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Oliver

Angry. I was so fucking angry.

My anger was fueling my body as I walked fast along the sidewalk, head down, hands shoved in my pockets, bracing myself against the frosty air.

Winter had well and truly arrived, bringing bitter frosts and the first few snowflakes of the season.

And I was stomping along, getting angry at the weather, at the cold, at myself, at Asher.

Mainly at Asher.

I knew there'd be trouble when he kissed me at school. Fucking knew it. Not only did he push me up against the wall a few weeks ago, he'd made a show of blowing a kiss at me on the football field in front of the school.

The. Whole. Fucking. School.

Jackass.

Blowing out a breath, I shivered with anger.

Now, Sofia knew about us.

Of course she knew about us. It was going to happen at some point. Because Asher couldn't keep his hands to himself. He was becoming reckless.

Sofia. Of all the worse people.

I would rather Chloe find out about us than Sofia. At least I was on friendly terms with Chloe.

I stomped faster along the walkway.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Sofia had turned to blackmail. Told Asher that she wanted him back. Wanted to have him all to herself. He'd told her no. And she'd stomped off. A bit like what I was doing right now.

He told me that he hadn't seen or heard from her since then. But that didn't mean she was gone. Wasn't going to cause trouble. She had that photo for fuck's sake. How many more photos of us did she have?

I mean, Asher had given her lots of opportunities with the amount of flirting, touching and kissing he'd done at school lately.

Dumbass.

Absolute fucking dumbass.

Of course she was going to use it. Just the way she acted when Dylan was through with her was enough to make me believe she wouldn't let this go.

I had a bad feeling about the whole situation as I marched along, cursing out the man in my life that had caused all of this.

And it wasn't like I could see Sofia to talk her out of it. School was out.

It was Christmas. A time of happiness. Gratitude. Joy. Singing.

And I felt like strangling someone. Beating someone up.

I growled to myself.

Some Christmas this was turning out to be.

My brother wasn't coming home for Christmas this year. Dad was constantly holed up in his office. Asher was worrying about Sofia turning up at his house, so he was hanging around there, keeping an eye out, ready to intercept her if it came to it. Mason and his family were on vacation somewhere warm. Even Chloe had plans over the Christmas period. All my other friends were doing something, going somewhere.

So, here I was, on the way to kill some time with the one guy who always had my back. The guy I could always rely on. The guy who I knew wouldn't give blackmailers any photo opportunities. Even though he was a pain in my ass.

Jogging up the porch steps, I rang the doorbell of Jenson's house and took a step back to blow warm air onto my freezing hands.

Fuck. It was cold.