Page 52 of Hayden's Stalker

I check my reflection in the full-length mirror in the corner of my closet and smile. I look good in this, and I can’t wait for Tati to see me. Heat rushes to my cheeks, and I roll my eyes at myself as I leave the closet.

I really am turning into Sebastian.

I can’t help but laugh at the thought as I head over to the sofa and pick up my book. I’m reading another mystery now. After finding out that the producer was behind the murder in the last book, I’ve moved on to one about a missing wife that I suspect has an unreliable narrator.

I don’t know how long I read before Tati knocks on my door and calls out, “Are you decent?”

“Yup,” I call back.

I turn to see her smiling at me. “I should’ve known.”

I ignore the fact that I like that she knows me this well already and laugh, “Am I that predictable?”

“Pretty much, you bookworm,” she teases me.

“Meanwhile, you only ever seem to read in the library,” I point out as I stand and walk over to her.

Tati shrugs. “It’s the only place you’re safe.”

She looks up at me, her eyes wide as her breathing shallows, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of the way she does this whenever I’m near her. I know I shouldn’t enjoy it, but I really,reallydo, and I wonder if she feels the tension crackling in the air around us.

“It must be weird to never be able to relax. You think about a thousand things that don’t occur to me unless you mention them.”

“I’m used to it. It’s how my brain is wired now. I don’t think I could shut it off if I tried.”

Now.

I can’t help but note the word as I nod at her, and a part of me wants to ask if there was a time that her brainwasn’twired this way, but I’m distracted by the familiar sight of Sebastian’s face.

My eyes are drawn by it down to her chest, where he looks back at me in a familiar pose, and I burst into laughter. “What the fuck are you wearing?”

Tatiana grins, grabs a side of her jacket in each hand, and holds it open to display her shirt. “You like?”

I ignore the way my cock jerks at her flashing her chest at me, and manage to say, “Very nice, but why are you wearing aGames We Playt-shirt?”

“I thought it would besuperappropriate, considering we’re going to look at your tour bus. Also, it’s a very cool album cover.”

I run my gaze over her body, taking in her entire outfit, which isn’t dissimilar to mine. She’s wearing a pair of jeans, theGamesWe Playt-shirt and a black leather jacket. I haven’t chosen a jacket to wear today, so the only thing I need to change for us to match is my shirt.

I grin at her as I pull my shirt off over my head. Tatiana’s eyes widen again, and I work hard not to smirk at her. I’ve noticed the way she reacts when I’m shirtless at breakfast. I didn’t think twice about not wearing a shirt to breakfast the first time I did it, but I have thought more than twice about it every day after that, knowing that I’d get to enjoy Tati’s reaction to the sight of me each time.

I ball my shirt up and toss it in the hamper with the rest of my laundry on my way back to the closet. When I get there, I pull myGames We Playshirt off a hanger in my Cruise Control clothes section. I don’t normally wear these unless we’ve got some kind of promotional reason to do it, but I can’t resist today.

I get it on, along with my black leather jacket, and head back to Tati as I announce, “Twinning!”

She stares at me for a millisecond, then bursts into laughter, and I’m pleased that I’ve amused her as much as I have myself.

“I can’t—” she gasps at me through her laughter. “That’s amazing!”

I grab her arm and pull her to stand next to me in front of the full-length mirror I used to check out my reflection earlier. We look ridiculous in our matching outfits, and I laugh with her. Whenever one of us seems about to calm down, the other will repeat the word ‘twinning,’ and we both have tears in our eyes when we finally calm down. My stomach hurts from laughing so hard, and I want to remember this moment forever, so I put my arm around her shoulders and pull her against me. I ignore how good she feels in my arms as I pull my phone out of my pocket and snap a picture of the two of us before showing her the screen.

“I wish I could post this on social media, but I know I can’t.We’llalways know we were twinning, though.”

I enjoy this moment of laughter with Tati. A joke like this is something Blake would scoff at and I’d have felt small for making it.

I push the uncomfortable thought away and wink at her. “Come on, you have a car to drive. Unless you’ve rethought the idea of me getting to drive?”

“Hard no, but nice try,” she laughs.

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