Page 1 of Hayden's Stalker

1

The Contract

“You ready for this, Hayden?”Gabriel asks me as we park in one of the reserved spots in front of Powell Management.

I’m sitting in the back of a black SUV with Gabriel Knight. My bodyguard, Jesse Howell, is driving, and Gabriel’s bodyguard is sitting in the passenger seat. I know that Harrison Fletcher and Sebastian Fox are in an SUV behind us with their own bodyguards.

Fame and fortune are great, but they have their downsides. When Cruise Control hit it big, I had no idea what I was in for, and neither did my bandmates. We’ve been through a lot in the last few years, and now we need bodyguards to protect us.

“I suppose so.” I shrug. “Hopefully, she’ll want to work with me. Otherwise, we find someone else.

“You won’t find anyone as good as Tatiana Swanson,” Jesse says from the front seat.

“Thanks, Jesse. I’m not worriedat allthat the best of the best won’t want to work with me, and I won’t be able to find anyone better,” I tell him with a grin on my face.

“Sorry, Mr. Vega,” he says with a chagrined smile.

He gets out and comes around to let us out of the car. We wait for Sebastian and Harrison to join us, and I take a deep breath as I look at the building in front of us. I’m nervous about meeting the security specialist my manager, Cooper Powell, has organized for me to meet today. I have a stalker, so both Cooper and Jesse think the situation has become serious enough to warrant bringing in extra help.

We enter the building, and I smile at Cooper’s receptionist as I approach her. “Hey, Stephanie, we’re here to see Cooper.”

“No worries, I’ll let him know.” She calls Cooper, then tells me, “He’ll be right out.”

“Thanks, Stephanie,” I reply with another smile.

We stand around for a minute and wait. We’re just wondering what Tatiana will be like when Harrison raises his eyebrows and says quietly, “Oh, shit. I think that’s her, over there.”

We all turn to look at a woman sitting in one of the chairs in the corner of the room. I don’t know what I was expecting when it came to Tatiana, but whatever it was, it’s not the woman that I’m looking at.

“Surely, that’s not her,” Sebastian scoffs, and I cringe because she can probably hear him.

To be fair, he’s probably thinking the same as me about her being unexpected. The woman sitting in front of us has the longest blonde hair I’ve seen on a woman in perhaps my entire life. She’s also eerily beautiful. I’ve spent a lot of time around beautiful people. My friend Heather is a fashion designer, and I’ve been backstage at her shows with people whose entire career is made from their looks. None of those people had this same quality to them.

Harrison says, “I don’t see anyone else here, do you, Seb?”

“No, but I can’t see her taking down a stalker, can you?” Sebastian raises an eyebrow at him.

She’s not looking at us at all, which is interesting. A lot of people look at us, especially when we’re together. If this is the woman who’s meant to be protecting me, I don’t know what to think. She looks like a strong wind would knock her over, or that she would be easily snapped in half by any of our current bodyguards.

“Welcome, everyone. If you could all follow me, we’ll get started,” Cooper says from the hallway leading to the rest of his offices.

We follow him down the hallway into the conference room and take seats while our bodyguards stay outside. It took a while to get used to having someone following me around all the time, but now I’m resigned to it being a part of my everyday life. Jesse is great, and I feel safe with him, even though the crash we had in January definitely scared the shit out of us both.

The woman from the reception area must be Tatiana because she’s followed us into the conference room. She walks around the table and sits down directly opposite me. I smile at her, and she smiles back. I’m stunned when she does because the warmth that spreads through me from that simple gesture is peaceful, and puts me at ease. This situation sucks, but having her here in the same room makes me feel like I can breathe for the first time since the accident.

“Well, we’re here to discuss you taking the contract to protect Hayden at your request, Miss Swanson. What would you like to know?” Cooper asks her.

I watch as the smile drops from her face, and she looks coolly professional when she turns to Cooper. “Firstly, why are all of Cruise Control here? I was under the impression that I would be meeting with you and Hayden.”

Cooper smirks at her. “When you get to know them, you’ll find out that they’re very co-dependent.”

I frown at Cooper’s comment. He’s been rubbing us the wrong way lately. He’s been our manager since before we became famous, but he’s done some stuff that has been out of line. I threatened him earlier this year that we would break our contract with him if he stepped out of line again. Since then, he’s been making snarky comments like this. It’s irritating as hell, and I’m not sure if he’s trying to get us to fire him at this point, but he’s certainly not doing himself any favors.

“I see. Well, my focus is singularly on Hayden, and I have no interest or need to be in a meeting with the rest of the band at the moment.”

“Rude,” Sebastian says, sounding annoyed.

Tatiana turns her head to look at him, and I’m amazed by exactly how blue her eyes are. She keeps that coolly professional tone in her voice when she replies to him.

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