Page 58 of Dissolving Prejudice

“What?” I gasped. “No, silly.” I fist-bumped his arm, and the fucker immediately rubbed the spot. What a weakling. “Why would I want to poison you?”

Taking another fry, I watched how he took his time bringing it to his lips. I swore to God he moved slowly on purpose, just to spite me.

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

“It isn’t poisoned, Miles. Just a small gesture to show I care.”

He snorted. “Since when do you care?”

“Since now,” I grunted, pissed because he was annoying as fuck.

Miles cleaned the salt off his palms before reaching for the smoothie. Pinching the straw between his fingers, he brought it to his lips and took a small sip. “That’s tasty, but seriously, Diesel, what do you want?”

“Can’t I just be nice?”

Taking another sip, Miles snorted. “Is that supposed to be a rhetorical question? Because if not, you’re probably the least nice person I have ever met in my life. Not to mention rude—”

“Fine,” I cut him off before he could continue trashing me. “I need you to help me with Shay-Lee.”

Miles’s lips perked up before he took off his sunglasses and looked at me with scrutinizing eyes. “How so? I thought you two were doing great.”

Immune to his snark, I swallowed my pride and forced a smile. “Apparently, not as great as I thought. So, can you help?”

Smitten with himself, Miles ate another fry and chewed it with a smile. “I never thought I’d live to see the day mighty Diesel would come asking for help.” He sucked his fingers clean. “I must say it’s quite lovely.”

Seeing how this was leading to nowhere, I decided I’d had it. My life was already hard enough without making a fool out of myself in front of this dude. I chewed at the inside of my cheek, frustration bubbling just beneath the surface as I got up. “Fine—”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you.”

My eyes shot to him. “Seriously?”

He nodded, and I immediately sat down and reached for his hand. “Thank you so much—”

“But I won’t do it for free.” He slipped his hand from my hold.

“Sure. Let me hear it,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning back.

“I don’t have anything in mind now.” He pursed his lips before glancing at me. “Let’s just say you’ll owe me one.”

I eyed him suspiciously as he was probably plotting something vile in that big head of his.

Miles checked his phone. “I need to call Papa, so do we have a deal or not?” he asked while putting his sunglasses back on and taking a small sip from his drink.

It wasn’t like I had much choice, and besides, what was the worst he could come up with?

“Hell yeah.”

Shay-Lee

“Is everything okay, babe?” Jordan asked, holding my hand as we walked the path leading to the main dining room.

For the last four days, he’d been holding my hand so much that I feared it would fall off soon. The first time he took my hand in his, it was cute, but four days into this vacation, it was getting on my nerves. And while my fingers had gone numb at this point, I didn’t ask him to stop and instead forced myself to hold his hand as tight as possible. I had to prove to him and myself that everything was good, even though I couldn’t wait to be back home. Here I was on vacation, in the closest place to paradise with a clear blue sky and turquoise water, feeling suffocated to death.

Maybe it’s ’cause you’d rather live in hell with a sinner such as yourself.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I finally acknowledged Jordan’s question. “Yeah, everything’s good. I’m just tired.”

“You didn’t sleep well last night?”