Page 29 of Mistaken Prejudice

“And what? You’ll smash their window?” I asked, gasping. Stopping him was real fucking hard.

“Yes!” he barked before I pushed him away, and he dropped the rock. As he dove down to pick it up again, I raised my voice at him.

“And then what? Huh? Tell me, Diesel, who’ll pay for the damage? You?” Not looking at me, he continued to bounce the rock in his fist. “Answer me,” I demanded.

“Fuck!” He threw the rock to the side before dropping to the gravel, burying his head in his hands. “I can’t, Chica, I just can’t,” he mumbled as I dropped my ass to the ground beside him.

“I know. It drives me nuts as well.”

He reached for his pocket and searched before pulling out a packet of cigarettes. “Heputa.” He cursed when he opened the packet and it was empty.

“What was that?” I asked innocently, pretending not to understand the curse.

He rolled his eyes at my lame joke but then nudged my shoulder with his. At least he was letting some of his anger go.

We sank back into silence, and I watched Diesel as he played with the empty packet, twisting and folding the white paperboard until it was a shapeless mess.

“Bali,” I said, knowing how this one word was enough to catch his attention.

“What about it?”

“Nothing.” I leaned back on my hands. “I was just thinking about how much I want to go there already.”

Ever since Chief taught us how to surf and we fell in love with the ocean, we promised each other that once we’d graduated from high school, we would travel to the most amazing surfing spots around the world. It may have started as an empty promise, but over the years, it became a real thing. We almost had enough savings to get the trip going. Just a little more.

“Me too.” His words may have sounded dull to a stranger, but not to me. I could sense the hope in them.

“Good. So remember Bali the next time a jackass like him tries to get under your skin, okay?”

He was silent for another minute before he shoved his hand through his mess of dark curls. “Okay.”

I have my boy again.

Getting up from the ground, I cleaned my pants before offering him my hand. “Let’s go catch the bus. We can buy you some smokes on the way to work.”

After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed me by the wrist. “I hate you.” He grunted as I pulled him up.

“About the party tonight,” I started saying. “If you prefer not to go, I totally get it. I’ll just text Miles and tell him we’ll meet tomorrow.”

“Hell no.” Diesel let out a laugh before turning to look at me, a devious look on his face. “We’re going to that party tonight, and we’re gonna have a blast.”

Chapter 11

Miles

“Sorry you had to pick us up,” Andrei apologized, after dropping a kiss on my cheek and buckling his seatbelt.

“Don’t worry about it,” I responded with a smile before checking the mirror to see all the other passengers had gotten in.

Before I put the car in Drive, Jessie, who sat in the middle, reached forward.

“Can I pick a track?” he asked while playing with his lip piercing.

“Sure.” I handed him my phone and he took it.

It wasn’t long before music started playing in the car, and Jessie moved to the beat. I couldn’t say he was a good dancer, but he definitely felt it.

The drive to Ty’s house took a little less than an hour and was a bit awkward. Even though we pulled out a conversation, it was hard to ignore Diesel’s hostility with his snarky side comments and occasional snarls. At least Jessie’s playlist of epic hip-hop kept us busy enough that I didn’t need to dive too much into it.