Page 38 of Boys Who Taint (Spine Ridge University #5)

I can see the hurt in her smile, so I sit closer and pull her in for a hug.

She sighs. “It is what it is. Besides, I love my mom. She’s the best.”

“True. My mom’s always praising her ability to stay calm,” I say, chuckling.

“Wish our parents told us more about their lives before we were here,” Océane mumbles.

“I don’t think we’re supposed to know,” I say. “Just like I’m never going to tell my parents all the shit we do.”

“Tell me about it,” Ivy replies. “All of our boyfriends are just as murderous as them.”

We laugh, and for a moment, it feels like maybe my life isn’t such a horror show.

Or maybe we’re all living the same fucked-up reality without realizing it.

Apollo

I sit down beside Levi at the picnic table outside after just getting my ass handed to me by the dean. Apparently, killing someone on school grounds doesn’t go over well with the board members.

Too bad for them, I don’t really care. What are they gonna do, kick me out?

Besides, my dad already paid off anyone who tried to threaten us with legal action. My dad’s one of the toughest motherfuckers out there, and he’s on the goddamn Spine Ridge U board. Not a single inch of him is going to accept his son getting kicked out, and neither am I. Dean Rivera can suck it.

“Got suspended from class for a week,” I say, running my fingers through my hair.

The sun is shining, I look hot as hell in this black crop-top, and I don’t give two flying fucks.

“Didn’t ask, don’t care,” Levi mutters under his breath without even looking at me.

He looks gloomy as hell in this dark blue shirt and light gray sweatpants, and he’s obsessively staring at something in the distance. When I follow his gaze, a wide-ass grin spreads on my face.

Aspen Caruso sits on the edge of the fountain in a cute button-down shirt along with a short denim skirt, while chatting away with her friends, and Grey Westbrook just entered the scene.

“Oh … I see how it is,” I say.

When he kisses her on the lips, Levi grabs a cigarette from his pocket and lights it up, filling the air with smoke so he doesn’t have to see. Or maybe he’s imagining lighting the fucker on fire. Wouldn’t put it past him to try, and I’d probably grab a bucket of popcorn to watch the show.

Though, I’m a little disappointed I wasn’t able to fuck the guy’s ass into oblivion before he received his death sentence.

“You really hate his guts, don’t you?”

He takes another drag, but his other hand is scratching the wood slowly, and when I look underneath, I can clearly see the deep crevices he left underneath bloodied nails.

“I don’t fucking care.”

I snort. “I can see that.”

He makes a fist with his bloodied nails, spreading it across the palm of his hand, but he still won’t look away. Not even as they start a full-on make-out session after her friends have left. “What the fuck do you care?” he says through gritted teeth.

“Because I know what you mean…”

I lean over the table until he finally looks at me, eyes filled with murderous intent.

“She’s like a juicy, sweet little piece of candy you’re not allowed to eat.”

He nearly reaches for my neck. Nearly.

“You have a thing for Aspen?”

Within a split second, he pulls out a knife and drives it under my chin.

Guess he’s still gunning for my neck after all.

“You have a million other girls begging you to fuck them. Why her?”

“She’s the only one who doesn’t immediately fall for my perverted ways, and I like that. I like how she makes me work for it. I like how she talks, how she walks, everything about her.” I raise my hands. “I swear.”

His nostrils flare, and I get that he wants to kill me, but he has far more important problems on his hands than me.

“However, that fucker over there stole our candy …” I grab his wrist and point the knife at Grey instead. “And it’s about time we made him spit it out.”

His ire is finally averted when his eyes fixate on Grey’s hands grabbing Aspen’s juicy ass. She kisses him, wildly, feverishly, as her eyes slowly turn to the side.

Turn to us.

“I want to kill him,” he says.

“I know. But that won’t help you one bit. See, it might work for like one second when you detach his hands from his body, but then she’ll scream, grab a knife, and cut you open like a pinata. And then she’ll never want you again.”

“She doesn’t want me.”

“I know. But we’re speaking in hypotheticals here, right?”

“She wants me dead .”

Aspen sits down on the edge of the fountain with him. They cuddle and talk with smiles on their faces, and it makes me want to stab something. Maybe my eyes, maybe his. “Then let’s make her want him dead instead.”

Levi snorts. “That’ll never happen. Not in a million years.”

“Unless we make it happen.”

“How?” The glimmer in his eyes tells me he’s at the very least intrigued by the possibility.

“You think that fucker doesn’t have secrets?” I whisper. “Everyone does, and with the right amount of pressure …” I smash his wrist down into the table, and the knife cracks the wood he was scratching. “He’ll break.”

I can see the clocks ticking behind his eyes, the rattling of an idea planted in his head.

“And when he’s in danger,” he says. “She’ll do anything to set him free.”

I pat him on the back a few times. Now he’s getting the picture.

I pull one of the masks from last night from my bag and put it on.

“What are you gonna do?”

I wave it around. “Her stalker wears this.”

His pupils dilate. “How do you know about that?”

“She was looking for it in my room, and she told me.” I jump off the bench and put on my red jacket. “Watch this.”