Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
The ride back up to Virginia was much less stressful than the one Kara had taken not too long ago. For one, she’d had something to eat and drink. Her hands had been cleaned and bandaged, and she was wearing fresh clothing. Edge had even found her a pair of flip-flops.
The flight wasn’t too long. It actually felt like almost as soon as she got settled in the back of the chopper, with Arrow by her side and Edge and Casper behind the controls, they were descending to land.
Kara felt a little bad that she was so dependent on Arrow and his friends. But she had nothing, and even if she did have money in the bank, she wouldn’t want to risk touching it because she had a feeling Nolan would be able to somehow track her if she did.
Thinking about the man who’d kidnapped her and locked her away made her shudder. He was evil down to his bones.
Her hand had been resting on Arrow’s thigh—he hadn’t wanted to hold her hand, which was still sore—and now he squeezed her forearm. Glancing up, she saw him looking at her with concern. He’d obviously felt her shudder.
“You good?”
“Yeah. Just thinking.”
“Thinking’s overrated,” Edge said from the front of the chopper.
Kara let out a small chuckle.
“I know it’s easy for me to say, but try to relax. Blackwood will contact me if he gets any word of Nolan’s whereabouts. In the meantime, your only task is to play things by ear.”
“Because around us, that’s probably best,” Casper said almost cheerily. His voice was loud and clear in the headphones they were all wearing.
The next few minutes were spent with the pilots communicating with air traffic controllers at the base.
Shortly after, the chopper jerked gently as the skids hit the ground, and then Casper, Edge, and Arrow were busy getting the helicopter shut down.
She assumed Buck and Obi-Wan were doing the same in their own chopper, which they’d landed a short distance away.
“Ready?” Arrow said, minutes later.
Kara swallowed hard. She was nervous and scared about what her future held, but also grateful that she was alive. She nodded.
Arrow helped her out of the chopper, took her arm in his, and she and all the pilots walked toward a large hangar not too far from where the helicopters landed.
As soon as they walked through the doors, a group of people hurried toward them. Mostly women, as well as a trio of dogs.
Smiling—because Kara already knew who these people were, even if she’d never met them—she watched as Buck, Obi-Wan, and Casper greeted their girlfriends.
Laryn—who was easy to pick out, as she wore a set of coveralls with grease stains—threw herself at Casper, and he caught her easily, spinning her in a circle before putting her back on her feet and kissing the hell out of her.
Buck and Obi-Wan greeted their girlfriends in a similar manner.
Pyro was also there. Kara knew him by the use of his walker and the cast on his leg.
Arrow had told her the crazy story of how his leg was injured.
The little girl he’d taken great pains to protect stood to one side of him, holding his walker, and a slight woman with black hair stood on the other. Penny, she assumed.
She had hold of two leashes, one with a pudgy beagle on the end, and the other with a terrier-looking mutt of a dog. Eventually, Casper and Buck let go of their women and went over to Penny, crouching to greet their dogs. It was adorable that they didn’t leave out the pets in their reunion.
Standing a little off to the side was another woman. She had long brown hair that looked absolutely perfect and a black lab at her side. Obviously Jen and Fred.
Kara was grateful she’d gotten the rundown of who was who from Arrow, because she kind of felt as if she already knew these people. Of course, she had no idea what they’d think of her, but she hoped they’d at least get along.
“It’s not often these days that we’re all together, so I’m going to take this opportunity to let everyone know right now—it’s twins!” Laryn blurted out.
A loud cheer went up, and all the women immediately surrounded Laryn and Casper, congratulating them.
Kara couldn’t help but feel happy for the couple. They looked positively thrilled.
“Are you sure you still want to be our nanny when we’re deployed?” Laryn asked Penny. “I mean, twins won’t be easy.”
“Of course I do!” she said without hesitation. “I can’t wait!”
“Penny works from home, and when we’re deployed, since Laryn will go with us, she needs someone to look after the babies,” Arrow said into her ear, as the congratulations continued.
Kara nodded…and for some reason, her eyes filled with tears. Happy ones. It was easy to see how genuinely happy everyone was for the couple.
“I have a question,” Mandy said to Laryn.
“Yeah?”
“Boys or girls? Or both?”
Laryn grinned and looked up at Casper. “Girls.”
Kara could’ve sworn the legendary Night Stalker paled a little at hearing that. But he immediately leaned down and kissed Laryn.
“Oh man, girls. We’re all gonna have our work cut out for us,” Obi-Wan muttered.
Laughter rang out once more.
“Casper has a twin brother. He’s a Navy SEAL. I’m sure he probably thought if Laryn did have twins, they’d be boys. He looks a little shell-shocked.”
Kara giggled. Arrow wasn’t wrong.
“Hi, I’m Jen.”
Kara turned to the woman who’d approached them and smiled at her. “Kara.”
Arrow looked around at everyone, their attention now on her and Jen. “I found Kara in the middle of a flash flood, hanging on to a tree. Her ex is bad news. Extremely bad news. She’s here because he hurt her…”
His gaze fell on Bowie, and Kara understood that he was leaving out the details because the little girl was listening.
“She’s starting over here in Norfolk.” Arrow then went on to make formal introductions to everyone, including the three dogs.
Kara felt overwhelmed by the warm welcome all the women gave her.
She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised, since the men had been just as welcoming, but in her experience, women were tougher critics a lot of the time.
And she wasn’t exactly looking her best at the moment.
Suddenly, she felt awkward wearing Arrow’s clothes and with her hair looking like a rat’s nest.
“Laryn called us,” Mandy said gently. “Told us the basics. I hope that’s okay. We all went shopping and got you some stuff.”
“I know what it’s like to have nothing, as that was the situation Bowie and I were in not too long ago. You managed to hook up with the right man though, because Chaos will make sure you’re good, just like Pyro did for me.” Penny looked up at the man next to her with a loving smile.
“I got you a stuffed bear!” Bowie piped up. “It’s actually not really stuffed. It’s flat. It’s called a FLATOUTbear. They’re from Australia. And they’re really, really soft! I got it from the aquarium when we went.”
The little girl was adorable, and her thoughtfulness made Kara want to cry again. “Thank you, Bowie.”
“You’re welcome. You have a nice voice. It’s soft. And sweet. I like it.”
“I like yours too.”
The little girl beamed.
“Where is she staying? With you?” Zita asked Arrow.
Kara stiffened. Honestly, she had no idea what the plan was for her living situation.
She wanted to stay with Arrow, but she didn’t want to be presumptuous.
It wasn’t as if she could insist she’d stay at a hotel, because she didn’t have any way to pay for it.
The innocent question hit home that she was completely at the mercy of the man at her side. And she hated that.
As if Arrow could read her mind, he shifted until his hand was resting on the small of her back.
His fingers pressed lightly, seemingly trying to comfort her without making a big deal out of it.
“We haven’t figured out all the details yet.
For now, I’m going to take her to my house and let her shower and change. We’ll go from there.”
“You’re more than welcome to stay with us,” Penny said. “We have an extra room in the apartment.”
“We’d love to have you, but we don’t have an extra room,” Mandy said with a frown.
“We do. You can stay in our apartment with us,” Laryn volunteered. “At least until the babies are born. Then I’m sure you’ll definitely want to be somewhere else, so you don’t have to deal with crying newborns!”
“My place is the most obvious,” Jen said. “I have a spare bedroom, it’s just me and Fred, and the apartment complex has security.”
Kara was overwhelmed all over again. These people didn’t even know her.
She was a complete stranger. And yet they weren’t hesitating to open their homes to her.
All her life, she’d felt as if she was an afterthought.
A burden. A nuisance. And these women weren’t even hesitating to offer her a place to live.
“Thanks, everyone. I’m sure Kara is overwhelmed. Let’s give her a moment to breathe. I’ll talk to her and figure something out and let you know.”
“Thank you,” Kara said breathlessly. “I…it means so much that you’d even consider letting me stay with you. I don’t want to be a burden—”
“You aren’t!”
“No way.”
“Everyone needs a helping hand now and then.”
Again, their support was blowing Kara away.
“I put the stuff the women got for Kara in your car,” Pyro told Chaos.
“Thanks. All of you.”
“Girls’ night out? Or in? Soon?” Mandy asked. “I feel as if it’s been too long since we’ve gotten together. I want to talk babies. And weddings. And jobs.”
“Yes!”
“I’m in!”
“We can use my place, since I’m the only one who won’t have to kick out a significant other for the night…and Fred doesn’t count,” Jen said with a grin.
“Sweet!”
Kara’s head was on a swivel, going from woman to woman as they made plans.
“Kara, you too. We want to know all about this jerk you were with so if he dares show his face, we’ll know and can get him locked up,” Laryn said.
All she could do was nod.
“PT tomorrow. Oh-five-thirty,” Casper said, as everyone began to head for the doors.