Page 41 of Dissolving Prejudice

My stomach turned, and I felt sick. “C-Camilo, I’m sorry. Let me take you to the hospital.” I gripped the fabric of his shirt with shaking fingers.

Camilo stopped, his eyes darting to my hand that was on him before he looked at me, one brow raised. Maybe he got a concussion and he was going into shock?

“What is it?” I urged him to speak because the longer he kept quiet, the more worried I became.

“Nothing,” he finally spoke. “I really don’t need to go to the hospital.” He checked himself out. “But a shower would be nice. I’m all dirty now.”

Nodding, I dropped my hand from his body.

“Let me drive you to your place. It’s too dangerous for you to ride your bike with a head injury.”

And while my logic said driving Camilo to his home was a mistake, my heart didn’t care. I’d just run him over with my car. My muscles were shaking, and my breath was still caught in my throat. I was sweating my ass off with fear, even though he was clearly okay and stood on two feet right before me. It didn’t matter. I was still terrified he was hurt and I just couldn’t see it yet.

Therefore, without caring about the consequences of having no boundaries between us, I made him get inside my car and drove us to his place.

Shay-Lee

“Is this where you live?” I asked as we got inside one of those manual elevators with collapsible metal doors that you had to close yourself.

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure?” My brows pulled close at hearing the suspicious sounds coming from the elevator as it rode up.

“Yes, Shay-Lee. I’m sure this is where I live.”

“So you live in a dump.”

The elevator stopped, and I was ready for it to crash down when Camilo opened the doors.

“Stop being a bitch.”

“I’m simply stating the obvious,” I huffed while getting out of the elevator into the walkway. On one side, you had the building, while on the other, the open air with nothing but a cheap railing to stop you from falling down to the street. This place looked abandoned, and it wasn’t like the location was good enough to make up for the crappy building. We were literally in the middle of an old industrial area. Seriously, what was his real estate agent thinking?

“This looks like an abandoned warehouse.”

He snorted and then pulled a set of keys out. “Better than a Beverly Hills mansion.”

Rolling my eyes, I followed him as we walked toward a big, red metal door. “It’s only temporary until my house is ready.”

“You mean yours and Jordan’s?” he sneered while unlocking the several locks he had on, then opened the door and waited for me to step in first.

“Yeah, exactly.” I passed him when something ran between my legs, and I jumped back into Camilo’s arms. “Holy shit, was that a rat?” I gasped, still holding on to him for dear life and stepping on his shoes just so this filth wouldn’t touch me. Camilo burst out laughing, and frowning, I got off his feet to see him bending down to lift up a—

“A cat?”

“His name’s Toro.” Camilo brought the gray furball to his face and kissed its nose.

It was somehow charming, and trying to get over the embarrassment that a mere cat nearly gave me a heart attack, I straightened my shirt and walked inside the house.

“You truly are a scaredy-cat, aren’t you?” he laughed while closing the door behind us.

“No.” I lifted up my chin. “I was just caught off guard by this little—” Turning around, Camilo was holding the puss right in my face. To be honest, it was adorable.

Lifting my gaze from the cat to Camilo, I eyed him. “Is he a boy?”

“Yep.” He kissed him again and put him on the floor. “My baby boy.”

Ugh. I almost forgot how adorable Camilo was with animals.