Page 29 of Blinded By Hate

“Alexa’s here?” Hayden raises an eyebrow at Adam and he squeezes my hand in his.

Who’s Alexa?

“Uh yea? I told you yesterday, remember?” Adam says before he walks away from the bar.

“Not really,” Hayden mutters while he follows Adam.

I look up at him and see his jaw clenched.

I bring his jaw down so he can look at me. “Are you okay?” I ask.

Hayden lets out a deep breath before nodding his head. “Yea, let’s just go,” Hayden says before pulling my hand to follow him. We all scoot into the table. “Where are the others?”

“I invited Luke, Ross, Maddie, and Alexa. They are all here now. They are just getting drinks.” Adam looks behind us before standing up. “There they are.”

I turn my head and see two boys walk up to the table.

Hayden stands up with Adam and turns to the group.

“Is that Hayden Night?” one of the guys says before giving Hayden a bro hug. “Man, I haven’t seen you in ages. When was the last time I saw you?”

“Probably last Thanksgiving.” Hayden shrugs before sitting back down next to me.

“Last time you were in Arizona, I heard you beat up some guy at a party? Trent was it?” The guy asks, looking at Adam and Adam nods his head.

“Dude’s fucking crazy. Always trying to start shit.” The guy shakes his head lightly.

Hayden turns his head to the other guy. “Luke, haven’t seen you in a minute. How are you?” Hayden asks Luke as he sits in the booth.

“Good. Still fighting. How about you?” Luke responds.

“I’m good.” Hayden turns his attention to me, his eyes lighting up as he smiles down at me. “This is my girlfriend, Jaclyn. Jaclyn, that's Luke and Ross.”

“Nice to meet you.” They both say with a small smile.

I smile. “Nice to meet you guys too. How long have you known Hayden for?”

“Since we were all in middle school. This guy got into a fucking fist fight with a kid who was a grade above us. Beat the shit out of him and it was on his first day too. So we took him in.” Adam says with a proud smile. “So what have you been up to? Still getting into petty little fights?” Adam asks Hayden.

Hayden leans back against the booth and wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. “Nothing, just busy with school.”

“Are you still fighting?”

Hayden shrugs. “Here and there.”

I know he’s lying because I’m here.

I know he still goes to fights but he doesn’t bring me or tell me about them because he is scared that Marco won’t keep his end of the deal.

“You know there is one opening tonight for a fight. If you want I can get you in. Give the people a good show for old time's sake?” Ross offers.

“Who’s fighting tonight?”

“Some new guy who is from out of state and then Ben, too.”

“Is this new guy good?” Hayden furrows his eyebrows.

“Yea, he’s pretty good. You might know him. He is from Arizona and it’s his first time fighting here,” Adam explains.

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