A Surreptitious Relationship

:A Surreptitious Relationship: Chapter Twenty-Six

“Wait, wait, I have one more!”

I held my breath in anticipation. There couldn’t be anything worse. Jeremy hadn’t pulled any stunts like that in a long time.

“Here.”

When my eyes landed on the next picture, they widened. It was a picture taken from behind us. Jeremy was kissing me on the cheek, his face visible on at a side view. You could only see the back of my head in the picture. My eyebrows furrowed together. I couldn’t remember a time where Jeremy had kissed me on the cheek. I didn’t even own that blue striped polo I was wearing in the picture… I nearly gasped when realization hit me. The reason I didn’t remember the scene was because that wasn’t me. It was the other Holly. Jeremy’s cousin.

“I see you recognize the picture,” Aaron commented, snapping his phone shut. “Now you understand I can easily tell on you guys, right?”

“Did Shawn send you those pictures?” I interrogated, narrowing my arms. He would be the only person who would send Aaron pictures to get me in trouble. Maybe having Aaron think Jeremy and I were dating was part of a bigger plan.

Aaron snorted. “Shawn’s in jail. What do you think?”

“That one of his followers did it,” I responded, gritting my teeth.

“My lips are sealed,” Aaron told me, placing a finger against his lips. “I just wanted to let you know you really do have to do what I ask you to. I bet you’d feel like crap Mr. Ross got fired because of you, right? As long as you do what I say, I won’t tell.”

I kept my mouth shut. Apparently Aaron didn’t know that last picture wasn’t me. But even so, there were those two other pictures where it was very obvious it was me in them. The faculty didn’t know about the other Holly. They would just assume that third picture was me and that I was in a relationship with Jeremy. “What do you want me to do?” I finally responded with a sigh.

An expression of superiority crossed his face. “Well first of all—”

Before he had the chance to move, I snatched his phone from his hand. Surprise crossed his face as I swiftly ducked out from under his arm, turning to run back to the gym. If I could delete those pictures, I was home free.

“Holly!” he shouted after me.

I ignored him, flipping open the phone. Seconds later I felt my arm being tugged back in a rough manor. The phone nearly slipped from my hands. I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Aaron glaring at me. He reached for the phone but I quickly moved it out of his way. How was he standing on his ankle? Wasn’t it injured?

“Give me my phone,” he ordered, clenching my arm in his hand.

I winced, shaking my head. “No.” I attempted to push him away, but he just held onto me tighter.

“Don’t make me hurt you,” he warned, yanking my body closer to his. With his free hand, he grabbed the front of my shirt. “I’m not someone you want to mess with.”

I held my ground. “I’ve fought off gangsters tougher than you, Aaron.”

In one, swift motion he had me against the brick wall of the hallway, one of my arms pinned behind my back. “I wouldn’t be too sure.”

“What do you want from me?” I demanded, clenching my jaw. I wasn’t going to show him I was afraid of him.

“Payback,” he replied simply. “Shawn was like my father. My father who you sent to jail.”

“He tried to kill me—”

Aaron cut me off. “The least I can do for him is get his revenge. He asked me to do one simple thing.”