CHAPTER 43 Millie Monroe
A New Reality
As I wander through my quiet apartment by myself, I can’t help but wonder if Diedrick would still accept my signature on the paperwork.
It’s a ridiculous notion since I don’t want the position anymore, but anything has got to be better than sulking around here.
I pull up his number and very nearly dial it, but I can’t make myself press it.
What would I even say?
Hey old pal, I changed my mind.
Except I haven’t. If I accepted it at this point, it would only be because I’m miserable and need to change things up, to get out of this situation, to figure out some way to smile again.
It feels like the only way I could possibly ever smile again is in Archer’s arms.
We were good together. So good. We deserve a shot at this in the real world.
But I guess this is my new reality.
I get that he’s mad. But if I can just find some way to get in touch with him, if he would just give me five minutes, I feel like I could explain everything.
It was the wrong thing to do, and I want to tell him how once I checked out of the resort, I took the video down.
I already know he doesn’t have social media, so I skip trying to track him down.
I think about messaging one of his teammates, but I highly doubt Danny Brewer would even find my message since surely he gets a million a day from fans of his wife.
I doubt Cooper Noah would bother with messages in his requests folder.
I pull open Instagram and search Ford Bradley. He’s the only one who might recognize my name.
His feed is curated, though. It doesn’t look like he’s the one actively posting.
I search for his other siblings, too, but I doubt any of them know my name or would give me the time of day.
I’d just look like another crazy fan. And besides that, he’s not really all that close with any of his siblings, so it just feels like another dead end.
I pull up the Vegas Heat’s website. Maybe there’s someone there I can email?
But how would that even go? Hello, my name is Millie ,and I met one of your players on vacation and now I want to apologize.
Yeah, no.
Another dead end.
I’m still staring at my phone screen trying to figure out what to do when a text comes in from Jackie.
Jackie: How’s your finger?
Instead of texting her back, I call her.
“What do you need?” Jackie answers, immediately going into caretaker mode.
“A strong drink,” I deadpan.
“Come stay with us for a few days. I don’t want you to be alone.”
I sigh, and honestly, that sounds like my best option right now. Wandering around this place in the quiet isn’t doing me any favors. “I don’t want to impose.”
“We want you here,” she says quietly.
“Promise you don’t mind?”
“I promise.”
“God, I’m lucky I have you.”
“And Chip,” she reminds me.
I pack a bag of clothes and toiletries, and I pack another bag of comfort items—a pillow, a blanket, and a stuffed animal.
I grab my charger, and I’m good to go. At the last minute, I grab my laptop. I haven’t been checking emails or socials or anything over the last few days, and I should probably go through some things tomorrow before my shift.
I throw it all into my car and head on over to Jackie and Chip’s place. They live about ten minutes from me, right next to Renegade’s, and Jackie opens the door the second I ring the bell, like she was waiting for me.
She pulls me into a hug, and Chip joins her from behind, so she’s the meat in a hug sandwich.
“Come on in. Chip will bring your stuff to the guest room, and I made you a drink,” she says. “And snacks. A big cheese plate. Let’s go dig in.”
And we do. We’re digging into some fantastic sharp cheddar when Chip walks back into the room.
“Have you thought about trying to get in touch with him?” he asks gently.
I lift both shoulders. “To be honest, I don’t know how.”
“Teammates? Siblings? Team office?” Chip suggests.
I shake my head. “I’ve been through all the scenarios, and I can’t imagine one where I don’t sound like a lunatic fan with a deranged crush.”
Jackie sighs and grabs another chunk of cheese from the board in front of us.
“What about the resort?” Chip asks. “Is there anyone there who you got to know who might be able to get you his number?”
“Clive,” I say immediately.
“Clive?” they repeat at the same time.
“He was Archer’s personal butler. Archer would text him a question, and he’d show up with the answer. Like our first night there, we wanted to get naked, but neither of us had condoms, and he showed up with a whole basket of sex goodies.”
Jackie giggles and repeats, “Sex goodies.”
I lift a shoulder. “You should’ve seen this butt plug.”
“Annnd I’m out,” Chip mumbles, and I can’t help a small laugh at that.
As hard as all this is, at least I have my friends. It makes me feel like I’m not quite so alone.
I glance at the clock. It’s two in the morning back in the Bahamas. Maybe I’ll try Clive in the morning.
We head to bed shortly after that, but I just toss and turn all night.
The bed is comfortable, and I have my pillow and blankets from home, but I can’t sleep.
It’s the same the next night, and again the next.
I’m up and at ’em bright and early on Friday morning after tossing and turning all night, and rather than be the rude guest who wakes the entire house far too early, I grab my laptop. I haven’t been through my email in a week, and I have over seven hundred unread messages to get to.
It all starts with one.
I delete the first few from various networks and partner programs that I subscribe to. I’m not even sure if I still need to be subscribed to them with everything up in the air right now.
I find a few sponsorship offers, and I read them but don’t reply to or delete any of them just yet.
And then my heart stutters to a stop when I spot the name in the from field on one of the emails sent recently.
Cooper Noah.
Cooper Noah emailed me? Is this legit, or is this spam from someone who saw the viral video and decided to fuck with my emotions?
I open the email and check the sender’s address before I read the message.
The domain is from the Vegas Heat.
I toss it into a search to make sure it’s legitimately from the organization, and it appears that it is.
I read the email.
Hi Millie,
We never formally met, but I feel like I know you because my wife is a huge fan of your blog.
It took me a minute to put it together, but you’re the blogger who’s got my teammate all twisted up over some viral video.
Archer is miserable without you, and I thought you should know.
He’s too stubborn and stupid to do anything about it, and he has no idea I’m trying to get in touch with you.
If you’d like to talk, feel free to reply to this email or give me a call.
-Cooper
His phone number is at the bottom of the email, and beneath that, he listed Archer’s phone number.
I read it no less than twelve times, tears pinching behind my eyes with each new read.
This is wild. Not only is his wife a fan…but Archer is miserable without me?
I’m miserable without him, too!
What if this is the exact door I need to step through?
I think it just might be, and my heart pounds as I start to dial the number…only to realize that it’s five in the morning in Vegas.
I blow out a breath.
I can’t text him or call him now. Not this early.
And I can’t stay in this bedroom. I’m too antsy. I need to go for a walk or something.
I head out to the kitchen, and Jackie’s already up.
“Good morning, sunshine,” she says. She stretches and yawns.
“What are you doing up so early?”
“Couldn’t sleep. You?” she asks.
“Same. So I opened my laptop and started going through my email, and guess who emailed me?”
She twists her lips. “Archer?”
I shake my head. “No. Cooper Noah.”
“Cooper Noah emailed you? Like the baseball player Cooper Noah?”
I nod. “And he said his wife is a fan of mine!”
“Oh my God!” she squeals.
“Right! But even better, he said Archer is miserable!”
She looks like she’s about to squeal again, but then the words seem to register, and her brows push together. “Wait…what?”
I laugh. “Without me.”
“Oh! Right.”
“He also gave me Archer’s number,” I say.
“Are you going to use it?”
I twist my lips. “He never answers his phone. Even when he knows who’s calling. An unknown number doesn’t stand much chance.”
“Hm, yeah. Good call. So are you going to reply to Cooper?”
“He gave me his number, too, and I’m going to call him. But I didn’t want to wake him up, so I’m trying to be patient, which is not happening.”
“Okay, let’s get your mind off this. We need to occupy you with…” She glances around the kitchen, and then she figures it out. “Food! Let’s go out for breakfast! You can call when we get back.”
“Food, yes. Eggs, hash browns. Toast.”
“Mm, toast,” we say at the same time, and then we both laugh.
“What are you ladies cackling about this early in the morning?” Chip’s sleepy voice asks.
“Toast,” we say at the same time again.
He shuffles over to his wife and plants a kiss on her lips. “Why are you both so chipper and loud only five hours after we went to sleep?”
“Guess who emailed her?” Jackie asks.
He raises both brows. “Archer?”
“Cooper Noah.”
He chokes on something. “Cooper Noah has your email address?”
“Apparently his wife’s a big fan,” I say as if it’s no big deal when I was squealing about it literally twelve seconds ago.
“Holy shit. What did he say?” Chip asks.
“That Archer is miserable without me, and he wants to talk to me.” I’m bouncing excitedly on the balls of my feet.
Chip looks confused. “He Cooper or he Archer?”
“Both, I think. But Cooper told me to get in touch with him. Except it’s five in the morning in Vegas, so Jackie and I are going to get some breakfast while we wait for a more respectable hour when I can call him. Want to come?” I ask.
He yawns. “I’ll leave you two to it. I’m going to work out.”
Jackie snorts. “Right. Don’t believe him. He’s going back to bed.”
Chip winks at his wife and shuffles out of the room, and we walk to our bedrooms separately to get ready for breakfast as hope blooms in my chest for the first time since the last time I went live on Instagram.