Page 48 of Dissolving Prejudice

Still, making him cry was never my agenda, and that was why I decided to give him a few days to calm down before making my next move.

“That’s good to hear, man. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks,” I said, moving to a sitting position to grab a new beer from the table. “Oh, there’s something I wanted to ask.” I opened the cap. “How did this thing happen?” I pointed back at the house, then swung my head backward and emptied half the bottle. “I mean, Chief and the lawyer. How did that happen?” I asked after clearing my throat.

Andrei chuckled. “You missed the whole love triangle thing that happened during your trial, bro.”

“No shit.” I wiped my lips with the back of my hand. “So you’re saying my trial was only the side story?”

“Basically.”

“And what about Kai? Where’s he now?”

Rubbing his palms together, Andrei leaned forward. “Okay, that’s quite the story—”

“There you are.”

Cut off mid-sentence, Andrei turned to look at his boyfriend, Miles, who’d just come out of the house and was walking toward us. Always being a pain in the ass, he had the worst timing ever.

“You came after all,” Andrei said as he got up to greet his twink with a hug.

“I told you I would once I was done shooting.” Miles hugged him back. Once they broke their connection, His Royal Highness gave me the pleasure of glancing my way. Checking me out with a raised chin and pursed lips, he forced himself to smile. “Nice to see you, too, Diesel.” My name sounded like the f-word coming out of his entitled mouth.

I see he still loves me.

Turning to face Miles, I gave him the most fake smile I could manage. “Wish I could say the same, sunshine.”

Taking off his sunglasses, Miles sighed like the diva he was. Who knew this dude could grow more annoying over the years?

“I see you haven’t changed and are still as charming as always,” he sneered.

It was truly amazing how whenever he opened his mouth to speak, all I heard was irrelevant mumbling like the buzz of a fly that kept you up at night.

“Come on, guys. How about we start a new page this time around?”

Miles looked away while I kept my lips busy with my beer. Clearly, Andrei was still delusional.

Understanding he had no chance of making us friends, he changed the subject. “So the shoot went well?”

“Oh, it went amazing. I’m telling you, Andrei, I’ve outdone myself.”

“What shoot?” I joined their conversation.

Resting a hand on his waist, Miles put his sunglasses back on. “If you must know, Papa and I have a cooking blog. We have over nine million subscribers on different social platforms,” he said proudly, completely full of himself. “It’s called Cooking with Papa Elliot.”

Speaking of social media, Shay-Lee had deleted all of his accounts. That brat used to be obsessed with posting selfies of his abs, so it definitely made me wonder what happened to change his mind about it. At least I managed to screenshot all of his posts before he deleted his accounts. Fuck. I was such a creep it made me laugh.

Miles’s lips twitched with displeasure. “What’s funny?”

“None of your business,” I grunted.

“It’s a cool blog, D,” Andrei cut in. “They’re really famous all around the world. I need to show you some of their videos.”

“I would rather die.”

“Finally, we’re agreeing on something,” Miles muttered.

Once again, we exchanged fake smiles while Andrei rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You’re really something, D.”