Page 31 of The Stalker

“Soon, I think. Hopefully, Mira will have a decent sleep. We’re going to play pool and have a few drinks…well, they’ll have drinks. I’ll have water,” Lita amended.

“You say that you’re going to play pool with them, but what I’m hearing is that Heather and Ariana are going to take turns losing all night long.” Hayden grinned at her.

“Something like that,” Lita said.

They finished eating, and the table was cleared before they returned to the living room to sit on the sofa. Tatiana hovered at the entrance, leaving Hayden to sit with his friends.

As soon as he realized that she wasn’t there, he looked over at her. “Do you want to sit down, Tati?”

“No, I’m fine here for now. Especially while Jesse’s not here. I can’t relax.”

She heard someone’s footsteps behind her a second before Jesse said, “It’s a good thing I’m here, then. Here are the car keys.”

She turned to see him smiling at her as he held them out toward her.

“Thanks,” she said, and slipped them into the pocket of her dress.

Jesse headed back to the entrance, but Tatiana remained where she was. She watched the interaction of the friends and found it fascinating. Sebastian was as obviously besotted with his fiancée as he had been with the baby earlier. He held her hand in his, and frequently watched her with a lovestruck look on his face while she talked to Hayden.

Tatiana tuned into their conversation when she heard the name of Hayden’s boyfriend as Sebastian said, “Is Blake meeting us there?”

“He is,” Hayden confirmed.

“Hey, Tatiana?” Sebastian called.

She was surprised by him saying her name and answered, “Yes?”

“I will take that demonstration, after all. You can show me on Blake at Club Delirium, thanks,” Sebastian smirked at her.

Tatiana was amused, but unsure exactly how to reply to that. Clearly, Hayden’s friend wasn’t a big fan of his boyfriend. She glanced at Hayden, who was frowning at Sebastian.

“Not funny, Sebastian,” Hayden shook his head.

“I thought it was,” he laughed.

Lita gave Hayden a chagrined smile and said, “Me, too. Sorry, Hayden.”

“He’s my boyfriend, guys. Could you maybe not wish him bodily harm?”

“She’d only hurt him a little,” Sebastian assured him.

Hayden didn’t respond, just glared at Sebastian, who seemed amused by his reaction.

Lita looked between them, then sighed. “I’m sorry, Hayden. I try to give everyone a fair chance, but Blake is consistently a complete dick to everyone.”

There was a tense silence in the room, and Tatiana couldn’t look away. She was combing through this new information and running back through what she learned yesterday. In some ways, she couldn’t wait to actually meet Blake. Hayden was such a nice person. It seemed strange that he would be in a relationship with someone who wasn’t.

“I’m aware you guys don’t like him. I don’t need the reminder.”

The conversation was interrupted as two women walked into the room. One was tall and blonde; the other was shorter with long, brown hair.

“Hello, darlings,” the blonde woman, Heather Fletcher, said as she approached them.

She gave each of them a hug before dropping onto the sofa between Sebastian and Hayden as Ariana Knight greeted the three friends. She sat on the other side of Hayden, and as soon as she did, she saw Tatiana and her eyes widened.

Hayden followed her gaze and said, “Oh, Ariana and Heather, this is Tatiana Swanson, my specialist security. Tati, this is Ariana Knight, Gabriel’s wife”—he indicated to the brunette woman on his left—“and this is Heather Fletcher, Harrison’s wife.” He nodded to the blonde woman on his right.

Tatiana gave them a casual wave, and both women looked at her with apparent curiosity. It was very interesting to see all of them in person after the research she’d done. She’d read so many things about them all, they seemed to have scandal after scandal, but she knew that most of those would’ve been half-truths at best.

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