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 even look like 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.
“Are you doing okay?” Cooper asks quietly.
“I met a girl,” I say carefully.
“Here?” Danny asks.
I nod.
“Fucking hell,” AJ mutters.
“What?” I ask.
“I thought I finally had someone to hit the town with, and your dumb ass is already off the market.”
I laugh. “It’s not like that. We’ve just been hanging out while we’re both here.”
“Is she local?” Cooper asks.
I shake my head. “She’s a guest. She’s, uh…she’s here for the month.”
“Just like you,” Danny muses.
I nod. “Just like me.”
“You need another?” AJ asks Danny when he notices both of their drinks are empty.
He nods and stands. “Do either of you need anything?”
We both shake our heads.
Once we’re alone, Cooper says, “Johnny wanted to come, but he had to head home to get some rehab on his shoulder.”
“He told me he might come by.”
“It was his idea. He didn’t want to miss out. What’s been going on with you?”
“Not much. I’ve been working out. They put in a private batting cage for me. My birthday’s tomorrow.”
“I meant with the girl, but happy birthday.”
“Oh.” I lift a shoulder. “We kept running into each other, kept trying to fight it, and eventually gave in.”
“Sounds like more than just hanging out while you’re here,” he says.
I take a sip of my beer and shake my head. “Nah. We’re from two different worlds. She’s based in Chicago. It wouldn’t work outside of here.”
“Anything can work if it’s important enough.”
I twist my lips. Maybe he’s right.
I spot a couple of women approaching Danny and AJ, and I realize our cover’s blown.
Shit.
I should’ve known better than to parade my pro ball player friends around here if I wanted to maintain some semblance of privacy.
It’s why I’m here, after all. Laying low.
“Does Troy know you all came down here?” I ask.
Cooper nods. “He encouraged it. Wanted to sneak down himself, but he needed to get back for meetings.”
“What about you? Is it hard being away from your wife and kid?”
He shakes his head, and then he smirks. “The little one is napping, and Gabby’s sitting on the balcony getting some Bahamian sunshine on her skin.”
“They’re here?” I ask, surprised.
“It helps that Gabby works for the team, but yeah. They’re pretty much always with me.”
“How will that change once your little one is in school?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow it down there, pal.”
I chuckle.
“Sunny’s just two and a half. We’ve got a little time before school, but Gabby’s great with her.
They do a lot of preschool-type stuff wherever we are.
She does the arts and crafts stuff when we’re home, but this girl already knows her ABCs and can count to ten.
” He says it proudly, but to be perfectly honest, I have no clue what the learning benchmarks are for a two-and-a-half-year-old.
“Impressive,” I say anyway.
He laughs. “As if you give a shit. Listen, how are you really doing? You know you can talk to m—” He’s interrupted when two women stop in front of our private cabana and stare at us.
“It’s true! They really are here!” one of them squeals.
“Where’s Danny Brewer?” the other one squeaks.
Oh, Jesus.
“Danny Brewer is right here,” he says, sauntering up to our cabana with a full drink in hand.
More squealing.
“Pleasure to meet you,” he says.
“We’re huge Bodegiacs!” the first one says, referring to the huge fandom of his wife, Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, actress, and all-around superstar Alexis Bodega.
“Well, who isn’t?” Danny asks, and the rest of us in the cabana chuckle.
“She’s the best!” the second one says.
“I firmly agree,” Danny says.
“Is she here?” the first one asks.
Danny shakes his head. “She’s still doing her residency in Vegas, and she’s home with the baby and our dog, Millie.”
“Your dog is named Millie?” I ask, my voice dry.
“That’s so funny! We saw you were all here on a travelgrammer’s account,” the first one blurts. “We had to come say hi!”
“A travelgrammer?” Cooper repeats. “What’s that?”
“Oh, an Instagrammer who focuses on travel,” the second one says. “This one is Millie’s Miles. She’s freaking amazing.”
“Millie, like my dog?” Danny asks, and I start choking on my beer as a sick feeling crawls up my spine.
These women saw us on Millie’s Miles?
Impossible.
She wouldn’t.
The first one pulls up the account on her phone and flashes her screen at us, and I see the video of Millie walking around the other side of the pool as she talks.
We’re totally visible in the background right here in this cabana we’re currently occupying.
It’s possible it was a coincidence, but my gut is telling me something else.
She said she wouldn’t…but she did.
She fucking did.
She did the exact thing she said she wouldn’t do.
“Excuse me,” I say to my friends, and I practically run from the pool area to my tower. I punch the elevator button with more force than is necessary, and I do the same once I’m inside the elevator.
When I get to my room, I draw in a shaky breath before I go inside.
She’s sitting at the table, and she’s crying.
“What did you do?” I whisper.
“I’m sorry,” she whimpers as she rises to a stand.
“I didn’t know what to do. It happened so fast. Diedrick was yelling at me, telling me he was going to blackball me in the industry if I didn’t get something moving, and he told me that I should feature you, but I told him no. I couldn’t do that to you.”
“But you did!” I roar.
“Everyone had their phones out at the pool! They were all taking pictures of you. It was just a matter of time,” she says, and that’s her defense? That someone else might have posted us anyway, so she did it first?
“Fuck!” I yell, slamming a fist onto the counter by the door. “You’re just like everyone else, Millie. Everyone who uses me just to get whatever it is they fucking want. My father, Tatum, everyone close to me. This happens every goddamn time.”
“I’m so sorry. I care about you so much.” Her tone is filled with desperate regret.
I press my lips together and nod. “Now you care. Now that you see what I can do for you. Now that you used me and did the exact thing I specifically asked you not to do. Convenient timing. We can’t even fucking sit by the pool and have a conversation because of what you did.
Because you let the world know exactly where we are. ”
“Someone else would have if I didn’t,” she says, her voice trembling.
“Don’t minimize what you did,” I hiss. “You intentionally went live right in that specific place because you knew it would go viral.”
“I didn’t know it would,” she says weakly. “It’s never guaranteed.”
“Then you hoped that. I thought we had a real chance, but it turns out I can't be with someone who only cares about likes and views and going viral. That doesn’t entitle you to violate my privacy.”
“You never gave any indication that you’d give this a real chance outside of here.
In fact, if anything, you were clear that there wasn’t a way to make this work outside of here.
What was I supposed to do? This is my entire career, Archer.
It's everything I've worked for, and the manager blackmailed me into featuring you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask. Before she can answer, I say, “I offered you a job working with my foundation. That was my way of telling you that I wanted to see you outside of here.”
“I’m not a mind reader, Archer. How was I supposed to know that?”
“Because I didn’t know how we’d make it work outside of here!
I’m returning to the game I love in a few weeks.
I won’t be around. I won’t have time to put into a relationship.
” I blow out a breath. “But it doesn’t matter.
You chose your career over what we could've had. I’d like you to get your stuff and leave my room now. ”
“Don’t do this, Archer. Just give me a chance to explain.”
“There’s nothing to explain. You made your choice, and now you’re just like the rest of them to me.” I press my lips together, and I pull my phone out of my pocket. I dial Clive’s number, and he answers right away.
“Yes, sir?”
“Clive, can you come to my room and pack up Millie’s belongings and escort her back to her room?” I ask.
“Of course, sir.”
I don’t say another word to Millie.
Instead, I walk out of the room to the sound of her muffled crying, and I make my way straight for the bar, the crack of my heart the only sound I hear over the rush of pain.