Page 134 of Dissolving Prejudice

Anger crossed his face. “Dion. I wanted Dion to end him, not you, and besides—” He covered his mouth with his hand. “—we were just stupid kids back then. We plotted an idiotic plan that would have never worked, and it didn’t. It failed. It failed miserably.” He shifted his weight between his legs, and my eyes latched on his ankles. The two ankles he got crushed because of the same monster he was now protecting.

It made me see red.

“So what the fuck were we supposed to do?”

“Nothing,” he hissed, and the hostility in his voice felt like a bite from a poisonous snake. “If you would have stayed put, he would have stood trial and got the punishment he deserved.”

“Oh, please.” I mocked this euphoric idea he came up with. “As if that would have ever happened.”

“Soren said we’d send him to jail!” He argued with such innocence.

“Oh, wonderful.” My lips curled with spite. “Since Soren said it, then it must be true, right?” I got closer to him so I was right in his face. “Soren couldn’t even get me out of jail, Shay-Lee. If it weren’t for Dion’s help, my ass would still be rotting in that damn place.”

His eyes widened as if he’d just put together the last part of the puzzle, and he glared at me with an open mouth. “T-that’s the deal you made with him,” he spoke quietly, as if only to himself, before a choked laugh escaped him, and he turned his back to me.

“Shay-Lee—”

“You told me Dion helped you in exchange for you working for him. Was that it? He helped you kill my dad in exchange for five years of your life?”

That was exactly it. And at the time, it felt right, but now… now I wished I’d never taken that offer, as it brought me nothing but pain and suffering.

“Tell me this isn’t true.” He turned around as I stepped toward him. “Tell me this isn’t the deal you made with him.” He shoved me.

I opened my mouth to speak, to explain to myself and him how this was the only thing that made sense at the time, only my words didn’t come out, and instead, “Llorón—”

“Fuck!” he shouted as he pushed me with all of his force, enough to make me trip back and fall on my ass.

I hit the ground hard, but it wasn’t the pain from the fall that kept me down but the words that came out of his mouth next.

“You’re so fucking selfish, Camilo,” he cried, and his tears felt like my own. “Time after time, you had the chance to choose better. To be better, but no. You can’t help but ruin your life, can you?”

“That’s rich coming from you.” My voice cracked, and I choked on a sob. “You did some fucked-up shit yourself, Shay-Lee.” I wiped my nose with my dirty palm, still not attempting to get up.

“Yeah, but for as long as we were together, I’ve never chosen someone else over you.” He pointed at himself, and the disappointment on his face made me feel so damn weak.

My bottom lip shivered before I managed to mutter a response. “I didn’t either.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” His eyes searched mine for something as I kept quiet. Eventually, he huffed and gave me the most pitiful look I’d ever received. “You chose him over me.”

“No.” I shook my head. “That isn’t true!”

“But it is,” he screamed. “Blinded by hate, you went after him, not giving a shit I was left behind to fucking drown, Camilo.”

My brows pulled down as I looked up at him, tears in my eyes. “I did it because of you. Only you.”

“No.” His jaw twitched. “You did it because you’re a monster, just like him.”

My heart stopped as pure horror overcame all of my senses. It was, by far, the lowest moment of my life, and somehow, it felt suitable. I knew what I was all along. After all, it took a monster to kill one, right? But then again, I was foolish enough to hope Shay-Lee would still accept me because years ago, in a motel room that stank of piss and mold, he’d promised me that. He told me that some monsters were good, and I believed him. I believed him enough to fight tooth and nail to get back to him. To the one person in this world I thought would love me despite it all, only to be put in my place. It hurt beyond anything I’d ever experienced, and shattered, I broke down. Ugly tears gathered in my eyes as I struggled to keep a clear vision of him. For a minute, I thought I’d just stay here, on this cemetery ground, but the second Shay-Lee made an attempt to walk away, I launched forward and wrapped my arms around his legs, forbidding him from taking another step.

“Please, please don’t leave me,” I begged from the ground like the piece of human garbage I was. “Please, Shay-Lee. I can’t live without you. Not again—”

He tried kicking me, but I only hugged him tighter. If only I’d hugged the other people I loved in my life this hard, maybe I wouldn’t have lost them, too.

“No wonder you have such nightmares,” he then said, voice cold. “With the way you butchered him… I would’ve been scared to be you, too.”

His words were like a punch to the chest, and hurt, I loosened my grip just a bit. It was enough for him to get one of his legs out of my hold. Not giving up, I held the other, and desperate, I kissed it. There wasn’t anything romantic about it, just a pathetic dog smearing his snot and tears over his owner’s leg.

“I thought you hated him, too. I thought you’d want him dead,” I confessed while attempting to ease my breath. I was heaving and wheezing like a beaten beast.