Starla (The Ladies of Karnage Novella Series) (3 page)

“Oh.
” I could tell she was a little thrown off by the hero of the story. “Well I’m glad he did, because if not I’d have to go hunt the asshole down and cut his pecker off,” she said with a laugh that faded after a few moments. “I’m really sorry, Starla. I shouldn’t have said what I did earlier. I didn’t mean it when I said I only came because your parents wouldn’t let you come alone. I really do want to be here.”

“Then why have you been giving the guys so much shit?”

“I don’t know. Because I didn’t intend on us to get here and be spending our time with a bunch of bikers.” When she looked up this time I could see a slight smile on her face, “Though, I have to admit, Butcher is pretty hot,” she giggled and my heart swelled. She really didn’t hate them after all.

“Yes he is,” I agreed, “You should give them another chance. Fresh start. I really think you’d have a fun time,” I coaxed.

She sat for a moment in thought before grabbing my hand in excitement, “We should get them to take us out tomorrow,” she beamed until she noticed the grimace on my face and released her grip on my hand. “Sorry.” She smiled in apology.

“Ok. And I think we should ask Ana to go out with us too.” I smiled at the thought of her and McGee earlier.

“Ok, it’s a date. Now go get cleaned up. I don’t want you getting some kind of Irish fever,” Joni quipped as she collected the unopened bandages from beside me on the bed and carried them into the bathroom. My best friend was back and soon we’d be taking on Ireland, one pub at a time.

We’d been so excited when we woke up the next morning, jumping out of bed without even changing out clothes; we were two women on a mission. But when we told Ana about our plan to have the guys take us out, being coy about the fact that she was included in it, we were hit with disappointment.

“Sorry, girls. McGee and the guys are on a run up to Cork this week. They should be back in a few days though,” Ana said, patting my hand that rested on the edge of her desk.

Well shit.
For the rest of the day we moped around Dublin, visiting various shops and even a museum in an attempt to pass the time. It was the longest week of our lives, the hours ticked by slower than molasses as we waited for the return of the guys. It always seems to happen like that, doesn’t it? You get the most exciting plan, can’t wait to share the news, and then BAM! You gotta sit around and wait for a week, trying not to jump out of your skin. By the time Friday was rolling around we were all going stir crazy, Ana included. Even though she’d never admit it, I think she liked seeing McGee around. So in an attempt to keep from going crazy while we waited on the guys, we made a trip down to the package store, bought a bottle of Scotch and three shot glasses.

Ana, Joni, and
I then proceeded to get as shit faced as we possibly could. It was around Midnight, we were already three sheets to the wind, when we heard the familiar rumble outside. I jumped up in excitement and the three of us ran stumbling to the window like little school girls. “Where are they? I can’t see them?” I slurred as I peeked out the corner of the window, desperately trying to hide my face behind the lace curtain and failing.

“I don’t know. I can’t see through your head,” Joni said
mushing her face in next to mine.

“There they are, across the street,” Ana exclaimed excitedly from above us. “Shit, duck! I think they saw us.”

It was amazingly hard to find a pack of motorcycles, while trying to stay hidden, when you were drunk. I pushed Joni back, knocking her onto her ass, “Hurry, go back over there. Act normal,” I explained excitedly, trying my hardest not to laugh as the three of us ran back to our chairs and the small card table we’d set up for our drinking.

Ana rushed over to her chair, a rolling desk chair, a little too fast. She landed, rolled, and then went crashing to the ground wit
h a thud. I couldn’t contain my laughter as all three of us erupted in giggles. I couldn’t even see if she was ok, I was laughing too hard to be able to open my eyes, watching her rolling around on the ground as she attempted to get up, but laughing so hard she just kept falling back down.

“What the fuck are you loons
doin’?” McGee asked from the doorway, Mulligan and Butcher just behind him.

“Help me up you slag!” Ana laughed from the floor.

“Bloody women, you’re all plastered aren’t you?” McGee grinned as he helped Ana up off the floor and then righted her chair.

“What gave it away?” I quipped.

“Well it sure as hell wasn’t the fact that you were all actin’ the maggot, starin’ out the window gigglin’ like little school girls,” he said, picking up the half empty bottle of Scotch sitting between the three of us and grinning before placing it back down.

“We were bored,” I explained, “It’s all your fault anyway. We’ve been waiting for you to get back all damn week.”

“You have aye?” He chuckled as he leaned back against the wall. “Looks like we got some admirers,” McGee said as he slapped Mulligan across the chest.

“Don’t go gettin’ cocky about it,” Joni said as a hiccup escaped from her mouth.

“Why the hell were you waitin’ for us?” he asked, taking the bottle of Scotch and pouring himself a shot.

“We want you to take us out!” I answered.

“Take you out where? You’re all too pissed to go anywhere tonight,” he said, shooting back the shot and then passing the bottle to Butcher.

“Just out. Somewhere that we can have a good time and shake our asses,” Joni said, eyeing over to Butcher like he was a piece of meat and I giggled.

“Might be in luck. Couple of the boys came up with us from Cork, havin’ a party out at the club tomorrow. You think that’ll be a good enough time for you lassies?” McGee asked.

“I think it would be perfect. What do you say girls?” I asked, looking at Joni who was beaming and Ana who looked like she was about to piss her pants in fright. “What, Ana? You know you’re coming with us!”

“Oh no, no,” she said, shaking her hands in front of her, “I need to stay here in case someone needs a room or something,” she explained, trying her hardest to get out of it.

“Come on, Ana. Come out and have a good time with us.” Joni looked over at her with a pouting face.

“When was the last time you had a guest besides these two troublemakers?” Mulligan asked.

“Uh…” Ana stalled, “St. Patrick’
s Day last year.”

“
Ok then. You’re gonna get your ass dolled up and you’re gonna come with us tomorrow night,” McGee said, leaving no room for her to say no.

“Ok fine. You thick headed lot. Can’t take no for an answer,” Ana mumbled, eyeing McGee with sharp eyes.

The group of us finished off the bottle of Scotch as we sat around the small card table in the common area of the hotel. By the time the last shot had been taken I was seeing double of everything. The banter between Ana and McGee kept us laughing the entire time, and Butcher and Joni’s constant eye fucking made it an interesting night. The sun was just beginning to come up when the guys left and all of us girls slinked off to our beds, I was out before my head even hit the pillow.

I woke the next afternoon, the room was too warm and the air too still. I jumped from the bed and ran to the bathroom, emptying my stomach of the remaining Scotch that hadn’t been metabolized while I slept. But as soon as I purged it from my system, I felt instantly better. I flushed the toilet, brushed my teeth, and then made my way into the room and opened the window to let in the cool clean air from outside. I felt my stomach rumble and went in search of something to eat, leaving Joni passed out on her bed.

When I made it halfway down the hallway, I heard Ana from the desk. She sounded nervous, scared almost, I made it closer to the end of the hall and then I realized she wasn’t alone, there was a man in the room but I was still too far down the hall to see who it was.

“The next time I come back here, Ana, I’m not gonna be so nice about it. I expect my money,” the man’s voice was harsh, just short of a yell, as he slammed his fist down on the counter and then turned to head out the door. I caught the glimpse of his back as he made it out the door. He was dressed nicely, dress slacks and a collared shirt, and had short cut gray hair. He w
asn’t very big, a little more than five foot, but carried himself in such a way that made up for his lack of intimidating muscle.

I took a few more steps, debating on whether to go back to my room when I heard Ana’s soft whimpers. I made my way out into the common room and saw Ana behind the
small desk, bent over in her chair softly crying into her hands. I made my way to her and knelt in front of her on the floor. “Ana, it’s ok. Don’t cry.” I placed my hand on her back and rubbed small circles in an attempt to calm her down.

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do, Starla. He wants his money and I don’t have any to give him,” she quietly sobbed.

“We’ll figure something out. I promise you he won’t hurt you,” I assured her. I didn’t even know why she owed him money, and I didn’t really care. But I knew that I’d do whatever I could to help her.

“He wouldn’t hurt me.” She looked around the quaint little hotel lobby, the walls covered with outdated wall paper, and old pictures of who I assumed were her family hanging around the walls. “He’d burn this place down. He know
s that would hurt worse than any physical pain. My mum and dad owned this place, they both passed away a few years ago and I’ve been running it ever since,” she sniffled, wiping the tears from her face. “I don’t have anything left of theirs, sold everything to try and keep this place goin’. And last year shit got really hard. Everything that could go wrong did, the water heater burst, the wiring needed to be replaced, and the flooring, and I didn’t have the money to do it.”

“So does he work for the bank or something?” I asked, leaning back against the wall behind me as I sat in front of her on the floor.

“No, McCreevey is much worse.” I saw a shudder tear through her body, whoever he was this man was bad news. “He knew me dad, heard the place was going under and reached out to help. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I took his offer to help.” She let out a deep breath, “He’s a part of the IRA, Irish Republican Army. He seemed like he really wanted to help because he got along with me dad. But when it started getting harder and harder to make the payments, he started visiting more often.”

“How much do you owe him?”

“Close to thirty thousand euros. I was able to pay quite a bit after St. Patrick’s Day last year, but since then I’ve been scraping by, selling my paintings when the money runs out. I gave him what I had today, most of that the money from your stay, but it’s not enough, it’s never enough.”

“We’ll figure this out. I’m not gonna let you lose the hotel,” I promised her. There had to be a way that we could find the money.

“I hope that’s true,” Ana said, patting my hand before standing to make her way toward her bedroom.

I stood and made my way over, grabbing a package of powdered donuts and two bottles of water from the pantry and leaving more than enough on her desk to cover the cost. I made my way back into the room, plopping down onto the bed and contemplating what we could do to help Ana. I didn’t know who the IRA was, but from the man’s display of aggression earlier, I assumed they weren’t the kind of people you wanted to end up in bed with. I ripped open the package and shoved a donut in my mouth as Joni woke and stretched lazily on the bed.

“I’m never drinking Scotch again,” she said, her voice scratchy.

“Me either,” I agreed, holding out the package of donuts to her. She made her way over to my bed, taking a donut and settling in next to me. “We gotta problem.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, mumbling through the half eaten donut.

“Ana owes some
people money, some bad people.” I explained what I’d walked in on this morning, how much hurt I could see in her eyes at the thought of losing the hotel, and how she’d ended up in business with these assholes.

“What can we do?” Joni asked. “I can call my parents and tell them we’ve been kidnapped and they need the ransom.” I saw the wheels spinning a hundred miles an hour in her head.

“Yeah, and then they call the police and that’s something I don’t want to have to explain when they find out that we weren’t actually kidnapped.”

“Well, I can call them and tell them we’re in trouble. No details, just tell them we’ve gotten ourselves in a bad situation and that we need help.”

“You think they would just send that amount of money without wanting details?” I asked, God her family really was made of money.

“Probably not all of it. But I know how to put on an act,” she said, smiling deviously at me.

“Well, you do your thing then.” The twinge of guilt twisted in my stomach as I agreed with her. I really didn’t want to lie to her parents, but technically I wasn’t; she was.

I escaped into the bathroom to shower while Joni went downstairs to the pub to get us all some food and call her parents. I let the water wash the guilt from me and focused on the reason why we were doing it; Ana. Even in the short time we’d been here in Ireland, Ana had become close to us. She was like a mother figure, but an amazing friend at the same time. I knew that no matter what it took we’d figure out how to help her.