Page 60 of East (The Moral Compass 3)

East!

Her hair is a mess, her face is cut and grazed, her bottom lip looks swollen, and she is squinting her beautiful eyes nearly closed, but I have never seen anything so goddamn beautiful in my life.

“Who the fuck are you and what do you want?” She growls.

Ah, that’s my girl. A fucking bomb till the end.

“I’m your goddamn husband, and I want you. Now, get out of that van and come and give me a kiss.”

The three guards in the back start to laugh.

“Oh my god, Zed, is that really you? Oh, fuck, I thought I was going to die.” She jumps off the step of the van, and I catch her in my arms.

I’m taken back when she does exactly what I asked for and kisses me. Then, she kisses me again. I remember her lip and return her kiss softly.

North clears his throat which makes my lips curl, and I pull away slowly.

“Are you okay? Who did this to you?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. My arm is really bad, but other than that, I’m okay. My main worry is you. There is a guy, and he wants to kill us all. I managed to escape, but he said he was coming after all of us. He’s Raphael’s cousin.”

“I know. But you’re safe now, and he’s not getting anywhere near you again. I promise.”

“Zed, I’m sorry. I should never have just gone like that. I should have talked it all through with you all. I just wanted to prove to everyone that I am a grown-up and can look after myself. Ha, yeah, that worked out great, didn’t it?”

I didn’t think we would get her back so easily, but it doesn’t extinguish the threat. I need her and Kara out of here, and I need them gone now.

“North, find someone to fuel up the jet. It’s going back to London.”

I turn to East. “I don’t want you to argue or fight me on this, but you are getting on that plane, and you are going home to London.”

“Don’t you worry, I’m not arguing. I just want to get the fuck out of here. That guy is nuts, Zed. Some of the random shit he was saying was like he had a real screw lose.”

“I haven’t had much chance to look into him, although I know North was digging away as soon as we knew who he was.”

We head back to the plane, and once I have East settled, I explain to Kara that North and I are staying here and her, East, and the crazy old lady are going back to London.

Kara, as expected, disagrees with North staying, but I need him here. I need all the manpower I can get.

“Has he actually agreed to this?” Kara bites as she stands to leave the plane.

“No, but he will. I need him, Kara.”

“Yeah, well, I fucking need him, too. You fucking get him killed and I swear to you, Zed, I will fuck you up big-time.”

“Nobody is getting killed. Well, not us, anyway. That fucking dickhead is getting a bullet to his brain the first chance I get, but apart from that…”

“You mean Matt the Twat,” East pipes up.

“Matt the what?” I laugh.

“Matt the Twat. It’s what I nicknamed him when I threw hot coffee over him on the plane.”

“You are fucking priceless, do you know that? I’m surprised he didn’t kill you then and there.”

“I didn’t know who he was then.”

Kara and Margarite have moved to the back and are fixing drinks.

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