I can’t even really draw in a deep breath since I’m underwater, so I float up to the surface and spit my snorkel out. I pull my mask off so I can take a deep breath in through my nose and blow it out.
She bobs up to the surface a second later. “Oh my God, I amsosorry! Are you okay? Do you need me to rub it?”
“No,” I grunt. “I just need a second.” The pain is already starting to pass, and I take a few more deep breaths in. Once I regain my composure, I look her square in the eyes. “Yeah, I’ll definitely need you to rub it later. With your tongue.”
I pull my mask back on and shove the snorkel back in my mouth, diving back under the water before she can respond.
I can’t help a little laugh to myself as I realize despite the shot to the nuts, I haven’t had this much fun since…
I’m not even sure I can pin a date on that. Since before Tatum and I started drifting, I guess. But even back then, there was always this sense that I was with her out ofconvenience and obligation rather than out of actual want. I love her, don’t get me wrong. I will always love her. But she’s the one who chased me down.
When we were in college and it looked more and more like I’d get the opportunity to play professionally, she was my safe haven, someone who loved me for me rather than the fact that I might go pro. She was the easy choice because she knew me. She understood me.
Sometimes we think we’re in a situation where we’re with the right person, but that doesn’t mean they’re the right person forever…just for now.
Maybe that’s why this thing with Millie feels so easy. There’s no pressure of what the future might hold for us since we’ve already agreed to the end date.
But as each day that passes brings us closer to that end date, the sense of dread that this is all going to be swallowed up by the past seems to bear down more and more. I thought I’d be ready to get the hell out of here after a month, that I’d be ready to get back to training so once my suspension was over, I could get back out on the field and back to doing what I love most in this whole world.
Now…I’m not so sure anymore.
CHAPTER 30: Millie Monroe
I Offered to Rub Them
“Why were you thrashing around in the water?” he asks as we take our flippers off after our deep-sea adventure.
I wince a little. “A fish brushed against my leg.”
He stares at me like I’ve grown two heads.
“What?” I ask as I toss my flippers into a bin.
“A fish? In the ocean? Oh my God, sound the alarms!”
“Fuck off,” I mutter, and he laughs. “It scared me! I thought it was like a jellyfish or something, and I didn’t want you to have to pee on my leg.”
“So you kicked me in the balls instead?” he asks.
“Not on purpose! I’m sorry! I offered to rub them!”
A woman with two kids opens the gate to the station where we left our shoes, clearly having overheard our entire conversation.
“Why would someone rub someone else’s balls, Mommy?” one of the kids asks.
My eyes widen, and Archer chokes on something.
I make an apologetic face at the mom, mutter, “Sorry,” and grab my shoes. I take off with Archer right behind me, laughing his ass off.
I storm over toward the waterslides, and he gives me a look like I’m nuts as I fold my arms over my chest. I drum my fingertips against my bicep. “Let’s go, slugger.”
He shoots me a wry glare, and then he leads the way up the stairs.
Up, up, up we go. There must be more than a hundred stairs to get to the top, and I’m winded by the time we arrive. Archer, however, is not. He’s nervous, but he’s not panting the way I am. He’s not feeling the burn in his calves the way I am, either.
It’s both hot and annoying at the same time.
“You first,” he says, holding out a hand.
