Spin the Bottle (Campus Games, #2)

by Stephanie Alves

“You heard that, huh?” I nod. “You hungry?” She shrugs. “I’m fine.”

“When was the last time you ate?”

“What are you doing?” she asks, peering at me from the couch. “Making you food. What do you have?”

Besides some fruit, eggs, some veg, cheese, and two bottles of beer, the fridge is empty. I close the fridge, turning back around to face her. “Woman, do you not eat? Where is your food?”

“Wasn’t exactly expecting company,” she says. “And what were you going to eat?” “I would have figured it out,” she says, cleaning the rest of the mask off. “Come on.” She glances up at me. ...

“You always know how to flatter me,” he says, rubbing his thumb over my cheek, staring into my eyes. I don’t know how long we stay there, just looking at each other. “C’mon,” he says. “I need to get food in you.”

“Cut them up into chunks,” he tells me. “What exactly are we making?” “Well, seeing as you barely had anything,”

“The best I could come up with was an omelet,” he offers with a shrug.

“How did you learn how to cook?” I ask him, running the mushrooms under water. When I turn to face him, his jaw is clenched, the muscles so tight. I frown. “I’m sorry, did I say something wro—”

“It wasn’t something I wanted to do,”

It was something I had to do.” “What ...

“My family are drug addic...

“I come from a dirty, small trailer in Texas, smaller than your bedroom. I didn’t come from a family like yours with a dad to teach me how to cook. M...

“My mom is an addict, and my brothers are following mother de...

“I’ve never touched drugs,” he explains. “I saw what it was doing to my family. Didn’t want any part of it. That’s why I don’t drink either.”

“But I got into their stash when I was young.” My hands squeeze the board, my other gripping the knife. I can’t take

was passed out for a good hour before any of them found me.”

was admitted to the hospital. I woke up delirious, attached to all these machines. I was a kid,” he says, squeezing his eyes shut. “I didn’t know what was happening or what I did.”

“And when I got home,”

“When I got home, my mom beat the shit out of me for costing ...

“I had to learn how to cook because if I hadn’t, ...

“I burnt my hand right here,” he lifts his hand to

“making toast when I was nine.”

“I found the bread in a dumpster behind a store. It was past the expiration date, but unope...

hadn’t eaten in days and we had no food at home, so I took it and attempted to make myself some toast on the stove, because we didn’t even have a toaster. My mother was passed out on the couch, high out of her mind and didn’t even notice. Even...

“I’m sorry for spilling all of that on you. I haven’t told anyone that before.”

“Did you want to tell me?” It’s the first words I’ve spoken since he’s told me. I still don’t know

“I wouldn’t have told you otherwise,” he says after a few minutes. “I’m sorry,” I mumble. “For what, gorgeous?”

“For thinking you were an asshole.”

“That’s just your lack of judgment. My shitty upbringing has nothing to do with it.”

“Where are your brothers now?”

“Cameron is i...

“For robbing a quick-mart. And Bran...

“They’re back home, spending the money I send them on drugs.” My eyebrows lift...

“We didn’t have anything growing up,” he says. “As soon as I came here and got a job, I thought I’d help them, thinking it would go towards food or bills, but it didn’t. And now they just want more and more.” “What happens if yo...

“It wasn’t just my mom who liked to lift her hand at me. My brothers beat the shit out of me growing up, for anything and everything. Sometimes it was because they were high, other times, because it was fun for them, I guess,” he admits. “I know I shouldn’t be scared of them, but I still am.”

“Ow,” I shout, dropping the knife and stepping back from the counter. “Shit.” I grab my finger, pressing down on the blood drizzling out of the slash.

“I thought you knew how to cook,” he says as I curse in pain. “I thought I did too.” I groan, feeling the throbbing in my finger increase. “Cooking is dangerous.”

“You’re dangerous.” He grabs my finger and brings it to his mouth, sucking on it. “Did...

“It stops the bleeding.” He pulls me, sitting me down on a chair. “Here,” he says. “Where ...

“Give me,” Aiden says, walking out of the bathroom with a bandage. I hold out my finger to him. He crouches, wrapping the bandage around my finger. “There,” he says, pressing a kiss against the wrapped finger and smiling at me. “All good.”

Who the hell is Aiden Pierce? And why do I want to get to know him when we’re not naked? This was not supposed to happen. Lines are blurring, things are getting too complicated. And I don’t want to stop it anymore.

“I don’t know how you’re not embarrassed.” “About what?” She looks up, rolls her eyes. “Leila, por favor. No seas tola.” Don’t be dumb. “Everyone is going to see your body,” she says, that last

you would just…” she shakes her head, not bothering to finish her sentence, but I know. Eat healthier, work out more,

whatever stupid thing she sends me that she saw on the internet. She looks at me. ...

What my ex-boyfriend, Jake, did took a toll on me. I really thought I loved him and that he was genuine, and then when I found out it was all a lie, my heart shattered into little pieces. But t...

“Mama,” my sister says, grabbing her attention. “¿Qué?” “We’re celebrating her birthday, lay off.”

“Camila,” my dad says. “That’s our daughter. How can you tell her she’s not beautiful?”

“Yo no dije eso.” I didn’t say that. “I was just telling her she could be so much prettier if she lost weight.” “Camila!” “This is your fault,”

“You think I don’t know the secret snacks you give her when you think I’m not looking?” She glances at me. “...