Page 39 of Boys Who Taint (Spine Ridge University #5)

Aspen

A guy in a red jacket and a black crop-top, along with an eerie white mask approaches. On his face is a devious grin, and my heart skips a beat.

Is it him?

Is he coming for me, in the middle of the day?

I grip the stones of the fountain, wondering if I can rip one loose and chuck it at him before he gets to me, while simultaneously stuck in limbo, thoughts of being swept away from here fluttering into the forefront of my mind.

I feel untethered from reality as he comes closer and closer, as though he doesn’t give a shit who sees him. But I’m with my boyfriend, and it’s broad daylight, so there’s no way he’d do this here, right?

I brace myself, but the swagger in his walk makes me narrow my eyes.

What the …?

His eyes shimmer. They’re not red at all, they’re … gray.

As he walks closer, he raises his hands and wriggles his fingers around in the air. “Are you scared?”

I get up and run toward him.

“Ready to be sta—”

I smack the mask off his face. “FUCK YOU.”

“Whoa, so violent,” he muses as he picks it up. “Love it.”

“You think this is funny?” I growl, shoving him. “This isn’t a joke, Apollo.”

“What makes you think it’s a joke?” He smirks. “I told you, I can be your stalker, Freckles.”

“He has a balaclava and red eyes, dipshit.”

The smirk on his face only deepens, and I realize I just handed him a smoking gun on a silver platter.

Fuck.

“I’m just poking the bear, that’s all.” He twirls the mask around like he’s having the time of his life. That motherfucker is really asking for a second punch in the face.

“Oh, so you’re a bully now?”

“A bully?” A smoldering laugh follows. “Call me whatever you want, Freckles, it doesn’t change the fact that I get madly turned on seeing you angry, so this works out perfectly.”

I try to keep the scream from coming out. “Why?”

He shrugs. “I’m bored. Got suspended for a week.”

“Because you killed someone.”

“Protecting my friends.” He narrows his eyes and homes in on Grey, who’s right behind me. “My Phantoms.”

I snatch the mask from his hand. “And then you decided you could just do this in broad daylight?”

Grey catches up and moves between us. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Relax … I’m only trying to get your undivided attention.” He plants a hand on Grey’s hair and shoves him aside by his head— his head! “But there’s always something in the way.”

Grey swats him away. “Get the fuck away from my girlfriend.”

But Apollo’s gaze makes him take a step back. “Don’t forget …”

Grey’s face darkens, and his nostrils flare, like he suddenly thought of something.

“You …” He points at me until his finger hits my chest, right on top of my nipple. “Will be in my room. Tonight.” He glances at Grey. “Bring him.”

“No,” Grey says staunchly.

It wasn’t a question but an order.

He knows the power he holds over me.

I want to slap him. Kick him in the nuts.

Punch him in the gut for trying to do this right here, right now.

I know that Apollo is the only thing stopping Levi from taking Grey’s life.

But I can’t have Apollo waltz in here and try to claim me for himself right under Grey’s nose.

Fuck that.

Grinding my teeth, I swallow away the anger. “Take that fucking mask, and leave.”

He smiles and puts it back on. “Fine. Your choice. Have fun in class, lovebirds.”

And he walks off like he didn’t just set off a bomb in the middle of the day.

Levi

Apollo, fucking self-proclaimed god of Spine Ridge University, wants Aspen for himself?

I can’t fucking believe it, yet I’ve never seen him act this fucking crazy for any girl.

And Aspen never looked at him, never really talked to him, never even thought of him … until I left the picture.

My teeth grind together.

She doesn’t know what she wants anymore.

But Apollo and Grey sure fucking don’t either.

When Apollo attempts to walk away from the scene of the crime, I grasp his arm and pull him with me behind a tree. “What the fuck did you just do?”

“Had some fun.” He shrugs.

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” I hiss, snatching the mask away. “Now she thinks you’re the stalker.”

“No, she doesn’t. She caught on in an instant that I was just messing with her.” He taps my chest. “Besides, her stalker has red eyes.”

“You mean contacts.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

I blink a couple of times to try to make sense of this. “Why did you do this?”

“I told her to come to my room and to bring Grey. That was me being nice. But Grey said no.” He shrugs. “Too bad.”

I roll my eyes, but my phone buzzes, and it distracts me enough from this conversation to check.

But the image that appears on my screen when I open it up makes all my veins pop.

Aspen, lifted against a shower wall naked, and Grey’s tongue buried between her legs.

The screen cracks in my hand from the added caption.

Grey: She’ll never want pleasure from anyone else but me.

That motherfucker … taped her?

My vision goes blurry as I home in on the picture, violence boiling to the surface.

He thinks this is a game?

The picture suddenly vanishes.

Gone. Erased from existence without leaving a trace.

Fuck!

My eyes narrow as I close the message, the thought of punishing that motherfucker for sending this to me, my sole reason for existing.

I peer beyond the tree to where they’re standing near the fountain.

But it’s the way he stares at me right now, with that cruel look in his eyes, that makes a spark ignite within my brain, setting all my morals ablaze.

“We take him.”

Apollo tilts his head as if he’s trying to affirm that what I just said is true. “Say that again?”

I’m not joking.

My hand finds the knife in my pocket, twisting and turning it around in the palm of my hand with a devilish smirk on my face. “We capture that motherfucker and punish him. Those are the consequences.”

The consequence of him sending that fucking image.

The consequence of her kissing him while looking at me.

Me.

She looked me dead in the eyes and then smashed her lips onto his, French kissing him right under my fucking nose as if she wanted to punish me.

I gaze at the mask, and it feels like someone is staring right back at me. She already hates me to death, so what’s the point in sticking to the rules anyway?

“She loves him too much,” he says.

My fist balls.

Love.

What the fuck does she know about love?

“Bullshit.”

“Exactly my thoughts.”

A devilish grin forms on my face. “He chose violence. But I know how to win that game.”

Aspen

Hours later

At a local restaurant, I wait, tapping my foot on the floor while checking the time on and off. He should be here by now. We agreed on seven o’clock, and all of his classes are long done. What’s taking him so long?

Grey’s never, ever late to a date. Something doesn’t feel right.

I check my phone again, and do a double take when a message appears on my phone.

Grey: I have your pretty little boyfriend now, Aspen

An image is added of Grey sitting on a chair in the middle of a grassy field, his arms and legs bound with ropes.

Oh God.

Grey: He isn’t who you think he is … I told u what would happen if u didn’t stay away

My blood runs icy cold.

Grey: U love him? Then come and fuckin prove it before I kill him

Levi took Grey.