Page 23 of West (The Moral Compass 1)
There! That was my professional speech, and I hope she understands.
“West, I don’t think you understand the magnitude of this. The office is rife with rumours, and Grandpa is not very happy that you appear to have found a girlfriend.”
A girlfriend? Who has been wagging their floppy tongues? I’ll rip their fucking tongues out.
“What is this about, Alicia? I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.” I’m getting so pissed off now. I don’t have a clue why she is bringing her grandfather into this.
“Sweetheart, I’m shocked you have never put two and two together. Grandpa moved me into this apartment block to be close to you. I am the one who you should be looking after. Not your sheep in wolf’s clothing. This was Grandpa’s intention all along. When they asked you if you wanted the job, I told him I wantedyou. Grandpa always makes sure I get what I want. That is, until little Miss Smith over there comes along with her fucked-up sob story that you buy hook, line, and sinker. You don’t know jack shit about this girl or even if any of the shit she has spilled to you is real.”
“I know more than you think, Alicia, and, to address the other elephant in the room, there has never been anything between us, and there never will be. You’re a nice lady, but that’s it. I don’t feel that way about you, and I never will. I’m sorry, Alicia but you need to look elsewhere. I’m not the guy for you.”
I try to remain as calm as possible. Getting angry with her won’t help the fact that she had our wedding planned from the day we met.
Shit, this is scary.
“So, you know about her family, then?”
She drops the bomb. The one thing we haven’t discussed. We haven’t talked about either of our families, so I am just as guilty as Sutton is.
“Yeah, I do, but it’s none of your concern, Alicia. What is in Sutton’s past is dead and buried.” I’m bluffing away and hope she doesn’t see through it.
“Those are apt words, West. But I’m glad you know all the dirty, drug-fuelled details. I wouldn’t want you to throw away your career on a blind date filled with bodies and unmarked shallow graves.” With that, she turns and heads for the door. “Grandpa said to see you in the boardroom at 9:00 a.m. sharp on Monday morning.” And then she was gone.
What the fuck just happened?
Chapter 19
Sutton
I'msittingonthebed with the door ajar. I know eavesdropping never does anyone any good, but I want to make sure she’s not making a move on West. He’s not mine, but I want him to be, and if she tries to claim him, who would blame him if he dropped me like a hot potato? She’s stunning, with her hair that shines like she’s just come off a hair product advert. There is not an ounce of fat on those legs either. If I wasn’t so worried, I’d admire her for all her beauty.
What I hear next turns my stomach. How does she know about the drugs in my family history? Only Kara knows my past, and she would never talk to anyone about it. I’m not even linked to my mother anymore. Social services broke the link when she gave me up. The only thing that links us is my birth certificate, and that is not in my current name. How the hell did she get this information?
I hear the door close, and I sit on the bed waiting for him to come and yell at me for hiding stuff from him. That’s what Jaxon would do, along with a good old slap across the face and a few digs to the ribs.
The bedroom door opens slowly, and he appears with a solemn look. “Think we need to have a little chat, don’t you?”
“Yeah, it might be wise given what I heard. You’ll have questions, but to be honest, West, I don’t know if I can answer all of them.”
I grab the crutches and hobble to the lounge. He doesn’t sit on the sofa with me this time but across the room. It feels like I’m going to be interrogated.
“Sutton, I need you to tell me what Alicia was talking about. I need to know about your family, the drugs, the bodies.”
“Bodies? What fucking bodies? I don’t know anything about bodies. I swear to you, West, I will tell you the truth about everything I know, but I don’t know anything about that.” I’m rambling, and I’m starting to sweat.
“Okay, start from the beginning and tell me everything about your family. It’s important, Sutton, that you tell me everything you know, and then I will tell you about my family, and you will understand why I need every tiny detail.”
I start with my father leaving my mother when she was seven months pregnant, that he didn’t want a family and wanted to carry on his lifestyle of drugs and other women. He left and never came back. I never knew who he was, and I didn’t care.
I tell him about my mother and her prescription drug addiction and how I was the root of all evil where she was concerned. I was to blame for it raining and to blame when it was sunny. She never should have kept me. I would have had a chance at adoption as a baby.
I went on to tell him about being put into foster care at thirteen when my mum was wasted all the time and just wanted to party with all her man friends, how she wouldn’t let me live with my Aunty Sarah because she was jealous, and, because her hatred was so bad, she had social services look into her, too. My cousins were subjected to all sorts of questioning. I had to leave Aunty Sarah for all our sakes. It wasn’t fair on her and her kids to put them through the shit show I was facing.
I told him that I moved around in the system until I was sixteen and then left and moved in with Kara. I changed my last name to Smith purely because Smith is the most popular name and if she wanted to ever look for me, it would take her so long, she’d get bored.
Life was okay until I met Jaxon at twenty-one. He was charming and kind, and then he turned into an arsehole. At twenty-three, I tried to end things with him, and at twenty-four, he tried to kill me. He was charged with attempted murder and was serving twenty years in prison for other things as well. I didn’t attend court for the sentencing, so I don’t know what else he was charged with. I didn’t want to know. I just wanted him out of my life for good. And that was my life until that fateful Wednesday evening when he’d escaped prison.
“You know the rest. You’ve been with me every day.”
