Chapter 22

Diesel

"You gotta be shitting me," I grunted as I entered the class and saw the over-the-top fruit basket waiting for me on my desk. Reaching my seat, I examined the excessive gift up close, cursing the caremonda who left it for me.

"What's that? Your secret admirer left you another gift?" Andrei asked, standing beside me. "Fuck, check this out." Smitten, he picked out a flower made of a pineapple slice and a grape. "Maybe I should get Miles one, too. It would be romantic, wouldn't it?"

"That's so pretty!" Jessie's eyes sparkled as he joined us, cutting off Andrei's ongoing mumbling about buying his twink presents. "I'm so jealous."

"What's there to be jealous of?" Levi asked a moment before he noticed the basket himself. "Oh, wow." He looked at me with raised brows. "You've been getting those gifts all week, haven't you? I guess you really do have a secret admirer."

No, I didn't have a secret admirer. What I did have was a lunatic who apparently had a death wish.Speaking of the devil, the hijueputa just walked into the class with a huge-ass grin stuck to his stupidly pretty face.

Always mister popular, he gave some of the girls who came to greet him his attention before noticing me. Yeah, right, as if our eyes hadn't met the second he walked in.

"Will you look at that," Shay-Lee leered, stopping by my desk, pretending to admire the gift he left for me. "Ain't that a pretty little thing." He smirked.

"What do you want?" Andrei hissed, and I didn't miss the change in his mood. Even though Shay-Lee had stopped harassing him and Miles months ago, Andrei hadn't forgotten what the guy did to them. Neither did I, for that matter.

Shay-Lee gave Andrei an offended look before he looked between us. "What's with the attitude? All I wanted was to tell you guys good morning and to admire this beautiful gift." Reaching forward, he picked a peach out of the basket. At least he didn't go for the banana.

"I mean, whoever gave this to you must really like you." His eyes found mine as he brought the fruit to his lips and took a bite. The son of a bitch. I clenched my hands into fists because looking at him parting his lips and sinking his teeth into the flesh of the ripe peach, juice dripping down his chin, made blood rush to my cock. The idea that Shay-Lee could affect me this easily drove me insane, and I worried I would bust someone's head open again.

"Is everything alright, Diesel? All of a sudden, you look like you're ready to kill someone," Shay-Lee asked, blinking his baby blues at me while pretending to be innocent. "But then again, you always look that way." He winked, then took another bite and smirked like a jackass.

"I think you should go," Andrei said.

"Luckily, I don't give a shit about what you think." Tearing his eyes away from me, Shay-Lee gave Andrei a fake smile. "But looking at you did make me lose my appetite." He placed the half-eaten peach on my desk. "See you in detention," he said to me before turning around and walking back to his seat in the front of the class.

"What the hell was that about?" Jessie asked while I continued to observe Shay-Lee, who was already surrounded by a group of people.

I knew Shay-Lee was popular since we started going here, but only recently did I begin noticing the amount of attention he received everywhere. Even in the club, whenever we walked among others, all eyes were on him. Patrons, Gatti, even the security guards were all looking at him. He wore a mask, for God's sake, and still managed to be beautiful enough to turn people's heads. And even though they all looked at him, his eyes were only ever looking at me.

So why did he fuck Dion?

"Diesel?" Andrei said, pulling me out of my disturbing thoughts.

"What?"

"What's going on between you two?"

"The fuck you talking about?" I bit back, noticing how Levi and Jessie were also looking at me the same way. "For fuck's sake, you think I know what goes on inside that crazy head of his?" Yeah, you absolutely do, and that's the problem. "He's just messing with me 'cause we're stuck in detention for the next month after I punched him." Yeah, lie to them and pretend that this whole mess was because of that incident. If only.

Jessie burst into laughter. "Oh shit, I totally forgot how hilarious it was when he puked on you."

"Eww, no. It was disgusting." Levi grimaced.

While the two of them moved on from the subject and continued to talk between themselves, Andrei didn't look ready to drop it.

"What?" I asked, annoyed.

"Nothing. I just don't want you to mess with him."

"Like I need you to tell me that," I grunted, my eyes focused on the half-eaten peach Shay-Lee left on my desk.

"I mean it." Andrei grabbed the fruit and tossed it to the nearby trash can. "He's a bad guy, Diesel. Don't let him get to you."

Yeah… Thing was, he already did.

"What the fuck is your problem?"

Dropping the garbage bag he was holding, Shay-Lee half turned to look at me. "You mean, other than picking up other people's trash?" He pursed his lips while giving me an amused look. Today, we had to clean the forgotten space underneath the stadium bleachers.

"Don't play with me." I bit the inner side of my cheek, feeling even more irritated because of the sassy smile he had on.

"Oh my, how silly of me. I forgot you hate playing games." He tilted his head. "And I wouldn't want to anger you, would I?"

I swear to God, I was a second away from ripping off his head.

He sighed, pointing his finger at me. "From the look on your face, it looks like I failed to do that, didn't I? You look pissed."

Closing the distance between us, I grabbed the hem of his hoodie and yanked him close until we were an inch apart.

"Yep, definitely mad," he chuckled, his intoxicating eyes filled with amusement. "But that's sexy."

Ignoring his last comment, I tightened my hold on his hoodie and forced myself to focus on the point. "Stop fucking around, and stop giving me shit."

His forehead creased as he frowned. "Are you talking about my gifts? You were supposed to like them."

He sounded so cute for a second, and I had to let go of him and step back, only to push the toxic thought aside. Sadly, I could still smell his sweet fragrance even from where I stood, and the warm, fuzzy feeling it sent through my body only pissed me off.

"Like them? Are you trying to mock me?"

"No," he protested while fixing his clothes.

Today, he wore loose cargo pants, a beige hoodie, and a corduroy vest on top. Great, now I was checking out his wardrobe. I'm going fucking crazy.

"Why didn't you like them?"

I glared at him. "What do you mean why?"

His frown deepened. "They were things you liked. The cheese plate? It was vegan cheese, for fuck's sake. The dark chocolates? I made sure they weren't too sweet. What about the sneakers? They were limited edition. Was the size wrong?"

The more he talked, the angrier I became, mostly because of how well he knew me. "Are you serious?"

"I'm dead serious." He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. The familiar gesture rubbed me the wrong way.

"What the hell? Are you honestly offended right now?" Whenever something didn't go his way, Llorón would do exactly that.

"Yeah, 'cause you're being an ungrateful bastard."

Was this guy for real?

"Because I don't want you to buy me shit?"

A muscle in his jaw twitched. "You had no problem when Llorón bought you gifts."

"Shut it," I hissed.

"Why? I'm just telling the truth." He then bent down and picked up a piece of paper from the ground. Holding it in front of him so it covered only half of his face, he smiled. "How about this? Can I give you gifts now?"

His audacity to treat this whole matter so lightly was infuriating. It made me think even less of him, but also envy him. If only I could have treated it as a joke, my life would be back to normal. But instead, I was stuck in this ongoing loop, unable to let go of all this rage.

"Is this some kind of a sick joke to you?" I asked, my jaw tense.

He tossed the paper aside, showing off his flawless face. "No. Although, I do find it hilarious. I mean, what are the odds that, from all the people in the world, we ended up wanting each other?"

My forehead creased as I ground my teeth together and stepped closer. "I don't want you. Not in the slightest."

His pupils flared as he, too, moved closer. "That's a lie."

"It isn't."

"So punch me."

"What?"

He fisted the hem of my shirt and pulled me closer. "I said, punch me."

"Let go," I warned through gritted teeth, but he only held me closer.

"Come on, Diesel. Punch me. Hit me. Make me hurt." The way he said those words while looking me dead in the eyes made him seem so desperate, and it crushed me. The same way as when I found him on that hotel balcony or picked him off the Venetian floor. Seeing his hurt stirred my insides and pushed me into action without stopping to think.

Moving my hands, I grabbed his wrists. "Let. Go."

"You know, I suddenly remembered I had a question for you." He grinned, his hands holding me tighter. "Who's Carmen?"

My eyes widened with shock as my sister's name slipped through his venomous mouth, and my blood boiled with anger. How the fuck did he know her name?

"Ha," he chuckled. "Now you're angry."

"Shut your damn mouth," I warned, well aware that I was falling into his trap, but my rage was stronger than me.

As he looked at me underneath lowered eyelashes, his lips curled into a fake smile. "Those flowers you put on her grave were really swee—" He didn't get to finish his sentence before I had him on the ground, with me on top, pinning him down with my weight.

"You really like having me on my back, don't you?" he sneered, and I had to take a deep breath and tore my eyes away, only so I wouldn't break his face.

Suddenly, I felt his fingers sliding underneath my shirt, moving along my hips and back. When he reached my scar, a shudder ran through me, and for a second, I was sent back to that one night we shared and how close we were.

"You know, I still have the gift you gave me." His voice was low and seductive as he removed his hand from my scar and moved it to hover over my chest. "I even wore it last night when I imagined you fucking me again." His eyes were focused on my lips. "I thought about you putting those lace stockings on me, only so you could tear them apart with your teeth." He pushed up his hips, grinding his hard dick against me. "I thought about you fucking me raw, pumping me with cum like your slut, and ruining my pussy with that huge cock of yours." Biting on his bottom lip, he let out a soft moan. "Fuck, that's making me so horny."

Considering the state of my stiff cock, that idea made me horny, too, and that was a big fucking problem. He was everything that was wrong in this world, and yet, my body reacted to him in ways that should have been forbidden. But it was beyond me. Somehow, his words consumed me to the point I questioned my sanity.

Now I imagined him in that position, needy and desperate for my dick while wearing the lingerie I had bought for him. My skin heated, and my cock throbbed in my pants, pushing hard against his. I'd already seen him like that, soaked in pleasure, but the idea of him touching himself only yesterday while imagining me… fuck. An urge I didn't welcome threatened to take over, and I made the mistake of looking him in the eyes. So bright and blue. Eyes so full of pain that still held me hostage.

"Just admit that you want me and that it's killing you."

For a second, I remained frozen, but then I shook my head, freed his hands, and got up as if his touch could kill. Forcing myself to think about anything other than having my dick buried balls-deep inside his ass and making him cry, I moved my hand over my face and sighed in frustration.

"Just… stop buying me gifts." I didn't look at him because if I did, he would see how right he was. Because right now, I wanted him so bad I could die.