“What was that?” I ask him.
“Nothing. I’m going to go help with hanging the lanterns.”
I grab his arm as he starts walking away and I pull him back, keeping my grip on his wrist.
“Talk to me. You’ve been doing this all week.”
“Nothing to talk about.”
He’s still holding his phone in the other hand and in a quick movement, I reach and snatch it out of his hand.
He lunges to grab it from me, but I’m faster.
I turn and look down at the screen, and my chest tightens.
I seeCallum’sfucking username on the screen.
It’s private messages between him and Oliver on Insta, and my spine goes cold reading even one of the messages.
CallumXvX: It would be so easy. Snap ur fucking neck if I see u in another pic with him.
OliverAshford: You’re a sick freak, and you need to leave him alone.
CallumXvX: U don’t even know who ur talking to, pretty boy.
Oliver wrenches his phone from my hand.
My blood is like fire when I look at him.
“This is what you’ve been keeping from me? Is this why you refuse to be around me?”
Oliver runs his fingers through his hair, pulling in a deep breath. “I don’t want to be around you because there’s no reason for it. What are we going to do? Talk about our future plans in an arrangement that ends in January?”
I realize I’m still grasping Oliver’s wrist, tighter now after reading Callum’s texts, like I’m worried something’s going to happen to Oliverright now.
I loosen my grip and move to lace my fingers through his again, holding his hand.
He lets me hold it, presumably because he wants the other guys to see. Weston and Sevan are both still untangling string lights, but facing away from each other, like they refuse to even look in each other’s direction.
“How long has Callum been threatening you?”
Oliver bites his lower lip. “I fucked up a few weeks ago and replied to one of his comments on your post. Ever since then, he’s been a little… insane.”
“Weeksago? What did you say to him?”
Oliver finally meets my eyes, and I see regret settling on his face. “I told him to leave you the fuck alone. I deleted the comment quickly, but he saw it. Clearly.”
“Jesus Christ, Oliver. You should have told me. I have to do something about this.”
“I don’t want you to do anything differently,” he protests, a flash of worry crossing his eyes.
“Is that what you’re worried about? I’m not going to bail out on the fake relationship, Ollie. But Callum is a fire I should have put out a long time ago.”
“Idon’t want you to interact with him,” Oliver says suddenly, gripping my hand hard.
Everything clicks into place slowly, right in front of my eyes.
“Are you worried about me?” I ask.
