The Fixed Trilogy(Fixed on You, Found in You, Forever With You)(271)

“Wow. I can’t believe she actually came here.” Maybe I should call Reynold to come back. I instantly dismissed the idea. With everyone around, what could she do to me? Even her constant watch was nothing more than annoying.

Rows of goose bumps lined my arms despite my attempts to remain nonplussed. Well, I’d made it over three hours at work before having an emotional breakdown. That was something, right?

“What’s going on?” David asked.

I turned to find Gwen and David had joined us. Which meant it was time to get back to the job. “Nothing.” I certainly wasn’t sharing my Celia story with my ex-boyfriend and an employee I barely knew.

Apparently, Liesl felt differently. “That girl over there is Laynie’s crazy stalker.”

“Liesl!” I smacked her shoulder with the back of my hand.

“I’m not going to stand by as the only one who knows about this. You need some backup. What if she does something to you? You know, roofies your drink or something.”

“Right. ‘Cause I’m drinking openly tonight.” She was my closest friend, but sometimes she lacked in the intelligence department.

Gwen raised an eyebrow. “You have a stalker? You’re cooler than I thought.”

I rolled my eyes. “She’s not…it’s not…I don’t even know why she’s…” I let out an exasperated breath. “It’s complicated. I’m going in the back room if you all need me.”

Without looking back, I headed to the employee lounge behind the bar. Seeing Celia had thrown me, and in the shape I was in, that was enough to send me over the edge. I paced the room, trying to get a hold of the composure I’d had earlier in the evening.

Gwen and David followed.

I considered telling them I wanted to be alone. But I wasn’t sure I did.

“Are you okay, Laynie?” David’s voice was tentative and tender.

“No. Yes. I’m fine. I’m just…”I shook my head, unable to finish the thought. My chest was tight and my head felt like it was going to explode.

“Well, tell us something about her. Your stalker.” Gwen genuinely seemed like she wanted to be helpful. “A name. How you know her. Anything.”

“Her name’s Celia Werner.” I was surprised at my willingness to share, yet even more, I needed to talk.

“As in Werner Media?” David kept abreast of the who’s who in the business world. Of course he’d recognize her name.

“That’s the one,” I confirmed.

David stepped closer to me, concern on his face.

“It’s nothing to worry about, David. She’s just not happy about me being with Hudson.”

“Is she the ex?” Gwen asked.

“Yeah.” When I’d said that in therapy, it was because it was easier. Now after the video, it was what I truly believed. “She is.” For the millionth time, my mind went to thoughts of her kissing Hudson. What else had they done? How close had they been? Had he slept with her?

I swallowed the bile that threatened to come up. “So now she’s trying to scare me by showing up where I am. Sending me messages. Stuff like that.”

“Do you want us to kick her out? I can call Sorenson up from the door.” Unlike Hudson, David’s protective mode was subtle, but I recognized it in his face all the same.

“She’s not going to hurt me.”

“Are you sure?” David put a hand on my shoulder.

“No.” I stepped casually out of his grasp. Despite its innocence, his touch felt like a betrayal to Hudson. “But I don’t want her to win.”

“Fair enough.” His body language told me that my brush-off had stung. Another reason it was good he was leaving.

Gwen turned a plastic chair around and straddled it. “It’s creepy how she just stares at you like she does.”

“Isn’t it?” I was still trying to decide how I felt about Gwen knowing about my private life.

“We could spike her drink.”

Now this sounded interesting. “With what?”

“I don’t know. Spit.”

I didn’t laugh, but I managed a genuine smile. Okay, Gwen was officially cool. And maybe I needed more people involved in my life—more than just Hudson and his family. The phone call with Brian, the run with Jordan, the day with Liesl—all of it reminded me that there was a whole world outside the one I’d been living in. A world with friends and interests that I’d forgotten about recently.

Whether or not Hudson and I had a future together, I had a future of my own. I couldn’t ignore the people that belonged in that future anymore and just hope that they’d still be there when I needed them. And Gwen was now a part of The Sky Launch. That made her family. It was time to embrace her as such.