Page 55 of Please Save Me

My feet stuck to the floor as I tried to unroot myself from the ground, but Sophia’s hand found the crook of my elbow and anchored me in place.

“Mason is supposed to avoidanyandallstress, doctors orders. Cameron, I love you, but I’m not going to risk her health because you can’t tell me what the heck is going on with you.” Sophia’s expression was stern, but the tone in her voice almost begged me just to be honest with her.

If we had a few more moments alone, I might have caved to her demands. Luckily, we were interrupted by Mason wandering out into the kitchen. Her chin-length hair stuck up in every direction as she rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand.

“Cameron, move.” Mason yawned.

She didn’t have to tell me twice.

Sophia released me, and I took a step back. Mason quickly filled my spot by wrapping her arms around Sophia’s neck and burying her face in Sophia’s breasts.

“Morning,” she mumbled to Sophia.

Delight slowly etched away the lingering suspicion on Sophia’s face. “Good morning, Honeybee. How’d you sleep?”

Mason’s response was some completely unintelligible mix of French and English that left Sophia and I both scratching our heads.

“Where’s Lucian?” Mason managed as she pulled away to look at Sophia.

Sophia smoothed Mason’s hair down, and Mason rested her chin on Sophia’s chest as she looked up at her.

“Masie, Lucian would rather die than be up before eight,” Sophia soothed.

That was barely an exaggeration. Before then, the only thing that could wake him was his kids. And even then, it wasn’t a secret that he preferred when they woke someone else.

“I have a doctor’s appointment. He promised he’d come.” Mason’s little pout pulled at my heart.

… With Dale letting me go, would I be able to go to her appointments?

“Are you gonna get to see Rosie?” My mouth ran faster than my mind.

Mason had been having a lot of appointments since she got to Hartwood, about one every other week. And I had no idea what happened at any of them.

She didn’t bother to move away from Sophia as she looked at me. “No, that’s next week.”

Mason said that completely casually. But the idea of maybe getting to see my daughter had my heart racing. Plus, a week was enough to test Dale by missing church. If he were really letting me go, he wouldn’t care if I missed Sunday service.

“Why? Do you want to come?” Mason tipped her head as she spoke.

I wanted to tell her maybe, but Sophia’s stare was stabbing through me. So, instead of carrying on the conversation, I turned to make breakfast.

The table was set, the kids were dressed, and Lucian was nowhere to be found. If he didn’t have plans, that would have been fine. But, in addition to needing to be up to go to Mason’s appointment with her, he’d been talking about how he needed to go to his tattoo shop to work with his apprentice a bit. Despite his burgeoning fame, he was determined to help Sera become an official tattoo artist. He said it wasn’t fair that she lost her money and time because he got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Plus… I was fairly certain he was going to have her take over running the shop because he was also dead set on not closing it—something about not wanting people to lose their jobs.

Mason offered to go wake him up, but I didn’t want her to worry about running up and down the stairs. Plus, she also needed to get ready for her day. So, I was the one tasked with getting the world’sheaviestsleeper out of bed.

When I got to Sophia’s bedroom door, I was fully prepared to just pick him up and piss him off, but before I even opened the door, I was greeted with his voice.

“Yeah, I know you fucking signed me. But, the contract stated I didn’t need to release music untilafterMason gave birth. Remember, the entireLove MeAtomically needs to be a duet. It’s good for your career and Mason’s rebrand,and she has bigger fucking problems right now.” Lucian’s anger was palpable.

Still, I was a little impressed with how disrespectful Lucian could be to someone signing his paychecks.

I slowly cracked the door to see Lucian with his back toward me, cell phone placed to his ear, wearing nothing but black skinny jeans and a leather belt.

The lean muscles in his back twitched as he moved, causing his dark tattoos to move. Most of the art on his body was contained to his front, but he had the twins’ names and footprints on either shoulder blade. He said the man who taught him how to tattoo did them for free as a sort of gift while Jas and Juni were still in the NICU. He couldn’t bring his babies home, but it was a way for him to always have them with him.

“Yes, but I still have a day job,” he snapped to whoever was on the other line. “Don’t you give a fuck about small business owners?”

Lucian paced back and forth, talking as much with his free hand as he did his mouth.

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