Page 56 of Boys Who Taint (Spine Ridge University #5)

Ghost

Who the fuck are they, and how did they find us?

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

She was supposed to be here alone for me to devour just one last time.

Why are they even here?

She snorts, shaking her head. “I didn’t think this would work.”

She arranged this.

She tricked me into thinking it would just be me and her.

She brought us all together … to destroy me.

“No!” I chuck a knife at one of them.

He sidesteps to avoid and pulls a knife out too. “You think you’re the only one who can play that game?”

Wait a minute… I recognize that voice.

He throws the knife.

THWACK!

I lean, and it hooks in the tree behind me.

“Now this ? This is a game worth playing,” the other one says.

I turn my head to look at him. They’re both dressed exactly like me in masks, hoodies, balaclavas, red eyes and all.

“No more hiding. No more lies,” Aspen rasps. “I can’t take it anymore. This ends tonight.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

Grinding my teeth, I charge at one of them and tackle him to the ground.

“You motherfucker!” I yell, punching his face.

“You think that’ll help?” He dodges them all and snorts. “We’re just as violent as you, remember?”

“You say one fucking word, and I’ll kill you!” I roar, refusing to give up.

“What? Afraid I’ll reveal your dirty little secret?” He grabs my fist. “Too late. She played you.”

“Aspen,” the other one says. “You have to listen to me.”

He’s too close. Too close for comfort, and I won’t let anyone pretend to be me.

Not today. Not ever.

I am the one and only one for her.

I am the original.

I am her ghost, and she was my everything.

Until they stole her away from me, right underneath my nose.

Aspen

He called me by my name.

I know that voice.

One of the two guys who are fighting pulls a new knife from his pocket and aims it right at his face.

The mask is knocked off, a trickle of blood running down his cheek.

I gasp, planting my hands in front of my face. “Grey?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry for what I did, but I need you to listen to me,” he says, wiping away the droplets of blood from his face. “I came here because you messaged me, but I need you to know I’m not evil. I care more about you than anything else, so much that it hurt you. I wanted you to be safe.”

When he reaches for my hand, I lean away. “Was it you?”

The two other stalkers still fight on the pebbled path, throwing fists left and right. One of them pulls out another knife and tries to jab the other, but he rolls out from underneath him and gets off the ground away from him.

“Please, listen to me,” Grey says.

Wait, why won’t he answer me?

The one with the knife points it at both of them. “Shut up. Shut up!”

My ghost has never yelled. He’s only ever whispered to me. I can’t tell who’s who anymore, who’s the real one and who the fakers are.

THWACK!

Grey catches the knife thrown at him midair. “I’ve fucking had it with you,” he growls.

The shift in his eyes has me flinching. He’s never looked this unhinged. This terrifying.

How the fuck did he do that?

I take a few steps away from him.

“Don’t be scared of me. Please,” Grey begs. “Not you.”

“I don’t know who you are,” I murmur. “I don’t know any of you.”

“Yes, you do!” the one who threw the knife shouts.

He tries to lunge at Grey, but the other one intervenes and locks his arms behind his back. “Calm the fuck down.”

“Let me go,” he growls back.

“Keep him away from me,” I say, and Grey helps the other one to pin the rowdy one down.

“Aspen. It’s me,” he says, knocking me off-balance.

“Well then, it’s me too,” the third one says, holding him tight.

All of them are wearing the same thing, and it’s confusing the fuck out of me.

“Don’t listen to them,” Grey says.

“Well, it can’t be every one of you,” I say.

“They’re lying,” the one being held down says.

“Which one of you is the real Ghost?” I ask. “Just tell me, goddammit!”

I snatch the knife out of Grey’s hand and point it at the two still wearing the mask. They’re staring at me, and slowly but surely, the one who’s holding down the other finally takes off the mask. The deadly smirk, along with the short, black hair as he lowers his hoodie, is enough to tell me.

“Apollo,” I grit.

“Freckles, you know I’m always up for a game of catch.”

I point my knife at him. “Was it you all along?”

He smirks, but it slowly turns into a devilish laugh. “I don’t need a mask to take what I want.”

“It’s not him,” Grey growls, his eyes like thunder in the sky.

“How would you know?” I say, still pointing my knife at all of them.

“Because I told you I’ve been trying to protect you from him,” Grey says, fishing his phone from his pocket. “And I’m going to show you why.”

“Don’t you dare,” the guy in the middle says, but I put my knife between him and Grey before he even has a chance to lunge at him again.

Their rage is palpable, and not even the slow-building rain from the clouds above can temper the fire heating the air.

But I’m no longer afraid of the burn.

I welcome the singe deep inside my heart.

The remaining masked man glances at Grey and hisses, “You ruined everything …”

So I push my knife underneath his mask and lift it higher and higher until it finally drops to the muddy ground, along with Levi’s dignity.

He swallows, his Adam’s apple moving up and down against that scorpion tattoo embedded into his skin as he glares at me with disdain.

I should’ve known the boy who tried so hard to make me hate him would eagerly take the invitation I sent. But I only brought him here to trap the others and trick them into revealing who the real Ghost is.

So I direct my attention toward Grey and say, “Go on then. Prove to me you’re not my stalker.”

“I can’t,” he responds.

“Yes, you can! It has to be one of you two,” I say, pointing at both Apollo and Grey. “I only invited him here to bait you both.”

“Nice, but you got the wrong one, Freckles. I love toying with you, but I said it from the beginning, you’re looking for the wrong guy.”

“You’re lying.”

“How do you know?” he asks.

My teeth grind together as I lock eyes with Levi, pointing my knife right at his face. “Because my Ghost promised me he’d kill him.”

They all stare at me in silence like I’ve lost my mind, but I swear it’s the truth.

“He was supposed to die.” Tears well up in my eyes. “He killed Mavis, and I needed him to pay.”

“So all of your pain would stop,” Grey murmurs.

“You’re not going to like the real answer, Freckles,” Apollo says.

“Shut up,” Levi growls at him.

“What do you mean?” I mutter. “Stop playing games.”

“Don’t you understand?” Apollo snorts. “It’s been right in front of you all this time.”

I take a step back, feeling disheveled. Unhinged from the earth beneath my feet. But Levi hasn’t said a single word since I took off his mask.

I suck in a breath. “Impossible.”

“Is it?” Grey says. “I have never ever wanted to hurt you. But he did.”

I swallow back the rage, my gaze fixated on Levi because I can’t believe it, not even the words I’m hearing with my own damn ears.

It’s not him.

It couldn’t be him .

He can’t be my Ghost because I made a deal.

And my Ghost …

I choke up at the words floating through my head.

Because those dark, soulless eyes could haunt me for all of infinity.

And suddenly, those red contacts, the whispering, and the hidden identity make all the sense in the fucking world.

Levi. Torres.

Was my ghost?