Chapter 5 #3
Chaos went on to tell her about Obi-Wan and Zita, Buck and Mandy, and Pyro and Penny.
He told her how each couple met, and the troubles they’d been through, careful to point out that things had turned out all right for all of them in the end, in the hopes she’d see that things could eventually work out for her, as well.
He even talked about the dogs that had joined their crew.
Waffles, Rain, and Jen’s search and rescue dog, Fred.
By the time he wound down, he realized he’d been yammering on for quite a while, and he immediately felt like an ass.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to go on and on. I just…they’re amazing people and friends, and I’m lucky to have them at my back and in my life,” he said.
She was quiet for a long time. Then she whispered, “Yeah, you are. Is the offer to go to Virginia still open?”
“Of course.” Chaos held his breath, hoping against hope she’d take him up on it.
“I’d like to go with you then. I promise not to be a mooch. I’ll find another accounting job.”
Elation filled him. “Shhh, it’s fine. I know you won’t be a mooch. We’ll figure it out as we go, okay?”
She nodded.
“What changed your mind?” he asked, honestly curious.
“The dogs.”
He blinked. “What?”
“The dogs. The way you talked about them. Hearing about how Mandy and Buck saved Rain while they were in South America. How Laryn wanted to adopt a dog from a shelter. Hearing how Fred saved Zita.”
Chaos burst out laughing. When he had himself under control, he said, “I’m guessing that means you want to get a dog too.”
She immediately shook her head. “No. That would be just one more thing Nolan could use against me when he finds me.”
The humor Chaos felt instantly faded. “If he finds you. Not when. And no way in hell would I, or any of us, let him get close enough to you in order to do something like that.”
“I know you’d try. But he’s sneaky, Arrow. I didn’t suspect anything. And I’m a pretty good judge of character. He’s able to fool people easily. Be someone he’s not. He scares me. Terrifies me, actually.”
Chaos felt helpless. He couldn’t do anything but reassure her that he’d do whatever he could to keep her safe.
But she was right, if this Nolan guy figured out where she was, it was likely he’d find a way to get to her.
He’d learned the hard way from his teammates’ experiences with their girlfriends that evil had a way of having its say, no matter how hard you tried to keep it at bay.
He just had to hope that in the end, goodness would prevail, as it had in Penny, Zita, Mandy, and Laryn’s cases.
“I really want to give you a hug, but I don’t want you to think I have any ulterior motives,” Chaos whispered.
To his surprise, shock, and delight, Kara inched toward him.
He shifted so he was on his back, ignoring the pain it caused, and wrapped his good arm around Kara’s shoulders. She rested her head on his chest and sighed.
They lay like that for a couple of minutes before Kara’s breath hitched. His arm tightened around her, and she began to sob in earnest.
Chaos didn’t tell her to shush, didn’t give her any platitudes about how it would be all right. He simply let her cry. She was amazingly stoic and strong, but she’d been through hell. She needed the emotional release, and if he was the catalyst in any way, so be it.
She soaked his flight suit with her tears, but Chaos didn’t loosen his hold.
He held on as she let out what had to be her last two weeks of terror, worry, and pain.
He didn’t like that she’d obviously kept so many emotions bottled up, but he didn’t blame her either.
Every day had to have been mental torture, and she must’ve been on guard every second she was locked in that cabin, trying to stay alive, to find a way to outsmart her captor.
When her tears finally stopped, she was limp against him.
Chaos couldn’t help but kiss the top of her head. “I’ve got you,” he whispered.
He felt more than heard her sigh, but she didn’t try to pull away.
She fell asleep first, and the feel of her rhythmic breaths against him were mesmerizing.
His admiration for this woman rose exponentially as he lay there holding her.
He’d had the thought before, but now he was certain that she and the other women in his circle would mesh immediately.
They’d each been through their own kind of hell, and now wore it as a badge of honor.
They could get Kara to see herself through a different lens than she did now. That of a badass warrior woman.
But first…his team needed to freaking find them.
Get them out of these woods. Back to civilization.
He needed to get his shoulder looked at, and Kara needed a medical exam as well.
Then she needed to make a police report, get pictures taken of her injuries to prove she wasn’t lying about what Nolan Colins had done to her.
It would be an uphill battle to get the man to court—once he was found—but Chaos mentally vowed to be by her side every step of the way. Men like him couldn’t get away with terrorizing women simply because they didn’t do what they wanted.
It took an hour or so, but eventually Chaos finally fell asleep. Before he did, he couldn’t help thinking that even though he was lying in the open, on the hard ground, hungry as fuck and with an infected shoulder, he was more comfortable than he’d ever been, with Kara secure in his arms.