Page 15 of Please Hate Me

I looked up at him, trying to discern the expression on his face. Slivers of sunset infested Cameron’s copper hair, setting it ablaze as he cast a shadow over me.

“Try me.”

The rose-red door at the front of the house squeaked open, enveloping Mason and Sebastian into our home. The second the two were sealed inside, Sophia’s excited squeal filled the air. I expected it to die down the second she realized it wasn’tCameron who’d walked through the door. Instead, it seemed to amplify as she screamed:

“Mason!”

Cameron shot me a look.

“Is Soph a fan of hers?”

It seemed like the whole fucking world was a fan of Mason-fucking-Albright’s. But that wasn’t the problem at hand. Instead, we were dealing with something far worse.

“Mason’s our ex-girlfriend.”

Cameron paled, and I swore I was about to see him vomit. His breathing stuttered before focusing on me. “Speaking of… I, uh, I still need to talk to the two of you.”

Chapter 7

Cameron

The gentle breeze from the ceiling fan tousled my hair as I paced back and forth in front of the cold fireplace. My pulse thumped in my throat, and I folded my hands behind my back to prevent Soph and Luce from seeing just how badly I was shaking. I got their ex pregnant. Worse than that, I knocked up a public figure.

I couldn’t believe Mason was a fucking pop star. That felt like the type of thing you start a conversation with. Why didn’t she tell me?

But back to the matter at hand: I had to tell my partners what I’d done. Lucian would be irate. That was a fact. Sophia was more of a wild card, though.

I stopped pacing just to stare at her. She was so excited she was practically vibrating. Her platinum hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and her makeup looked like art. I should have known she’d gussy up for my homecoming. Under normal circumstances, I would’ve appreciated it, but I had a feeling this reunion was about to go sour.

“Spit it out, or I’m leaving.” Lucian grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. Sophia leaned forward to glare at him.

“Be nice. He just got home.”

An audible huff exited Lucian as he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, so did Mason. That means I have no desire to be in this fucking house until thatthingis gone.”

“Awe, someone’s angry that they’re in l-o-v-e.” Sophia reached over to pinch Lucian’s cheek, but he swatted her away.

Love? I didn’t see any romance between Lucian and Mason. It seemed to me like he hated her. Like he would rather go blind than have the misfortune of looking at her.

“Soph, I don’t think that’s true. He’s never been like that with us.”

Her eyes sparkled like sapphires as a smile inched across her lips. “That’s because he loves us, but he’s notin lovewith either of us.”

“...There’s a difference?” If there was, I couldn’t fathom it. But seeing as Sophia ran the most successful matchmaking service in the country, she’d know better than I would.

“Mhm! Love has a lot of different forms, but–”

“I feel absolutely none of them for Mason-fucking-Albright,” Lucian interrupted.

“I have pictures that prove otherwise!” Sophia sang, reaching for her phone.

I watched Lucian’s nails dig into his palms as he stared Sophia down, like he was mentally willing her to stop. He could’ve easily reached over and stolen the phone from her, but we both knew better than to cross Sophia. She’d never physically punish either of us, but she also never failed to get her point across. Lucian called her a slut once, so she had the word stamped on a custom pink dog collar and made him wear it for two weeks straight. Sophia was sweet as pie, but she was the one in charge here—and by God, she never let us forget it.

After a moment, she passed her phone to me. I practically brought the screen to my nose, trying to make sense of the image on the screen. I’d never seen this photo of Lucian and Sophia before. It had to be from their high school days. Lucian stood in the center wearing football gear, and Sophia clung to his left side, sporting her cheer uniform and a pair of glitzy pom-poms. I had seen pictures of them at games before; that was nothing new.

But my heart dropped straight to my gut when I saw Mason on his other side.

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