Page 77 of Dissolving Prejudice

“Don’t you dare think that,” I said, grabbing his attention back. “He was an evil man, and the world is a better place without him.”

Shay-Lee didn’t bother to say a word and instead huffed. Why? I had no fucking idea, and it bothered me to my core. Yet, before I could ask him what he was thinking, he’d already changed the subject, saying he wanted ice cream for dessert. Knowing him as well as I did, I knew pushing more on the subject wouldn’t be any good. The second his walls came up, it was impossible to break them down by force. Therefore, I bit my tongue and accepted that I’d have to be patient until he opened up again.

Shay-Lee

“Are you positive you know where we’re going?” I asked, nudging Camilo’s shoulder as we strolled down the street. It was a lot less busy, which made sense because most of the booths that were open earlier now stood closed.

Half turning to look at me, he nodded. “Yeah, I parked my scooter by the shore, not far from here.”

“Scooter?” I snorted with a raised brow.

“Sí, Llorón, un scooter.”

Camilo wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close like it was the most natural thing to do. For a moment, one could mistake us for a couple on vacation, only we weren’t because I was engaged to someone else. Someone who was probably worried sick because it had been hours since I walked away from him in a fit of rage. And despite knowing all of that, right now, with the twilight-kissed sky and Camilo’s arm hanging around me, I couldn’t care less.

“Didn’t they have a motorcycle for rent?”

“I wish,” Camilo said while chewing his gum. “Although, it’s a cute scooter. You’ll like it.”

“We’ll see.” Pursing my lips, I leaned my head against him and closed my eyes while he continued to lead us. Being this close to him was so damn comforting, and I wished those last four years weren’t standing between us because this could have been our freaking honeymoon. The sound of his phone buzzing ruined the moment, and Camilo stopped walking to pull it out.

“Who’s that?” I asked after he shoved the device back in his pocket.

“A wrong number.” He smiled at me, then poked my nose. “Didn’t you want ice cream?”

The way he changed the subject made me suspect he was hiding something, but I let it slide. “I did, but I better get back to the hotel. It’s already late, and I bet Jordan’s worried.”

Camilo spat out his gum and muttered the word “pussy” under his breath.

“Stop being an ass.”

“How could I not?” He dropped his hand from around me. “You just mentioned his name, and it ruined my fantastic mood.”

Shrugging, I shook my head. “Well, you gotta live with it while I’m still with him.”

The way his brows rose made me realize what I’d just said, yet before I could take it back, he’d already put me on the spot.

“Disculpe señor, did you just say while you’re still with him?”

Since I’d already admitted to myself that I held feelings for Camilo, to say the least, it was only reasonable to assume things with Jordan wouldn’t continue to go as planned. Just look at today. I went on this vacation hoping it would put distance between Camilo and me, and now, we were walking and hugging in the street after spending the whole afternoon together. Not to mention what we did last night and long before that. Denying I wanted him was pointless, and at the end of the day, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, we couldn’t just be around each other without something happening. Camilo and I were a force meant to be, and ignoring it was fucking impossible. Sure, there were times of frustration in which I believed nothing good could ever come out from us, but that was bullshit. Pure rage I turned into stupid words out of spite and hurt.

But despite thinking that, I preferred not to say anything that would make Camilo get ahead of himself. He still had a shit-ton of things to tell me, and despite the perfect afternoon we’d shared, I was still damn pissed about him for leaving. So, instead of telling him my thoughts, I huffed and started walking again.

“It was a slip of the tongue. Now, hurry up and get me back to the resort. I need a hot, long bath.”

“How about I join you?”

“You can dream about it,” I chuckled when suddenly, a terrible stench caught my attention and made me scrunch up my nose.

Fuck, that smell is nasty.

Looking to my right, I saw a small fish shop on the other side of the street, right across from us. Two guys were unloading fish remains into a truck, which explained the rotten smell. Inside the store, a man with a sharp knife was chopping fish like he was practicing for the Olympics. The way he lifted and swung the knife in the air before bringing it down with full force on the poor fish made me linger on him, and fascinated, I continued to look. Each time the sharp knife sliced the fish meat, I shrank with amusement.

Yikes.

It got boring quickly enough, and I started walking again. “On second thought, maybe I’ll send you a picture from that bath.” I decided to tease Camilo a bit more. “You know, just to get you hard,” I joked and waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. “Did you hear me?” I whined, turning to look at him when I saw he stayed rooted to the ground in front of the fish store. Did he also find it fascinating?

“Camilo, get your ass over here. I told you I need to go back,” I grunted, irritated because he was probably trying to earn more time.