AllFreeNovel
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CHAPTER44
ZEKE
I’m fucking miserable,and my mind is racing, already on its way to Tennessee. I’m just waiting for my sister to finish her breakfast before driving me to the airport. I glance out the window to where Nova’s RV still sits in the driveway, covered in snow, and I miss her all over again.
“I can’t take it anymore.” Pris slams her coffee cup down on the table. “If you sigh one more time, I’m going to fucking smother you.”
She shoots a glare at me, her eye twitching with her frustration.
I just miss Tabby. She’d understand. She’d ramble off some bullshit about fate, true love and grand gestures, and how I’m doing the right thing. She’d skip breakfast to race me to the airport to go after the woman I love, like in one of her movies.
Right now, I need someone to tell me I’m doing the right thing.
My phone rings, and it startles me. Tabby’s number is on my screen like she’s psychic or something.
“Hey, did your spidey senses tingle?” I joke, and she breaths out a heavy screech.
“Zeke, what the actual fuck is going on?”
Both my sisters startle at her voice, and Pris snatches my phone from my hand, putting Tab on speaker.
“What are you talking about?” Pris asks.
“Pull up any celebrity gossip website you can think of, and you’ll see.”
I wrinkle my nose, exchanging a look with Pris like Tab is nuts.
“I don’t know any gossip sites,” I start, but Del is already tapping away on her phone.
Her mouth falls open, and she punches me in the arm. “No way.”
“What?” I snap the phone away from her, and Pris leans in to see.
I’m not sure what’s happening, but Pris mutters beside me. She gets it, and it still takes me a minute to recognize myself in these photos.
“That’s me,” I say, confusion making it sound like a question. “Why is that me?”
The photos are all of me, half a dozen or so of them. Me in my coveralls with sweat sticking my hair out in every direction. Me in bed that day Nova wanted to take a picture for some light thing.
Private photos.
The last one is me shirtless, standing in my bedroom doorway with baggy sweatpants. My hands are threaded through my hair, and I have a slightly startled look on my face. In the background, Nova is still curled up in bed, wrapped up in the blankets.
Wait…
That was when Dru was drinking coffee yesterday morning. My heart begins to hammer in my chest. In fact, the only photo I recognize is the one Nova took of me in bed. The rest aren’t hers.
“You see them? Did Nova sell you out, dude?” Tabby asks with a laugh in her voice. “You’re famous. You should read the comments. I’m fucking dying.”
Del takes the phone back, scrolling down.
“I’d storm the Canadian border for that lumberjack,” Del says and then bursts out laughing. “Oh my God, Zeke, this is hilarious. Listen to this one: ‘Fuckin eh, I’ll lick maple syrup off those abs any day.’”
Pris gags next to me, and Tabby cackles through the phone.
“The entire country music fan base is objectifying you.” Del keeps scrolling, making various faces that range from amusement to disgust, and I’m just plain confused.
“But…” I start, waiting for my brain to load like a slow internet connection. “I don’t like it.”
Pris claps my shoulder as she stands and gives me a know-it-all-look. “And I’m sure all the countless women you’ve objectified in the past would say you deserve it.”
The only thing I’m capable of is puffing my cheeks out and begging my sister to help me understand what’s going on.
A text comes in on my phone, and I slide the device closer to see.
There’s only one photo left. Forget about your Princess, or else it’ll be next.
