Page 168 of Hayden's Stalker

“It was the only way,” she coos in a voice that makes me want to rip my ears off, so I never have to hear it again. “I’d tried so many things, and I couldn’t risk something happening like that bitch getting all upset again. Can’t you see that I only did it forus?”

I can think of nothing but how much I hate her for everything she’s done, but most of all for that night. I hate her more for that than I do for kidnapping me. I hate that she drugged Tati to get to me. I hate that Tati will probably be blaming herself right now for my being kidnapped. I hate that she’s lying here right now, infecting me with her touch.

I can’t speak through my rage, and Sarah says, “Have you ever had sex on GHB? It’samazing. I knew that if we had high sex together, you’d realize you needed to be with me as much as I needed to be with you. Our love story could’ve started years ago. We could already be married with kids.”

She gives a disappointed sigh while I fight the urge to pull myself out of these restraints and throw her across the room to get her away from me. I want to do something, anything, to make this end.

“Do you have any idea what you did to us?”

My hatred for her flows out into my words, and they come out in a chilling voice that I barely recognize as my own.

“Hayden,” she says in that sickening voice. “I would’ve done anything for you. Don’t you see? We’re meant to be together, and we finally are.”

She kisses my chest, her lips searing my skin even through my shirt, and brings a wave of nausea to me as bile rises in my throat.

I want to scream at her that she’s a cunt and I will never love her. That I hate her for what she did to my friends. That being near her makes me want to puke. The only reason I don’t is because I need to stay alive for Tati.

I can’t help but snort in derision, though. “You didn’t even achieve your goal, but you fucking ruined my friends’ lives.”

“Are you mad, baby? Please don’t be mad at me. I love you, and I had to at leasttry. I’m sorry your friends got hurt. I didn’t know Harrison would cheat on Heather. I just thought Sebastian would probably do something reckless, and we could be together, which was all that was important. I knew you guys could weather a scandal, and, look, they’re happily married now, aren’t they?”

My breathing is too loud in the room as I try to control my anger. Her apology is hollow, and hatred for her fills every cell in my body. The way she manipulates people and uses them to reach her goals without a single care for the collateral damage she leaves along the way. I have little doubt that her plan is to discard Daniel like used trash the moment I ‘fall in love’ with her.

“It wasn’t just a scandal. You almost broke them. The drugging was the worst thing we’ve ever been through,” I grind out.

Not counting this.

Fuck. My friends are probably just as worried as Tati. My heart hurts at the thought of them all trying to find me and how much stress they’ll be under, not knowing if I’m alive or dead.

I need to stay alive.

I can’t die. I can’t let Sarah or Daniel kill me. I can’t kill myself. I need to survive for everyone who loves me. Whatever happens, I need to get back to them safely.

“It would’ve been worth it if it had worked, though,” she says with a shrug of her shoulders that enrages me. “I couldn’t getnear you after that, though, because you got bodyguards.” She sighs heavily and is quiet for a moment. “We do have something we need to discuss.”

I frown as I wonder what it could possibly be. What could be more important than what she did in Los Angeles? There is nothing. Nothing in the world could have been worse than that.

“I want to explain our accident. I feel so guilty for that, and I’ve been waiting for this day to apologize properly because I’msosorry.”

She sighs again and looks up at me. I want to look away because the sight of her face makes me violently ill, but I’m also curious about what she’s about to say.

“What do you mean?”

“I moved to Chicago after we failed to get together in Los Angeles. Your stupid bodyguard was with you all the time when you were out, though. I just couldn’t get close enough for us to meet properly. Sebastian’s property in Galena is too well protected, and I couldn’t get in there, but it was nice to just follow your car and know that we were close together for those short hours.”

She leans up and kisses my lips softly, and it’s almost worse than the way she kissed me before. It’s so casual, and it makes me feel disgusting. There’s a sense of ownership to it, and it feels like she’s roleplaying the place of my girlfriend right now.

“The day we had our accident,” she sighs. “I really am sorry. We were having a nice drive together. You were going to your family’s place, and I was enjoying the drive, but then your fucking bodyguard started pulling some weird moves. I realized he was trying to get rid of me, and all I wanted was to be near you.” She frowns and chews her lip as she looks at me apologetically. “I’m so sorry. I lost my temper. I didn’t mean to. I was justsoangry that we couldn’t just have a nice drive together and that he was the reason we couldn’t have been togethersooner.” She wipes away a tear that falls from her eye as she sniffs. “Do you forgive me? I hope you’ll forgive me, baby. I’m so sorry, and I love you so much. I never meant to hurt you.”

Yes, she did. In everything she’s done, she intended to take away my free will to choose a life partner. She wanted to manipulate me into being with her. She’s done so many things to so many people, all to try and be with me. The guilt of everything that has happened to my friends with the drugging, to Jesse with the accident, and to Tati when she was drugged today weighs heavily in my stomach.

At the same time, I know that I need to stay alive for them all. I need to do and say anything that I can to prevent Sarah from killing me.

I draw once again on my media training and force a soft smile at her because I want her to believe me. “I accept your apology. It’s understandable from what you’ve said. You weren’t even hurting me, but Jesse didn’t know it was you. He honestly thought it was paparazzi following us, which was why he was trying to get away.”

“Oh, shit,” she says with a gasp. “I didn’t think of that.” She gives me a bright smile. “One day, when this is all over, I’ll apologize to him, too.”

I have no idea why the hell she would think Jesse would ever let her near me after this, even if Ididfall in love with her. I know that if he was here, he’d have her disarmed and arrested before she could touch me. I miss him as well, and I hope that whatever Tati’s doing, he’s able to help her find me.

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