Page 41 of Please Hate Me

Sophia shot me a skeptical look. “Are you sure? Because she seemed pretty convinced.”

Oh, so she was going to believe Ashley, the woman who birthed two babies only to decide she felt nothing for them, over me, the man who spent day in and day out trying to raise the kids.

I didn’t need this. I forced myself off the couch and began walking toward the hallway. But Sophia grabbed my hand.

“You’re seriously going to walk away? Would it kill you to just sit with her for a few minutes?”

“That’s rich, coming from you,” I laughed. “I bet you’ve been answering work emails this whole time.”

Sophia had no response, so I vanished into my room. I had no desire to deal with Mason Albright.

Part of me wanted to pack up a bag or two and sleep at my shop. Maybe I could even shower at the gym. I still paid for a membership, even if I didn’t have the time to use it.

But my kids were coming back Tuesday, and I couldn’t make them live like that. I also couldn’t force Mason back to France... Not yet, anyway. It was obvious by how she acted that she was going to be a terrible mother—if she couldn’t handle me taking a book from her, how did she expect to deal with a crying baby?

I’d just need to keep her here until after she gave birth. I was sure Cameron would want to be a decent human and be there for his child. He just needed to meet her first.

Chapter 13

Mason

I shifted on the couch, trying to get comfortable as I waited for Sophia to come back. This morning, she had been adamant that I shouldn’t go back to the apartment, that my time would be better spent down here. But right now, I wasn’t so sure. Especially because she had been vanishing every half an hour or so to take a phone call. Even if the call was only a few minutes, I couldn’t help being offended that she kept disappearing.

It wasn’t the fact that I wanted Sophia to be near me. Actually, I preferred to be alone, especially if I had a good, or at least okay, book. But watching her come and go left me feeling like an ignored child or a bad pet.

I pulled the coral-colored accent pillow to my lap and thought about kicking my feet up into the cushion beside me. Instead, I settled for toying with the string accents on the pillow. It didn’t help me get comfortable, but it still expelled the nervous energy bubbling just below my surface.

If it were up to me, I’d hide in the apartment for the foreseeable future, so I didn’t have any right to tell Sophia I feltlike she was being rude. Plus, it was her house. As the guest, I needed to make sure I wasn’t a burden.

By the time Sophia came back, I had almost finished the novella I borrowed from her. It was something about a vampire pursuing a girl with diabetes, and while the plot was fine, it wasn’t dark or spicy enough for my liking.

“Sorry about that—work.” She laughed.

Work. I pulled every drop of knowledge I had on Sophia to fathom what she could do for a career. Before I left, she was double majoring in business and psychology. She had wanted to work in mental health and have a practice of her own. But was she even old enough to do any of that yet?

“Clients?” I asked.

But she stared at me like I had three heads before something clicked.

“Oh, I don’t really do clients.” She waved me off. “I mostly manage business operations.”

“Operations…?”

“Yeah! Operations, like the functions and stuff.” she explained. But I knew what the word meant; I just wasn’t sure whatshemeant.

“You’re a psychologist, right…?”

For the first time today, Sophia’s smile faltered. “That was the plan when you left, wasn’t it?”

I nodded.

“Ah, well.” she wove her fingers into her platinum hair, scratching at the back of her head. “I’d need a doctorate to do that, and I ended up dropping out right after I started my master’s.”

“What? Why?”

I tried to sound just shocked and not upset, but that was hard. Neither shenorLucian had followed their dreams from when wewere kids. The thought made me feel guilty, but I couldn’t figure out why.

Sophia didn’t answer my question. Instead, she looked at the family photo on the wall. “Life got in the way, I guess… but I help run a matchmaking company now. I’m the COO, actually, which is cool… Plus, it gave me a lot of really valuable experience I needed when I overtook the farm operations.”

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