Page 21 of Dissolving Prejudice

“Not before you tell me where you’ve been this afternoon.” He hooked the towel on two of his fingers. “It was to see him, wasn’t it?” he said gleefully. “Your sweet Shay-L—”

My hand was around his neck before he could spit Shay-Lee’s name out of his mouth, and I tightened my hold until he gagged.

“C-Camilo,” he gasped, desperately scratching my arm, which only tensed by the second.

“You need to learn how to shut your mouth,” I hissed, watching his eyes bulge and his lips part. Soon, his face reddened, and spit flew out of his desperate mouth. What a pathetic little creature, the monster in me thought right before I came back to my senses and realized what the fuck I was doing. I let go of him at once, and he slumped to the floor, gasping and choking for air.

I closed my eyes and took a long breath, already regretting what I’d just done.

“I-I’m sorry,” Oro cried from the floor. “I’m sorry I upset you.” He sniffed his nose, and I dared to look at him.

I felt ashamed of my outburst and quickly covered him with a towel, not minding the fact I was still naked.

“I’m sorry for doing this,” I whispered while rubbing his shoulder with one hand. “I didn’t mean to snap.”

Oro didn’t miss the opportunity to be cared for and immediately lunged forward, forcing me to hug him. Pressing his head in my chest, he sniffed. “I don’t want you to hate me, too.”

I don’t want you to hate me. Those were the words Llorón had told me as I hugged his broken body on the Notte Oscura’s floor all those years ago. We were in the same position as Oro and I were right now; only my heart ached for Llorón’s pain at the same time it throbbed with my love for him. My lips trembled with how much it hurt, and I bit them just to make it stop. Without realizing it, I wrapped my arms tighter around Oro until I practically covered him. With my eyes closed, I could almost imagine it was Shay-Lee.

But then he spoke, and the spell broke.

“Can I sleep with you in your bed tonight?” he asked, then slid his hands down my back and mistakenly touched my scar.

My muscles immediately tensed, and unsettledness raged through me as my skin ran cold. Body and mind, I rejected the idea of being so close to Oro, and almost disgusted, I pulled back from him. Before he could complain, I tightened the towel around his naked shoulders, then stood up and grabbed a different towel for myself.

No one could be his replacement, I thought to myself while knotting the towel around my waist.

“I’ll take you to your home.”

“What?” He gasped and stood up. “Why?”

Because my heart beats for one man and one man only.

“Because it’s for the best.”

And because I just decided that Jordan wouldn’t get in my way.

“But I want to stay with you,” Oro demanded.

I snorted. Oro was still too young and naive to understand we weren’t the type of people to get what we wanted just because we wanted it. Oh, no, baby, we were not. Since I could remember, I was the kind of man the world just threw shit on. Growing up with a monster of a father. Losing my sister, mother, and then my brother. Falling in love with the greatest man I’d ever met, only to lose him shortly after—I never got what I wanted. I took it. And I was about to do it again. Jordan could fuck off ’cause I was ready to take back what was mine, and what better way to do it than the explosive tango Shay-Lee and I were already acquainted with?

“What’s funny?” Oro asked, his forehead creased.

“Nothing you’d understand,” I answered him as I gave him back his clothes. “Get dressed, and I’ll give you a ride.”

Despite Oro’s constant complaining, I drove him to his home in the Jeep I landed from Dion’s company, not my bike. What could I say? The back seat of my bike belonged to someone else. Once parked in front of his apartment building, which Dion paid for, Oro stayed put.

“Aren’t you gonna get out?” I asked after checking the time. It was past midnight, and I was dying for some rest.

Oro nibbled on his bottom lip before he turned to look at me, his teal eyes glinting with the light coming from the street. “I want to help you.”

I blinked at him, my eyelids heavy. “Help me? Help me with what?”

Oro moved his hand and placed it on my forearm. “With finding the mole.”

Taken aback, I frowned. “How do you know about that?”

He chuckled. “Dion loves running his mouth after he gets off.”