Page 60 of Please Hate Me

I nodded. “Her mom uprooted her from France after a fight with her dad, and it took James over a month to realize Holly and Mason weren’t there anymore.”

“That’s disgusting.”

It was. But that didn’t even begin to describe James’s problems. He was a narcissist, an alcoholic, a gaslighter... but for whatever reason, Mason idolized her dad. She wanted to be like him, and she would do anything to make him proud, which is what scared me the most when she left. But even so, Mason’s dad was a saint compared to her mom.

“Her mom was friends with my moms when they were all in high school, so when Holly said she wanted to come back to Maine, my moms offered to let her and Mason stay with us until they got on their feet… It didn’t exactly work out. At one point, my moms actually kicked Holly out and tried to keep Mason.”

They had caught Holly screaming at Mason, pressuring her to smoke, and calling her ugly. I had been told there was more to the situation, but both my moms refused to tell me the rest.

“Tried?” Cameron asked.

I nodded, and my bottom lip quivered. My family had love in spades, but Holly had money and lawyers. To this day, I wondered what Mason would have been like if Holly had let her stay with us. That month without Holly was the healthiest I ever saw Mason. Well, until Leona became her legal guardian after her suicide attempt.

“Mason stayed with us for a month, but her mom started causing problems, and we didn’t have a choice but to let Holly have her back.”

“Was she always this... skittish?”

“What? Of course not.” I snorted. “We couldn’t reallytalkat first because of the language barrier, but after she learned English, Mason was open, kind, and smiley.”

Even when Lucian would relentlessly bully her—but Cameron didn’t need to know that part. He was cradling his cheek when I looked up, and there was a coy smile on his face.

“I’d like to see that version of her.” His voice was soft, almost like he was talking to himself.

“Is Lucian the only reason you brought this up?” I asked.

He jerked a little before turning to me, cheeks flushed.

“I uh, I’m worried...” His voice trailed off. “She’s having my baby, so it’s completely normal for me to be concerned. Ain’t like I’m getting feelings for her, so don’t think that.”

Hetotallyhas a crush.

“And I was kinda hoping you could tell me she’s fine, and I’m being silly,” he said.

“I wish I could… but she had a panic attack over dropping a cinnamon roll on the floor.”

It was like she genuinely believed I would hurt her for making a simple little mistake. I didn’t want Cameron to worry too much, but it did scare me.

“You think Seb’s doing something to her?” he asked.

“... Why do you look like you hope he is?”

Cameron looked away quickly.

“I don’t like Sebastian,” he admitted. “And I don’t want him in my daughter’s life.”

“I didn’t thinkyouwanted to be in her life.”

Cameron’s throat bobbed as he swallowed.

“I’m still figurin’ out what I want.”

It was cute how quickly Cameron was crumbling around Mason. I was sure after a week or so, he’d be completely wrapped around her finger, and that’spreciselywhat Mason needed. Still, something didn’t make sense to me.

“Why don’t you like Seb? He’s nice!” And it didn’t hurt that he was literally hotter than the sun, but I wasn’t sure if Seb was Cam’s type.

Cameron’s lips pressed into a thin line as he tilted his head.

“I don’t like cops, you know that.”

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