Page 18 of Boys Who Taint (Spine Ridge University #5)

Aspen

Xavier places the fresh flowers on Mavis’s grave. “Thanks for coming with me.” He brushes some fresh tears away and sucks in a breath to mask them, but I’ve already seen them.

I rub his back. “Of course. I needed to see her too.”

“It’s hard, you know? Going to school and pretending nothing happened.”

“I feel like everyone’s kind of moved on and we’re standing still,” I mutter, staring at her headstone. “Like we’re still at the precipice at the top of that hill, holding our breaths, right when she falls.”

Xavier nods. “I’m sorry. I should’ve been there.”

“No, no.” I wrap my arms around him. “Don’t feel guilty. It’s not your fault.”

“I should’ve been there with you guys,” he repeats.

“I’m glad you weren’t because you wouldn’t have survived seeing her there on the rocks,” I say. “Trust me.”

He sucks in a deep breath as I pet him.

“You two need a minute?” Grey steps closer with two fresh cups of coffee in his hands. “Figured I’d get some, but I wasn’t sure if you two were ready yet.”

“Yeah, no, of course,” I say as Xavier releases me. “Thank you.”

“Thanks.” Xavier grabs his cup and takes a quick sip. “Appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome,” Grey says. “I know how tough it can be to lose the people you love. Especially when the person who did it is still roaming freely.”

My face tightens, and I lower my cup. “He won’t be for long.”

“What do you mean?” Xavier asks.

“I think she means if it’s up to her—”

“No, I mean, I’m going to kill him.”

They both look at me like I’ve lost my mind, but I’ve only gained more clarity over the past couple of weeks.

“Kill him?” Xavier repeats. “You mean Levi ? You’re gonna kill your best friend?”

“Ex,” I reply, slurping down my coffee. “Ex-best friend. And he doesn’t deserve to live.”

Grey

She chucks the empty coffee cup into the trash up ahead and walks back toward the exit.

“You gotta help her,” Xavier says, placing his cup down on the ground.

“What?”

“Stop her.”

I frown. “You think I can?”

“You’re her boyfriend. She’ll listen to you.”

I snort. “I don’t have that kind of power.”

He suddenly grips my shirt. “You have to stop her, man. You don’t understand. She’s going to get herself killed.”

“I—”

“You don’t know my sisters the way I do. Did. Whatever. She and Mavis are just like my mom. Once you get on their bad side, there is nowhere in hell you can hide from their wrath. She won’t stop until she destroys him.”

“Who?”

“Levi!” he yells in my face.

“Oh …” I don’t have a problem with that.

“Oh? That’s all? Oh ?”

“Look, I hate him just as much as you two do,” I respond. “But I doubt he’ll let himself get killed that easily.”

“That’s exactly my point!” He’s still shaking me. “Levi’s family will intervene before she has the chance, and they won’t fucking hesitate to kill her. They’re that crazy.”

I don’t doubt him. If the rumors floating around the school are true, these three families were wreaking deadly havoc all around Crescent Vale City as well as the university back in the day, and they never stopped. They’re just masking it better now.

“I’ll protect her with my life,” I say.

“You’d better.” Xavier points at my chest. “I want to trust you, Grey. Don’t make me regret it.”

I place my hand on his shoulder to calm him. “There is no one more important to me than Aspen. Trust me.”

If only he knew how far I was willing to go for her.

He nods a few times and then releases me, straightening his back. “Good.” He clears his throat. “Sorry about that.”

“I get it. You don’t want to lose another sister.”

“Our families are … difficult to say the least.” He wipes his nose. “Doesn’t help that one was already fragile to begin with, but now that we lost one of us, I feel like we’re slowly being ripped apart, and I just can’t allow that to happen. I can’t.”

“Fragile?” I ask.

I don’t want to snoop, but any information that will help me better understand Aspen is welcome.

“It’s Melody. She’s not healthy.” He swallows. “It’s complicated. And I’m not sure I should be telling you, so maybe you should ask Aspen about it. Or Mom and Dad.”

“Right. Sorry.” I nod.

“Are you guys coming?” Aspen yells from around the corner. “We have class.”

Xavier checks his watch. “Oh shit. I’m so fucking late.”

We walk back to the exit of the cemetery, where Aspen is waiting for us. Xavier and I walk back to the car, but Aspen suddenly stands still in the cemetery’s gates, staring at the ground beneath her feet.

I pause as I open the door to my car. “Aspen?”

She bends over to pick up a bunch of pebbles, staring at them intently.

“Are you coming?” I ask.

She turns around, her face losing all the redness it usually has, the freckles on her face standing out like beacons.

And I wonder what has gotten her so rattled all of a sudden.

After all, they’re just three pebbles out of a million scattered across the path.

Aspen

I throw the pebbles up and down in my hand as I walk through the university’s corridors on the way to my next class.

They’re coarse, much thicker, and heavier than the ones used on the Spine Ridge University campus.

These pebbles are maybe a couple among millions scattered across Crescent Vale Cemetery, but the second I looked beneath my feet, I knew I recognized them from somewhere.

These are the same pebbles strewn across the ground beneath my window after my first encounter with Ghost.

And every time I toss them up and catch them, the twitch on my face gets more and more… twitchy.

I walk into the left hallway and come face-to-face with Levi and Apollo, casually strolling toward me, hands in their pockets. Their dark, tousled hair partially obscures their eyes, which are burning a hole into my head.

I face them head-on without fear, determined not to let their incessant glaring distract me.

Levi’s only interest is to make me hate him, and Apollo just wants to rattle me with all those filthy jokes. The two are playing this dirty game together, and I don’t appreciate it one bit.

But the moment I pass them both, Apollo grins and says, “Hey, Freckles … how was the bonfire?” His half-mast, radiant gray eyes home in on me like a moth to a flame. “Did you see anyone special?”

The pebbles are nearly crushed in the palm of my hand as I come to an abrupt stop.

My head slowly turns to meet his gaze, and when he winks, it sets the fire in my heart ablaze.

That motherfucker… he knows.

He fucking knows about my Ghost.

Is it him?

With his hands still in his pockets, he casually saunters off with Levi, not giving a care in the world about the ramifications of what he just said.

He’s been acting so goddamn fishy with me ever since Mavis died. Like he couldn’t wait to suddenly insert himself into my life, and the way he looked at me, as if he couldn’t wait to eat me out just like Ghost did …

I shiver.

It’s all starting to make sense now.

Those words were no accident.

I’m going to find out exactly why he spoke them, and when I do, there will be hell to pay.