Page 41 of Mistaken Prejudice

“Miles.” Papa pinned me with a look.

“What? It’s not fair. You don’t even know him, and you already made your opinion about him.” I could already feel my ears getting red with how furious I was.

“Based on his past, I’m sure you can understand.” Dad’s calm and rational voice made me even more determined to prove my point. The only alarming thing in Andrei’s story was the justice system deciding to send a boy to prison for self-defense.

“Yeah, and it’s called prejudice. I thought you said to never judge a book by its cover.” I scoffed under my breath.

Papa moved from behind Dad and came to me, the corners of his mouth turned up. As soon as his soft palms touched my shoulders, I felt at ease. “You’re right.” His voice was gentle and understanding.

Surprised by his sudden change of mind, my brows drew close. “I am?”

“Yes. You are.” His beautiful, calming blue eyes gave me an assuring look. “Sometimes I forget how smart you are, mon lapin.” With one hand planted on his hip and the other on my shoulder, he leaned over and kissed my forehead.

“This is what we will do, I’ll help you cook, and then we can all eat together with Andrei. This way, we will meet him, and if—”

“Elliot,” Dad started saying, but Papa cut him off by raising one long, delicate finger in his direction.

“And if everything goes smoothly, we’ll leave you alone. How does it sound, my love?”

The only reason Shay-Lee didn’t jump in this time was that we spoke in French.

“Sounds fair.”

“Wonderful.” He let go of my shoulder and pressed his palms together. “So, shouldn’t we get to work?”

I nodded.

“Merveilleux,” he cheered as he walked to the fridge and started to bring out the ingredients we’d need. “Always remember, a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” His soft, melodic laughter filled the space, and the room was back at ease, like a spell. Erase that. It wasn’t a spell. It was all Papa and his ability to see beyond. I knew Dad was uncomfortable with the idea, but it was impossible to change it once Papa made up his mind. By now, Dad had also joined the party and helped Papa by bringing him a large steel pot. I watched them as they worked together and couldn’t help but feel lucky. In fact, I was so happy that I didn’t care about Shay-Lee’s whole attempt to fuck things up.

Chapter 13

Andrei

Last night was a mess. As soon as we reached home, Diesel jumped out of the car and took off to only God knew where. He was still not back by the time I left this morning. Because I was still angry with him, the one who went out looking for him was Chief.

It wasn’t the first time Diesel left the house in a rage, but it was the first time I was the cause of it. I hated how I felt, as if I’d betrayed him. But fuck it. Despite how much I loved him, he wasn’t the main character of my life. I was. And it was about time I acted the part. Ever since we began living with Chief, I gave up on what I wanted or needed for others’ sake. I was the responsible one, the problem solver. Calm and composed Andrei, who made sure to steady their rocking boat. Now, it was my life that rocked our boat. My relationship with Miles pushed Diesel the wrong way, and if I’d learned something by now, it was that if Diesel wasn’t calm, the whole house wasn’t either.

From the first time Diesel looked at me with eyes that spoke louder than words, we became us. I’ve got you was our unspoken rule for each other. The code we lived by. He became my person, not in a romantic way but in an “I’ll always put you first” way. I never had to put our relationship to the test until yesterday when I chose Miles’s hand over his.

Whatever it was that I felt for Miles before last night only grew a thousand times stronger after I felt his skin on mine. After I got to taste his sweet, addictive taste. And that’s the thing about being with him. Everything felt excessive. Every emotion was ardent. The slightest exchange of words stayed with me much longer than needed. Touching him felt torrid. I was vibrant and passionate, and I could barely recognize myself. All I knew was that I wanted to keep seeing, touching, and feeling him in every possible way. Emotionally or physically. And that’s why I was standing in front of Miles’s enormous front door, hesitating to ring the doorbell.

I looked down at my pick of clothing one last time—light blue jeans, a white T-shirt and my favorite pair of sneakers. I didn’t think much about it before, but now I started to second-guess my wardrobe. Knowing there was nothing I could do about it at the moment, I rang the doorbell and waited for it to be answered.

An unpleasant surprise took over me when the one to open the door was none other than a very naked Shay-Lee Rogers. Well, he wasn’t naked, but the small red trunks he wore could hardly pass as clothing. Blood rushed to my head at the appearance of the smug smile on his face, and I shoved my hands into my jeans pockets only so I wouldn’t be tempted to punch the smugness off his face. My sole consolation was the nasty bruises on his cheek that my best friend gave him. What I found even more annoying was that even with a fucked-up face, he was gorgeous. Son of a bitch.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” he said as he leaned his shoulder on the doorframe and checked me out with his vicious eyes. “Are you here for donations?” He made a gesture of rummaging through his pockets, not that he had any with those trunks. “Sorry, but I don’t have my wallet on me, Dimitri. It is Dimitri, isn’t it?” He straightened up and crossed his arms over his broad chest. The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Or was it Alexey? Yevgeni?”

“Andrei.” The only reason I spoke was to make him shut up sooner.

“Oh, right.” He snapped his finger at me. “I remembered it was something dull and boring suited for an immigrant.”

An immigrant? Really? I was born in this country, you dipshit, and even if I weren’t, what the actual fuck? Besides, who are you to base stereotypical opinions on my origin based on my name alone? Did I assume anything about your weird-ass name Shay-Lee? No, I did not.

“Yeah, my name has a beautiful history behind it. Thanks, man. I appreciate it.” I gave him a fake smile that at least erased the one he had on.

“Andrei,” Miles’s angelic voice was heard, and soon he showed up from behind the idiot. He pushed the asshole aside so that now he was standing in front of me. “You’re here.” He grinned, and I couldn’t help but do the same. His face made me want to smile.

“Yeah, I’m here.” His cheeks turned pink as he nibbled on his bottom lip.