Page 149 of Explosive Prejudice

“Yeah, Champ,” Chief said, then shifted his attention back to me. “Diesel—”

Chief hadn’t finished saying my name when something caught my eye. More like someone. Pushing my way between Andrei and Chief, I walked straight toward the devil in a suit who was standing by the entrance, observing me with vicious eyes.

The closer I got to Christian, the faster my heart beat until I heard nothing but the blood pounding in my ears.

He shouldn’t be the one standing here.

He shouldn’t be the one smirking at me as I pushed people out of my way to reach him.

In a matter of seconds, the lawn, which until now had been full of excitement and new beginnings, was filled with the blue and red lights I knew all too well. I stopped for a second, looking around as cops began rolling out of their vehicles with drawn guns. Shock and fear spread through the crowd like wildfire, and I knew I had no more than a few seconds to reach Christian.

“What did you do?” I screamed from the pit of my soul while running toward him.

I wasn’t afraid for myself.

Never.

I was afraid for Shay-Lee. No. I was terrified.

“What did you do to him?” I screamed again, nearly reaching him, but before I did, I was tackled to the ground by who knows how many cops. With my body full of adrenaline, I fought back to my feet and took another step. “Where is he?” I shouted through the bluster, knowing the monster had heard me.

Not only did he hear me, but he smiled. It lasted less than a second, but I saw it. I saw the wickedness in his sly grin and understood the news it carried, telling me I’d just lost fucking everything.

The world that had been completely silent suddenly erupted in a loud burst as I was slammed to the ground. My head was shoved against the grass, dirt getting into my mouth, while someone pressed his knee to my neck, restraining me as they cuffed my hands behind my back. Still fighting my arrest and the assholes stepping on me, I spotted Andrei trying to reach me. He screamed something I couldn’t understand while Chief held him tight, preventing him from reaching me. Seeing the horror on top of the disappointment in everyone’s eyes was hard, but I couldn’t care less, not when they told me what I was accused of.

“You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Shay-Lee Christian Rogers.”

My heart stopped.

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

They kept reciting my Miranda rights, which I had heard too many times in my life, but it didn’t matter. My mind was stuck on the same fucking sentence that kept going in my head in loops.

You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Shay-Lee Christian Rogers.

You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Shay-Lee Christian Rogers.

I was under arrest for the attempted murder of the love of my fucking life.

And as they lifted me off the ground and began walking me to the police car, my eyes locked down on him, on the demon who was foolish enough to mess with me. Whether it would be in this life or the next, I would kill this man. But death would be too sweet for such a monster who dared to steal from me the one thing I loved in this world.

Yes, death would be too fucking sweet for such a creature, and by the time I finished with him, he’d see me for the monster I was because devils are not born, they’re made, and he just created a new one.

Ash

Most people would think I was a responsible guy who always offered sage advice and did the right thing—an optimist who saw the glass half full while seeing the good in people rather than the bad.

But that wasn’t who I was at all.

Ask Kai, my best friend, who I’d been leading on for years. Or my mom, who I’d disappointed frequently throughout my life. I would’ve suggested you ask my uncle, who knew it better than anyone, but he was long gone.

After getting my heart broken for the second time by a man whose memory still followed me like a shadow, I was a mess. A man with a broken heart and no purpose in life who kept chasing ideals, even once he realized he’d never achieve them. I was a man who once loved until he didn’t, and if it weren’t for those four beautiful kids who gave my life purpose, I probably would’ve been dead by now.

Six years ago, after months of rolling inside my own pitiful despair, I made a decision that changed my life forever when I volunteered as a councilman in a juvenile detention center. When I first stepped inside that place, the last thing I’d expected was to come out of there with four kids, but life works in mysterious ways.

The first I took in was Andrei. He was a good kid, with the eyes of a wise man despite his young age. His strong nature drew me to him immediately, and without thinking twice, I offered him a house to stay in once he got released. A house, not a home, because it only became one after they all moved in.

A few weeks later, it was Levi’s turn, the shy kid who never said a word but always spoke loudly with his eyes. The kindness within them was undeniable and captured my heart instantly. Despite his rough start, Levi warmed up as soon as Jessie joined our little home of three and brought nothing but sunshine with him.

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