Page 44 of Now Streaming

His voice again rumbled in her ear. “I’m more worried about what body part you’re going to wake up if you keep moving like that. In case you couldn’t tell, we’re not really in a place for me to be able to do something about it.”

Min froze, staring at him, and he stared right back, not at all bothered that he was apparently talking about his erection to her in a packed public space.

Brittany, thank god, saved her. “Min? What about you?”

Min turned to find the server patiently staring at her. She panicked.

“Chicken fingers?”

The waiter turned to Hayden, who ordered the same, and then left. Luckily, Brittany was chatty and quickly filled the table with cheerful stories about how their con adventure had been going so far. Her friends pulled Hayden into conversation, and Min could feel him loosen a little, that their openness and lack of guile was letting him put his guard down just enough to hopefully enjoy himself. When the food came, there was some awkward shuffling as Min turned, adjusting herself, now straddling one of Hayden’s legs, facing the table, her back to his chest. She tried to give him as much personal space as she could, but he just splayed a hand on her stomach and pulled her ass flush to him.

And fuck, she could feel how hard he was.

A light laugh tinkled from across the table. Min’s eyes flew to Brittany, who was sitting with a smug look on her face smirking at Min while she inhaled french fries at an ungodly rate. Gus tucked into his salad and Robbie took a bite of his burger before turning back to Hayden.

“So, Hayden, who are you rooting for in the Bleeding Sword tournament?”

Min froze mid-bite. Her curiosity was burning.

“I’ve got a few favorites, but probably DeathsHead.”

Brittany snorted, rolling her eyes with derision. “Ugh, that guy. There’s no way. FlameThrower is going to tear his ass up and hand it to him.”

Hayden chuckled, and Min felt it all along her back. “I don’t know. He’s pretty good.”

“He’s arrogant, but he’s careful,” Robbie said, thoughtful. “He knows Flame is there, so his best bet is to not get overconfident.”

Hayden grinned. “I don’t think Death would ever approach FlameThrower with anything but caution.”

Brittany was still riled up at his answer. “He’s gonna lose, and he’s gonna lose hard. Min here can’t stand him.”

Min could feel Hayden’s eyes on her, and she sure didn’t want to get involved so she just shoved as much chicken finger in her mouth as she could.

“Really, Min, I about died when I saw you wearing his shirt. The shirt of the enemy. How could you?” Brittany shook her head in disgust, and that made Min grin as she swallowed. Brittany was, among other things, exceedingly loyal. It was one of the many things Min loved about her.

“I didn’t have a lot of choices. Someone broke into my room yesterday and vandalized my stuff. I had to make do.” Min took another bite as three pairs of eyes focused on her, shocked, and she remembered that she hadn’t actually mentioned that yet. Whoops.

“What the fuck Min? Is that why you called me last night? When I asked you about it you said it was just a pocket dial. Are you okay? Do you have a place to stay? Do you need clothes? How could you not tell me?” Brittany was in full mama bear mode, throwing down the fry she was holding and looking ready to leap across the table and either hug Min or strangle her. Or both.

Min waved her down. “The hotel is cleaning my room, and I picked up some clothes today on the floor. It’s fine.”

Gus chimed in. “If you had to wait for the hotel to clean your room, then where did you stay last night?”

Min opened her mouth and then quickly shut it, remembering the actual answer that she absolutely did not want to tell a table of her friends out in public at a bar. She felt herself heat up, an entire body blush taking over her as her eyes glanced behind her, no idea what to say.

Hayden stepped in. “She crashed with me.”

Silence took over the table as her closest friends realized there was more to Hayden than Min had mentioned. Brittany sat up straighter.

“She crashed with you? A guy she met once before running into on the train here?”

Hayden didn’t look away from Brittany, meeting her eyes with a challenge.

“Yes.”

That was it.Yes.As if that would calm down Brittany’s sudden suspicion and big-sister protective urges. Min’s brain came crashing back to earth, realizing she needed to work fast. Brittany was only about five foot two, but her punch could knock a grown man out when she was mad enough. Min had seen it happen.

“We knew each other before. From online. We only just met in person in LA. He’s staying in the same hotel, and he offered, so it made sense. Besides, your hotel room is always packed with your entire wardrobe. I didn’t want to spend the night cuddling with your socks.”

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