Page 139 of The Stalker

“Okay,” he said with an agreeable smile.

They used the shower to rinse off the bubbles as the bath drained around their feet, then got into sleepwear before getting back into bed and turning the lights off.

“Night, Tati. Love you,” Hayden said around a yawn.

Tatiana laughed. “Night. I love you, too.”

Hayden squeezed his arms tightly around her, and though Tatiana felt safe and secure with him, it took her a long time to fall asleep.

* * *

When they reachedthe next city, Tatiana was standing backstage watching the soundcheck when Daniel approached her with the usual sandwich and bottle of water.

“Thanks, Dan,” she said with a smile at him.

She took a bite of the sandwich as the guys performed one of their biggest hits, “Hurts Like Hell.” The bread was freshly baked, and the thick slices were covered in butter with the ham, cheese, tomato, salt, and cracked pepper making for a delicious lunch.

“Ooh, it’s good today,” she told him before taking another bite.

Daniel had gotten himself the same type of sandwich today, and he grinned at her. “Much better than the ones at the last venue.”

“Daniel Russo with the understatement of the year,” she laughed.

The bread in the last city had been day-old and made for a sub-par eating experience which neither of them had enjoyed. She took a swig of the water as the band stopped singing abruptly, and Hayden called out that he’d broken a drumstick. She was surprised that she’d never noticed him do it before, but she was very aware of it since he’d received that gift from his stalker.

She chatted to Daniel for another five minutes or so before he said, “I’d better get going. I’ll see you later, Tati.”

“Bye, Dan.”

Tatiana was sure the soundcheck was almost over when her phone started ringing, and she saw Cooper Powell’s name on the screen.

“What the fuck is going on?” he asked the second their call was connected.

Fear flooded through her, and she had no idea what he was talking about. “What do you mean?”

“Why are you letting groupies into Hayden’s dressing room?”

Tatiana opened her mouth to say that she hadn’t, but quickly decided against taking that course and asked instead, “What’s happened?”

“I’ve just sent you the email, but the stalker sent Hayden a picture that seems to be from inside his dressing room at the last venue, given his attire. He seems to be receiving a sex act from a groupie in the picture, so I want to know why you’re letting groupies into his dressing room to be alone with him, or were you in the room with them when it was happening?”

Tatiana’s mind was whirling. A picture from inside his dressing room? The thought sent chills down her spine. How did they manage that? But also, Cooper didn’t seem to know that the picture was of her. Surely he should be able to recognize her in the picture.

She knew that she needed to give him some kind of response, so she decided not to lie, but to also dance around the truth.

“Hayden is a grown adult, Cooper. It’s my job to keep him safe, not to be his babysitter. If he wants to indulge in a sex act with a consenting—” she almost said ‘woman’ instinctively because she knew it was her in the picture, but caught herself before continuing, “—adult, I’m not going to stop him as long as I deem the situation safe.”

“Fine. But how do you explain someone getting a picture inside his dressing room?”

“I don’t know specifically, but you know what backstage is like. A camera could’ve been planted at any time, even long before we arrived at the venue. It is my failing that I didn’t do a better sweep to catch it, though. Let me look at the email and I’ll send through my response, plus I’ll make sure that both Jesse and I are doing more thorough checks of the rooms in future.”

“See that you are.”

Cooper hung up the call, and Tatiana pulled the phone away from her ear to look at it. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she opened her email. Cooper’s name was at the top of her list.

FW: Hayden Vega email

Miss Swanson,

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