Page 10 of Explosive Prejudice

Before Levi could answer, I butted in. “I don’t fucking care. Okay?” I scowled at them all. “Unlike you, I don’t care about dicks. Not in the slightest. If it isn’t my own, I don’t want to see or hear about it.” With that being said, I left the four of them standing in the hall and went downstairs to smoke that cigarette I craved.

Shay-Lee

I didn’t want to be back at Bay High, and yet, being in the cafeteria, surrounded by my teammates I didn’t give a flying fuck about, was much better than being in London with my father and Orson. But today, right before I headed to school, Dad called to inform me that he’d been forced to extend his stay abroad for a few more days. The news was a sweet way to start an even sweeter morning.

After returning home last night from the Venetian, I was pumped as fuck. The Black Gatto was all I could think about since the moment I laid eyes on him. I knew I was an obsessive freak, and fuck if he wasn’t about to become my new obsession.

The Black Gatto made me hard. As simple and trivial as it may sound, it was a big deal. It wasn’t that I didn’t get hard. I did. Just never sober. Not wanting to get into why I couldn’t get my dick to function like a normal man in his prime, I focused on how it had throbbed in my pants simply from being under his intense stare for a few minutes.

After telling Dion all his wishes were about to come true, he took me to a private room, where we fucked for hours. Sure, I didn’t reach my climax sober, and at some point, we ran some lines, but it was still something. During my whole time with Jordan, which was hot, not once did I manage to finish clean. It always involved some heavy drinking or getting high. I knew Jordan noticed it, but he never questioned me. Not too much, anyway. My sweet Jordan was a bit of a pushover. It was why I liked him so much but also why I had no choice but to let him go.

“Yo, Rogers, check this out.” Kamper, one of the idiots who stuck to me like glue, slapped my arm for attention. It worked because instead of thinking about the Black Gatto and how much I wanted to watch him again, my eyes focused on Miles, who’d just entered the cafeteria. He wasn’t alone. Holding his hand was his boyfriend, Andrei, the son of a bitch who started this whole mess. Well, technically, I knew I was the bad guy in that story, but it was time to move forward. My jealousy of their relationship ended the minute Miles kicked me out. His words, forever engraved into my core, still pained me.

How can someone ever love somebody like you? You’re a terrible human, Shay-Lee. Horrendous, truly. I’m shocked we’ve been friends for so long.

Every word he said was the harsh truth, crushing the illusion I had built for years. It hurt a lot, and I regretted everything I did that led me to that point. And yet, I did want to fix what I ruined because I missed him, and not just him. I missed sitting around their table for dinner, tanning by the pool with Elliot, and talking football with Daniel.

“Did you know he was coming back to school?” Kamper asked as I kept quiet.

After his mania episode that ended terribly with his suicide attempt, Miles took a break from school.

“I guess you didn’t. After all, you’re no longer besties.” Kamper continued to speak like he had a clue, while I continued to ignore him.

We weren’t friends anymore, but perhaps there was a chance I could fix it?

“Hey,” I said, catching Miles by surprise as he was loading books into his locker. The moment he noticed me, he slammed it shut and turned around.

“Why are you talking to me?” he hissed, his eyes narrowed with hostility.

We used to be inseparable.

Not anymore.

Actually, this was the first time in weeks I’d stood so close to him. In fact, I remembered the last time clearly.

“What are you doing here?” Elliot asked as he opened the door, keeping his hand on the frame, making it very clear I wasn’t welcome to come in.

“Elliot.” My throat was dry. “I came to see Miles.”

Tears welled in his eyes, and he bit back on his bottom lip before his sculpted jaw clenched with rage. A man who only knew love was looking at me with nothing but hate and contempt.

“You don’t get to see my son, not anymore, not after what you have done.” His accent thickened with the anger that flooded his words and made it harder to understand.

Trying to shut the door in my face, I moved quickly and stopped him by grabbing it.

“Please, just let me see him. Even just for a few minutes.” I fought hard to keep the door open, all while watching the rage on his face grow.

“Pour qui tu te prends?” he asked as if I knew what he meant.

“I don’t know what you’re saying.” I took a step closer. “But please don’t slam the door in my face, please.”

“That is my mistake,” he hissed. “I should have slammed it in your face years ago when my Miles first brought you here.”

“Papa?” We both stopped at the fragile sound of Miles’s voice coming from inside the house, and I took advantage of Elliot’s lost focus to step in.

“Miles.” Throwing my arms around him, I held on to his body.

Pressing my head to his shoulder, I breathed his familiar scent in before stepping back and looking at him. Ignoring the shock written on his face, I focused on the fact that he was there, right before me, looking as normal as always.

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