“No, not kid like child, kid like … college kid.”
That made things even more confusing. What could she have done in college that she’d label a crime?
Before I could come up with any possibilities, we reached Hansen’s office and Kodi immediately knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Hansen shouted from the other side. Kodi took a shaky breath before opening the door.
“Good morning, Mr. Hansen.”
“Morning,” I said, pulling out one of the chairs in front of his desk and gesturing for Kodi to sit there. She gave me an odd look, but eventually took the seat.
“Mr. Hansen, I know you’re upset about the meme, but —”
“Ms. Davey,” Hansen said with a warning tone and Kodi shrunk back. And damn, I really didn’t like seeing her like that.
“Hansen, I know the internet shit can be bad for image or whatever. But its not like its something we can control andpeople’ll forget about it soon enough. Nothing happened that Kodi should be held accountable for.”
“Why’re you saying so many words?” Hansen asked with a raised eyebrow and I shrugged in response. “Okay, then maybe you can tell me whyyou’renot upset that your PA’s been caught yelling at you in public twice now?”
“I deserved to be yelled at,” I said, shrugging again, crossing my arms so I didn’t nervously scratch at my beard.
“You deserved it?” Hansen repeated. “How so?”
“I was being an ass.”
“You’re gonna have to give me more than that, Kean. From where I’m standing, it looks like you’re letting her disrespect you.”
“I never meant to —” Kodi started but Hansen held up a hand.
“Don’t interrupt her.” I took a step closer to Kodi’s chair, standing right behind her to make it clear I was on her side. “I don’t feel disrespected. So there’s no issue, right?”
“What you think only matters so much, Kean. The owners don’t want drama associated with the team’s image. And these incidents could very well create drama. You’ve gone from being unnoticed to being a meme.”
“Sir?” Kodi piped up, voice small. “Can I point out something?”
“Look, Ms. Davey, I understand you want to defend yourself, but the fact remains that —”
“The fact is she’s my PA and I’m not letting her go.”
Hansen’s eyes snapped to mine and my whole body stiffened as I realized how that sounded.
“She’s done an incredible amount of work for me already. And done it well.” I scratched at my beard, feeling my jaw tense underneath it. “Even when she has to deal with an asshole like me.”
Hansen leaned back in his seat, staring at me for a long moment before turning to Kodi. “Would you call him an asshole?”
“Overall?”
Hansen chuckled and sat up, lancing his fingers together and resting his elbows on his desk.
“Look, I understand butting heads, especially when you’re pushing Kean to do something outside his comfort zone. But this conduct doesn’t exactly assuage my fears about your professionalism.”
Kodi bit her lip and looked down at her lap.
“Have you not seen Kodi’s work?” I asked, shoulders stiffening. “She took my zero social presence to trending. I might not know what that means, but I know enough to say it’s impressive.”
I set a hand on Kodi’s shoulder and gave her a light squeeze before quickly pulling away. She straightened up and pulled her laptop from her bag.
“What I wanted to point out was that while yes, the meme got Kean’s name trending, so did this.” She turned her screen to Hansen. “This post has more engagement than the most popular version of the meme. So while I definitely shouldn’t have pointed a finger at Kean like that —”
