Page 90 of Keeping Kara

Instead, she kept Arrow’s face in her mind. It hurt that he’d likely be completely frantic right about now, but she knew he’d keep it together in order to find her.

She also thought about Jen, and the pain she felt for her friend was almost overwhelming. Kara knew how she’d probably felt when she realized she’d been duped. Jen had been so excited about the new man in her life. So relieved that he didn’t seem to care about her condition. Nolan was so incredibly cruel when he’d laughed at her, told her that she was hideous.

It broke Kara’s heart.

She wanted to believe Jen had survived the beating she’d received at Nolan’s hands, but she’d seen her friend lying motionless in that swamp. It certainly looked as if she was dead.

Though…something inside her whispered that maybe, just maybe, her friend had only been unconscious, not dead. And if so, she’d been floating on her back, so she was still getting air. It was enough for the small flare of hope to stay lit deep within Kara.

If Jen woke up, if she was able to get to the road and find help, that meant Arrow and his team could even now be on her and Nolan’s trail.

She had no idea where he was going, but they’d been driving for quite a while. And the longer they were in the car, the better, as far as Kara was concerned. Time was life, and she needed as much time as possible before Nolan started his torture.

He was avoiding the main routes and taking a lot of back roads. Kara was completely lost, but there were positives to him not taking the interstate. Jen’s car stuck out more. There were a lot of pickup trucks and older-model sedans, and no other teal-colored PT Cruisers along the route they were taking.

And city people were less likely to notice a stranger in their midst, while those in smaller communities would surely pay attention. She hoped.

She was so lost in her thoughts that when Nolan’s fist hit her on the side of the head, it came as a complete shock. Her head jerked violently, pulling the cord around her neck even tighter than it already was.

“Are you listening to me?”

It was in that moment, Kara realized she had a choice to make. She could antagonize Nolan. Curse him out. Tell him he was an asshole and that she wasn’t afraid of him. Or she could go the opposite direction and kowtow to him, do everything he said without complaint, agree to whatever he demanded.

Basically, she could fight back or acquiesce.

It was the choice every woman who found herself on the receiving end of a partner’s rage had to make. And there was no right answer. Nothing that would apply to every single situation.

In her case, with her breathing almost cut off as it was, being driven to who knew where, Kara heard Arrow’s voice in her head. He was telling her to play it cool. That he was on his way, but she had to do everything in her power to stay alive until he could get there. And if that meant lying her ass off and pretending to be meek and mild, so be it. There was a time to fight back and a time to lie low and plan.

“I’m…sorry. Yes. Listening,” she managed to croak out.

“Damn right you are,” Nolan said, sounding pleased.

To Kara’s relief, his hand went back to the steering wheel instead of hitting her again.

A little drool trickled out of her mouth because she couldn’t swallow very well, but she ignored it, doing her best to make sounds of agreement as Nolan continued to berate her and boast about how he’d outsmarted the authorities back in North Carolina.

As he told her all about how he’d killed a complete stranger so he could stage his own death, Kara did her best to memorize everything he was saying, so she could relay it to a detective when the time came.

She also started paying more attention to the street signs they passed. If she could get to a phone of some sort, she’d need to know where to tell the police to go to get to her. At this point, she would say and do whatever it took to hopefully make Nolan let down his guard. If he thought she was completely cowed, she might be lucky enough to have him go easier on her than if she behaved aggressively and pissed off.

Lucky.

She remembered telling Arrow that if she didn’t have bad luck, she’d have no luck at all, but she realized that it was all a matter of perspective. Yes, she’d had some awful things happen to her in her life, but she’d also had some darn good things happen too, even before she’d met Arrow and his friends and moved to Virginia. Things she’d glossed over, choosing instead to concentrate on the bad over the good.

Like getting her books published. Yes, she’d self-published, didn’t have an agent or a lucrative contract, but she’d done it. How many people actually published a book these days? She didn’t know the statistics, but she bet it wasn’t a whole hell of a lot, compared to those who claimed they wanted to write one someday.

And she had a good job as an accountant and didn’t have a lot of debt. If she’d taken the time to look at her life without such a pessimistic attitude, maybe she would’ve seen that she actually was pretty lucky.

And even now, she was lucky to have someone like Arrow, who was most certainly doing all he could to find her. He’d taken her in, loved her exactly how she was, and given her a tribe, something she’d never had before.

Kara’s determination to get back to the people she’d come to love as her family grew even stronger.

Nolan continued to drive. They were obviously going west and eventually headed up into the mountains. He’d stopped for gas once, throwing a blanket over her head so no one could see her as he was pumping. She could’ve made a scene, done what she could to get the attention of anyone who might be nearby, but again, something deep inside told her to bide her time. To be submissive.

The sun was getting low by the time Nolan slowed the car. He pulled off onto a dirt road and the bumps made the cord around her neck tighten and loosen at random. Finally, he stopped in front of a dilapidated-looking cabin. It didn’t seem as if anyone had lived there for quite some time.

Kara wondered how in the world he’d found it, but supposed in the end, it didn’t matter.