Page 59 of Please Hate Me

Cameron’s honey-brown eyes lifted from Mason’s sleeping form to meet my gaze.

I shot him a smile and a thumbs up, but panic took over his features, and he rushed to put Mason down without waking her. After successfully extracting himself, he scrambled to the door.

“This ain’t what it looks like,” he pleaded, pushing himself into the hall.

But there was nothing to misconstrue here, so I smiled.

“Then what’s happening? Because it looked like you were cuddling Mason.”

He swallowed hard, his eyes never falling from mine.

“Oh my god! You’re in love with her. And you’re going to kiss her and— “

“Darlin’, stop.” He held up a hand. “There’s something going on with her and Luce, and I’m worried.”

I tossed my head back, fighting the urge to groan and stomp my foot. I knew Lucian never learned how to properly express his feelings, but that wasn’t my fault. He knew how much I wanted this to work. The least he could do was not mess it up on purpose just to be a brat.

“Is he bullying her?”

Cameron slowly shook his head before looking into the room one last time and pulling the door shut.

“We, uh… Can we talk about this somewhere she won’t hear?”

The chirping of birds filled the silence in the kitchen. Cameron poured our coffee while I retrieved our freshly-warmed toasterpastries. They were hotter than expected, causing me to drop them on the plates less than gracefully. But they didn’t break, and that’s what mattered.

Cameron took a seat at the island, and I joined him, sliding the brown-sugar-flavored treats to him.

“I made breakfast.” I beamed.

“I bet you slaved away all morning,” he teased before kissing me, his beard scratching my chin. When he pulled away, I turned to my plate and picked up my pink-frosted tart.

“So... what did you want to talk about that Mason couldn’t hear?”

Cameron tore a bite off his pastry, dipping it in his black coffee before popping it into his mouth. The muscles in his jaw bunched as he chewed.

“She’s driving Luce crazy.”

I knew she would; that’s just how those two worked. They were constantly picking on each other, pushing all their buttons to see how they would react. I just didn’t expect it to cause problems this soon.

“In a good way or a bad way?” I tried to remain hopeful.

“He uh, he’s mad that she came back hurt.”

Oh, Lucian.

Cameron’s eyes focused on something in the distance, but I had no idea what. He rubbed his fingers together, trying to brush off the crumbs.

“But, him sayin’ that means... she, uh, she ain’t always been like this, right?”

“Mason’s always been a little gloomy, but that’s understandable because her life is a hot mess.” I laughed, but it wasn’t funny.

“Like Lucian mess?”

I shook my head before focusing on my plate.

“Lucian’s family is messy, but his parents were at least there… Mason’s weren’t.” I picked at the crust on my breakfast. “Mason pretty much raised herself.”

“... She did?”

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