AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We all support you, by the way.” She offered a thumbs up. “Even before the news about your family stuff came out.”
I stared down at Anna, embarrassed, flattered, and a little weirded out by total strangers discussing my life like it was some Netflix true-crime documentary.
I mean, you never know. Tabby always wanted a shot at Hollywood.
Anna nodded, grinning. “If I knew that it was Farrow Ballantine under the weird glasses and hat, I would’ve listened to your advice sooner.” She turned to Dallas. “You let your friend leave the house like that?”
Just like that, on a sleepy weekday evening, I ended up the coach of a sassy thirteen-year-old.
T-MINUS 20 DAYS.
Today’s lethal dose of misery came from the usual suspects—Celeste Ayi, Mom, and their delusions that the wedding would continue as planned.
(Mom still refused to accept defeat. Celeste Ayi considered the prospect of returning her custom-made dress a national travesty.)
Mom sat at the island, before a massive binder that contained the names of every member of our family—past and present. “Zachary, are you not worried about finalizing the guest list?”
“Is someone getting married?” I stabbed into an egg yolk, just to watch it bleed, and moved on to the mango. “Certainly not me. My engagement was canceled.”
I sipped my espresso, wondering what Farrow was doing right now. Working? Practicing on the piste? Causing trouble with Dallas?
The fact that she lived across the street yet still managed to avoid me could be used as a CIA case study. Even as I channeled my inner Joe Goldberg. Working in front of the window. Fucking up all my calculations. Glancing up every ten seconds to see if she’d passed by.
Not my finest moment.
“Don’t be silly.” Mom flipped a page in the binder, stamping a tab onto the outer margin. “Eileen forwarded me her guest list.”
“Speaking of Eileen, I filed a missing persons case for her this morning.”
Well, tried to.
Apparently, one could not file a missing persons case for the sole reason that they responded to everyone but you.
Mom stared at me as if I’d joined the Moonies and wanted to fork over my net worth. “She’s busy working hard on creating the wedding of our dreams. It’s best not to bother her for the next few months.”
“I would love to not bother her for the next fewlifetimes.”
“Oh.” Celeste Ayi dove forward, jabbing a finger at a name. “Let’sinvite Xiao Bai to the tea ceremony. Maybe she’ll finally cough up the recipe for her dan dan noodles.”
“Don’t bother. You’ll get the ingredients but not the measurements.” Mom swatted her hand away, pausing at a name. “How about Olivia? She’s darling.”
“A darling bitch.” Ayi took a butter knife to the page, scratching her out of the Zhao family records. “So condescending just because she spoke better English than me. So what if I didn’t know slang when I first came?Fuck youwas easy enough to learn.”
Shards of their conversation slashed through my consciousness. Something hot and violent stirred inside me.
I downed the espresso like a shot, discarding it on the island before tugging my phone out of my pocket. My knuckle brushed my dick along the way.
That was enough to elicit a hiss from my lips.
No one told me I’d be reduced to animalistic needs after losing my virginity. With Octi away, I’d gone from fucking three to four times a day to zero.
Suddenly, Oliver von Bismarck’s entire existence made infinitely more sense.
I hadn’t even jerked off since she’d waltzed out of my life, leaving me in chaos. Not for lack of effort.
Last night, when I pulled up random porn, I couldn’t even get hard.
Fine. I missed Farrow.
