Page 196 of The Stalker

He handed a bowl to Tatiana, and she smiled at him as she took it over to sit on the sofa.

“Yeah, definitely. It’s an improvement having my own room on the bus, at least,” he said with a cheeky grin.

Tatiana laughed. “Remember when you said you thought Hayden was going to offer me his room?”

“You said that, Jesse?” Hayden raised his eyebrows at him.

“I might’ve said something like that. I don’t really remember,” Jesse said with an innocent smile at Tatiana, and she scoffed.

They chatted with Jesse, and it was a good distraction until they arrived at the venue. Tatiana’s heart was racing as they entered the backstage area, with memories of the last time they were here flooding her mind.

Luckily, Tanya had thought to ensure Hayden was in a different dressing room this time, having specifically organized for him to have one as far from the room he’d had last time as possible, but they did have to walk past it to get there.

The mood in their group was somber as they made their way toward Hayden’s dressing room. Tatiana looked away from the door to the one he had last time, squeezing Hayden’s hand with hers as she did. When they reached his room, Jesse stayed outside as usual, while she followed Hayden inside.

“It’s harder coming back here than I expected,” Hayden said quietly as he set a book down on a table.

She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I know. I’m here, though.”

He kissed her, and they sat together on the sofa until it was time for the soundcheck. Jesse came to the soundcheck with them as he always did now. She stood with him to watch the band perform and swallowed heavily, the guilt over taking the drink from Daniel that day crashing over her in a powerful wave.

It was the biggest mistake she’d ever made in her professional career, and it had impacted the man she loved in ways that were immeasurable. She wasn’t sure that there wasn’t a part of her that would always feel some guilt over that.

The band performed as well as they always did, and when Hayden came offstage, he wrapped his arms around her at once. It was soothing and peaceful. She knew that he didn’t blame her at all for what happened, and she needed to try to stop blaming herself.

As they headed back to the stage from Hayden’s dressing room before the concert, Tatiana’s phone pinged with a text from a number she didn’t know.

Hi, Tati. It’s April. Heather gave me your number. I’m performing at a charity concert in Los Angeles next month. Do you and Hayden want to come to Cali for the concert? It would be good to catch up.

Tatiana ground to a halt and gasped out loud. Hayden took another few steps before he realized she wasn’t moving and turned to look at her.

“Is everything okay, Tatiana?” he asked, looking concerned.

She nodded and grinned at him. “April wants us to go to Los Angeles to see her perform in concert in two weeks’ time!”

“Sounds good. We can see your family while we’re there, and maybe I could take you out to Napa so we can visit Nate’s estate to see what you think of it.”

Tatiana couldn’t wipe the smile from her face, and she said, “That sounds absolutely perfect.”

She saved April’s number in her contacts, then quickly sent a reply to her text.

Sounds brilliant. We’ll be there. Send through the details.

They’d decided, along with Tanya, that Tatiana would continue guarding Hayden onstage during the concerts for the remainder of this tour because they were both still so on edge. As she walked on the stage to take her place behind him, she thought about how much had changed since that first concert.

That first night he’d been completely off-limits despite his newly single status. She’d fought so hard against the feelings she already had for him, but she was so grateful that she’d finally given in because what she had with Hayden Vega was more fulfilling than she had ever imagined it would be.

The arena was in darkness, and the noise and energy of the crowd were filling the building the way they always did before a show. Hayden looked over at Tatiana and smiled at her. The fireworks went off as the band started playing, and the crowd went ballistic.

She couldn’t stop herself from scanning the crowd the way she always did at these concerts, her body on alert and attempting to find anyone who might try to harm Hayden, despite him no longer having a stalker.

The band had been performing for almost half an hour when she noticed Hayden set his drumsticks down between songs, and she watched as he took his shirt off before picking them up again. His muscles gleaming with sweat under the bright stage lights that were trained on him. He began to play the beat for their next song, and she bit her lip as she watched him.

I don’t even blame you for watching your ridiculously hot fiancé being ridiculously hot.

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