44. Cassidy

Hayden"s actingweird this morning. I"m groggy as hell, and he"s rushing me through my shower and morning routine. It"s making me cranky. I can"t deal with his weirdness on top of feeling nauseous and dizzy and somehow still tired after sleeping twelve hours last night.

Ugh. I wonder if I'm getting sick.

He keeps checking his phone, and it"s constantly vibrating. I"m trying not to be annoyed. I really am. But I can"t take it anymore. "Can you please go deal with that," I flick my hand toward his phone, "somewhere else?"

I"m in the closet picking out what I"m going to wear to work this afternoon and Hayden"s hovering behind me, watching me like he can"t stand having me out of his sight for the five minutes it"ll take me to get dressed. At least when his face isn"t buried in the screen of his phone.

Which begs the question... am I irritated he"s not giving me any space or that his attention isn"t fully on me?

Yeah, I"m not gonna examine the answer to that right now.

Hayden tucks his phone in his pocket right as I"m pulling on a black cropped t-shirt with The Sin Bin written across it in white and a pair of black skinny jeans with rips down the legs. Comfort clothes.

I try to pass by Hayden to get back into the bedroom, but he stops me with a hand around my waist, pulling me back into his hard chest as his fingers go underneath my shirt to splay across the bare skin of my stomach. As always, sparks ignite where his skin touches mine, and a tremor runs through my body. He kisses the side of my neck and I feel his smirk against my skin.

"Don"t you have somewhere to be?" I ask, trying to sound irritated but failing miserably. I may even tilt my head to the side and close my eyes while he drags his lips up my neck.

He chuckles and then spins me in his arms so I"m facing him. "I do." He leans down and kisses me hard on the mouth with plenty of tongue before pulling back and looking at me with those intense eyes that make me melt every damn time. "With you."

I raise an eyebrow, wondering what he"s up to. "Where?"

"It"s a surprise," he tells me with a grin as he grabs my hand and pulls me out of the closet and into the bedroom. "But we gotta go."

"I don"t have time for surprises," I say, trying to tug my hand out of his, but he doesn"t let me go.

"You do for this one." He opens the drawer beside his bed and pulls out a blindfold before turning to me with a wicked smirk on his face.

Oh, hell no.

I narrow my eyes up at him, knowing I"m going to lose this battle but still trying to fight it anyway. "I have to work today, Hayden. I can"t just take off whenever you want me to."

"You can and you will." He reaches forward and wraps the soft material of the blindfold around my eyes, tying it tight at the back of my head before spinning me around and pushing me toward the door. "Trust me."

"Hayden," I groan as he leads me down the hall and into the garage where his Range Rover"s parked. He helps me into the passenger seat and I inhale the familiar smell of leather and Hayden's cologne. The door closes and then the driver's door opens and I'm assuming he climbs into the car. He starts it up and pulls out of the garage so fast I get dizzy and a little motion sick.

Great. Just what I need right now.

He reaches over and takes my hand in his, lacing our fingers together and squeezing gently as he drives. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I lie as my stomach churns and I breathe through my nose and exhale slowly. "Where are we going?"

"Nice try," he says with a chuckle. Then he turns up the radio when I"ll Make You Love Me by Kat Leon and Sam Tinnesz starts to play. I love this song and he knows it. I lean back in my seat and try to relax even though I feel like I"m gonna puke any second now and I"m breathing deep and slow through the wave of sickness. After a minute it starts to subside and I let myself get lost in the music and the feel of Hayden"s thumb brushing along the side of my hand.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

It"s almost hypnotic.

We don"t drive for long before he parks and helps me out of the car. My hands are a little sweaty and I wipe them on my jeans. I have no idea what to expect, and surprises aren"t my favorite thing. We"re in a parking lot from the sounds of it, and there are people around us, but I can"t tell how many or who they are.

Hayden takes my hand again and leads me forward, his fingers tightening around mine as he pulls me toward wherever we"re going. I hear a door opening and then he"s pulling me inside, shutting the door behind us.

The smell is familiar. I"d know the scent of my bar literally blindfolded like I am now. It"s the smell of my childhood, days and days spent running around with my twin brother, Callan, causing trouble while my dad built this place from nothing into what it is today.

The blindfold comes off and I blink up at him as I try to get my emotions under control. What the actual fuck? I never cry. I give him a watery smile that probably looks deranged. "Just thinking about my brother. I"m okay."

Hayden studies me and then looks over my shoulder. When he does, it"s like whatever spell he casts on me with his hotness is broken because the stillness between us from seconds ago turns into loud laughter, the buzz of conversations, and glasses clinking. Sounds so familiar to me, I hardly notice them anymore.

But after Roman"s post and the review bombing of my bar, business has dried up. The regulars still come in, and it"s only been a few days, so it might blow over, but I"ve been trying to avoid thinking about it because I don"t know how to fix it.

Hayden promised me he would, but I'm not the type to sit around and do nothing while I wait, but so far I've come up blank on what to do.

Hayden grips my shoulders and turns me so I"m facing into the bar. My mouth falls open and tears prick my eyes again when I take in the group of his teammates in their jerseys taking selfies and signing anything that"s shoved in front of them.

There's a massive crowd around them.

I look up at my boyfriend. "You did this?"

He shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs, looking more uncomfortable than I"ve probably ever seen him. Yeah, Hayden has a soft side and I don"t think even he knew it until right now. "It"s not a big deal. The guys saw what the Dickhead did and wanted to help."

I shake my head as I look back at his teammates, who are all here for us, for me. "It is a big deal. This could save my business." I turn back to him and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss that he returns with so much heat I go weak in the knees. "Thank you."

"Anything for you, Princess." He pulls back and takes my hand in his again before leading me toward the bar where Warren and Kingston are posing for a selfie with a fan wearing a Mattson sweater. War"s got a lopsided smile he"s flashing at the camera, but Kingston Beaumont is wearing his trademark scowl. I don"t think I"ve ever seen the guy crack a grin.

"Hey," War says when he notices us coming over. "Come pose with us." He pulls his phone out of his pocket and gestures Hayden and I over. "The rest of the guys have been posting on their socials that they"re here and to come out, but I haven"t done mine yet."

Hayden pulls me into his chest, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind as I lean back against him. His teammates squish in on either side of us, but the way Hayden"s holding on to me, neither of them touches me at all. I"m sure he planned it that way. His lips brush my ear as he whispers, "I love you so fucking much"

I turn my head and look up at him, wondering if he really just said what I think he did. Sure, he sort of cornered me into kind of admitting that I love him once before and he sort of admitted it back, but he hasn"t outright said it until now and even though Warren"s snapping pictures, I can"t look away from my boyfriend.

He smirks down at me and then kisses me with enough tongue that it hops right the hell over the line for public decency before pulling away and taking his own phone out of his pocket. He takes a couple of his own selfies with me still wrapped up in his arms, but I don"t care what he"s doing because I"m still reeling from what he just said.

Hayden Vaughn loves me. And I don"t know how to deal with all these fucking feelings that are making me want to cry again.

"I got most of the reviews taken down," Hayden says as I blink back more stupid fucking tears. I'm watching Lila and Saylor sling drinks behind the bar and my head snaps up to look at him.

"What? How?"

"Remember that hacker I told you about?"

I nod.

"He got it handled."

About a thousand pounds of tension bleeds out of me and I melt back into Hayden"s body. He tightens his grip, holding me up as I whisper, "Thank you."

Holy shit. I might actually be able to save my family"s business. For once, Roman might not win.

And it"s all thanks to Hayden and his teammates who are all here to help me, even though they don"t have to be.

It"s overwhelming and I"m not sure how to handle any of it. So I lean back against Hayden and let him hold me up while we spend the rest of the afternoon with his teammates and the fans who come to my bar to see them. The bar fills up and eventually I move behind the counter with Lila and Saylor to keep up with demand, but every time I look up, my gaze finds Hayden who"s watching me from across the room like he can"t stand being too far away from me for too long.

I can"t get over the fact he did this for me. And that he loves me.

It"s crazy. Mind blowing, actually.

And it"s all mine.

He'sall mine.

I don"t know what I did to deserve someone as amazing as Hayden Vaughn in my life, but I don"t think I want to let him go.