Page 16 of Owned

We brush it off, take a swig of our beers, find a seat on the couch, and watch her and Buffy interact while we chat.

“So, are you and Hayden a thing or what?”

I smile at the thought of him. “Nothing official yet. He did kiss me earlier today when we were out.”

Astera hits my shoulder. “Claire! You waited this long to say something to me?”

“Ow,” I rub my shoulder even though I know she is teasing me.

“We haven’t exactly had time between what happened after, and dress shopping.”

Astera rolls her eyes. “You should have told me earlier anyway.”

“I have to tell you what happened from the beginning.” And I explain to her about how I originally made a pass at him, and he turned me away, and me going to the club to get fucked by a random.

“Claire. You didn’t,” she covers her mouth in disbelief.

“I did. He watched up to a certain point. And then, right when I was about to climax, he was gone. And after that, he followed me to my apartment and threatened every man’s life that thinks about touching. He said he would make me watch him kill them. Limb b limb.”

“Fuck.” Astera takes a long sip of her beer. “You both are bat-shit crazy.”

This time, it’s me hitting her arm. She laughs. “I think you guys should fuck already.”

I almost spit out my drink from laughing.

“I still can’t believe you did that,” she says.

“I can’t either. Not my proudest moment.”

“I think it is. It made him wake the fuck up, and he staked his claim on you, girl.”

I laugh because I don’t know how to respond to that. Just then, the guys come walking in.

We watch as they head straight to grab a beer. And miss Lauren, she walks right up to Hayden and tries to cozy up on him.

“Girlllll.” Astera arches an eyebrow before taking the last sip of her beer.

Hayden sits on a bar stool, and it looks like the girl is about to sit on his knee, but he keeps her from doing so. I see red when I approach her.

“Can I help you?”

“No.”

“Then I suggest you go find someone else to hit on.”

She huffs as she walks away. “This is your one and only warning. Do you hear me?”

She laughs to taunt me. “Whatever.”

Seeing her laugh the way she did, it made me want to rip her face off.

Then facing Hayden, I point to him, “The same rules apply for you that you gave to me about another man touching me. Only for you, it’s if another woman touches you. Copy?”

“Copy.” He grins, rearing his hands up to surrender.

“Want to make sure we are clear.”

“Crystal clear, babe.”

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