Page 123 of Please Hate Me

“I ordered a burrito today, thank you.”

Lucian rolled his eyes. “What is a burrito, if not a cylindrical quesadilla… Are you guys going to eat with me?”

The hopeful glint in his eyes added credence to Sophia’s theory about Lucian “forgetting” his lunch so we’d have to stop by.

“Do you have time?” she asked, and Lucian nodded.

“I had an all-day session, but they tapped out before I even finished the line work. I’ve been drawing flash and waiting for a walk-in since.”

“... People actually tap out of tattoos?” I questioned, glancing at my arms even though my tattoos were hidden under my hoodie. Having something unfinished on my body would drive me crazy.

“Rarely, but yeah.” Lucian turned away before motioning for us to follow.

Once we were in his cubicle, Lucian shut the black curtain to give us a little privacy. He slid his extra chair next to his desk before tossing himself into his seat. Lucian placed the bag of food on his desk and patted his lap.

My lip curled as I studied him. “No.”

“Yes.” The patting continued. “I have two chairs over here. You always make Sophia sit on my lap. Your turn.”

“If you’d remember to grab your lunch, we wouldn’t have to drop in like this.”

“Oh, don’t pretend like seeing me isn’t the highlight of your day.” He smirked.

I couldn’t deny him, but not because he was right. Recently, every day felt like a compilation of highlights. For the last three weeks, my days were consistently good, and not the ‘no one locked me in a room to get away from me’ type of good that I had grown used to. Just genuinely terrific days I didn’t feel like I deserved.

Cameron would make breakfast, I’d play with the kids, Sophia and I would do yoga before visiting Lucian, and my night would end with Cameron and I discreetly looking through lists of baby names. We both really liked Rosemary, Rosie for short. But renaming my daughter still felt like I was betraying Sebastian.

I shook the thought from my mind before looking back to Sophia, hoping she’d tell Lucian to let me have my way. Instead, she took the empty chair before mimicking Lucian’s gesture.

“You can sit on my lap instead, Honeybee,” she purred.

“You’re both terrible.” I didn’t mean that, of course. Being with Lucian and Sophia was weirdly comfortable.

Even if they were both absolute deviants.

I weighed my choices before deciding on Lucian—not that I preferred to sit on him or anything. His chair just looked sturdier than Sophia’s. With my ass on his lap and my legs off to the side, I did my best to get comfortable. His cock hardened against me as I wriggled into place.

“If you keep teasing me, I’m going to have to bend you over my desk and fuck you while she watches.” His whisper warmed my ear, and my stomach flipped.

Sophia shot him a warning look, sensing that he was talking about her. “You’re not supposed to keep secrets from your friends.”

“You’re not my friends,” he scoffed, wrapping his arms around me so he could root through the bag.

“Then what are we?” Sophia challenged.

The answer seemed pretty obvious to me: we were his girlfriends. Sophia probably just enjoyed hearing him say it.

“My bitches.” Lucian popped a chip into his mouth as he spoke.

I choked on a laugh. Lucian seemed completely immune to the death glare Sophia shot him as he held a chip up to my lips.

“Kitten, open that pretty little mouth of yours.”

It was nice hearing Lucian call me something other thanfucktoy.

Sophia crossed her arms, causing her breasts to raise slightly. “I’m going to count to three. Once I finish, you’re going to tell me exactly where you just went wrong.”

“You don’t need to count. I know what I did.” Lucian retracted the chip from my lips and popped the lid off of a small Styrofoam container. “It’s a sin to offer someone an undipped chip… here you go.”

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