Page 287 of Boys Who Taint

“Give me one good fucking reason!”

My mom is swiftly approaching from the opposite side, while Lana is on the other side of the forest.

“My son does not deserve to die over a mistake!” Lana yells at us, her gun pointed at our heads.

Silas is on his knees in front of Levi, clutching his leg from the pain.

“He abused Aspen!” Silas’s roar fills the woods.

And my heart sinks into my shoes.

That’s what he made himself believe.

The final trigger that made him want to kill Levi.

“That motherfucker—” My mom rapidly approaches. “Killing my daughter was not enough, you had to go and violate my other daughter too?!”

From mere feet away, Mom raises her gun at Levi’s face as he crawls off the ground.

Between the violence of two mothers hell-bent on protecting the people they love, I do the only thing I can think of and throw myself into their aim, shielding Levi’s body and face with mine, raising my hand to meet the barrel of my mother’s gun.

“Step aside, Aspen,” Mom says sternly.

“You kill my son, and I will kill your daughter,” Lana warns, pointing her gun at me.

“No,” I say. “I won’t let you kill him.”

“I heard what Silas said. He hurt you. AND he killed Mavis,” she says.

“If you kill him, you kill me too,” I say calmly, holding on as tightly as I can.

She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind, but I am not letting go. Not ever.

The others emerge from the woods too, slowly approaching with guns and knives at the ready, each waiting for the other to act first.

But I’m done fighting my own family.

Done pretending I can live with the secrecy and lies.

“Mom … I love Levi.”

CHAPTER 66

Levi

Her mom’s eyes widen,and gasps follow from the rest of our families.

“You …lovehim?” her mom repeats, shock lacing her voice.

Fuck.

I never thought this day would come when I’d have to face all the lies I’ve told.

All the times I’ve denied myself the one thing I truly wanted.

Her.

I close my eyes and revel in the scent of her closeness, the touch of her fingers splayed against my back, as my head rests against her chest. If her heartbeat was the last thing I heard on this earth, I would die a happy man.

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