But he hadn’t. He’d taken care of the problem quickly and efficiently, without any
danger of trouble from the police, or any awful things for Stella and Eva to remember.
Lynn only breathed out once they were safely off Todd’s street, accelerating away from the house.
“Thank you, Aunt Lynn,” Eva said from the backseat. “Thank you so much. Those guys were awful. Scary and—and awful.”
“Did they hurt you at all?” Lynn asked tensely. “Get too close, even?”
But she could see Eva shake her head in the rearview mirror. Thank God. “No, they just said stuff that made me—worry. Mom never left me alone with them.”
Lynn let out a breath. “Good. That’s good.”
“I wouldn’t leave my daughter with those assholes,” Stella said indignantly. “I know you think I can’t do anything right, Lynn, but for God’s sake.”
“Well, I just had to drive out here in the middle of the night to rescue you from your boyfriend, so forgive me for being a little worried about both of you!” Lynn said explosively.
Now that they were out of that house, her fear was transmuting itself into anger at Stella for getting into that situation in the first place. Hadn’t she known going in that Todd was a loser who was part of a pack of no-good jerks?
“Todd wasn’t the one causing the problem!” Stella protested. “It was the rest of them. They’re basically a gang, they sucked him in and now he can’t get out, and they’ve been coming over every day, causing trouble—they’re dealing drugs, I think—”
“It sure looked to me like Todd was causing some trouble,” Lynn said grimly. “The way he was holding on and he wouldn’t let you leave.”
“That’s just because he loves me,” Stella said, but her voice was smaller.
The tone made Lynn regret what she’d been saying. Stella had just been in a scary situation, with a man who didn’t want to let her leave, and now Lynn was piling insults on top of that. Sure, Stella didn’t always make good decisions, but there was probably a better time to talk to her about it than right now.
So she said, “I’m sure he does,” although the words threatened to choke her a little bit on the way out.
But it wasn’t like she knew the inside of Todd’s head. Maybe he did love Stella—but was just too much of a coward to stand up to his friends on her behalf, and couldn’t let her go when she wanted to leave.
Of course, that wasn’t the sort of love that anyone should want.
“Aunt Lynn,” Eva said in a determinedly cheerful tone—Lynn recognized it, and felt bad all over again, because that was the sound of Eva trying hard to keep the two of them from fighting—”will you introduce us to your friend?”
Lynn realized with a start that Ken had been sitting absolutely quietly in the front seat, not pushing himself into her and Stella’s little argument at all—even though neither of them had been very reasonable, and they probably could’ve used a more rational voice.
He was paying attention, though. At Eva’s comment, he turned a bit in his seat to smile back at them.
“This is—” Lynn stopped. What to say about him?
“He said he was your mate,” Stella said, looking at him speculatively.
Oh, yes. He had said that, hadn’t he. So now they knew, and Lynn was just going to have to—figure out how to explain it.
“That can’t be true, though,” Stella was continuing, still with that frowning look. “Right? Are you someone my sister…hired? Or a coworker? One of those park rangers she works with sometimes?”
Ken glanced at Lynn, who had no idea what to say. His smile quirked, and he turned back to Stella to say seriously, “Nope, it was the truth. I’m Lynn’s mate.”
Lynn found her voice enough to add, “That’s right. We’re mates.”
Into the sudden silence came Eva’s voice. “Wow. Congratulations, Aunt Lynn. And—uh—”
“This is Ken,” Lynn said, finally remembering something that looked sort of like manners. “Ken Turner.”
“Nice to meet you,” Eva said.
“Likewise.” Lynn could hear Ken’s smile in his voice.