Page 78 of Badd Love
"Uh, yeah, that's me. Hi." I grinned nervously, even though I was obviously old enough and had no reason to be nervous; this guy was just so big he could yeet me back across the Inside Passage from here.
The giant man checked the time on his phone and then looked at me. "You can make it if you hurry."
I blinked at the non sequitur. "I…what? Make it where?"
"The concert."
I shook my head. "I'm sorry…I feel like we're having a conversation, but you know what we're talking about and I don't."
He leaned in through the door. "Kaylee!” The volume of his shout left my ears ringing. “I’m going to the concert. Have Brian come to the door."
"GOT IT!" A female voice answered back in a shout.
The giant lumbered to his feet, towering at least six inches over me. "C'mon, Lindsey Snelling from LA. You can ride with me."
"Ride with you where? And no offense, but I don't know you, and you're kinda scary."
He grinned down at me. "Name's Ink Isaac."
"Ink…?" A penny dropped. "Ohhh! You're one of Dane's six billion uncles."
He nodded, grinning at the exaggeration. "Sure am."
"I remember seeing you at Rune and Duncan's wedding," I said. "I was…a little distracted that day. Plus, you looked way different with your hair down and wearing a suit."
He just nodded again. We reached a vintage Suburban, and he lowered his bulk behind the wheel—the whole vehicle sank a few inches. I hesitated, and then got in on the other side.
"So, uh, where are we going? A concert of some kind?"
“You’ll see."
I swallowed hard. "How—how is he?"
He sighed, tipped his head to one side. "He’s okay. Finding his way." He looked at me. "He doesn't know you're here?"
I shook my head. "No. No one does. I mean, my friend Raquel knows I was headed this way, but I haven't told anyone up here that I was coming."
He didn't answer that, either, beyond a nod. Man of few words, I guess.
He pulled into the University of Alaska Southeast, Ketchikan campus, and parked near the Performing Arts Center.
Color me baffled. He ambled unhurriedly toward the building and led the way inside. The last of the crowd was filing into the auditorium, and we joined them. Ink stopped just inside, scanning the rows—the Badd family wasn't hard to find, as they'd taken up an entire section near the back, with a few seats still saved. I spied Dane's Dad, his mom, Delia and Hunter—sigh, swoon—with their kids on their laps; there was Rune in an aisle seat, rubbing her giant belly, Duncan beside her, arm around her as he leaned forward to exchange jokes with a female cousin. My god, so many cousins—it was a sea of absurdly good-looking humans. My god, what did that familyeat? PHAT pills? I know, I know, no one uses that term anymore. Shut up.
Ink spied a short, dark-haired woman with four kids, a seat saved between her and the kids. He glanced down at me. "No one is mad at you."
I swallowed hard. "I…"
He patted my shoulder with a paw the size of a Kodiak bear's. "You look like you're about to shit yourself. I can't speak for Dane, but I know the rest of the family understands how things go. You did what you had to do. No one is mad at you."
My heartwasclamoring and clattering in my chest, and my anxiety was trying to feed me ideas that the Badds would all hate me for hurting Dane.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"Cuz we ain't like that, darlin'. He didn't tell us much, either. But he's not mad, so we're not mad."
"He's…he's not?"
A shake of his head. "Nah. Hurt, maybe. Confused, definitely. Angry? Dane's not an angry guy."
