Page 53 of Explosive Prejudice

“I don’t think you’re a whore,” I said, breaking the silence. “I never did.”

“I don’t care,” he rasped. Still with his back to me, he was scrubbing back and forth on the same spot, his muscles tensed with the sharp, angry moves.

“But I do, and I’m sorry about sleeping with Dion—”

“I said I don’t fucking care!” His shout echoed through the gym until it slowly died down and the silence returned. The sound of the rain pouring outside danced on my nerves as realization hit me.

Diesel wanted me.

He wanted me so much it infuriated him. He could argue otherwise, but if there was one thing I knew, it was that he was under my influence just as I was under his. It explained why me mentioning Dion stung him as it did just now and why instead of punching me that night, he punched a fucking wall. It’s ’cause he couldn’t hit me. He couldn’t bring himself to physically hurt me. Something had changed between us, and neither of us could ignore it. Since the beginning, there had been this force that drew us to one another, and now it was a million times stronger. It was so strong that ignoring it seemed impossible. Call it madness, but we were a perfect fucking match.

After discovering who Nero was, I wasn’t disappointed it was him. I was disappointed with myself because I knew he wouldn’t want me, which was why I slept with Dion, because what was better than to make him hate me for other reasons instead of the real one? Hating me for something I did was much better than hating me for who I was. Being rejected by Nero was too much, so I tried to give up on him before he could give up on me, but not anymore. Knowing that a part of him still wanted me gave me hope. A slim-ass shot an obsessive asshole like me was about to clench onto.

Now, I only had to make him see it for himself. But it wouldn’t be easy, especially now, since he looked like he was ready to take off my head. Fuck, I really want to get off with him, but hold on, Shay-Lee. Before getting to the good parts, where we’d ruin each other to the core, I’d have to make him break. To do that, I’d have to play dirty. Thank God I was a crazy son of a bitch, willing to do just about anything to get who he wanted.

Diesel

“You gotta be shitting me,” I grunted as I entered the class and saw the over-the-top fruit basket waiting for me on my desk. Reaching my seat, I examined the excessive gift up close, cursing the caremonda who left it for me.

“What’s that? Your secret admirer left you another gift?” Andrei asked, standing beside me. “Fuck, check this out.” Smitten, he picked out a flower made of a pineapple slice and a grape. “Maybe I should get Miles one, too. It would be romantic, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s so pretty!” Jessie’s eyes sparkled as he joined us, cutting off Andrei’s ongoing mumbling about buying his twink presents. “I’m so jealous.”

“What’s there to be jealous of?” Levi asked a moment before he noticed the basket himself. “Oh, wow.” He looked at me with raised brows. “You’ve been getting those gifts all week, haven’t you? I guess you really do have a secret admirer.”

No, I didn’t have a secret admirer. What I did have was a lunatic who apparently had a death wish. Speaking of the devil, the hijueputa just walked into the class with a huge-ass grin stuck to his stupidly pretty face.

Always mister popular, he gave some of the girls who came to greet him his attention before noticing me. Yeah, right, as if our eyes hadn’t met the second he walked in.

“Will you look at that,” Shay-Lee leered, stopping by my desk, pretending to admire the gift he left for me. “Ain’t that a pretty little thing.” He smirked.

“What do you want?” Andrei hissed, and I didn’t miss the change in his mood. Even though Shay-Lee had stopped harassing him and Miles months ago, Andrei hadn’t forgotten what the guy did to them. Neither did I, for that matter.

Shay-Lee gave Andrei an offended look before he looked between us. “What’s with the attitude? All I wanted was to tell you guys good morning and to admire this beautiful gift.” Reaching forward, he picked a peach out of the basket. At least he didn’t go for the banana.

“I mean, whoever gave this to you must really like you.” His eyes found mine as he brought the fruit to his lips and took a bite. The son of a bitch. I clenched my hands into fists because looking at him parting his lips and sinking his teeth into the flesh of the ripe peach, juice dripping down his chin, made blood rush to my cock. The idea that Shay-Lee could affect me this easily drove me insane, and I worried I would bust someone’s head open again.

“Is everything alright, Diesel? All of a sudden, you look like you’re ready to kill someone,” Shay-Lee asked, blinking his baby blues at me while pretending to be innocent. “But then again, you always look that way.” He winked, then took another bite and smirked like a jackass.

“I think you should go,” Andrei said.

“Luckily, I don’t give a shit about what you think.” Tearing his eyes away from me, Shay-Lee gave Andrei a fake smile. “But looking at you did make me lose my appetite.” He placed the half-eaten peach on my desk. “See you in detention,” he said to me before turning around and walking back to his seat in the front of the class.

“What the hell was that about?” Jessie asked while I continued to observe Shay-Lee, who was already surrounded by a group of people.

I knew Shay-Lee was popular since we started going here, but only recently did I begin noticing the amount of attention he received everywhere. Even in the club, whenever we walked among others, all eyes were on him. Patrons, Gatti, even the security guards were all looking at him. He wore a mask, for God’s sake, and still managed to be beautiful enough to turn people’s heads. And even though they all looked at him, his eyes were only ever looking at me.

So why did he fuck Dion?

“Diesel?” Andrei said, pulling me out of my disturbing thoughts.

“What?”

“What’s going on between you two?”

“The fuck you talking about?” I bit back, noticing how Levi and Jessie were also looking at me the same way. “For fuck’s sake, you think I know what goes on inside that crazy head of his?” Yeah, you absolutely do, and that’s the problem. “He’s just messing with me ’cause we’re stuck in detention for the next month after I punched him.” Yeah, lie to them and pretend that this whole mess was because of that incident. If only.

Jessie burst into laughter. “Oh shit, I totally forgot how hilarious it was when he puked on you.”

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