Page 52 of Fearless
“I’m not,” she whispered. “Most of the time, I’m afraid of everything.”
“That’s okay,” Noah said softly into her hair. “You won’t always be.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Sure I do. I heard what you did to Ethen. We’ll be renaming you Muhammad Ali when we get home.” Noah buried a smile in her hair when he both heard and felt her laugh. It was watery, but she wasn’t crying anymore and that was a good start. “You’ve got a lot of courage inside of you. But don’t you worry, those days when you don’t feel it quite so keen, I can be fearless enough for the both of us.”
Pulling back from his shoulder, Kitty raised her eyes to his. When she smiled, he kissed her.
Epilogue
Kitty stood at the door leading back through the tunnel to the psychic shop. She had her luggage strap slung over her shoulder, her cellphone in her pocket, and Hadlee clinging to her right hand with both of her own. Together, they waited for their men who were still in the locker room, talking to Jaxson and Chase. Poor Hadlee looked shell-shocked. She stared at the door, her eyes huge and slightly watery. Her chin was up though, and if those were tears Kitty suspected were trying to form along her lashes, she blinked constantly, refusing to let them fall.
“Are you all right?” Kitty asked, giving her hands a squeeze.
“My bottom hurts,” Hadlee replied.
No mystery there. Because of her constant attempts to interfere, Garreth had taken her into one of the semi-private spaces to ‘talk.’ The curtains had done a great job blocking out all sight of the scene that followed, but it hadn’t done much for the sound.
For the first time, Hadlee looked up at her. “Are you all right?”
Kitty almost laughed. Half nodding, half shrugging instead, she said, “My bottom hurts.”
The women exchanged bemused glances, then chuckles.
“Yeah, okay,” Hadlee admitted first. “I deserved it.”
“So did I.”
“Frankly, I won’t be at all surprised if that wasn’t just a taste of what I’ve got coming when we get home.”
Noah didn’t spank when it was real, but Kitty would not be surprised if there weren’t some other form of punishment waiting for her in Australia. She didn’t know what form that would take and yet, though she waited for them to come washing over her, those old familiar, dread-filled waves, they never did. Instead, what she felt was a kind of eager giddiness to get moving. Home. For all she’d thought that’s what she had been doing from the start, the revelation that ‘home’ was wherever Noah was still struck as a bit of a surprise.
That watery sheen in Hadlee’s eyes grew. “Are you happy?” she finally asked.
“Are you?” Kitty just as softly countered. She held her friend’s searching gaze until the first tears at last slipped free and, with a hiccupy gasp, Hadlee flung her arms around Kitty’s shoulders. The two women embraced.
“There’s always Skype,” she declared, and then it didn’t feel so much like goodbye.
Kitty didn’t answer. She didn’t know how.
The ferocity of the hug diminished and they stepped back, both still uncertain what more to say when the locker room door swung open and Noah and Garreth came through. Noah was in the lead, his long-legged stride quick, his blue eyes bright. “What a bloke! A good mate to have, I tell you.”
“How much did Jaxson give you?”
“The full refund,” Noah exclaimed. “Everything Ethen paid for Kitty’s membership, from the point of the ban to the end of the year.” Grinning as he passed them, he paused long enough to cup Kitty’s cheek. “We can pay our airfare. Come on, love.” Passing his grin to Hadlee, he ruffled her hair and then took off again, his voice echoing back through the passage as he headed up and out. “We’ve got less than an hour, I reckon, before any plane I’m on won’t be getting off the ground.”
Startled, Kitty’s eyes widened. Hadlee and Garreth exchanged the same look of alarm, and all three quickly hurried to follow him.
“What the hell did you do?” Garreth accused.
“I hit him,” Noah answered to the accompanying bang of both hands popping open the door at the opposite end of the tunnel. He cast them back a wink and out he went.
The look Hadlee and Garreth exchanged was even more alarmed.
“He hit Ethen?” Hadlee gasped. “My God, is he crazy?”
Garreth rushed to catch up. “You did what?” Kitty heard him demand as he too disappeared through the far door.
