Page 105 of The Stalker

Tatiana hated herself for the hurt she saw in his expression as he took in what she was saying. No doubt, he was mistaking it for her not caring about him enough to stay.

This was confirmed when he said, “I thought you said I wasn’t just a job for you.”

“You’re not,” she confessed in a soft voice.

“And yet you would leave as soon as I broke the contract?”

Wouldshe leave if he broke the contract? She wasn’t sure, and she didn’t want to find out. At the end of the day, nobody would care about Hayden’s safety more than she would. She couldn’t entrust him to anyone else.

She was careful with her words, so she didn’t lie to him when she said, “Yes, I think I would.”

“I see,” he said in a cool tone.

They sat in silence for a long time, and Tatiana stared at the empty bowl of granola. She thought about the emails the stalker had been sending him. Cooper had insisted on her not telling him about them, but she needed him to understand.

“Cooper didn’t want me to tell you, but you’ve had more emails from the stalker.”

He looked at her with wide eyes for a second, then he frowned. “Why didn’t he want me to know?”

“He wanted you to focus on the tour. The emails scare me, Hayden. I don’t want you to get hurt, and they talk as though there’s some plan for you to be together.”

“Show them to me,” he demanded, still frowning deeply at her.

She nodded and pulled up the emails on her phone. Showing them to him one at a time, from the first one he’d received on the tour through to the last one a couple of days ago.

He sat silently through the process of reading them, handing her phone back each time to allow her to open the next email. She saw him growing more agitated and stressed with each one he read. He was chewing his bottom lip and jiggling his right leg while staring into the distance as she pulled up the final email.

“This is the last one. You got it two days ago.”

She handed him her phone, and he read it. The stalker had talked more about their future life together, assuring him that he would love it and that they were making sure everything would be perfect for when they could finally be together as a couple.

Hayden handed her phone back, and she asked him, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I guess,” he murmured, and she hated the worried look he wore.

“I didn’t want to scare you. I just wanted you to understand that it’s because I care for you that we have to pretend. If you were anyone else, I wouldn’t spend every waking minute terrified that you would be hurt. I would just know that I could keep you safe, and I would do that.”

Hayden swallowed heavily and nodded. “I get it. I’ll see you when we reach the venue for the soundcheck, I guess.”

He stood and then bent over to pick up her empty bowl before he took it with him out of the room. She heard him rinse the bowl in the sink before it went quiet again.

You did what you had to do, for once.

Tatiana hated herself for having to keep him at arm’s length. Knowing that it was the right thing to do didn’t make doing it any easier. She flopped back on the pillows and stared at the roof above her, wishing things could be different. Her phone lit up with a text, and she picked it up and looked at it.

I met the perfect woman, and I can’t be with her. FML.

Don’t touch that with a ten-foot pole.

As she considered how to even respond to his text, another message came through.

Fuck. I meant to send that to Harrison. I repeat, FML.

Tatiana laughed and then groaned. Poor Hayden, he probably crapped himself when he realized he’d sent it to her. She typed a response to him.

I’ll pretend I never saw it. I’m good at pretending. Right now, I’m pretending I didn’t meet the perfect man.

Bad, bad response, Tatiana.

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