Starr Fated (53 page)

“I told you
before, it’s a family thing. It’s what we always do when Liam’s not
away on business.” I managed to extricate myself from her grip.
“Haven’t you got things to do? How about you hang out with
Chloe?”

“I expect
she’s busy with Adam, and anyway, I want to be with you. You are
way more fun,” she smiled, as she pushed back the sheets from her
naked body in an attempt to entice me back for yet more sex, having
spent the last two nights with me.

Poppy was so
annoying. She couldn’t take a hint that I wasn’t interested any
more. At first, all the sex had been great, after going for months
without while I'd been pursuing Seraphina. Now it had actually got
rather tedious, and I totally understood why my brother never kept
any of his playmates longer than a month. Poppy had morphed into
this creature who seemed intent on organising me and taking over my
whole life, rather than just being happy for us to share a great
fuck together now and again.

I’d tried
cooling things between us by telling her, perfectly truthfully,
that I had to spend all my spare time studying for my finals. But
Poppy kept just turning up, using the excuse that’d she’d make
dinner while I was studying. Trouble was, she couldn’t cook, so the
meals she prepared nearly always tasted like shit. Then we ended up
either ordering food in or going out to eat, disrupting my study
schedule further.

I knew I'd
left it all to the last minute, but that was the way I always
worked. I needed that pressure to push me to get on with it. But it
meant I had to stick to my timetable to make sure I covered every
topic. No way was I going to come out of uni with anything less
than a decent 2:1 degree.

The stupid
thing was, Liam had been worried that Sera would distract me from
my studies, but she wouldn’t have. She would never have selfishly
interrupted a carefully planned out study timetable in the way that
attention seeking Poppy had numerous times now. And unlike Poppy,
Sera was a great cook. We really missed her Thursday evening
suppers.

Seraphina.

Boy, I’d
really fucked up with her. The more time I spent with Poppy, the
more I realised what a great girl Sera was - apart from her issue
about sex of course. Maybe she just needed some therapy to help her
overcome whatever her problem was. But the more sex I had with
Poppy, the less important it seemed somehow. I’d even go as far as
to say sex became boring and repetitive when you didn't actually
like the person you were with very much, so I guess that was a
valuable lesson for me to learn.

I felt bad
about how things had ended between me and Sera, and I’d been
thinking about trying to meet up with her to apologise and clear
the air, maybe after my exams and before Toby and I headed off to
Australia for our year out. I hoped that she’d accept that we’d
both had too much to drink at the Spring Ball, which was a large
contributory factor in how things had turned out between us. I’d
tried asking Abbey how Sera was when she was over one day hooking
up with Toby, but she’d been decidedly frosty towards me.

“What’s it to
you?” she’d glared at me.

“I just
wondered, that’s all,” I’d shrugged, but hadn't pursued my enquiry
any further.

So I decided
I’d talk to Liam about Sera today, knowing he must have some
contact with her, seeing as he’d offered her a job at Starr
Capital.

I’d initially
been surprised about the job offer, remembering his original very
sceptical attitude towards her, but I knew my brother was very
shrewd in all his business matters, and he’d seen for himself that
Sera was a very talented graphic designer, as I'd tried to tell him
in the first place. I was very happy that she’d got a decent job at
SCV, thanks to my intervention on her behalf. She deserved a break,
no question about it, because she’d certainly had a crap few years
up to now.

I was so keen
to get away from Poppy that I actually ended up arriving early for
lunch at Liam’s place – an unheard of occurrence up to now. Even
so, I was surprised that he appeared to be out when I buzzed to be
let in, but just as I was calling his mobile to find out where he
was, I spotted him coming out of the lift and heading back to his
apartment, carrying a couple of bags of shopping. He was
preoccupied as he looked at his phone, and he appeared to be
smiling. Smiling? Liam? What was that all about?

“Hey there.
Aggie let you down this week or something?” I queried, as I nodded
at the bags of food from the supermarket. His housekeeper normally
made sure he was well stocked up with everything he needed.

“Hmm? Oh, I’ve
eaten at home more than expected, so I just needed a few extra
things for our lunch, that’s all,” he replied absent mindedly, as
he put his phone away in his jeans pocket and then let me in to his
apartment. “How come you’re here early?”

I followed him
into the kitchen and watched as he unloaded the supplies, and set
about preparing our lunch. It looked like we were having some sort
of chicken salad from what I could see.

“I'm early
because I needed to get away from Poppy, if you must know. She’s
driving me nuts.”

“Poppy? Oh
that girl you’re seeing. I thought you liked her. I thought she was
the perfect little shagging companion for you.”

“She was at
first. Now she isn’t. She’s round at my place all the time, and
seems to want us to get more serious, but I'm not interested. You
of all people know how that is. It’s time for me to move on, just
like you always do, but Poppy is proving hard to shake off. She’s
even talking about changing her travel plans to come to Australia
with me and Toby.”

“Just come
right out with it. Tell her it’s over and you don't want to see her
again. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. For Christ’s sake
don't wait until she’s bought her plane ticket for Australia before
you dump her.”

“I know you’re
right. You’re the undoubted expert at dumping relationship baggage,
the number of times you’ve done it over the years to get away from
all those women keen to get their claws into you.”

Liam gave me a
funny look, but didn't say anything. He took his phone out, checked
the screen, then sighed and put it away again.

“Has Seraphina
started working for you yet?” I asked. Liam’s head shot up and he
stared at me.

“She starts
tomorrow. Why do you ask?”

“I just
wondered, that’s all. I… um… I was thinking about getting in touch
with her. To apologise, clear things up between us.”

“Don't you
think it’s a bit late for all that?”

“No, I think
now the dust has had a chance to settle it might be a better time
actually.”

“You’re not
thinking of trying to start things up with her again are you?” He
sounded totally horrified.

I just
shrugged by way of an answer.

Liam virtually
bristled with hostility. So he still didn't approve of me having
any kind of a relationship with Sera, even if he was prepared to
give her a job. But with Liam, I guessed he didn't have to actually
like his employees, all he cared about was whether they could do
their job.

“I think
you’ve burnt your bridges there, Jamie. Sometimes it’s best just to
move on and leave well alone.”

“Perhaps
you’re right. I just wanted the chance to clear the air with her,
try to put things right before I headed off to the other side of
the world.”

“So, how’s the
studying going?” Liam swiftly changed the subject, making it clear
he had no wish to discuss Sera any further.

“Okay, at
least until Poppy finds an excuse to interrupt me.”

Liam paused
with his food preparations.

“Just deal
with her, Jamie. You can’t afford to let this go on. You’re the one
who is going to have to live with it if you bomb in your
finals.”

“I will.
You’re right. As soon as I get back, I’ll spell it out to her.”

Liam’s phone
buzzed and he quickly grabbed it to check it out. I watched
incredulously as a big smile spread across his face. Maybe it was
news about some special deal he had going on that was making his
face light up like that. I couldn’t think of any other reason.

“So, did you
throw your latest playmate out extra early this morning?”

“I’m sorry?”
Liam wasn’t really listening as he was busy sending a reply on his
phone.

“I didn't see
any blonde bimbo leaving on my way in today.”

“I don't have
one anymore.”

“Oh, you’re
in-between partners at the moment are you?”

“Not
exactly.”

“Liam, what is
the matter with you today? You seem distracted, and well… odd.
Different somehow.”

My big brother
was not his usual self at all. There was a different look about
him. I’d seen him smiling several times now instead of just
scowling and frowning as he usually did. And I got the distinct
impression that he was not really listening to me, as if his mind
was elsewhere.

“There’s
nothing the matter with me. I’m fine. But I do unexpectedly have
somewhere to be later on this afternoon, so we’d better get on with
this lunch, hadn't we?”

Impossible as
it seemed, it suddenly occurred to me that there could be another
reason for Liam’s unusual behaviour.

“If I didn't
know better, I’d swear you were maybe seeing someone, and that’s
why you’re acting all weird and goofy.”

Liam avoided
my eye by turning his back on me to get something from the
cupboard. A classic avoidance tactic – I should know, because I was
an expert at avoiding pointed questions from my brother. He was
just as terrible a liar as I was.

“I’m right,
aren’t I! That’s it! You’ve finally met someone.”

“I don't know
what you mean by me acting weird and goofy,” he replied
evasively.

“You can deny
it all you like, Liam, but I can tell there is definitely something
going on. So it seems even you are not immune to Cupid’s arrow,
eh?” I grinned.

“Don’t talk
such rubbish. Now come and sit down for your lunch, and tell me all
about your plans for Australia now that you’ve got your visa
sorted.”

I smiled to
myself as I sat down with him and started to eat. He could deny it
all he liked, but I knew I'd hit the nail on the head. It seemed
that some woman had finally got my big brother acting like a love
sick teenager.

Thanks to Liam
, I went from being a shy, repressed and
ignorant virgin who thought she might be gay because of a total
lack of interest in sex, to a sex-crazed, nymphomaniac sex addict.
That was the effect he had on me. Thoughts of Liam dominated my
days and my nights. I craved him, craved his presence, his body,
all the time, every minute of every day. I only had to see him, he
only had to walk into the room, and I wanted him, needed him, to
the point of obsession. I would happily have spent all day, every
day in bed with him, having any kind of sex he decreed, because he
always made it so amazingly, addictively good.

Of course I
did my best to fight this insane obsession, which wasn’t easy,
because Liam appeared, at the moment anyway, to feel the same way
about me. He seemed just as obsessed as I was, probably even more
so, because he was so intensely jealous and possessive. He insisted
that he had to know where I was at all times. He hated it if
another man so much as looked at me, or if I appeared to take the
slightest interest in a guy, which was really stupid because I
wasn’t even remotely interested in anyone other than him.

Liam wasn’t
the only one with a possessive nature. I found out about jealousy
the hard way when I discovered Liam coming out of his apartment one
evening with a gorgeous tall blonde draped around him. What little
she was wearing showed off her fantastic curvy figure, and her
bright red lipstick emphasised her full pouty lips. The woman just
oozed sex appeal. Liam put his hand on the small of her back, and
she gazed up at him adoringly, then kissed his cheek. She leaned
against him as she put her hand on his shoulder, and I heard him
say something like ‘my pleasure’ when she thanked him.

‘
Get your
fucking hands off my fucking boyfriend’
, I wanted to scream at
her, instead of which I was struck dumb as I just stood there
staring gormlessly at the pair of them like an idiot.

Liam’s face
froze when he saw me. Was that a guilty look on his face? Had I
caught him out because in my excitement to see him I’d turned up a
few minutes earlier than arranged when I’m usually late?

Then the
blonde turned and looked at me, but she hardly batted an eyelid as
she dismissively turned her gaze back to Liam. She clearly didn't
see me as any kind of threat or rival for his affections, and she
made me feel like a silly little girl compared to a proper woman
like her.

“Please wait.
I’ll be back in just a minute,” Liam said to me curtly as he headed
towards the lift with this woman. He didn't introduce us or make
any kind of explanation, he just walked off with her, leaving me
standing there like a lemon.

I was so
livid, so angry that no way was I capable of just standing there
calmly waiting for him to return from walking this bimbo back to
her car or wherever, and then have to stand there and listen to him
making some lame excuse about what was going on. I stormed back to
my apartment, slamming the door behind me.

What had I
just witnessed? Had I just inadvertently stumbled on Liam reverting
to type? The sexy blonde with a great rack had always been his
playmate of choice, so had he been messing around with her behind
my back? Was this why he always wanted to know where I was, so that
he could keep all the different strands of his life safely
separated? Was everything he’d been telling me a pack of lies?