Page 22 of Keeping Kara

She followed his lead, and after the harness fell to the floor of the chopper, he bent down and picked it up, hanging both hers and his on a hook.

Kara looked around for the first time and saw two men behind the controls of the chopper, and another two looking at both her and Arrow with worried expressions.

Another touch on her arm had her turning back to Arrow, who was holding out a pair of headphones. She took them and put them over her ears, and the relief from the noise surrounding her was instant.

“Can you hear me?”

The sound of Arrow’s voice immediately calmed her. “Yes.”

“Good. Come on, sit over here. Casper’s been waiting for us to get settled before heading back to base.”

After she’d sat on the floor, Arrow knelt in front of her, blocking her view of the other men. “Buck, can you get me a water?” he asked his friend.

In response, one of the other men turned and opened a metal box behind one of the pilot’s chairs. He handed two plastic bottles to Arrow.

Breaking the seal on one of them, Arrow handed it to her. “We’ll get your hands taken care of soon. Don’t drink too fast.”

He smiled at her as he opened his own bottle.

Kara held eye contact with him as she took the first few swallows of the fresh, clean water.

“Delicious, right? The finest wine,” Arrow said with a wink.

He wasn’t wrong. The water was literally the best thing Kara had ever tasted in her life. The temptation to do just what he warned her not to do was strong. It felt as if she couldn’t get the liquid into her body fast enough, but she forced herself to drink slowly.

“You okay?” Arrow asked, after they’d quenched their thirst.

Surprisingly, she was. He’d made their extraction as painless as possible, and she was impressed with how professional and capable both he and his friends had been. She nodded.

“Anything hurt?”

“No. How’s your shoulder? And ribs?”

“What’s wrong with your shoulder and ribs?” a low voice asked.

Kara jerked, forgetting that everyone could hear her and Arrow’s conversation.

“Nothing,” he said, keeping his gaze locked on her.

“I pulled a huge piece of glass out of his shoulder and it bled pretty badly,” she tattled without remorse. “And he thinks his ribs might be cracked or broken after a freaking truck smashed him against a bunch of logs in the water.”

“Fuck!”

“Shit, Chaos.”

“Change of plans, we’re going straight to the hospital’s helipad.”

“Chill out. I’m okay, guys,” Arrow told his friends, turning his head to frown at them.

“We’re already down one with Pyro still being out of commission. I’m not losing another pilot,” one of the men behind the controls said, sounding extremely grouchy.

“Fine,” Arrow said. “But only because Kara needs medical attention too.”

It was her turn to frown.

“Of course. How are you doing, ma’am?”

Looking at the man behind Arrow who’d spoken, Kara was suddenly tongue tied. She wasn’t about to tell these extreme alpha males what she’d been through. It wasn’t as if she was ashamed of what happened. It wasn’t her fault. She hadn’t done anything wrong. But she had a feeling they’d all lose their minds if they knew what Nolan had done.