Page 6 of Fearless
“I don’t know what to do,” Garreth finally said, and for the first time his tone was completely void of anger, aggravation, and even hope. He sounded defeated. “I… I don’t know.”
“Send her to me,” Noah said.
Garreth laughed, but it wasn’t really a happy sound. Even that sounded hopeless. “Yeah, right.”
“Nah, blokey, I’m serious.” He was too, which somewhat surprised even him. “Send her to me. She thinks he can get her anywhere she goes in the States? Well, he’s not king of shit out here. I got me a nice house on eighty-some acres of land, not far from a town of less than three thousand people, every one of whom’ll be happy to treat him like a tourist. Your friend can stay with me until she’s ready to start over.”
The other end of the phone fell silent. All Noah could hear was the gentle lapping of the river water against his boat, the chirping of night insects, and the low, seething growl of the crocodile no longer thrashing or even pulling at the bait line that held it trapped.
“Are you serious?” Garreth finally asked, in a tone that suggested he didn’t know which of them was crazier: Noah for making the suggestion, or himself for considering it.
“Yeah, sure.” Noah sat back, smiling once more now that the problem was decided. “I’m not royalty, but I’ll move some of me shoes out of the spare room and be on me best behavior.”
Garreth was quiet again. “If we do it on the downlow and I take her the next town over, we might be able to get her a replacement passport before Ethen can do anything to stop it.”
“You might even get her all the way out of the country,” Noah put in cheerfully. “Once she’s over here, it’s no worries. I’ll take care of everything. This’ll be a good place for her. Nothing but wide-open spaces. Nature, peace, and solitude everywhere you look. How can a person not heal out here? Plus”—he added, when Garreth remained silent—“I’ll be right beside her every step o’ the way, looking out for her.”
After a long moment, punctuated only by the chirping night sounds and low reptilian growls, Garreth finally said, “I’ll talk to Hadlee and it’ll take at least a month to get the passport. But frankly, I think that’s the best option we’ve got at this point.”
Noah grinned. “Of course, it is. I thought of it.”
“Arrogant ass,” Garreth snorted, a trickle of real amusement leeching back into his voice. That was reward enough for Noah.
“Best mates, blokey,” he said fondly. “Best mates.”
When Garreth hung up the phone, Noah tapped his headset and indulged in a contented sigh. Good though it might be for this Kitty whoever, Noah was a little surprised at himself for offering. He liked his life. He liked living alone. Occasionally, a mate or two might wander out of town as far as his place for a beer and a chitchat, but honestly, he wasn’t one for indulging company for long. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had someone stay over. His sister, probably, maybe eight or ten years ago. When it came to visiting with the ladies, well… he did all that at the clubs he toured while on vacation or in Cairns on party nights.
“A little change is good for the soul,” Noah decided, because the offer was already extended and Noah was nothing if not a man of his word. He could adjust himself to the idea of a houseguest, for at least a couple of weeks.
And really, where else in the world could a person find this kind of beauty and peace in which to heal a battered soul? He tipped his smile first to the multitude of stars that speckled a near-cloudless sky, and then down to the salt-water croc still hooked on his bait line.
“Are you zonked?” he asked it. All he could see of the animal was a six-inch length of snout above the waterline about two feet from his boat. When all he got was a low, seething hiss, Noah swiveled on his seat, took hold of the reel handle and put his back into drawing the crocodile in closer. He reeled until the massive, craggy head was all the way out of the water. It hissed again, the moonlit water all around it rippling. “I know,” Noah soothed, and not without some sympathy. Standing up, he picked up his rifle from the bottom of the boat and put a shot in the chamber. “I know it’s not much o’ a consolation for you, but I’ll make sure your meat don’t go to waste and your hide’ll be treated with respect. Next reincarnation, mate, try to steer clear of the pets and kiddies, all right?”
His aim was dead-on. It only took one bullet, a mechanical hoist and some under his breath swearing to haul the animal up into the bottom of his boat. Patting it on the hide, he flopped down on the rear bench by the motor to catch his breath. Disturbed by first the rifle report and then by the ruckus that followed, all the nighttime insects that had fallen silent cautiously returned to singing again. Noah closed his eyes, listening. He’d vacationed all over the world, touring from one dungeon to the next, letting his skill with the bullwhip lead the way, but there truly was no place on earth better than home. He was going to do his best by Kitty Whoever, but there was no doubt in his mind that, by the time she was ready to go home again, she would be rested in both body and mind, and braced to tackle whatever she had to as she attempted to re-start her life.
Australia was irresistible that way.
Who knew, she’d probably never want to leave.
* * *
Six weeks later…
Kitty hadn’t been in Queensland for more than ten minutes before Australia tried to kill her, and that was only the first time.
She stepped off the plane with nothing but the carryon that held all her worldly belongings. Which only meant, that that was all she had. Nothing in that bag was actually hers. Hadlee had given her a nightshirt, a dress that was almost too short for her, some t-shirts, and a pair of jeans that they’d found at the Goodwill. The jeans were bought with Hadlee’s money because Ethen had stolen all of Kitty’s. Not even the bag was hers, or the toiletries, or even the hair ties. Kitty had nothing, was nothing, except a burden that had grown too heavy for her old friend and her new man to carry, and which now had to be shuttled off onto someone else. Someone she didn’t even know.
That wasn’t exactly fair or true, and the minute it crossed Kitty’s ungrateful mind, she was heartily ashamed of herself. Making this move had been a group decision. Sort of. Hadlee and Garreth had sat her down over a pizza dinner and presented this as a plan. While Kitty forced herself to choke down half a slice (every bite tasting like ash because she still could barely make herself eat without Ethen there to grant permission), Garreth laid out all the pros and cons of traveling to Australia.
First, she wouldn’t be staying with a stranger. She knew this Noah Carver, he had said. She might not have met the man properly, but she had seen him that night at Black Light when he’d scened with Hadlee. Kitty didn’t tell him that all she remembered of that night was the horrible ride home and what Ethen had done to her once they got there.
Ethen couldn’t touch her in Australia, Hadlee had pointed out. But probably only because she’d been away from him for so long now that she’d forgotten Ethen could touch them from anywhere. He had connections. When those connections weren’t enough, he had friends with even longer connections. Oh yes, Ethen could touch her in Australia. Kitty knew that all the way down to her bones.
In Australia, Garreth had said, she wouldn’t have to be afraid that she might run into Ethen every time she left the house. Or see him when she looked out the window, just sitting in his car and staring at the apartment — like he’d done almost daily during the first few weeks after she’d run away, because even though she’d left Hadlee’s cellphone in the ice and snow outside that archaic phonebooth, he’d still known exactly where she’d gone. Or wake up in the night in a cold sweat because he’d snuck into her bedroom to stand over her, with his belt or the Punishment Paddle in his hand — which he hadn’t done ever, but which happened in her nightmares every time she dozed off.
On the surface of it, their arguments all made sense. Underneath, however, Kitty knew it didn’t matter what she did. She could fly to the moon; Ethen would still find her, punish her, and drag her back home again. She knew that, but she agreed to go so they’d stop talking about it, and then excused herself to the bathroom and promptly threw up. In the last five weeks, she’d lost eleven pounds she didn’t have to lose. She was starting to look bony and her eyes hollowed, especially with the bruise-like circles that lack of sleep had painted beneath them.
Four hours at a passport agency and two weeks later, she had her passport in her hand and Garreth had gone online to buy the plane ticket. Four days after that, she was on a plane, with a fantastic view of the right-side wing and the sickening fear that behind each new passenger, she was going to see Ethen stepping onboard. He never did, but that didn’t stop her from expecting it to be him each time someone passed by her. It was a twenty-seven-hour flight with two stops, first in Los Angeles and then in Sydney, and not only did Kitty not sleep, but her leg never stopped jiggling once.
