77 Dinner with Friends

“I’m free so I’ll go with you,” Hayden said as if he’s doing me a big favor.

“No. I mean, you don’t have to accompany me or anything like that…” I said, trying to get Hayden to back off peacefully.

“Why not? I’m free, so I might as well go with you,” Hayden said innocently.

Which part of ‘I don’t want my friends meeting my mafia creditor’ does he not quite understand?

“Umm…that’s completely ok. I’ll get the men in black to drive me as usual. I mean, they’re supposed to go everywhere I go so…” I said as I smiled a little at him.

I can’t believe I’m actually appreciating having the men in black around me right now.

“Don’t you think you should introduce me to your friends?” Hayden said casually.

Big fat ‘NO’.

I could hear alarm bells going off in my head, but I couldn’t think of a way to get Hayden to back off. Should I just be honest and let him know how I feel about this? Would he understand?

Even if he understood me, would he care enough to do what I want him to?