Page 37 of The Stalker

“Trust me. Soggy Flake’s been threatened by a lot less than a hot bodyguard who insists on sitting next to his boyfriend at all times.”

Tatiana held her tongue. It wasn’t an appropriate conversation for her to be having with a client’s friend. She appreciated the cover of Sebastian dancing with her, though. It added to the illusion if she was friendly with more than the band member she was protecting. Still, it wouldn’t do to be telling Sebastian her thoughts about Blake and how he seemed like an overly jealous asshole. She was pretty sure Sebastian thought that, anyway.

It was a relief when Hayden and Blake stopped dancing to get themselves a drink. She and Sebastian followed them off the dance floor and over to the bar. Hayden ordered her a virgin Tom Collins, and she thanked him as Blake shot daggers at her.

They took their drinks back to the VIP area and sat with Gabriel and Harrison again to talk. Tatiana was grateful when Hayden didn’t sit as closely to her as he had before. He was glistening with sweat and smiling brightly as they talked, seeming happy with their night out.

When they finished their drinks, Blake offered to get both her and Hayden another round.

“What do you want, Tatiana?”

“A virgin Tom Collins,” she told him.

When he came back, he handed her drink to her, and she thanked him. She took a sip and at once knew that it was alcoholic.

She glared at Blake and growled quietly, “This drink is not virgin.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. The bartender must have made a mistake,” he said innocently.

Tatiana inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly before saying coolly, “You don’t give bartenders enough credit. They don’t make mistakes like that. It’s not worth their jobs to be giving out alcohol that customers aren’t paying for. Which leaves two options. You accidentally ordered the wrong drink, or you don’t give a shit about Hayden’s safety and purposely ordered me an alcoholic drink. I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it was the former. Either way, don’t do it again.”

Sebastian, Gabriel, and Harrison all exchanged grins while Blake met her gaze and had the decency to look contrite when he said, “Maybe I did accidentally order the wrong drink. My bad. I’ll be more careful in future.”

Tatiana glanced at Hayden, whose body was tense again, then she glared back at Blake and said, “See that you are.”

As if she’d trust him to ever get her a drink again. No, one drink wouldn’t affect her judgment, but it was the principle of the thing. No matter what the reason was for her ordering a virgin drink, giving her alcohol when she asked for none was essentially spiking her drink.

At every turn, Blake seemed to be proving himself to be an insufferable asshole who had no concern for anybody but himself. Once again, she couldn’t understand what the hell Hayden saw in him.

The conversation moved on, and Tatiana caught Jesse’s eye. He’d been hovering in the shadows all evening with the rest of Cruise Control’s bodyguards. She desperately wanted to ask him his thoughts on Blake. And he’d thought Sebastian would be the one testing her people skills. A little heads-up on Blake would’ve been nice.

She gestured him over to her, because it was hot in the club and she needed a drink.

“What’s up?” he asked as he bent his head to talk to her.

“Could you possibly get me a virgin Tom Collins?”

He nodded. “Not a problem. Do you want me to dispose of this one?”

“Sure. I have one or two ideas about what could be done with it, but it’s probably better if you take it away,” she murmured.

Jesse chuckled quietly as he walked away, and Tatiana was surprised when she heard Hayden’s voice in her ear as she watched him go.

“I’m sorry about that.”

She turned to look at him, and her breath caught in her throat. His face was too close to hers. She could kiss him if she moved even an inch. His beautiful chocolate brown eyes were staring into her soul.

Get a fucking grip, Tatiana.

She blinked at him, then said quietly, “You didn’t do it.”

“I know, but I feel bad, anyway.”

He was frowning at her, and she had the strongest urge to remove the worried look from his face.

“It’s fine, Hayden. No harm, no foul. Jesse’s gone to get me a virgin.”

She was surprised by Hayden’s burst of laughter in response to her words.

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