Immaculate

Professor Dakota Jameson Lee

Part 123

Kota's POV

I watched as the Jeep disappeared around the bend. I was worried, not for their physical health, but for Luke and North's mental health. Especially North. I knew how I would feel if my father suddenly turned up on the scene claiming he was sorry. Sickness roiled through my stomach. He had no right to do this to them, to do this to North. Luke claimed that he was ok with it and I think he was. But North? North had been physically and mentally abused by this man and not in the cold, hard way that my father had worked. It was worse for North, with Tony it was the drink, so when he was sober, he was good to North. It was a pendulum effect. Kind and loving one moment, mean as all hell the next. It had kept North off balance and unable to communicate properly with anyone for a long time.

I felt a small hand touch my arm and I looked down at Sang. She looked as worried as I felt. I wanted to tell her that it was going to be ok, that North was going to be fine, that Luke was going to be fine. But I'd be insulting her intelligence and treating her like a child.

"Whatever happens there, Silas and Nathan won't let either of them get hurt. And North and Luke are more than capable of taking care of themselves," I told her as I took her hand and lead her back inside Nathan's place.

"Yes, I know that," she said as she moved to sit on the sofa, tucking her hands under her thighs to try and hide the shaking that I already knew was there.

"I'm more worried about how he's making North hurt by reminding him of what he went through. And I know Luke says he's ok with it, but it has to hurt knowing that he just left him and walked away when he was a baby," she murmured, her eyes fixed on the end of her boots. I needed to distract her, comfort her. There was nothing we could do now until either we were called for, or we saw them in Mr B's office later.

I sat beside her, pulling her into my arms, she settled into me and I could feel the shaking through her entire body. I pulled her right onto my lap and tucked her in tight to me.

"I know, it worries me too," I told her quietly, "But North has an advantage he never had before. He's secure in his relationships with Luke and Uncle. He has us and he has Mr B who will make sure that he gets through it. Mr B had the best Academy counsellors working him through it last time, and I know that Mr B and the Doc were there for every session he went through. They'll do the same again if they have too."

She nodded her head under my chin and I drew in a deep breath, smelling the scent that was Sang. I loved her so much and I loved my brothers.

"I just wish they didn't have to go through it. Why do they insist on making life hard?"

I snorted slightly, the million dollar question.

"It's selfish motives for your father, and I think it's the same for Tony. He's had five years to find North and make amends. Now he's dying? I know what that makes me think."

"He's selfish too," she murmured. She had brought her hands to my dress shirt, her fingers playing with the buttons, the shake in her fingers still there. "I just wish everyone else would leave us alone. It never seems to stop."

I sighed, sliding my hands under her shirt and onto her lower back to try and soothe the nerves from her. She had a light wool sweater on over a shirt that looked like a female dress shirt. Her skirt was some sort of wool, mixed, cotton type thing, that sat just above her knees. She had on long boots that ended just below her knee. I had to keep my mind off the boots, how could a pair of boots make me think of undoing them slowly and kissing her from her toes up? They were just a pair of boots!

I knew she was saying something, and I knew I should be listening, but her fingers had slid inside the gaps between my buttons and rendered my ears deaf. I knew she didn't know what she was doing by the fact she was still talking, or at least I think she was talking.