Page 94 of Hayden's Stalker

“Do you like to watch?” I grin at her, thinking of her telling me that live sex shows aren’t a part of the gig and wishing I could give her one.

“Yeah, are you a voyeur, Tatiana Swanson? I feel like bodyguards must like to watch.” Sebastian smirks at her.

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “You’d be wrong, probably because you think you’re so interesting that we actually find it fun to babysit you.”

“We’re not?” Gabriel laughs. “I thought we were pretty interesting.”

“I’m not saying you’re not interestingat all, just that a Monday morning is a Monday morning for bodyguards, too.” Tatiana shrugs.

“Ouch, I’m Tatiana’s Monday morning, guys. Mondays suck, so she thinks I suck,” I moan dramatically, but there’s a certain truth to my words and the way I hate that I’m a job for her.

I catch her eye and take a swig of my drink while I continue to look at her as Sebastian deals out our cards.

Gabriel laughs and turns to me. “Do younotsuck, Hayden?”

I can’t stop myself from bursting into laughter. “I don’t know. What have you heard?”

“More than I care to,” he grins at me before everyone else joins in our laughter.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I’m well known for sucking. Just ask Blake.”

“Ugh. I’d rather not,” Gabriel says, faking a gag. “Got any other referees on your resumé?”

Whoops.

I forgot for a second that Blake isn’t my boyfriend anymore. Not that suggesting my friends talk to him about our sex life would’ve been a good idea, even if he was.

I’m distracted from the conversation when I see Tati walk over to where the other bodyguards are and have a discussion with them. Ethan looks over at me and says something to her, then she leaves, I assume to go to the bathroom. I wave at Ethan, but he doesn’t wave back.

I’ve lost track of time and have no clue how many drinks I’ve had by the time I’m in a head-to-head showdown with Ariana after she calls my all-in bet.

“What do you have, Mr. Vega?” Ariana narrows her eyes at me.

I flip my cards over to show her my pocket twos, certain that I’m going to win because twos never lose.

Ariana groans, “Dammit. You win.” She flips over her cards. “I’ve got an ace-high.”

“I’m the winner! Hey, Tatiana, did you see my amazon poker skills?” I look around the room, trying to find where she’s hiding, and finally grin at her when I see her standing at the side of the room.

“Your amazon poker skills? Yes. I indeed saw you win a hand you shouldn’t have been in against a person who also shouldn’t have been in the hand,” she jokes. “Are you ready to go back to the suite?”

I run my gaze over her and don’t give a fuck what my friends think as I assure her, “Definitely.”

I stand up and walk a few steps before the world starts to spin, and I trip over my feet. Tati rushes over to me and wraps an arm around my waist, holding me upright.

I find myself looking down into her beautiful eyes, and I smile at her, “Hi.”

“You’re so drunk, Hayden.” She shakes her head, then looks over at the other bodyguards by the door. “Any chance someone could help me?”

Ethan laughs and says, “Can do.”

He appears at my other side and puts his arm around me. I definitely don’t like it as much as I like Tati’s arm being around my waist. I’m surprised by how wonky the world is as we make our way back to my suite. It seems like everything’s tilted, and I lean my head to the side to make it straight.

When we reach my suite, they start to lead me to my bedroom, but I shake my head and tell them, “No. I want to watch a movie. I’m not tired.”

“Hayden. You probably need to sleep it off,” Tati tells me.

“I’m not tired. I want to watch a movie,” I tell them again as I shrug off their arms and stumble toward the sofa.

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