Page 34 of Unexpected Prejudice

He glanced at where I threw my phone and caressed my cheek. “Is everything okay?” A lump of emotions formed down my throat as he softly touched my skin. I wanted to tell him my mom just texted me, but I couldn’t. Not yet. Not before I understood why.

Jessie knew everything there was to know about my relationship with her, from how she cheated on my dad and left us for a new family to the way she never called or wrote to me on my birthdays. After I got out of juvie, she had no problem giving Chief guardianship over me.

“Levi?” Jessie asked again, this time in a much more concerned tone.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just remembered I have a paper to write for next week,” I lied, not wanting to get into it yet.

“Oh, well, it’s only Saturday, so I’m sure you’ll make it. Right?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

He smiled and kissed the tip of my nose, “Good! So, let’s go and eat. The food turned out perfect. And Andrei just got back.” He reached for my hand and tangled our fingers together. His touch was warm and loving. It was almost enough to make me forget about my mom. Almost.

“Paris? As in Europe, kind of Paris? The one with the Eiffel Tower and the croissant?” Jessie squealed. He’d almost fallen out of his chair when Andrei had told us the news just a moment ago.

“Yeah, Jess.” Andrei smiled and put down his water glass. “Paris, as in the capital of France.”

Jessie’s eyes were wide, and his jaw was practically on the floor. “Holy fucking shit! When are you going? For how long? Can Levi and I come?”

“Calm down, Jess.” Chief chuckled, resting his hand on Jessie’s shoulder. “How about we let Andrei finish talking?”

Jessie simply nodded and moved in closer to Andrei, overly eager with the news.

“So, Miles’s dad, Elliot, is a model. A famous one.”

“A supermodel?” Jessie asked while Andrei took a bite of his taco.

Andrei swallowed his food and took a sip of water. “Yeah, he’s a supermodel. And French. To make a long story short, he’s going to Paris for a big fashion show and invited Miles and me to join him for the weekend.”

“Oh, good. So, his father would also be there?” Chief asked with concern.

Andrei nodded. “Yeah, Daniel, his other dad, will also join us there, so you’ve got nothing to worry about. Daniel also mentioned that he’ll be more than happy to talk with you on the phone to give you all the details.”

“Sounds good.” Chief smiled and put some more salad on his plate.

“How are you going to pay for it?” I asked as Andrei grabbed the salad bowl from Chief and loaded his plate with the veggies.

“Well, Elliot also has a fashion brand of his own. Designed for men only. Something simple but classic. Anyway, he suggested I model for his summer collection in exchange for covering the trip cost. We didn’t talk about all the details, but it sounded pretty cool to me, so I agreed.”

“That’s nice.” I smiled while Jessie searched for Elliot’s name on his phone and giggled when he saw Elliot was selected as male model of the year more than enough times.

The only one who didn’t seem excited about Andrei’s trip to Paris was Diesel, who sat quietly as he continued to eat his vegan tacos one after the other, seemingly indifferent to the conversation.

“What?” Andrei asked, his gaze focused on Diesel.

Raising his eyes from the food, Diesel gave Andrei an irritated look.

“You obviously have something to say, so why not say it?” Andrei pushed.

“I don’t have anything to say about you going to Paris as their whore, but I am curious. Do you suck all of their cocks, or just Miles’s? Oh, does the older one get to fuck you? I always thought you weren’t into being someone’s bitch, but I guess that depends on the price.”

Andrei clenched his jaw. “Shut up.”

“Or what? You’ll punch me again?” Diesel sneered with a wicked smile on his face. “Pass me the salt,” he ordered me.

“I punched you because you deserved it,” Andrei said as I handed Diesel the salt.

“Boys,” Chief warned with a calm voice.