Page 83 of Badd Love
"I said I don'tneedto, not that I don'twantto. Iwantto know everything about you, but only if and when you're ready to share it."
I sighed. "It's not a fun story."
"I can only imagine." He took my hand and led me into a walk. “That's for later. For now, let's get out of here and go hang with my family."
"Yay,” I muttered.
He chuffed a dismissive laugh. "Oh, stop. You're being ridiculous. You have nothing to worry about, I promise. You'll see."
He led the way to his car and drove us to his parents' house, and I could only hope he was right.
CHAPTER 12
Dane
Ifelt like a duck: on the surface, I knew I seemed cool, calm, and collected, but under the surface, things were paddling frantically.
She was here.
She'd come to Ketchikan indefinitely. She was looking at me, talking to me. She seemed…different. It was hard to explain how, exactly. I knew I'd have a chance to talk to her at length later, but I wanted to talknow. My family was expecting me, and they'd all shown up to support me, so I couldn't ghost 'em in order to talk to Lindsey.
She was here and not going anywhere…hopefully.
We arrived at home, but Lindsey sat in the car, staring straight ahead, visibly shaking.
"Linz, you'rethatscared of what my family thinks of you?"
"Just…scared."
I circled to the passenger door and took her hands, pulling so she had to stand up and out. "There's nothing to worry about. Rune ran from Duncan, and my parents love her."
"Yeah, but that was different."
"Oh? How?"
She glared at me. "Shut up."
I just laughed and led her in through the garage. We entered the kitchen from the back, and were greeted by a cacophony of voices—the usual clamor of a Badd gathering.
Lindsey tensed as we entered, her hand crush-gripping mine.
"Hey," I heard Mom's voice exclaim. "It's the man of the hour!"
I sighed. "Here we go."
"Don't sound so excited about a celebration of you," Lindsey muttered to me.
"I wasn't expecting all this," I said. "I thought it'd be Mom, Dad, and my siblings. Not, like, literallyeveryone.”
"Seems likeeveryoneis your family's default setting."
I shrugged and nodded. "It's true. It's great, I know, and I don't take it for granted. It can just be a lot sometimes. I wasn't ready for the whole crew. I was already shitting my pants."
"You looked nervous," Lindsey said. "But you were incredible."
Mom had plowed her way through the scrum of milling Badds to me and was already wrapping me in a hug.
"I'm so proud of you, Dane! I had no clue you could sing like that." She kissed both of my cheeks, European style, her eyes misty. "My boy."
