Page 9 of Boys Who Taint (Spine Ridge University #5)

Grey

I’ve been searching the campus for fifteen minutes, trying to find Aspen, when I finally spot her near the women’s bathroom. When I place my hand on her shoulder, she nearly jumps out of her skin.

“Oh, it’s you,” she murmurs, breathing a sigh of relief like she just got caught planning a murder.

“Only me,” I muse, smiling when she turns around. “Were you expecting someone else?”

“Um … no.” She quickly tucks her long red hair behind her ears.

God, she’s so goddamn beautiful, I could never take my eyes off her.

“I texted you, but you didn’t reply,” I say.

“Sorry, I got … distracted.” She rubs her lips together. Is she telling me the full truth? Not that it matters, I will find out one way or another.

Her phone buzzes, and she quickly checks the messages. “Oh shit, I completely forgot.” She grabs my hand. “C’mon.”

“Wait, where?” She drags me out of the old college building and into the open air, where the sun shines so brightly that it’s making me squint. She pulls me to the grass out front near the fountain, where a bunch of people are sitting on a blanket.

“Grey, meet my friends,” she says.

“Hi, friends,” I say awkwardly, and a bunch of them giggle.

“Well, well, who’s this now?” A girl with curly hair and radiant black skin holds out her hand. “Océane.”

She’s followed by another girl with medium brown hair and downturned lips. “Ivy. Nice to meet you.”

“And this is Xavier. He clings to me, and I pretend he doesn’t exist,” Aspen jokes.

“Hey,” a guy with brown hair and a face eerily similar to Aspen’s says, while sticking up two fingers. “Don’t let her fool you. I’m her twin. You her boyfriend?”

My eyes widen. “What?”

Aspen’s whole face turns red. “Um …”

“No comment,” I say.

“I told you they were totally hooking up,” Océane says to Ivy, and they give each other a high five.

“We are not ,” Aspen says. “We’re just exploring.”

“Oh, right … ‘exploring.’” Ivy makes quotation marks with her fingers.

“As long as you don’t go exploring my sister’s caves without asking my parents first,” Xavier says.

The two girls laugh.

Aspen snatches his book from his hands and throws it ten yards away. “Xav, fetch.”

“Fuck you,” Xavier barks back, but he still gets up.

“Ignore him,” she tells me. “C’mon. Sit. Let’s eat, ’cause I’m starving.”

“Should I be worried about your parents?” I ask her.

“Yes,” Ivy answers for her. “You should.”

I gulp.

“Oh, c’mon, they’re not that bad,” Aspen says as she grabs some food from her bag and hands one box to me. “Here, I made you this.”

“Thank you,” I say, opening it.

From the looks of it, it’s a wrap with chicken and lettuce and spicy mayo.

“I can’t cook, but I tried,” she says.

I swiftly take a bite. “It’s perfect.”

There are some hard bits and pieces in there, but I swallow them down anyway because the only thing that matters to me is that she made this with her perfect hands, and that’s all I need.

“You’re awfully sweet,” Océane says, side-eyeing me. “Got any ulterior motives?”

“Like what?” I say, pausing mid-bite.

Both girls laugh, and Aspen shoves them with her elbow. “Oh my God, stop it. I’m so embarrassed.”

“What ulterior motives?” I ask again.

“C’mon, you know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t.”

Océane frowns. “Guys always want to get into the girl’s pants. That’s a given.”

I stop eating entirely as the sweat droplets begin to form on my back.

“Grey doesn’t.” Aspen grabs my hand and squeezes tightly. “We haven’t even kissed yet.”

“Ooooh,” Ivy says, grinning. “So you admit he’s your boyfriend?”

“I said exploring , okay? We’re exploring possibilities. We’re taking it slow,” Aspen responds.

“As you should,” Océane says. “Before you know it, you’re stuck in the shower, screaming bloody murder because that ten-inch cock keeps swinging back up after you’ve already sucked it dry twice.”

“Oh my God, Océane!” Ivy squeals.

“TMI,” Aspen muses. “I do not want to know about Talon’s ten incher. My God.”

“What? I’m just saying…” She rubs her temple and makes a proud face. “Boys are insatiable.”

“Ooookay.” I stuff the rest of my wrap into my mouth and get up. “You know, it’s been lovely meeting you ladies. Aspen, thank you so much for the delicious meal. I have to go.”

“Where?” she asks.

“My next class is starting,” I say, waving.

Aspen mutters, “Wait, but we haven’t even—”

“Aren’t you two going to kiss?” Ivy taunts.

Aspen pokes her with her index finger. “Shhhh … don’t scare him off.”

She’s not far off from the truth.

But not for reasons she thinks.

I scrape my throat. “I have to go. See ya.”

“Too late,” Océane mutters. “He’s already scared.”

I throw my bag over my shoulder, just like I throw their words to the wind.

It’s not that I’m scared. I could never be scared of her.

It’s that our kiss needs to be fucking perfect … so that she’ll only ever think about me.

And forget about him .

Levi

The bandage around my arm is on way too tight. The new nurse really doesn’t know what she’s doing, but I guess that comes with the territory of dealing with a bunch of murderous sons of bitches in college.

It takes some time to get used to the fact that you can’t go around asking anyone questions because you’ll definitely regret it.

And there is no way in hell I will ever tell anyone who stabbed me with a goddamn pencil.

I take a drag of my smoke, but some fucker randomly bumps into me, knocking the cigarette from my hand.

“Hey, watch yourself—” The moment I lay eyes on him, I abruptly halt my sentence and straighten myself. “It’s you .”

Grey.

That motherfucker who’s been holding hands with Aspen actually fucking bumped into me.

He holds up his hands. “Accidents happen … don’t they?”

My eye twitches.

What did he just say?

He tries to move past me, but I block his way. “Apologize.”

He looks me up and down with a conceited look.

I’ve never seen this fucker before in my life, yet he strolls around campus as if it’s been his home for years.

If he attends Spine Ridge University, he must be just as wealthy as the rest of us, given the cost of tuition.

Which means he’s got friends or family in high places.

But I’m not that fucking easy to impress.

I lean in and sneer, “ Apologize .”

He glances at something over his shoulder and then smiles at me.

“You lost …”

I narrow my eyes.

Lost what? What is he going on about?

“And I’m not fucking sorry.”

The grin that follows makes me want to beat his ass. When he attempts to walk past me, I grab his arm and squeeze, but my eyes immediately find the same eyes he was staring at just a second ago.

Aspen Caruso, sitting on the grass, staring right back at me.

And something about those goddamn eyes makes me feeble. Weak.

“Not to me.”

“What?” he retorts.

“Apologize to her ,” I grit. “For walking away.”

He scoffs but then says, “Sorry I left her with her friends. She’s fine. She can take care of herself.” His blue eyes bore into my head like a stray bullet. “She doesn’t need you looking after her.”

I throw him a murderous glare. “You offend her or her friends again, and I’m going to pull that tongue out of your throat and wrap it around your neck. Do you understand?”

He smiles like a maniac. “Yes. Totally.”

Is he taking that … as a challenge?

Whatever.

I release him from my grip and shove him away. He straightens his jacket, then waltzes off all annoyed. But my gaze remains fixated on hers, until finally she averts her eyes again.

That’s it, Aspen.

Know that I will always be watching you.

Even when you want to curse me, even if you want to throw me off a cliff.

I will always look at you …

The way you once looked at me.

Years ago

I run around the table trying to catch her, but she’s much faster than I anticipated.

“C’mon, Aspen, you gotta give me something,” I say.

“No! Catch me if you can doesn’t mean I help you!” She sticks out her tongue and keeps running through the living room and the kitchen, darting from left to right, across the furniture.

She’s so quick I can barely catch up, and she nearly knocks over her own mom.

“Jesus, watch it,” her mom says.

“Sorry!” she squeals, before darting off again.

I chase her through the back door and into their lavish backyard, which stretches out for miles into a forest. That’s where we always end up playing until the sun sets and the moon begins to rise.

I love seeing the darkness settle in the sky because the whole place gets incredibly spooky.

A perfect place to scare a girl who’s got it in her head that she can always evade me.

“Come chase me then!” Aspen yells through the woods, and I follow the sound of her voice.

Her giggles fill the air like a bird’s song, and I grin at the thought of finally getting my hands on her and making her pay for stealing my earbuds just so she could listen to the songs I have on my phone.

“Ooh, I like this one,” she mutters.

“I’m gonna turn off my phone soon if you don’t come out,” I growl back.

“That’s cheating!” she shouts.

“Who’s laughing now?” I retort, throwing in a menacing cackle for good measure.

I make my way through the forest, skimming past all the trees, searching behind each rock and around each creek until I finally find her sneaking a peek from behind a tree.

My eyes widen as do hers, and I race after her through the woods, into a clearing, where I finally grab her legs and fall to the ground with her.

“Gotcha!”

“Not fair!”

I crawl on top of her and grip her wrists, pinning them above her head. Suddenly, she’s gone all quiet and stuff, which is so unlike her. She normally talks so much that it nearly makes me want to tear my ears off my head.

“What do you mean not fair ?” I retort.

Her breaths are short, and her entire skin begins to turn red.

Is she getting an allergic reaction to something? Or did she hurt herself?

“You’re …” she says, all flustered. “Cheating.”

“I don’t cheat.” I scoff. “I caught you. Fair and square.”

“You wanted to turn off the phone. Did you use it to locate me?”

“No.” I frown. “Remember, I always know how to find you.”

“How?” she asks.

“Because you’re like a firefly in the night. I can’t take my eyes off you until I find you.”

She sucks in her red lips as I rake my fingers through her brown hair. I take out the twig that was stuck in her hair and hold it in front of me, but only when I throw it away do I realize she’s been staring at me this entire time.

But we do these games all the time. I don’t get why she’d suddenly be scared of me.

“A firefly with brown hair,” I murmur, then laugh.

“What?” Suddenly, she begins fighting back. “I swear to God, Levi, you’d better not be insulting my hair. I’m so going to light your goddamn ass on fire.”

I grin as I release her from my grip. “I’d love to see you try.” I crawl off her and get up. “If you can catch me.”

Present

Always playing coy.

Always on the run.

Always pretending she doesn’t care.

But I know deep down, somewhere hidden inside that fiery little heart of hers, a small flicker of that flame still burns for me. And I will die before I let that burn out.