Page 143 of Please Open Me
And then we met Cameron for breakfast to talk everything out, where Mason proceeded to, you guessed it, not fucking eat the eggs she ordered.
She’d cut them into neat little pieces and pushed them around the plate like that could hide how little ended up in her mouth, and I swear to God, every time the fork scraped porcelain, my eye twitched.
By the time she declared she wasfull,she’d eaten maybe four bites of toast and half a strawberry. And Cameron just took that at face value and led us back to the house, where I had to stand around for the world's most awkward game of twenty questions.
But, on the bright side, I was moving in, and I just needed to go get my ferret, Nyx, and I was set. I also got information on Sebastian that I could submit to my supervisor andhopefullyget the green light that I’d given enough information to warrant Sebastian’s assassination, and then I could kill Dale and live happily ever after.
But once the conversation died down, I didn’t have a chance to run to Hartwood or call my boss.
Because Cameronhadto tell Mason her belly was cute, just as I hadalmostconvinced her to eat a Poptart and take a nap.
And to be fair, her bellywascute. But, after a week of Hollywood executives telling her she was fat and ugly and god knew what else, she didn’t want to hear that.
So instead of relaxing, I convinced her to take a shower and ran out to get the same burger and fries she had devoured last night, hoping she was actually craving them and wouldn’t be able to say no.
And, I was right.
After her shower, I let her borrow a pair of my basketball shorts and a shirt from the overnight bag I’d yet to remove from the car, and told her she could eat or not, I didn’t care.
But she had to at least sit down for half an hour. I had to make a phone call.I’d be back. Mason got a little whiny at the idea of being left alone, but when I threw my car keys on the coffee table, she quieted down a bit.
I made my phone call, reported the new information I had on Sebastian to my superior, and came back in; and when I went to check on her, the cheese fries were gone; so was about half the burger, and Mason was sprawled out on the couch, snoring.
And, I should have taken that as a hint to clean up and go get Nyx from Hartwood, but I didn’t.
Instead, like the love-sick fool I was, I sat down on the couch, put her feet in my lap, and played on my phone.
I’d like to think she’d be sad if she woke up and I was gone.
The floor creaked behind me, and every inch of my body went rigid.
“She still sleeping?” Cameron’s drawl echoed as footsteps drew near, and I wanted to vomit.
Not because I was sick or he smelled bad or anything, but because Cameron made me nervous. Sure, he was nice enough, probably nicer to me than anyone else in the house. But I’d grown up with Cameron’s sermons.
My family was so devoted to him that they made us follow him from town to town until I left for the police academy.
Every name. Every sacrifice. Every iteration of Cameron. And I didn’t trust him.
Because he’d always seemed tooniceto me. Like when my family had gotten me dressed up at sixteen and tried to submit me as an offering, Cam had no interest.
He just ruffled my hair as if I were a little kid and asked me how school was going.
A man in his position didn’t have to care about age. Or his followers. Oranything. But he did. And now, he seemed not to remember me.
Which was good, both for my mission with work and fitting in again with Dale. But it kind of made me feel insignificant.
Forgettable.
But I’d never forgotten the man who helped shape my childhood.
He got close enough to walk around the couch and kneel in front of Mason, and I realized I’d been silent for too long and staring like a dumbass.
“Uh, yeah,” I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck and looking away. “I tricked her into eating, and she hasn’t moved since—” I nodded to the takeout containers I’d yet to pick up. “eating. Which is good because we didn’t sleep last night, and I don’t know what the fuck she did in California.”
Cameron’s gaze lingered on Mason's face, soft in ways I’d never seen. Slowly, he reached to touch her face, stopping when she stirred. His outstretched fingers curled into his palm, and he gave her a once-over before looking at her stomach.
The shirt I'd given her was slightly too big and had ridden up, exposing her bump. Cameron whistled softly before placing his palm on her stomach.
