get everything on track. I’ll talk to you soon, okay?
Oooooh, you’re lucky. I love you, Tabby. Go get to work! But I expect full, explicit details ASAP. Love ya!
Love you too. Zevris sent that last message and was about to press the lock button on the phone when he stilled his thumb.
His frown deepened as he closed the message application. There was a social media app right there on Tabitha’s home screen, taunting Zevris. Though Tabitha had mentioned she made and shared videos online, she didn’t strike him as the type of person who publicized much of her life. Going into that app wasn’t likely to tell him much about her.
But there was someone else he wanted to see.
He pressed on the icon, and as soon as the app loaded, he pressed the magnifying glass to initiate a search. He gritted his teeth as he entered the name, straining to keep his thumbs from slamming down on the screen.
The name Cody Everton yielded no results—at least not any who were located within several hundred miles. After a few seconds of thought, Zevris navigated to Tabitha’s block list. Surely enough, Cody Everton was there, having the distinction of being the one and only profile Tabitha had blocked.
Zevris locked Tabitha’s phone, returned it to his pocket, and took out his own phone to perform another search. Somehow, he knew just by the man’s picture that the first Cody Everton on the list of search results was Tabitha’s ex. Zevris tapped the name.
His jaw muscles only tensed further as he scrolled through Cody’s profile. The man had posted numerous pictures of himself, many of which were in expensive looking shirts and ties. He seemed to never have his sunglasses off, even when indoors. But scattered through those were pictures of Cody in athletic wear or without a shirt, flexing in front of mirrors or in the middle of a gym. He was tall, with brown eyes and blond hair that was pulled up in a bun atop his head, and his body was muscular and toned.
The self-taken images were broken up by posts of what Cody must have considered wisdom—platitudes pertaining to things like positive mindsets, hard work, and not complaining unless one could offer a solution for the problem. Sprinkled throughout were also what Zevris assumed to be jokes, though he found no humor in them.
Zevris tapped on the photos tab and scrolled down. There were numerous images of Cody with different women, several of which were marked with captions like Feeling so blessed or So happy to have met the love of my life! As he delved deeper, he noticed the changes to Cody’s body in reverse—the man must’ve packed on a significant amount of muscle over the last couple years.
Zevris had scrolled through hundreds of images when his finger halted, and fire flared in his belly. Because there, buried deep in all the bullshit, was a series of pictures of Cody and Tabitha.
Zevris’s hand tensed, and he had to exert most of his willpower to ease it so he didn’t break his phone. In most of the pictures, Cody seemed to be the one holding the camera. He was often angled to be in front of her, giving himself prominence. In the earlier pictures, Tabitha was smiling, looking happy, but that changed over time. She looked shyer in the later photos, like the light had faded from her eyes. In the last few, she appeared to be uncomfortable, avoiding the camera.
The blend of fury and jealousy that boiled inside Zevris was as volatile as a star on the verge of exploding. Seeing his mate with another male was more than he could bear, but knowing that male had treated her poorly, had failed to care for her and cherish her as she deserved, filled him with a murderous rage he’d rarely felt outside of traveling human roadways at rush hour.
If he ever encountered this Cody Everton face to face, there’d likely be one less male on this world before everything was done.
He forced himself to exit the application and lock his phone, stuffing the device in his back pocket before he could be tempted to open it again. The past didn’t matter; he couldn’t let it matter. Cody and any other males she’d dated had had their chances. Now was Zevris’s time.
Tabitha was his. All he needed to do was win her over…
And Mia had given him a good idea to pamper his female and help her relax.
Sixteen
Tabitha sat on