Starr Fated (20 page)

“So, how was
your night with Jamie? Come on, spill all the juicy details. Did it
live up to expectations?”

“Not really.
In fact it was a total disaster, but I don’t want to talk about
it.”

“Oh, Sera, no!
What on earth happened? When we talked this through, you seemed so
certain things were going to work out with Jamie. Does this have
anything to do with Liam?” she asked suspiciously.

I sighed to
myself. I really wished she hadn't witnessed what had happened
between Liam and me at the club. It was an added complication I
could well do without.

“No, don’t be
ridiculous. Of course it doesn’t,” I lied.

“I don’t
believe you. You can bury your head in the sand if you like, but I
know what I saw. There was undeniable chemistry between you and
Liam. Something’s going on between you two, isn’t it?”

“No, most
definitely not, you’ve got it all wrong, Abbey. Look, like I said I
really don’t want to talk about any of this. I’ve just got a couple
of huge favours to ask of you,” I pleaded.

“Hmm. I know
you're keeping something from me, and trust me, I will get to the
bottom of this at some point,” she insisted. “But go ahead. I know
you wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. What do you need?”

I knew I
rarely asked her for favours.

“Seeing as
I’ve got all my course work finished ahead of schedule, I thought
I’d head over to spend a bit of time with my Gran in Ireland. I
rang her earlier, and she’s over the moon about it. I can get a
flight this afternoon, so I was hoping you’d drop my completed
course work in at uni for me tomorrow,” I explained.

“You’re going
away? This is all a bit sudden, isn’t it?” she asked
suspiciously.

“Not really.
I’ve been wanting to go for some time, and with the extra money I
earned working at Starr Capital, I’ve decided I should just do it.
Gran is not as young as she was, and I feel bad that I haven’t seen
her for so long. So will you help? If I hand it over to you later
this morning, will you drop my course work in on Monday for
me?”

“You know I
will,” she agreed.

“And I’ve got
one other favour.”

“Spit it
out.”

“Could you
drop my final design work into the Starr Capital offices on Monday
morning as well? I’d do it myself, but of course they aren’t open
on Sundays, and it seems a shame to delay my travel plans when it’s
just a case of dropping a folder off. It’s all ready, all you’d
have to do is hand it in at the reception desk. Their offices
aren’t that far from uni and dead easy to find. Pretty please?” I
practically begged her.

“Well, seeing
as you're my best friend, I suppose I’ll have to do this for you,
even though your holding out on me. I think it sounds like you’re
avoiding a certain someone, but I can tell you're not going to open
up about it. Maybe when you come back you’ll be ready to talk. How
long are you planning to be away for?”

“I’m not sure
yet. It depends if I get a place on the exchange program.
Otherwise, I was thinking of maybe relocating to Dublin, or even
Cork, if I could find a job over there once I’ve graduated. Then
I'd be a lot nearer to my family.”

“Really? Well
I suppose I can understand that would be cool for you, after being
on your own for so long, but are there many suitable jobs that’d
you’d be interested in over there?” I could hear the sceptical tone
in Abbey’s voice.

“I have no
idea, to be honest. That’s what I need to look into,” I explained.
Up to now, I’d always imagined I'd get a job here in London once I
graduated, but the idea of a fresh start somewhere else was
becoming more appealing by the minute.

“Okay, why
don’t I come over in my car to pick all your things up, and then
drive you to the airport? Where are you going from?”

That’s what I
loved about Abbey. She was such a good friend that even though she
may not have bought into my whole relocating to be near my family
story, none the less she was prepared to help me out.

“Heathrow.
That would be really great if you could, Abbey. I’ll really owe you
big time.”

And so that
was how I found myself on Aer Lingus flight EI713 out of Heathrow
bound for Cork that afternoon.

It
was with
great difficulty
that I forced myself to keep a hold on my temper all the time I was
with Seraphina, but she looked so vulnerable and upset that I knew
I had to keep calm for her sake. The last thing she needed was me
ranting and raving uncontrollably about the way my brother had
acted towards her. But I was enraged by his behaviour. If it had
been anyone other than him, I would have fucking killed the bastard
who attempted to force himself on her.

What was
really eating at me was the fact that Jamie had told me he’d acted
that way because he thought that was how I treated women. He’d only
been following my example, apparently. Sure, I remember telling him
that women like a man to take control, but for fucks sake surely he
realised I didn’t mean it was okay to try and force a woman when
she was screaming at him to stop? I knew he’d seen some of the sex
toys I like to play around with sometimes - nothing too extreme,
just a few spankophilia items, but I’ve only ever used those with a
woman’s full consent, if they were into that kind of play too.

Was this all
my fault? I’d always thought I was setting such a positive role
model for Jamie, but now I was left wondering just what kind of an
example I had set my little brother. He clearly thought I used
physical force to overpower women against their will to get what I
wanted, which was certainly not the case and horrified me. Surely
he understood that a woman always has the right to call a halt to
things? Safe, sane and fully consensual – surely I had drummed that
mantra into him countless times, along with all my other advice
about safe sex and always using a condom. Had I really given him
the impression that women were purely objects used to fulfil a
man’s sexual urges?

And another
thing. I felt thoroughly ashamed of my whole treatment of Seraphina
before I'd got to know her. Until I’d met her for myself and
realised she wasn’t the gold digger I’d decided she was, I’d
assumed her sole aim was to get her claws into Jamie as her meal
ticket. I'd behaved appallingly towards her when she was truly the
last person to deserve it.

Because of my
cynical attitude, she must have spent the winter living in a
freezing cold room, without even a decent supply of hot water for
the shower. Yet with one quick phone call and just a few meagre
pounds that I certainly wouldn’t have missed, it could have all
been so easily sorted out. Seraphina hadn't even complained either.
She’d just quietly worked her socks off to make ends meet, while
she studied far harder than the average student, certainly much
harder than my lazy brother.

What had
happened to me? When had I become the kind of man who totally
lacked any kind of compassion? Somehow, I’d lost all my basic
decency and humanity somewhere along the way while I'd concentrated
all my energies on building up a highly profitable business. What
kind of a man had I become? I didn't like the answer to that
question when I started to see myself through Seraphina’s eyes.

I’d really
wanted to talk to her and explain things, but as she’d just been
nearly raped by my brother, it wasn’t the right time. And that had
only happened because I'd basically thrown her at him, thinking I
was doing the right thing, thinking that he really cared for
her.

But next week
when things had calmed down, I decided that I would have to talk to
her, to try and be much more honest. I wanted to ask if we could
maybe start again and work out something between us. So I resolved
to make sure I saw her when she came to the office on Monday to
bring her work in.

But first I
had to deal with Jamie. As I left Seraphina, I called him before
driving over to the hotel where I'd told him to stay put. His phone
rang for ages before he finally answered it.

“Liam. Did you
manage to find Sera so she wouldn’t…you know…?” he whispered.

“Yes, I found
her. Thanks for your concern, little brother. I'm sure you’ll be
very glad to know she made it back to the house safely, no thanks
to you, especially as she didn't even have her coat,” I snarled at
him.

“What? Oh, of
course, but what did she say? Is she… is she going to the police?”
he whispered very quietly. Why was he being so cagy?

“No, luckily
for you she doesn’t want them involved, even though I think she’s
still in a state of shock. How could you have acted in that way? Do
you have any idea what your reckless behaviour could have led to?
What on earth possessed you to use physical violence on a
defenceless female?”

“I can't
really talk about this right now,” he muttered distractedly.

“What? Why
not?” I asked suspiciously.

“I’m… I’m not
alone… and I’m a bit busy,” he murmured, and there were some
distinctly female giggling noises. “Look, thanks for sorting things
out, but I’ve got to go.”

“Jamie, I
really think….”

He’d gone.
He’d hung up on me. Un-fucking-believable.

~*~

“Jamie! Open
up. I want to talk to you. Now,” I demanded as I rapped on his
hotel door. I wanted to find out just what was going on. “Come on,
I know you’re in there.”

“Liam? Err…
what are you doing here?” his surprised voice called back.

“What the fuck
do you think? I want to know exactly what’s been going on.”

“It’s… it’s
not a very good time right now. Can't we talk tomorrow?”

“Open this
fucking door, or so help me God I will break it down,” I fumed at
him. It was now gone one in the morning, and I was in no mood to be
fobbed off.

Slowly the
door opened just enough for Jamie’s head to appear. I didn’t
hesitate. I shoved the door right open and pushed past him into the
room, feeling for the light switch as I went.

“What’s going
on? Who the hell are you?” a female voice protested as the light
flicked on. I glanced around, and saw a pretty young blonde sitting
up in bed, as she hastily wrapped a sheet around her naked
body.

“It’s okay,
he’s my brother,” Jamie called out to her.

“You. Out.
Now.” I pointed at the door to her.

“Liam! Now
hang on just a second. You can't just march in here and order Poppy
around like that,” Jamie argued. He’d grabbed his boxers from the
floor and was hastily putting them on.

“Fine, if
that’s really what you want, but then I take it you're happy for
this Poppy to stay and listen to what I've got to say to you about
your earlier behaviour with Seraphina?” I stared at him.

Jamie scowled
at me.

“Perhaps you’d
better go,” he muttered to the girl.

“Okay, but
promise to call me, Jamie? It’s taken me months to finally get
somewhere with you, and now this,” she grumbled, before giving me a
filthy look. “Do you mind? I’d appreciate some privacy to get
dressed.”

“Don’t worry,
love, I've seen it all before.” Poppy continued to glare at me.
“Okay, you’ve got two minutes.” I rolled my eyes as I turned my
back.

“Look, I'm
really sorry about this, Poppy,” Jamie apologised. “Rain check for
round two eh?”

“I’m going to
hold you to that,” I heard her reply, and then there was the
sickening sound of them kissing.

“Your two
minutes are up.” I turned around to find the girl more or less
decent, so she picked up her shoes and flounced out.

“You are
unreal, Jamie. There was me thinking you’d be worried and upset
about Seraphina because she was supposedly the love of your life,
and yet here you are happily getting your end away before the
sheets have even had time to cool down.”

Jamie scowled
at me again.

“It’s not like
that. I realised you were right all along. Sera was nothing more
than a prick teasing weirdo with way too many issues for me to ever
figure out. So we broke up. And like you’re always telling me,
there are always plenty more fish in the sea. So I moved on, just
like you always do. After Seraphina left, I texted Poppy to see if
she was up for it.”

“And clearly
she was.”

“Oh man, she
most certainly was, but then you had to turn up and put a kibosh on
things,” he complained.

“Oh I'm so
sorry. Perhaps you would have preferred to have had the police
knocking on your door instead, come to arrest you for assault and
attempted rape,” I yelled at him.

“It would
never have come to that. Nothing that bad happened. I admit things
got a bit heated, but Sera really massively overreacted, and then I
panicked a bit, so that’s why I rang you. I wasn’t thinking
straight because I’d had a few beers.”

“You’re dead
right you weren’t thinking straight. I can't believe you thought it
was acceptable to treat Seraphina the way you did. She has a cut
lip and bruises on her arms that were inflicted by you. You’re
lucky she isn’t pressing charges, and that she even asked me not to
be too hard on you. And yet all you’re worried about is yourself.
You’re not even the slightest bit concerned about Seraphina apart
from wanting to be sure your own neck is safe, when she was so
scared when she ran out of here that she left her coat behind. You
had no idea how she was going to get back safely, but you didn't
let that bother you, because you were too busy getting laid.”

“It was her
decision to leave. Sera’s always been very independent and able to
take care of herself, as she’s told me countless times, so I knew
she’d be okay. And maybe I’ve just hardened up and stopped being a
sucker for a pretty face, just as you’ve been endlessly telling me
I ought to.”

I wanted to
punch my brother. But I didn't, because I felt at least partly to
blame, realising that I'd not set him the best of examples with my
treatment of women.