tell me something…

But it’s not.

It’s Crossland McClaren, owner of the damn Badgers.

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