Page 10 of Please Hate Me

I cut Sebastian off with an exaggerated yawn, and he shot me a death glare before he kept going.

“–but they feared the wrong woman would fall pregnant, so they created trials.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Like court trials?”

He shook his head. “Think witch trials. But instead of being bound up and tossed in a lake, they were tied to a chair while heavily pregnant and left in a burning building. If they lived, their soul was considered pure enough to bear the second coming.”

“Let me guess—no one passed.”

“Bingo.”

My eyes widened in horror at the unimaginable cruelty of the cult’s trials. The thought of innocent women being subjected to such brutality made my stomach churn. These types of gore shows were Seb’s reason to get out of bed in the morning, but I couldn’t stomach it. Just the images painted in my head were enough to make me regret asking him. The idea of being burned alive was enough to make me shiver, but doing it to pregnant women? That was heartbreaking. Just as the weight of the disturbing details settled in my mind, a deep voice broke through the air, interrupting our conversation.

“Lucian!”

I turned toward the source of the voice, and my heart skipped a beat. There he was: Cameron, striding toward uswith purposeful steps. His height helped him stand out in the crowd, and I could hardly contain myself as I raced toward him. He wrapped his arms around me before capturing my lips in a much-needed kiss. He smelled like a new cologne, probably something he picked up in France, but underneath the intriguing smoky aroma was a warm scent that was uniquelyhim.He pulled away too quickly, giving me my first good look at his face. He looked exhausted, but I could tell he was happy to be home.

“Where’s Sophia?” Cameron questioned as he scanned the surrounding area.

“She had a meeting this morning.”Like always.“So she’s doing that and then preparing the house for you and Seb’s girlfriend.”

Sebastian gave Cameron a huge press-worthy smile as he extended his hand.

“You must be the boyfriend I’ve heard so much about.”

It was strange. Cameron was usually the friendliest member of our polycule. Sophia was too busy to talk to new people outside of work, and I… Well, let’s just say I could be abrasive at times.

But as Cameron looked at Sebastian, there was disgust in his eyes.

Sebastian’s smile faltered momentarily, but he quickly recovered, extending his hand again. “It’s nice to meet you finally. Lucky here has told me a lot about you, too.”

Cameron’s grip on my hand tightened as he shook Sebastian’s hand with a forced smile. “Likewise.”

The tension between the two was mounting. It was like Cameron had just met his natural enemy, or he was facing his rival in an anime or something. Of course, Cameron knew all about my rocky relationship with my brother. I didn’t think he’d be this protective of me, though. It was kind of sweet.

But we still had a long car ride home with Seb and his mail-order bride. I took a shaky breath, preparing to smooth this over for Cameron’s sake. Luckily, I didn’t have to.

A tiny figure draped in a large black hoodie dashed toward Sebastian and crashed into him, knocking his sign out of his hands and the wind out of his chest. Caught off guard by the sudden impact, he stumbled backward. Even still, he instinctively wrapped his arms around the woman, holding her close. I leaned over to get a better glimpse of the catfish that would ruin my brother’s life.

As she looked up, the hoodie slipped back, revealing a head full of messy black hair and an unmistakable set of eyes. One so light it was almost silver, and the other dark enough that I had trouble finding the pupil. Her face was dotted with freckles like stars on a clear night, and the front part of her bangs stuck up like horns—fitting, considering how wicked she was. Mason Albright hadn’t changed at all in the six years since I last saw her. Or so I thought until I noticed her prominent baby bump.

I felt like a spear of ice had embedded itself in my chest, and I couldn’t look away from her. I cleared my throat, trying to hide my anguish behind anger.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” I groaned, just loud enough for Cameron to hear.

His gaze shot between me and Mason. Both of them seemed to stiffen at the sight of each other.

“Hey,” Cameron whispered, “when we get home, I need to talk to you and Sophia… alone.”

Chapter 5

Mason

Pregnancy sucked for a lot of reasons. I was nauseous anytime my stomach was empty, my back was always killing me, and my already high sex drive was now through the fucking roof, which was especially a bitch since, up until now, my partner lived halfway across the globe. But at least my pregnancy gave me a convenient excuse to run to the bathroom instead of dealing with whatever fresh hell fate had cooked up for me this time.

I had accepted the fact that I’d be living with Lucian, but after almost six years apart, I wasn’t prepared for the wave of emotions I felt when I saw him. It took every ounce of my self-control to keep myself from running to Lucian Castillo instead of Sebastian. And, after everything I had done to him, Lucian deserved better.

Ashamed wasn’t a strong enough word to describe my embarrassment. That’s why I had to run away, and thanks to the fetus growing in me, no one had batted an eye at my sudden emergency. I turned the water on as cold as it would go before bracing my hands on the porcelain sink and forcing eye contactwith myself in the mirror. My makeup had been reduced to watery trails on my cheeks, a casualty of the panic attack I had quietly endured in one of the stalls.

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