Page 108 of Please Hate Me

I pushed the door fully open and crept toward him, trying to think of the best way to talk about this. Was there even a good way to saysorry your sister outed you in front of everyone? Probably not, but Sebastian always loved it when I made a problem of myself, so I decided to start there.

“Can you help me?” I forced a pained breath as I put a hand on his shoulder. “The bed’s low.”

“Two things.” He smirked up at me, placing a hand on my back. “One, you’re not far enough along to genuinely need my help. Two, you should need help to stand up, not sit down.”

“Look at this belly.” I put a hand on my stomach. “I’m absolutely massive, and you’re going to tell me I don’t need help?”

He rolled his eyes before offering me a hand.

“You’re spoiled.”

I laced my fingers in his before lowering myself. I knew that was true, but I still hated hearing it. This wasn’t about me, so I pushed down my self-loathing with a smile.

“Who’s fault is that?”

The second I sat, Sebastian wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled both of us back. Springs squealed as our heads bounced onto the mattress, his face landing inches from mine. He smiled as I ran a finger along his jaw.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a boyfriend?” I asked, trying not to sound hurt.

His smile fell, and he pulled me a little closer, guiding one of my hands to rest on his chest. His heart raced under my palm.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you…. I just didn’t know how.” His fingers traced absentminded circles on my stomach. “By the time you and I were seriously talking, I was single, you were single, and it didn’t feel like it mattered anymore.”

“Of course, it matters.”

His gaze softened, and Lavender made it known that she was awake and didn’t like how I was laying. Her wriggling moved my honeydew-colored sweater.

“Sorry,” I grunted before shifting around.

He placed his palm on my stomach, quelling our daughter as I got comfortable.

“This is why Alex and I broke up, by the way.”

My brow furrowed. “Me?”

“What?” Sebastian’s eyes widened before he let out an uneven laugh. “No,kids. I wanted to hire a surrogate or adopt as soon as possible, and he didn’t want a family.”

He answered me quickly, but something about the way he spoke didn’t feel genuine. Was he still hiding something? I studied him for a moment before deciding against bringing it back up. I was probably still overanalyzing, trying to process everything that just happened.

“I want a surrogate next time too.” I groaned, shifting around yet again.

Sebastian laughed as he rubbed my stomach. “That’s a shame, because you’re absolutely glowing.”

“Pregnancy glow is a myth. I’m pretty sure it’s just sweat.”

Sebastian rubbed his nose to mine before kissing my forehead. I leaned into his touch; it was nice seeing him happy again.

“I missed you.” My words came out needier than I meant them to.

“I missed you too.” His phone buzzed, and he sighed. “We should probably get back downstairs.”

I nodded, and he helped me up, but another question popped into my head. It was a long shot, but it kind of made sense.

“Is... that why you pushed me to join Lucian’s relationship?”

“What?”

I stopped, realizing how stupid I must have sounded. Sebastian told me when it first came up that he didn’t want me to be alone. Heat rose to my face as I realized I couldn’t just saynever mindand move on. But Icouldchange tactics.

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