He’s going to find out, and I can play it off like I didn’t realize he was back there, or I can be honest.
I need to be honest. I know I do. But I’ll deal with it later.
“That’s all for now, champagne travelers! Catch you with more Millie’s Miles soon.” I take a few selfies—or at least that’s how I try to make it look as I get a few clear shots of the ballplayers behind me, and then I head back to Archer’s room.
He left a note for me on top of my laptop. It’s sitting on the table where we were working together earlier today, and I cry as I read it.
Some friends surprised me. Down at the pool. Come join us so I can introduce you.
I just violated their privacy. All of them.
Why the hell did I do that?
Fuck!
Guilt racks me.
I can’t take it back now.
It’s a live broadcast.
I could delete it, but…
I open Instagram and take a look.
It’s still gaining views. Comments. Likes. Reposts. Shares.
I’ve gained over six thousand new followers just since I posted the video. I’m edging in on the incredibly coveted six figures of followers.
More baseball player content will push me over.
But it’ll also ruin the best thing in my life right now.
The thing that has an end date stamped on it.
My hands are tied here. I pull open the photos I took down at the pool and get started on editing.
CHAPTER 36: Archer Bradley
Travelgrammer
I’m sitting back in a lounge chair inside a cabana as I tip a beer to my lips, laughing over something Danny just said.
They’re filling me in on everything I’ve missed over the first twenty-four games of the season.
Sixteen left until I’m back in.
I’m conflictingly ecstatic and depressed over that fact.
It feels good to be with my teammates again. They’re brothers to me, sometimes more than my actual brothers, but even with them, I tend to stick to myself. They know me, but not really on a deep level.
They know they can depend on me to catch the pop flies that wind up in left or to donate to their charities. They know I’m a man of few words. They know my family situation is complicated and that I recently got out of a long-term relationship.
But they don’t know the deeper stuff, the wounds of feeling like I’m always being used, that I don’t really feel worthy of the successes I’ve had or the love I’ve been given, or the feeling of always being on the outside looking in, even with my own family. Hell, I’m the lone Bradley sibling with lighter hair and hazel eyes, while the rest of them have darker hair and eyes. I don’t evenlooklike I fit in.
Millie knows that stuff, though. She’s one of the two people I’ve let in.
I wonder if Tatum tells Ford that stuff about me or if the real me is something she kept sacred between us.
