Page 19 of North (The Moral Compass 2)

“Right, well… This Mum and Mark thing is fucked. He was Dad’s best friend for Christ’s sake. He’s also Sutton’s dad. If Sutton and West get married and Mum and Mark get married, it’s going to be a cluster fuck of family relations. It’s just shit and will make us look like a fucking laughingstock in the business world. It’s just not good business.”

“Is that all?” I ask. I sense there is much more to this.

“No, that’s not all!” he barks. “East is walking around all fucking doe-eyed over some fucking rock star. She follows him around like a fucking puppy, and she thinks she’s in love with him because she got backstage at one of his concerts and “met” him. She hasn’t heard from him since, but you know East, she’s planning her fucking wedding.”

He’s on a roll now.

“And then there’s this clusterfuck with West and Sutton. He even knocked her up. Not once, but three fucking times. All that trouble brought right back to our door because of her and her friend. We took ourselves out of the syndicate to focus on the business and have a clean slate. It only took him a matter of months before he was right back in the fucking middle of it all risking all our lives. Yours included. Fuck, Brother, I nearly lost you. You nearly died because he can’t keep his dick in his pants, and now he wants to fucking marry her. Jesus, when will this fucking fiasco end? They are not even our type of people, North. They don’t have the upbringing we do. They don’t understand the business world like us, and they certainly don’t have the grace they were born with. Just look at the fucking state of Alicia after Kara had her claws in her.”

South grits his teeth and snarls.

“And that brings me to you and Kara. It’s a clusterfuck of mistakes waiting to happen. She’s a loose cannon, and she has a mouth like a fucking sailor. Rough as fuck! It’s a fucking nightmare, North, and I’ve decided until things get back to normal—us being a normal family with normal people in our lives—I’m out. I’m going to Africa in the morning, and I won’t be back for a fucking long time.”

“Wow,” is all I can manage. I want to punch the righteous fucker in the face. I want to drag him into the kitchen and make him say it in front of everyone. I want West to hear how he just spoke about Sutton, and I want to make him see that the people that have come into our lives are good people, and he is just too blind to see any of it. He’s so blind, he can’t even see the love in the room. I stand and leave before I physically kick his head off his shoulders. I just can’t stand to be in the same room as him.

Maybe him going to Africa is the best thing he can do. It’s probably the safest thing he can do right now because all I want to do is kill him.

I take a walk around the pool area to try to get some composure. Then, I head back into the kitchen where everyone is hugging and laughing, and my heart sinks. South could be a part of this, but that’s his choice. Everything is always his choice. He chooses to be a loner. He chose not to come and run the company with me and West. He chose a life of being single. Well, he can damn well choose to do it on his fucking own for the rest of his fucking life for all I care.

I catch Kara in the corner of my eye. Her spark has faded, and she looks a little out of sorts.

“You okay, Princess?” I put my arms around her.

“Yeah, I am, Big Man, I’m just getting a migraine. It happens sometimes when I’ve been on long train journeys. I think I’m going to head up and go to bed.”

“Okay, I’ll be along soon. I’ll try not to wake you, okay?”

“Erm, do you mind if we sleep in our own rooms? I just need silence and dark.” She tilts her head and screws her face up in a plea. I don’t want to sleep in a different bed from her, but if it will make her better, then I’ll agree.

“Okay, I’ll see you in the morning.” I place a warm kiss on her temple and pull her into a hug. She’s stiff, though. Migraines are awful. I release her, and then she’s gone.

Morning comes around too soon, and I miss having her body spooned into mine. I didn’t sleep much last night. I wanted to go and check on her but, then again, I didn’t want to wake her if she was asleep. I drag myself out of bed and notice a note under my door.

Morning, my big man.

I won’t be going in to work today. My migraine has had me up all night being sick. I just need a day to get myself levelled again, so I’m going to get some sleep.

Can you let West know?

I love you.

Kara xxx

I’m so tempted to just go in and check on her. She must have been so sick last night, but she said she’s going back to sleep. I’ll check on her later, maybe before lunch.

The benefit of working with the people you live with is you can get a lift when needed. My car is still in the Lakes. I travel in with West, and he can tell I’m not on my full game. Everything South said yesterday has got under my skin. I want to tell him, but he will go ballistic, and if Sutton found out, it would crush her. I need to keep this to myself.

South will come around eventually. Then, no one will ever have to know that my eldest brother is a fucking moron.

Chapter 16

Kara

IalwayspreachedtoSutton that eavesdropping was a terrible thing. She and West had so many misunderstandings because she only heard half of the conversation. I was the one who told her not to do it and always ask questions. If there is nothing to hide, then there will be no problem.

So, why am I frantically packing everything I own? Because I didn’t overhear a one-way conversation. I overheard South tell North that Sutton and I don’t belong here.

The worst thing is… he’s right. Well, not about Sutton. She belongs. She is having McGarry babies and will very soon be a McGarry. I am really pleased for her. So pleased. It doesn’t mean my piece of this jigsaw puzzle automatically fits, too.

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