Page 48 of Blinded By Love

About ten or twenty minutes later Alex yells, “Dinner’s ready.”

Currently we are all seated at the dinner table.

I am not lying when I say that it is tense.

Hayden is seated next to me and Chris and Natalia are seated across from us.

Mr. Night a.k.a. Carter Night a.k.a. Hayden and Natalia's father is also here. He is in a suit and his hair looks like he ran his hands through it a couple times. He looks so serious and professional which makes him more intimidating than I thought.

No one said anything ever since Alex called us all up for dinner. I was kind of scared to say something.

The pasta is good though. Alex made bolognese sauce with the pasta and then brussel sprouts wrapped in bacon and chicken on the side.

"The pasta is really good, Mrs. Night," I complimented trying to make the atmosphere less tense.

I feel like that’s all I can do because no one is saying anything, not even Natalia surprisingly.

"Thank you, honey. Also, it's Alex. Don't call me Mrs. Night," Alex says and I smile at her.

"So, Jaclyn was it?" Mr. Night asks. I nod my head. "So how did you meet Natalia and Hayden?" he asks.

"Uh well, I met Natalia on my first day of school in our journalism class. I met Hayden officially on the first day of my job. I was serving his table."

That’s kind of a lie but I can’t say that I met Hayden four years ago when he was being a little shit threatening me.

“I hope he wasn’t rude. He’s not very social when it comes to speaking to people.”

He’s not wrong about that, thinking about the first time I met him.

"How would you know? It’s not like you pay attention,” Hayden mutters while moving his pasta around his plate.

"Hayden, cut it out. We have a guest here." Carter motions his hand pointing to me.

"Yea, sure whatever," Hayden mumbles.

"Chris, how is football going?" Carter asks, looking at Chris.

"Good. We are actually dominating this year which is kind of surprising. We are playing USC next month which is a big game for us."

"I know USC can be a difficult team to play against," Carter agrees.

"Yea, but I'm sure Chris is going to do amazing as always," Natalia says, smiling at Chris.

I didn't even have to look under the table to know they are holding hands.

"How are you, Hayden? How are you liking business?" Cater asks, switching his attention over to Hayden.

"Fine."

"I hope you are not still doing those fights and boxing matches that you used to do," Carter says, keeping his eyes on Hayden.

Hayden snickers and shakes his head lightly. "Well, it's not really your choice Carter is it?"

"Hayden, stop. You know he just wants the best for you," Alex says, conflicted on what to do or say.

"Well, I'm good. I've been good since the day you guys took me in. I was even good before that," Hayden says before he stands up, dropping his utensils and leaving the table.

I watch him leave the dining room and Carter and Alex doing nothing to stop him or console him.

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