Page 142 of Please Hate Me

She brightened at my words and quickly unlocked her phone. I had never really paid attention to the device, mostly because I never saw Mason using it. I was a little surprised to see that she had it set to French rather than English, but of course, it made sense.

“So, Sebastian had a newspaper he needed me to translate for him, and it ended up being about a house fire in Quebec.”

My stomach dropped to the floor.

Unfortunately, I had a feeling I knew what fire she was talking about. Over the years I had experienced more than my share of truly terrible days, but that one was still the worst. In a perfect world, I would have died with the rest of my family instead of passing Dale’s wicked “test”.

Mason continued telling the story of a day that haunted my dreams, but I was barely listening. I was lost in my thoughts until Mason said the one name I never thought would fall from her lips:

“Calvin Waters.”

Instinctively, I looked up. Even now, decades after I had shed my former identity, I still responded to the sound of my name.

“... And Sebastian thinks that if he finds Calvin, he’ll find the serial killer he’s looking for… but I don’t think that’s the case.”

Mason’s words hung so heavy that the world stopped spinning under their weight.

Of course Sebastian was trying to hold me responsible for Dale’s crimes. I probably had a few weeks at most before he arrested me, and I had a feeling Dale would leave me to rot if it meant avoiding responsibility for the atrocious acts he’d committed. Of course, Mason would have no power to prevent me from being locked up... But it was nice that she didn’t think I was a monster.

“Why do you believe in Calvin?”

Her expression pinched as she thought.

“It’s going to sound dumb… but I can feel it in my heart.” Conviction laced her words. “He’s just a teenage boy who lived through something tragic. I refuse to believe that being a survivor made him evil.”

Emotion clogged my throat. I wondered if she actually understood that boy had long since grown into a man.

“I think you’re wrong.” I wasn’t evil; that much was true. But I sure as hell wasn’t innocent. I’d been complacent for too long, standing by while Dale destroyed countless lives.

Mason looked shocked that I had disagreed with her, though.

“You think this poor kid burned his own house down and went on to become a serial killer?”

“Well, no. But obviously, he’s related to the crimes.” My saliva felt as thick as tar as I forced myself to swallow. “Even if he didn’t kill anyone, he’s just as bad for letting it happen, right?”

Mason shook her head. “He lost everything that day. I don’t know what happened, or why Seb thinks he was involved… but, I feel like he didn’t have a choice.”

I mulled over her words for a moment, trying to think of what to say next. Luckily, Mason took that weight off my shoulders.

“Sebastian says Calvin is somewhere in Hartwood,” she continued, “and the idea that he might be alone makes me sad.”

I probablydeservedto be alone.

“Can I ask why? He sounds dangerous.”

Maybe if I could change her mind aboutCalvin, she’d be spooked enough to beg Seb to take her to his home in Portland. I hated the thought of her ending up with him, but she’d be safe from Dale there, at least.

Her mismatched gaze sliced through me as she put a hand on mine. There was no way she could’ve known that I was Calvin, but the intensity in her expression almost had me convinced otherwise.

“No oneeverdeserves to be alone if they don’t want to be.”

As she spoke, I remembered the torturous existence she’d endured at the hands of her own father. He locked her away, fed her one meal a day, punished her for having a personality. How long had it taken her to understand thatshedidn’t deserve to be alone?

Did she believe it, even now?

“Obviously, you think I’m being dumb, and that’s fine,” Mason huffed. “But if I could hug him, I would. No matter what happened, he’s still a human, and I just want him to be okay.”

As awful as it might sound, up until now, I hadn’t been sure about my relationship with Mason. Under normal circumstances I would’ve wanted to get to know her for a long while before we started dating... But these weren’t normal circumstances. She was pregnant with my child and living under my roof. We had spent so many nights staring at the stars while she talked about her life, and how fate had consistently been unkind to her. In spite of everything, Mason refused to be tainted by the handshe was dealt. She remained kind and soft, and so beautiful it sometimes hurt to bask in her glow.

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