Page 30 of Lose Me In The Shadows

“Oh, thank fuck,” he said. “Is she okay?”

“I’m right here,” Kara said. “And you’re alive.”

As angry as she still was at him—and she was really, really pissed—seeing him alive and more or less healthy lifted the weight she’d been carrying. She could admit it to herself now, she wouldn’t have forgiven herself if he had died.

“Kara, why are you naked?” he asked, his voice dangerous.

She stared at him. “I thought you’d be pissed at me.”

“I’m fucking furious,” he said. “But right now, I care more about the fact that you’re naked and black and blue all over.”

Kara struggled in Conor’s arms, who only clamped on harder. She didn’t need them focusing so much on her injuries or asking questions. She didn’t want to think about what had happened to her in that cell at all.

“I’m fine,” she said.

“Bullshit.” Now Luke did look angry.

Before she could reply, the cockpit door opened and a large man with a shaved head and a scar on his cheek stuck his head out.

“Can y’all get seated? We need to take off. I don’t have a good feeling about any of this.”

“Good idea, Billy,” Micah said, as Conor lowered Kara into the seat directly across from Luke and Micah carefully buckled her in.

Luke turned his head away, like even seeing her face up close was too much for him.

Billy stepped forward to shake Kara’s hand. “Kara Blum. Nice to actually meet you. Last time you were on this plane, you were unconscious.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Kara snapped, this time at Micah and Conor.

Conor looked…was that shame?

But Micah just seemed amused as he sat in the chair next to hers. “I thought it was.”

Kara extended her hand and shook Billy’s, adding sugar to her voice. “It’s so nice to meet you. Do you aid kidnappings often?”

Billy laughed. “Oh, she’s fun. I like her.”

Luke growled. Billy raised his hands. “Alright, off I go.” he said, returning to the cockpit.

Kara shut her eyes. Just for a moment. She hadn’t slept in what seemed like years, and for once, it was blessedly quiet—just the whirring of the wheels and the sound of Micah and Conor murmuring to each other. No pounding techno, no draining halogen bulb. No threat of rape and torture or being beaten again.

She laughed to herself. Amazing how things changed. Only days ago—had it been days? How long had it been?—she’d been convinced that Luke, Conor, and Micah were the worst thing that had ever happened to her. Now, being with them felt like exhaling for the first time in a long, long time.

She wasn’t safe, but she was as safe as she was going to get, at least for a while.

And she was asleep before the wheels left the tarmac.

Kara drifted awake, slowly.

She was on a bed, wrapped tight in familiar arms. Luke’s. She felt his breath against her neck, unsettling the hair there. For a moment, she wondered if she’d imagined the whole thing—the almost escape, the betrayal, the shooting, the actual escape, and then being kidnapped and tortured. Maybe she’d never left the cabin. Maybe she was still here, and in a moment she’d be woken up and put on her knees and fucked before going down to breakfast, where Micah would serve her and then she would be made to serve him.

Warmth pooled in her stomach and her chest settled at the thought.

She was safe.

Until she opened her eyes.

It was Luke, behind her, but they weren’t in their bed at the cabin. And when had she started thinking of it as “their” bed, anyway? They must have been in the plane’s bedroom, because Kara could hear the soft hum of circulating forced air.

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