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The hair on the back of my neck prickles to attention. “What do you know?”
“Did Keller break the camera?” Her volume increases with every word.
“No, but I kind of wish he had. We were kissing at the bottom of the zip line, and there he was, shoving his fancy Nikon in our faces. I almost kicked his ass myself!”
“Kennedy!” She lets out an earsplitting shriek. “You can’t beat up the Eve’s Orchid photographer!”
Jordan’s look screams I told you so.
“Why is an Eve’s Orchid photographer stalking me?” I shout the words back at her.
“He’d better keep his damn distance,” Jordan mutters in one ear while Nicole huffs in the other.
“Tell Tarzan to calm down.” She snorts. “The dude isn’t stalking you. He’s taking pictures for the feature.”
Discovering the guy’s identity doesn’t stop my skin from crawling. The truth makes me feel even more violated than before.
I glance at Jordan, deathly still in the driver’s seat. “How long has he been following me?”
“A few days.” I hear the shrug in her voice.
“How many is a few?” Memories of Elijah kissing me on the boat knock the wind out of me, and I fight off the panic, reminding myself that we were in the middle of Lake Lanier. Surely I would’ve noticed someone taking pictures.
“Uh . . .” She pauses, clearly stalling. “Friday? I think. Eve’s people thought it would be a nice touch to send photographers.”
I close my eyes and concentrate on my breathing. “It wasn’t nice. It was embarrassing. He took pictures of us kissing.”
“There are worse things,” she reminds me.
A list of worse things piles up in my head, and I shove it back again, thankful Jordan can’t read minds.
“Think of it this way,” Nicole says. “When you finally pick Keller, it won’t come as a shock.”
“You should’ve told me.”
Nicole goes uncharacteristically quiet for a moment. “You’re right, but if I’d told you, you would’ve said no.”
She isn’t wrong. But I’m also sure she’s still hiding something. “What else haven’t you told me?”
The silence stretches between us, making me nervous.
“Nicole?” I roll my eyes. “I can hear you breathing.”
She lets out a slow breath. “I’m still here.”
“What else are you keeping from me?”
“Nothing much.”
She doesn’t elaborate, so I wait. I’ve known her forever, and I can tell when she’s holding back. The longer the pause, the bigger the bombshell.
“Okay, fine.” She sighs. “But it’s not a big deal.”
Jordan chuckles and shakes his head. “Famous last words . . .”
“Just a little photo shoot?” I gape at the chaotic scene playing out in front of me. We didn’t even announce the final four contestants until late Sunday night, so I have no idea how they pulled off such an elaborate setup in less than a week.
I should’ve known when Nicole brushed it off as nothing that it would end up being a total clusterfuck.
