Page 76 of Dissolving Prejudice

“Fuck.” I groaned. “I love it when you say my name.”

Shay-Lee grunted with frustration before his smile slipped, and he had to cover it up with eating.

While I knew Shay-Lee didn’t remember the last week before his attack, including the attack itself, I was fucking grateful he remembered me proposing to him. He might still pretend to have thrown away my necklace, but soon enough, he’d stop doing that, too.

“Why did you delete all of your social media?” I asked after a few minutes passed with neither of us speaking.

“Didn’t want to deal with all the hate.”

“Hate?”

Putting his spoon aside, he cleaned his lips with a napkin before returning my concerned stare. “Yeah, you know, all those people who said shit about me.”

I had zero idea what people he was referring to, so I stayed quiet. He sighed.

“There’s a lot of people who think I made the whole thing up and that I lied about my dad abusing me to get my hands on his money.”

Startled by his words, I hardened my stare, and he seemed surprised.

“Wait, don’t tell me you’re unaware of all those conspiracy theories that we plotted to kill my father and run away with his money?” The way he said it, with a hint of a smile and amusement in his eyes, was brutal. It was brutal because I knew it was just a mask to cover up how much this shit hurt him, and of course it did. His dad made him go through hell for years, and when Shay-Lee finally had the courage to open up and speak about it, there were people who dared to doubt his words. What the fuck?

“Well, we did plan on running away, but for a whole other reason,” he said with a chuckle before grabbing his drink.

“Whoever thinks that you lied is a sick fuck.”

Shay-Lee stopped with the glass in his hand before giving me a pitiful smile. “I honestly don’t care anymore, Camilo.” He then averted his eyes away from me. “Sure, some stuff hurt, like when someone took photos of me in the psychiatric unit and spread them online or when some lady poured iced coffee in my face because she thought I was a lying cocksucker who hurt his father’s legacy.” He snorted.

My insides coiled while listening to him.

“But I learned to live with it. I really did,” he said, snapping me back.

“Well, you shouldn’t,” I hissed, my fingers curling into tight fists as my blood boiled with anger. If I ever came across someone with the audacity to even hint Shay-Lee wasn’t telling the truth, I would split their head open—

“Hey.” He placed his hand on mine. “Don’t get angry,” he said, forcing me to relax my fist before he laced our fingers together.

I relaxed at his soft touch, but the thought of not being there to protect him made my insides coil. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.”

Shay-Lee’s stare slipped to our joined hands before he smiled to himself. “You know, I don’t blame people for not believing me. My dad really didn’t look like the type to… you know.”

“What do you mean?”

Looking up, he dropped the smile. “Like the type to rape his kid.”

Hearing him say it to me out loud, probably for the first time, made my guts clench, and I felt sick. Sick to my stomach with anger. Pure wrath over what that bastard did to him. I thought killing that man would help me get rid of some of it, but it didn’t.

“Rapists are scum, and it doesn’t matter if they’re wearing a suit or a stained tank top, they all deserve the same fate.”

Taken aback, he narrowed his eyes at me. “And that is?”

“Death.”

Shay-Lee stayed quiet, and so I went on. “What matters is that he’s gone now, Shay-Lee.” Because I butchered him alive. “He was a fucking monster, and you shouldn’t waste your time on him.” I am a monster, too, though.

Silence stretched between us, and for a change, it felt extremely uncomfortable. Not knowing what he was thinking didn’t help ease my anxiety, which only grew bigger after he moved his hand from mine.

“Was he, though? A monster, that is.” With his eyes focused on his empty glass, he circled the rim. “Or was I the problem all along?”

The fact he was still doubting himself not only broke my heart but infuriated me. Christian W. Rogers was nothing if not a demon. A demon who deserved to be burned in hell, and Shay-Lee should never doubt that simple fact.