Highways & Hostages (17 page)

“This
is what you meant when you said you needed time?”

Uh oh.
Alarm bells went off in Stella’s head. She spun around to see Derek standing on the tiny wooden bridge between holes eight and nine, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. A teenage couple at hole nine stopped playing to watch the drama.

“Oh my God, Derek! What are you doing here?” Stella exclaimed.

“
This
is Derek?” Finn asked, dubious. “What the fuck is he doing here?”

“Yes, that’s him,” Stella hissed through the side of her mouth. “Who were you expecting? Fabio?”

“I can’t believe you left me to be with this scum,” Derek shouted, red-faced. A family of two adults and two young children finished the eighth hole and approached the wooden bridge cautiously. The adults looked back and forth between the two parties.

“I introduced you to my
bubbe
! I skipped my D&D game night when you were sick, Stella. Do you realize how serious that is? They killed off my character!”

Stella felt the heat rising in her cheeks. She wanted to end this spectacle as soon as possible. “Derek, stop it. You’re making a scene!”

“Yeah, man, you’re making a fool of yourself,” Finn said.

“Do you even know who this guy is?” Derek continued, jerking a thumb in Finn’s general direction.

“Who am I, bro?” Finn asked.

“Don’t you speak to me, assclown.” Derek crossed the bridge and stomped through the games on holes ten and eleven before stopping directly in front of Stella. “This guy is seriously bad news.”

Stella looked back and forth between the two men, bewildered. “You know him?” she asked Derek.

“I’ve never seen this joker in my life,” Finn spat.

Derek threw a glare Finn’s way, then glanced back at Stella. “Tell me, Stella. Why are you here with him? Are you in trouble? What does he have on you?”

Finn took a menacing step forward. “You know what I’ve got for you, buddy? A golf club to beat your ass with.”

“Finn, don’t!” Stella cried. “He’s harmless.”

Finn regarded her, then Derek. “Fine,” he snapped before flinging his club away.

“No, Stella, I’m not giving up that easily. I will fight for you if that’s what it takes,” Derek said. He took a relaxed karate stance. Using his fingers to invite Finn forward, he rocked back and forth on his heels. “I took judo in the sixth grade, guy.”

Finn tossed back his head and laughed. He glanced over at Stella. “You have
got
to be kidding me.”

“What’s the matter, punk? You scared of this? Weren’t expecting much of a fight, huh?” Derek asked. He stepped forward and jabbed a finger in Finn’s chest.

“Derek, stop it. This is really stupid!” Stella felt helpless, but she couldn’t think of any way to stop the impending disaster.

“Are you scared? Because you should be.” Derek circled Finn, then perfectly executed a complicated martial arts move like he’d practiced it a thousand times before.

Where the hell did he learn to do that?
Stella wondered.

Finn glanced at Stella and shrugged. “I tried,” he said before quickly spinning around and delivering a well-aimed chop to the side of Derek’s neck. Derek crumpled to the ground instantly.

“Oh my God, Finn. That wasn’t necessary! I told you he was harmless!” Stella tossed her club to the side, got down on her knees next to Derek, and cradled his head in her lap. “Call an ambulance!”

As Stella ran her hands over Derek’s hair, she was ashamed to admit that a small part of her had been thrilled when Derek defended her honor. And another small part of her was satisfied that Finn appeared to be intimated by Derek—maybe even jealous of him. But that didn’t excuse the fact that Finn didn’t listen to her and acted like a bully…even if she
had
felt a flutter in her belly when he first stepped closer to her fiancé.

“He’s fine. It was just a chop to make him black out for a few seconds. He’ll be coming around right about…” Finn trailed off and glanced down at his watch. “Now.”

He turned around to face the small crowd of spectators with both hands raised, palms out. He eyed a teenaged couple that was filming the whole scene with their cell phones. “Nothing to see here, folks. Continue with your games.”

Derek’s eyes fluttered open and he stared at Stella. “What just happened? Why am I on the ground?” His eyes focused on Finn and narrowed. “YOU!”

Stella sighed. “Finn, leave.”

“What? We haven’t even finished our game.”

“LEAVE.”

“I’m over this,” Finn declared, stepping over Derek’s outstretched legs and stomping through the course.

Stella stroked the side of Derek’s face. His eyes were dazed. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He slowly sat up and massaged his neck. He gave Stella a wry grin that quickly morphed into a frown. “Stella, what’s going on? How do you know Jacob Gilroy?”

“How do
you
know him?” Stella asked.

“I—” Derek began.

Stella held up a hand to silence him. “You know what–? I don’t even want to know. Right now I just need you to listen. Derek, what you did isn’t okay. I asked for space, and the next thing I know you’re right here beside me…in TEXAS…breathing down my neck. Wait, how did you find us?”

Sheepishness fluttered across Derek’s face, but disappeared as he became defiant. “I may or may not have placed a GPS tracking device on Josie.”

Stella’s jaw dropped. She liked her men a little possessive, but she didn’t appreciate being tracked like a rescued animal that had been released back into the wild. “You did
what
?”

“You never know what could happen—the world is full of crazies these days!”

“Yeah, and you’re one of them!”

Derek flushed. “I seriously didn’t mean any harm by it. It was just a precaution in case anything crazy ever happened to you. And what do you know…”

“Well, I’m starting to think that
you
may be the craziest thing to happen to me.” Stella thought about the last couple of days. “Okay,
one
of the craziest.”

“You might see what I did as crazy, but you told me you needed some time to yourself to think, and then you ran off with another man. A dangerous man.
That
is reprehensible.”

Stella and Derek sat in silence for a few moments, Stella looking at the fake grass, Derek studying Stella’s profile. She really couldn’t make sense of any of the feelings coursing through her veins right now except for the overwhelming rage.

“We should get off the course. People are waiting to play the hole.” Stella stood up and walked along the course to its exit. She didn’t wait to see if Derek followed. Honestly, she didn’t really care. She deposited her club on the counter of the rental shack and turned around when she heard him approach.

“You have no idea what’s going on. There’s nothing between Finn and I. He’s just a friend who needed a favor.”

“If he’s such a good friend that you’d do him a favor, why have I never heard about him before? Why did you feel the need to keep him a secret? I didn’t think there were
any
secrets between us. I’m starting to wonder what else you haven’t been telling me.”

“Look, Derek, it’s been a long day, and at this point I’m not very happy with you,” Stella said, looking down at her ring. “To be honest, I’m starting to rethink our engagement.” She kept her eyes on the ground so she wouldn’t have to see Derek’s expression. “Between your mother, and this whole GPS-tracking thing…”
And being attracted to Finn
, she added silently.

“Aha! So
that’s
the real issue here: my mother.”

“No, it’s just one of many. But it’s definitely a big one.”

Derek crossed his arms over his chest. “So what are you going to do now? Go back to Gilroy? Because if you do that, Stella, we’re done. I can’t marry someone I can’t trust.”

Stella drew herself to her full height to look Derek in the eye as she eased the engagement ring off of her finger. “You are
so
right. I can’t marry someone
I
can’t trust either.” She grabbed Derek’s hand and pressed the ring into his palm. “Go home, Derek. I’ll be back in a few days, and we can make arrangements to exchange anything we’ve left at each other’s place.”

Derek’s shoulders fell. “So that’s it? After I cared for you and loved you for a year and a half, and we were planning to commit ourselves to each other for the rest of our lives?”

The pain in Derek’s voice tugged at Stella’s heartstrings, but she was tired of being jerked around. Once she had truly thought she’d be happy as Derek’s wife in a quaint, two-story home with a picket fence, dog, and two and a half kids. But the last couple days with Finn had reawakened her sense of adventure. Now that life she’d imagined with Derek seemed like a gilded jail. She didn’t want to have to mold herself into the person Derek thought she was, or whoever Derek’s mother wanted her to be.

She wanted to be free.

Stella sighed. “We’re talking in circles. It’s been a long day for me. I’m exhausted. I’ll call you when I get back to Vegas.” And then she walked away from him.

“Stella!” Derek called, frozen in place next to the shack. “Stella!”

She looked back once, then continued across the parking lot without another glance.

Finn fumed as he made his way back to the repair shop. He knew it was ridiculous for him to be upset that Stella had dismissed him, and he was annoyed by how much it bothered him. God, she drove him crazy.

He paced in front of the shop and dialed Billy’s number. Like before, it rang and rang before going to voicemail. Finn growled in frustration, then dialed Alex’s number. Thankfully, he answered on the first ring.

“Hey buddy—”

“I haven’t been able to reach Billy in two days,” Finn cut him off. “Have you heard from him?”

“No. Let me call and see if he’ll answer. Give me a sec.”

Finn hung up and rubbed his temples. He had a nasty feeling that his day was about to get a whole lot worse. He sat on an iron bench in front of the repair shop, waiting for Alex to ring back, only to hop back up again and pace. He looked off toward the fun park where he imagined Stella falling happily into that jerk Derek’s arms. The phone buzzed in Finn’s hand.

“I couldn’t get in touch with Billy. Oh, and I’m feeling a tiny bit better, thanks for asking,” Alex said. “I’ll try and figure out what I can. Keep the waitress occupied.”

“Stella.”

“Yeah, that would be the waitress.”

“She’s not just ‘the waitress.’ Her name is Stella,” Finn said through gritted teeth.

“Yeah, okay, Stella. What’s gotten into you, bro? It sounds like we’re going to need a serious vacation after this mess.”

“I’m fine. Just figure out what’s going on with Billy, and where the hell Phoebe is.” Finn hung up without waiting for Alex’s response. He perked up when he spied Stella crossing the street. Alone.

As she approached, he swallowed deeply and stood up. The sun illuminated Stella’s red hair, giving her a rosy halo. How had he never realized how pretty she was back in the Leaky Stein? How many beautiful women had he missed out on because he was so fixated on his work? He was pondering how to tell her this—hell,
if
he should tell her this at all—when she stopped in front of him and slapped him hard across the face.

“I may have deserved that—” Finn started to say when Stella slapped him again. “But I did
not
deserve that one! Ow.” He rubbed his cheek.

“You knew good and well that Derek was no match for you, but you just had to go and show everyone how big and bad you are. What are you trying to prove? And to whom?”

Finn couldn’t think of an answer that would explain his actions, so he just shrugged.

“What
is it
with men?” Stella went on, frantically waving her hands in the air. Finn remained silent for fear of another slap.

She sat down heavily on the bench. Finn slowly sat down next to her, clasped his hands in his lap, and waited for her to continue. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Stella spoke again.

“How do you know Derek?”

“I don’t.”

Stella glared at him. “He knew your name. And he said you were bad news.”

Finn shrugged. He’d never seen the guy in his life, but he too was curious how Stella’s fiancé knew his name. “If I came across my girl with some random dude, I’d say he was bad news too.”

Stella stared hard at Finn before looking down at her feet. In a small voice, she said, “I told Derek to leave.”

Finn’s eyes widened slightly as he looked at his own sneaker-clad feet. What did that mean? For her? For him? Maybe the night before
had
meant something to her too. He chose to set his questions aside for the time being and looked over at Stella. “How did he find us in the first place?”

“Oh, you won’t believe this…or maybe you will. He put a GPS tracker on my car,” Stella said. “I mean, can you believe that?”

“That’s kind of creepy. Who the fuck does that?”

“You’re telling me! Who knows how long it’s been there, and how long he’s been tracking my comings and goings. Anyway…” Stella trailed off as she raised her left hand and waved it back and forth in front of Finn’s face.

No ring.

Finn whistled, and then turned away so that Stella couldn’t see the corners of his mouth lifting. He fixed his face into what he hoped was a passable expression of concern and turned back. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Stella said. “I’m fine,” she repeated with a firm nod, as if trying to convince herself. A ghost of a smile bloomed on her face. “I actually feel like this huge weight’s been lifted from my shoulders. These last couple of days I’ve kind of missed what I had before Derek. What I had before I even started working at the bar: I was totally carefree. But I figured since I was approaching thirty, it was time to settle down.”

Stella pushed her hair away from her face. “I thought marrying Derek was going to change everything for me. I wouldn’t miss roaming the globe. I’d find the sense of purpose I’ve been missing, and I’d be in a better financial situation.” Stella sighed. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. Jesus, why do I tell you anything?”

Finn didn’t know either, but he wanted to keep her talking. It had been a long time since he had a real connection with anyone, and he felt like he was on the way to having that with Stella. “How long would you have been happy living like that? You and I both know that guy would have driven you crazy.”