Page 24 of Please Hate Me

“You should kiss my ass.”

I sighed and made an exaggerated show of standing up. “I guess Mason’s going to have to see you in a muzzle looking like the— “

“No!” he blurted, grabbing my hand.

I fought back a smile. Now I hadproofthat he still cared about Mason.

“Then put more on your plate and apologize for being a brat.”

“I’m not a— “

I raised an eyebrow and stared him dead in the eye. He visibly flinched.

“Fine, fuck. I’m sorry.”

Asking for a sincere apology was a lost cause, so instead of pushing the issue, I sat back down.

“I got a couple of things with tofu too,” Cameron added.

I glanced discreetly at him. Cam was definitely the wildcard tonight. I knew Lucian was already falling for Mason again, but I couldn’t figure out where Cam stood. On one hand, he’d explicitly said that he wanted nothing to do with raising Mason’s baby. But, on the other hand... Cameron never ordered tofu for Lucian. He knew Luci typically ate his black bean noodles andmaybea spring roll, but no more than that. So, who was the tofu for?

Mason. It had to be.

I’d seen a bunch of her interviews, so I knew she was also a vegetarian. But Cam had never heard of her before today. Well, he must’vemether, I guess, but he didn’t know she was famous, so hecouldn’thave known she was a vegetarian... unless he looked her up before ordering the food.

If he was already internet stalking her, maybe convincing him to date her wouldn’t be so hard after all.

The creaking of the floor upstairs told me it was almost showtime. So, instead of wasting the last few seconds pondering what-ifs, I said a silent prayer.

Anne Boleyn, if you’re up there, first of all, I’m totally sorry for how you died. That was supremely uncool. Anyway, please watch over this hot mess. I have a feeling you’ll enjoy the show.

Sebastian and Mason came into view, fingers laced and hair wet. She was wearing one of his shirts, clinging to his arm like a scared child clutching a blanket. Her eyes shifted around the room, taking in her surroundings, but never making eye contact with any of us.

Sebastian’s breathing stuttered as he glanced at the two empty seats. For just a moment, I feared he might sit beside Lucian to prevent Mason from being uncomfortable. Instead, he pulled out her chair and held her hand as she sat. Lucian scoffed as Mason scooted herself in.

“What do you want to drink?” Sebastian whispered, ignoring his brother. “I can grab it before I sit down.”

Mason looked up at him, and the deer-in-headlights look in her eyes told me she had no desire to be left alone with any of us. It hurt to see her so afraid of us, but I tried to remind myself that I had no idea why she left in the first place. Maybe it was our fault; maybe we had done something wrong.

I just had no idea what it could’ve been. For a while, it kept me up at night, running through every conversation we’d ever had, wondering what we could have done to make her feel like she had to escape us. Eventually, I decided to believe she’d done it in a misguided attempt to save our feelings. Maybe she thought breaking up with us directly would hurt us more. It was the only explanation I could wrap my head around. But now I had the chance to find out what really happened. To heal and help Mason heal.

I desperately needed that, and judging by the fear in her eyes, so did she.

“Cam, could you go grab two waters for them?”

He didn’t protest, just obediently rose from his chair and did as I asked. Part of me hoped that one day Lucian would learn to listen the way Cameron did… but my hopes weren’t high.

“Thank you!” Sebastian flashed a grin and settled into his seat.

I smiled as I rested my chin in my palm. He was a good boy too. If he could stay that way, maybe he could become part of our crazy family someday.

“So, how did you two meet?” I joked. Of course I knew—Seb had followed Mason around like a lost puppy foryears.He had to be over the moon now that they were actually dating.

Sebastian laughed, but Mason looked uncomfortable, picking at the edge of the tablecloth. He leaned down, whispering something in her ear, and she did the same back.

“She wants to know if we’re going to say grace?”

Lucian rolled his eyes, and Cameron came back just in time to hear the question. He placed water bottles in front of Sebby and Masie before returning to sit with me.

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