Page 216 of Boys Who Taint

“Well, I know other ways to relax.” I wink. “Wanna make out?”

Levi

I throwoff my helmet and listen to the thud in the grass before I step closer to the ledge.

This is the place where I lost everything … because I couldn’t let go.

I lost.

I lost, and I knew it was going to happen. I just didn’t know when … didn’t know how it would feel until it came to this.

The rain pours down on my face, and I welcome the cold, hoping it’ll numb the pain. The earth beneath my feet crumbles as I step closer and closer, listening to the sloshing of the waves below. Closer to my demise, just like she wanted.

I peer over to the rocks where Mavis’s body lay splayed out in a puddle of her own blood because of me.

Her half sister is dead because of me, and I can’t ever change that fact, no matter how many times I wish it had been different.

If I hadn’t brought them all here, if I hadn’t talked with her, if I hadn’t held her hand and…

Too late for regrets.

One step closer.

“Levi!”

Her voice instantly makes me turn my head and answer her call, just like I always have.

Because she once looked at me the way I willalwayslook at her.

Her face is marred by the emotional weight of my decisions and every choice that led to this moment.

I’m on the edge of no return, the same place we both lost our souls that night. And I can’t help but wonder if it was never meant to be.

“Tell me why. At least give me a reason,” she begs, dropping her bag on the ground.

“It was an accident,” I mutter, raindrops rolling down my cheeks. “I didn’t mean to kill her. It wasn’t supposed to happen, but …” I pause to take a breath. “That night, Mavis and I made a pact.”

She frowns, shivering in the rain, as her baggy pants and blue butterfly shirt slowly become soaked, and I can’t help but smile at the irony. “What pact?”

This is why I didn’t want Grey to show her the footage.

Why I didn’t want her to find out what truly happened to Mavis.

It’s going to break her.

“We were going to jump together …” I swallow. “And give up.”

CHAPTER 50

Levi

The nightof Mavis’s death

After Mavis scaredeveryone in the woods with the props she set up while everyone was busy at the campsite, everyone went to bed, except us two.

I don’t know why, but her little spooky adventure didn’t do much for me. I guess when you’re too busy trying to make contact with the girl who’s been avoiding you for months, nothing grabs your attention anymore.

I sigh and sit down against a tree near the ledge where we made our jumps into the water, listening to the water break against the rocks.

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