Page 56 of Explosive Prejudice

Since the fruit basket on Monday, I’d received tickets to the ballet, a Ranieri handbag, and another pair of sneakers. Needless to say, I turned them all down, minus the ballet since it was a great show, and did my best to ignore Shay-Lee in every possible way. But today, he crossed the line—if there were ever one to begin with.

“Shay-Lee.” I roared his name when I finally found him in the gym’s showers after searching for him around the school for nearly an hour. I normally would’ve wondered why the fuck he skipped class to take a shower in the middle of the day, but I’d been skipping half my classes to smoke, so…

Closing the tap, he turned to look at me, water dripping from his soaked hair and down his wet body. “If you wanted to join me, you could have just asked—”

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” I growled as I stopped in front of him and shoved the keys to the brand-new motorcycle he’d bought me into his hand. Just thinking about the black bike waiting for me in the parking lot made my body tremble with rage.

“Why are you so mad?” He played with the keys. “It’s a good bike.” Stepping closer, he patted my chest with the same hand holding the keys. “Bet you’d look hot on it.” He slid his hand down my body and tucked the keys into my back pocket, making sure to pinch my ass on the way. Something snapped inside me at that moment, and before I could stop myself, I had him pinned against the shower wall, dressed or undressed, I didn’t give a fuck.

“Was the hot comment too much?” He gave me a lopsided grin, not bothering to hide his satisfaction. “Or was it the ass grab?”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I hissed, tightening my hold around his arms and shoving him harder against the wall. The sound of the water dripping echoed around the empty showers, making me aware that someone could walk in at any moment, but I didn’t care. He was driving me out of my freaking mind, and I could hardly hold it together.

“What’s wrong with me? That’s a rather general question. Mind being more specific?”

Taking a deep breath, I gritted my teeth and leaned closer. “What the hell do you want from me?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” He smirked. “I want to drive you insane.”

“You’re crazy.”

“I know.”

Looking between us, my eyes traveled down his naked body and back up to his neck. His tan skin, still wet from the shower, nearly glowed under the harsh fluorescent light. Like some starved beast, I wanted to lean in and trace those wet trails with my tongue before sinking my teeth into his flesh hard enough to break skin and leave a mark.

He truly is driving me insane.

“You can choke me if you want,” he said when I realized I was still staring at his throat. “You know we’ll both enjoy it.”

Moving on impulse, I brought one hand to his neck, scraping his skin. I quickly traced his pulse and, for a second, imagined how it would be if it were gone. All I needed to do was to tighten my hold, and he’d be dead. A few more seconds of him gasping and gagging for air and he’d be quiet for good, and with him, so would my problems.

Problems.

That was what my sister’s rapist thought right before he chose to choke her to death. Didn’t he? She was probably screaming, fighting for her life, and he wanted her to quiet down—just like you want to shut Shay-Lee up—so he strangled her—just like I’m choking Shay-Lee—until she could no longer fight.

“Camilo.”

Shay-Lee gasping my name was like the last ray of sun to pull me out of the dark, and for a moment, I was grateful. I was grateful he was there to call out my name and save me from myself. But this feeling of gratitude was gone as quickly as it arrived, only to be replaced by anger. Pure, animalistic, rage because he shouldn’t be the one to make me feel that way.

He shouldn’t be the one.

But before I could even think about it, I pulled him closer and crushed our mouths together in a violent kiss that drank up his moans and took him apart.

A small groan escaped past his lips as he slid his hands underneath my shirt and leaned into me with desperation. Tugging on his bottom lip, I bit him hard enough to taste blood, but not even that stopped me from shoving my tongue into his open mouth and swirling it around his like a possessed man.

Nothing about this kiss was gentle, if I could even call it a kiss. It was an assault of his mouth with all the pent-up aggression he had put me through. There was no consideration, no patience, or gentleness. All I was trying to do was cure my wounds by digging fresh ones into him, and the way to do so was by sucking on his tongue, biting on his lips, jaw, neck…

“Oh, fuck,” he cried out, putting a shred of awareness in my head, making me pause and give the empty room a quick scan. Since we were both skipping class, the gym stood empty, but it was better not to risk it.

“Diesel—”

“Shut up,” I hissed, grabbed his arm, and yanked him into the nearest toilet stall, shutting the door behind us and turning him around to face it.

“How aggressive,” he purred while giving me a starved look over his shoulder.

“I told you to shut up.” Fisting his hair, I forced his head to the door at the same time I unzipped my pants and pulled out my throbbing length. I’d never been this hard before, but then again, no one had ever pushed me to my limits the way Shay-Lee did.

Taking a condom out of my wallet, I covered myself up before grabbing his hands and twisting them behind his back. “This is your chance to say no.” No matter how angry I was, I wasn’t a goddamn rapist.

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