“Sure. I guess I just liked the Millie I got to be with for the last four hours,” he says quietly.
“I’m the same Millie.” I force a fake smile as I wave my phone in the air. “With or without this.”
He shakes his head again. “No, you’re not. Back there, you were focused on me. On us. On the fish, on the food, on the fuck. Here, you’re focused on that.” He nods to my phone.
“So I can just never be on my phone around you? You barely even know me, Archer, and I’m here to do a job.”
“Right. Because you’re not letting me get to know you. You’re putting on the same act you put on when you go live on your socials. But the Millie you were when it was just the two of us? That’s someone I could see myself fall—” He cuts himself off. “That’s someone I could see spending the next month with. That’s all. I shouldn’t have to compete with your phone. I guess I’ll see you around.”
“See you around?” I demand, and without thinking, I rise to a stand. I wince as the pain shoots through my ankle. “After you fucked me with no condom and stuck your fingers in my ass, that’s all I get? See you around, like it didn’t mean anything at all?”
“After you begged me to make you come, all I got was ignored once you had your device back in your hands. So…yeah. You’re making it pretty clear what it meant.” With those words, he walks out my door, and because of my fucking ankle, I’m powerless to chase after him.
I let out a frustrated grunt of annoyance. The nerve of that man!
Still, a tiny voice in my head can’t help but ask whether I’m the one in the wrong here.
He literally yelled my name to get my attention. He likes me when I’m not on my phone. He liked theintimacy we shared. Maybe he felt unseen because I picked up my phone when I got back.
But it’s for work. I’m only here because of my connection to socials, and that’s something he doesn’t seem to understand about me.
I mean…I could’ve waited. I could’ve said goodbye. We could’ve made plans for later or something so I could have a block of work time.
I could have handled everything differently, but he could have, too. He could be more understanding.
I push off the irritation clawing at me, and I glance around me. I shuffle a few things on the end table beside me, take a deep breath, and warm up my face by smiling and relaxing a few times. Smile, relax. Smile, relax.
I turn the camera to face me, and I stare at myself on the screen for a few beats.
I mean…I can’t go live like this. My mascara and eyeliner are streaked, and I have a huge red blotch on my forehead from lying with my head in the massage table face cradle while getting railed by a pro baseball player.
He didn’t care. He didn’t see the streaked makeup as a detriment to who I am as a person.
It’s a little scary how he can see past all that into what’s inside. The real me. The person I don’t really show anybody at all.
As I stare back at the girl staring at me on the phone screen, I realize the smile isn’t reaching my eyes.
And for the first time, I can’t help but wonder if he’s right.
CHAPTER 23: Archer Bradley
Surprise
I think about heading to one of the bars in this tower, but I don’t. I head to my room instead. Clive can get me a drink. All I have to do is ask. The minibar in my room has alcohol, though not likely what I’d order. Not that it matters.
I’m not sure why this has me so pissed off. I guess after showing her a good time this afternoon, I wanted her to see that she’s more than just her alter ego—only for her to grab her phone and tune out the rest of the world the very first chance she got.
It seems like it’s the only thing she cares about, and maybe I wanted something, anything, to close out what felt like a perfect afternoon to me.
I’ve only been with Tatum, and maybe I naively believed this second connection was something more than just sex despite our agreement that we’d just hang out for the month. But I felt unseen enough with Tatum as she ran around Vegas planning weddings.
Jesus.
I’m not sure where the thought comes from, but it’s the first time it hits me. Maybe all this goes deeper than I first realized.
The longer I’m here, the more I want it to be a chance to heal. I didn’t give myself that luxury after Tatum and I ended things and then she married my brother a few months later.
It feels like nothing is going my way, and I’m letting myself get buried in it. I can’t do that.
