Page 29 of Please Hate Me

“You loved me fine,” she assured me. “At the end of the day, you deserved better, and I had to leave to make sure you didn’t get stuck with me.”

My heart sank, and I pulled out my phone to text Sebastian. Obviously, I was in over my head. But, as soon as I sent him my location, the weight of her words sunk in.

You deserved better.

“Who are you to tellmewhat I deserve?“ I laughed.

Mason watched me for a beat before laying back in the grass to look at the sparse amount of stars dotting the sky.

“I’m a burnout, Sophia. I never graduated high school, I’ve never had an actual job, and even my own family doesn’t like me. All I ever brought you and Lucian was pain. I was a problem neither of you should have had to deal with.” Her voice was void of all emotion as she spoke, almost as if she was reading off a script. I had to wonder if the words she was spewing even belonged to her.

“I’m an adult, Mason. I decide who does and doesn’t get to be in my life.”

She shot me a lazy glance before folding her hands on her stomach.

“I’m an adult, too. I don’t need or want a ‘merger of relationships‘just so you guys can babysit me.”

Running off into the woods and making us search for her wasn’t exactly the way to prove she was an adult who didn’t need a babysitter, but whatever. That wasn’t the point.

“Then whatdoyou want? A life of monogamy? A white picket fence?“ Mason had never wanted those things. She always had the same weird desire to get married as Lucian, but to Mason,love was better when shared. She loved being in love and watching people love each other. She wanted a family—herownversion of one.

“I want to be left alone,” she breathed.

And just like that, my heart broke. Not because of Mason’s refusal to join us—I had been prepared for that possibility from the beginning. But this... seeing Mason in this state... I couldn’t bear the weight of it. Something was wrong with her, and I had no power to fix it.

It didn’t take long for Seb to find us, and once he did, he practically carried Mason to the house, apologizing to her the whole way. He seemed to be good for her, and as horrible as it was, I was jealous.

Why couldn’t I do that for her?

When we got home, Mason and Sebastian quickly disappeared up the stairs. Exhausted and defeated, I started my nightly routine, fully content to follow Lucian’s lead and pretend Mason never existed. I climbed the stairs and retreated to my bedroom, took a shower, brushed my teeth, and finally, I was ready for bed. But just as I stepped into my favorite polka-dot jammies, Sebastian texted me and asked to talk outside his apartment.

I wearily trudged through the second story of my home, past the twins’ bedroom and playroom, through our game room, before finally arriving at Sebastian’s door. I was more than ready for this day to be over. After a moment, Seb stepped out, looking just as exhausted as I felt.

“Is she alright?”

He nodded. “I’m sorry for not giving you guys a heads up. France wasn’t exactly kind to my princess, but I’m working on it.”

My stomach flipped. “What do you mean?”

“It’s not my story to tell… but, I convinced Mason to talk the relationship over with you in the morning.”

He... what?

“How did you do that?”

“I told her I don’t want her to be alone. I’m going away tomorrow after church, and... I was afraid she might do something she regretted while I was away.”

So, that meant she was still prone to hurting herself. A sick feeling crept into my stomach, but I couldn’t let Sebastian know I was worried. Instead, I gave him a thank-you hug and silently hoped that tomorrow would be better.

Chapter 10

Mason

Morning always came far too early when I was up half the night peeing. As a pregnant woman who’d been under an undue amount of stress over the past forty-eight hours, I thought I deserved to sleep for a few days straight. Or even just fifteen more minutes. Unfortunately, my boyfriend had made it his personal mission to get me out of bed. Having Sebastian pepper my cheeks with kisses wasn’t exactly a bad wake-up call, though. If I wasn’t so exhausted, I’d be thrilled.

“Stop,” I groaned, trying to shove him off.

My resistance seemed to ignite a fire in Sebastian. His kisses moved from my cheeks to my neck, nuzzling against me to move my hair out of the way. My protests were quickly replaced with a contented“mmm”.

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