Page 4 of The Grouchy Lumberjack’s Bride

“Just make your plates,” Linc snaps at us.

Landry looks confused. “We’re using plates?”

Linc sighs. “Try to pretend you weren’t raised by feral wolves.”

When we’re all finally loaded with heavy plates of fancy food, we end up back at the poker table.

“Shortcake?” Grayson smirks as he looks at Linc.

He shrugs. “She’s Charlie’s niece. I’m just being nice.”

“Nice?” Landry scoffs. “I didn’t think you knew how to do nice.”

Linc scowls. “Fuck you.”

“See?” Landry holds out his hands as if showing proof.

Grayson eyes him thoughtfully. “What’s with the cutesy nickname?”

“She’s short. It’s no big deal,” Linc says evasively.

We finally move on to the game, but my brain is stuck on Linc’s nickname for Natalie. For some reason, it makes me think of Jade, which is fucking annoying.

I know why, though. Nicknames mean something. If Linc doesn’t realize that, he will eventually. When you have the urge to call a woman something cutesy, you may as well turn in your man card because you’re fucking whipped.

I mean, look at me. I called my best friend “Peanut” because she was petite, curvy, and obsessed with peanut butter. God, I used to love watching her eat peanut butter straight from the jar. Her controlling grandmother was always trying to get her to count calories and shit like that, so they never kept peanut butter in the house. But I loved Jade’s gorgeous curves and bought her a jar of peanut butter to keep in her locker at school.

It was one small thing I could do just for her. Something no one else could do. It’s stupid how providing for her made me feel like a man.

Now we can’t even be in the same room together.

I haven’t seen her since Caleb and Madison’s wedding nearly a year ago. Well, I’ve seen her at the grocery store, and when I pumped gas, she drove past in her bright blue electric car. She’s the reason a town as small as Saddle Creek has a charger for that sort of vehicle. Pretty ironic considering Jade’s money comes from her grandfather’s massive oil company.

Natalie emerges from the direction of Linc’s bedroom and stands next to my chair. "I thought I recognized you earlier but couldn't place you. Then you said something about making me charcuterie boards, and I didn't put two and two together until I was back in the room scrolling on my phone. I know the internet fame brings you only positive attention, but how do you handle being the Shirtless_Lumbersnack when you're out in public?"

The room is still and quiet, and the guys look at me.

I stare at Linc. "What is she talking about?"

"No clue.” He glances up at her. “Shortcake, no one here is internet famous. These fuckers don't even know how to use social media."

Landry snorts. "I've got that hook-up app."

We all ignore him.

Natalie shakes her head. She points directly at me. "No, he is the Shirtless_Lumbersnack." She hands her phone to Linc.

He stares at the phone and then starts to laugh. "Oh, shit. Man, tell me this ain’t you." He passes her phone over to me.

I stare down at the small screen. It's a video of me chopping into a massive chunk of wood. It takes me a couple of moments to place the video. It's the one I used to make the sculpture of the longhorn that is now housed outside a building on the University of Texas campus. There's some pop song playing in the background. At one point, I whip my sweat-soaked t-shirt off my head and toss it behind me into the yard amidst the wood chips.

I know for damn sure I didn’t take this video. I didn’t even know it was being filmed. And there’s only one other person who was there that day. My pesky half-sister spent all afternoon sitting nearby, scrolling away on her damn phone. That’s what it looked like she was doing anyway.

"Son of a bitch!" I tug on my hair. "I'm going to kill her."

"You have a ton of followers asking you to open a paid page for fans," Natalie says.

"What's that?" Grayson asks.