Page 73 of Dissolving Prejudice

Camilo’s lips pulled into a dark smile. “If I recall correctly, we crossed it together.” He slipped his hands from my arm down to my elbow and underneath the sleeve of the loose shirt I wore.

His touch tickled me, only increasing the rage that took over me in an instant. He was so damn full of himself, and it pissed me the fuck off. But it wasn’t just anger twisting my insides but hurt. Disappointment in him acting in such a smug way.

“The you back then would have never done something like this.”

He tightened his hold on me, pulling me closer. “Well, the me back then wasn’t as desperate.”

And while his words did flatter me in a way because I was a sick fuck who loved knowing this man would do just about anything to have me, it didn’t excuse him from what he did last night, and that was to exploit sex in order to get what he wanted.

“No, Camilo. You would have never used sex against me,” I said through a sore throat.

The way he so effortlessly took advantage of my weakness to him was why I felt so dirty after we were finished. What killed me wasn’t the cheating or him drugging Jordan with sleeping pills, even though it should have been, but the fact he, of all people, used sex in order to get something out of me. He treated me the same way so many others had, and that couldn’t be seen as something legit.

The second those words left my mouth, Camilo’s brows pulled so close a crease formed between them. “What the fuck are you saying?” he hissed, clearly hurt. “You agreed to it.” His fingers gripped me harder. “I specifically asked—”

“I will always agree to you,” I snapped. “Don’t you get it by now?” Not minding the busy street around us, I kept my eyes on him and went on. “When it comes to you, I have no fucking limits, Camilo. There’s not a line I wouldn’t cross, no law I wouldn’t break… so it’s your fucking job to be the responsible one.” Suddenly, my voice broke, and I pressed my fist to his wide chest. “It’s your job to be different from them.” I hit him, but not for real, as tears began blurring my vision.

Camilo wasted no time before pulling me into his arms. But instead of calming me down, his hug only made it worse. I wasn’t even sure why I was crying, and yet, I couldn’t stop sobbing.

“I’m so sorry, Llorón.” He kissed the top of my head while running his fingers through my hair. As he did that, he mistakenly brushed the scar left on the side of my head from the surgery I’d gotten five years ago, the one they did due to the bleed in my brain. Apparently, the day I was attacked, whoever did that pounded my head so many times it split open. And while Camilo didn’t say a word about this new scar, I noticed how he lingered on it, as if he was memorizing this new part of me. Well, there were many scars that had been added to my body in the time he was gone, including the one on my heart.

“I’m so sorry for hurting you,” he whispered, then kissed me again. “Lo siento jodidamente, mi amor.”

Mi amor. It was the closest to a love confession he’d ever spoken out loud, and somehow, it was enough to help me calm down.

Sniffing, I took a deep breath and pulled back from his hug. “Just promise not to do it again,” I muttered, then brushed away my tears. Crying like a baby out of fucking nowhere was so embarrassing.

Cupping my face in his hands, Camilo nodded. “I won’t. And from now on, I’ll wait for you to come to me first.”

That made me frown because he had gotten the wrong idea. “I’m not going to do that.”

“And why’s that?”

“Why?” I huffed and lifted my left hand between us so my ring would be as clear as day. “Have you forgotten about this?”

Only Camilo didn’t bat an eye and instead pushed my hand out of his way before leaning closer. “This ring means as little to you as the man who you got it from, so don’t you dare wave that crap in my face.”

His tone awoke all of my darkest desires, and while I agreed I wasn’t in love with Jordan, it didn’t mean I could stomp all over his feelings.

“He’s a good man, Camilo, and I don’t want to hurt him.” Breaking our stare, I looked down at the ground, remembering how I’d already broken Jordan’s heart once. “I can’t keep hurting him.”

“But you’re fine hurting me?”

Taking a deep breath, I looked around. “Can we not have this conversation here? In the middle of the street?”

“When I tried taking you on a nice date to talk, you left me to drown. So I guess a stinky street is what we’re left with,” he hissed.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Rolling my eyes, I turned my back to him and started to walk when he followed me.

“Stop running away, Shay-Lee.”

“You mean like you did four years ago?”

“I didn’t run away.”

That made me laugh. “Oh, really? So what did you do? Went on a cruise, maybe?”

Grabbing my arm, he pulled me back and forced me to face him. At least now, we no longer stood in the middle of the street but by some fence. On the other side of it was the beach.