Page 76 of Boys Who Taint

I take my order from the cashier and pay with my black credit card, then sit down quietly behind the couple just to listen in for a bit.

“So … are you finally going to tell me what’s been bothering you?” Grey asks her, oblivious to the fact that I’m staring at them.

What’s this about?

“What?” Aspen mutters, obviously taken aback by his question.

“This morning in class, you were so distracted, and you’ve been acting strange ever since the bonfire,” he says. “I just figured something happened.”

“Oh.” Aspen laughs awkwardly. “No, nothing. Nothing happened.”

Nothing?

A smirk forms on my lips. I beg to differ.

A little freckled birdy told me she has a masked stalker.

She just doesn’t want to tell him. But why?

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m just … frazzled from a nightmare.”

Lies.

She pokes at her cake with her fork. “I had this dream the other night where I saw my sister’s casket again, and when I looked up, someone was watching us from the forest.”

Grey pauses while eating a piece of his cake, staring at her for a second. “Hmm. Sounds like you’re still worried her death might not have been an accident.”

“I’m just …” She sighs. “It was just a dream. It’s not important.”

He grabs her hand and squeezes it gently. Intently. “Itisimportant. You matter. You know you can always talk to me.”

The way she looks at him, good God, it’s almost like she’s smitten.

My nostrils flare as I lift my head above the menu and glare at them together.

Every time she smiles, those freckles of hers nearly light up, and I love it. But then I remember she’s still staring at that white-haired fucker like he’s some kind of perfect fucking boyfriend.

That fucker should be me.

Suddenly, Grey leans in to kiss her. And she’s frozen to her seat, staring at him.

That motherfucker.

She doesn’t move closer to his lips. Instead, her eyes briefly connect with mine in absolute terror.

Yes. I’m watching you, Freckles.

And I know you’re thinking of my lips when he tries to kiss you.

He leans away without even having had the kiss he was so desperate for while she keeps blinking like a deer looking straight into the headlights.

Good.

She immediately jumps up and drops her cake on the floor. “Oh God.”

She panics and tries to pick it up, but half of the cake drops on his arm as they both try to clean up the mess.

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