Starr Destined (Starr Series) (16 page)

I was tempted to pour myself a whisky as I wandered around restlessly, but I resisted the urge.  I knew how easily one quick snifter could lead to another when you drank on your own, as my father had proved countless times, and there was no way I was going to end up like him. 

Unlike him, I didn't need alcohol as a prop when things got tough. 

Unlike him, I didn't smoke and took good care of my body, knowing that running a business meant that people were depending on me for their livelihood.

And unlike him, I would do everything in my power to make Seraphina happy and keep her from any kind of harm, as he’d failed to do for his wife. 

Did I blame him for my mother’s suicide? At least partially, yes.  He’d buried his head in the sand and pretended things were fine.  He’d denied that anything was the matter with her, instead of facing up to things.  I’d only been ten years old when she died, but even I’d known she wasn't happy, and I still felt guilty that Jamie and I hadn't been enough to make her want to live, to want to see her sons grow up.  Our father had been the only sane adult in the situation, and he should have taken control.  He’d failed her, and he’d failed his sons, especially after her death, when he’d shut down and ignored us, just leaving us to get on with things as best we could.  He should have stepped up to the plate, to be a decent father to two motherless boys, but instead he’d left it up to me to act as a father figure to Jamie. 

Well, it had made a man of me I guess, and it had pushed me to rise to the challenge of turning the family business around when he died, so maybe I should thank him after all. 

It gave me great personal satisfaction to know that my company provided secure employment for my staff, as well ensuring financial security for both my brother and myself.  And now all I wanted was to provide the same security for Seraphina - if she would only let me.  The way she’d been with me tonight made me worry that things were not going as smoothly as I’d thought, because she still seemed to be keeping herself at a distance from me at times.

I had a shower, and got into bed, but it didn't feel right - I really missed having Sera next to me.  I checked the time - it was still only two in the morning, not too late for her to spend the rest of the night with me.  I picked up my mobile to send a text, to see if I couldn't persuade her to change her mind.  Maybe she was also finding her bed cold and lonely; maybe she couldn’t sleep either. 

But before I could send the text, I got a call from my brother.

“Bit late for you isn’t it Jamie?  I take it this isn’t a social call.  What now?”  I sighed.  Funny how he only ever seemed to call when he needed something.

“It’s Sera.  We’re about to go to hospital by ambulance, and you need to get yourself over there.  She needs you, Liam.”

“What the fuck?  What the hell are you talking about?  Sera’s in her apartment, I saw her safely there myself earlier.”  I sat bolt upright in bed, shocked and puzzled.

“Sera went out again after you left.  She came and joined us at the nightclub, and then there was… an incident.  We think her drink was spiked, and she’s reacted badly to whatever the drug was.”

“Shit.  What was it?  Do you know who spiked her drink?  How bad is she?”  I tried to think cohe
rently as I struggled to take in what Jamie was telling me.

“Look, I can't really explain everything over the phone.  All I know is Sera’s in a bad way, so get yourself over to meet us at St. Thomas’s A & E, and I’ll tell you everything I know then.  And just to warn you, the police will be there too.  We’re about to leave - I’ve got to go.”

The line went dead.  Cold stark fear washed through me.  How could this be happening?  Why had Sera gone out again?  Why had she been with Jamie?  She’d been drugged - what else had been going on?  But it was no good sitting there like a fucking idiot; I needed to pull myself together.  Sera needed me, that’s all I needed to know for now.  I jumped up, grabbed the nearest clothes to hand, threw them on and made my way out.

I was on autopilot as I drove over to St Thomas’s and parked the car, before running into the ugly grey concrete building.  I found my way to A & E reception, and pushed my way through to the front desk, ignoring the protests of all the drunks and other mindless idiots who were hanging around.

“I’m looking for Seraphina Jones - she’s just been brought in by ambulance,” I explained impatiently to the hassled-looking receptionist, thinking she must have drawn the sort straw to be working the Saturday night shift.

“Just a minute, you’ll have to wait your turn,” she started to say, but luckily I heard Jamie calling me from a cubicle at the end of the corridor.

“Is that you Liam?  Over here.”

“Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to you?”  I exclaimed, as I slipped through the cubicle curtain and saw his face.  He had the beginnings of a black eye, a cut lip and a bloody nose.  A big, black male nurse in pale blue scrubs was trying to get him to lie back on the couch so he could clean him up.

“It’s okay, he’s my brother,” Jamie explained as the nurse turned to glower at my unwelcome interruption.  “Don't worry about any of this, it’s just superficial.”  He tried to smile, but winced because of his cut lip.

“Where’s Seraphina?  How is she?”  I demanded.  Not knowing what was going on was killing me.

“She’s in the emergency room - the doctors are working on her.  They wouldn’t let me stay, they ordered me out,” he explained.

I started to walk off to find her, but the nurse grabbed my arm to stop me. 

“You won’t be allowed in with her right now, I’m afraid.  Just let the doctors do what they need to, then we’ll have a better idea what we’re dealing with,” the nurse insisted as he firmly guided me to a chair by the couch.  “And you, young man, keep still - I want to see whether this cut in your eyebrow is going to need suturing or gluing, if I'm going to sort out this pretty face of yours.”  He gloved up and started probing Jamie’s eyebrow, no doubt all too familiar with dealing with this kind of injury on a Saturday night.

I sighed in frustration, but supposed it was best to wait a few minutes and not interrupt the doctors before they could give me some answers.  I was torn - desperate to see Seraphina, but also desperate to find out what had been going on.

“What the hell happened tonight, Jamie?” 

Why had Sera snuck out to meet him?  Had I read things all wrong?  Had she been cheating on me with him behind my back?  I found that hard to believe, but then why had she been at the club with him?  I really needed some answers.

“I’d arranged to meet up with Toby at this club called Togs.  I got there first, then he turned up with Abbey and a crowd of her friends after their Grad Ball.  Next thing I know, Sera’s turned up as well, all by herself, and looking a bit forlorn.  So I got her a drink - just an orange juice, nothing stronger.  We chatted for a bit, cleared the air between us after… you know, after everything that happened before.  She still seemed pretty miserable, so I asked her what was up.  Turned out she was missing you.  From what she said, I think she came out by herself on a sudden impulse.  She felt she was missing out on her last student fling.  But she didn't think you’d approve if she’d said she wanted to come by herself, something about you being overprotective, so she didn't tell you,” he explained as he lay there.

“Oh God, how fucking stupid,” I groaned.  “Miss Stupid Fucking Independence.”

“Yeah, but the really stupid thing is she told me that as soon as she got to the club, she realised she’d rather be with you, and wanted to go home again.  So I said I’d organise a taxi and go with her,” Jamie said.  “I wasn’t hitting on her, I just thought that’s what you’d want me to do, you know, make sure she got back safely,” he hastily added when he caught my pissed expression, as I tried to rein in my immediate jealous reaction. 

“Very chivalrous,” murmured the nurse.  “There, I’ve superglued the cut - it should heal nicely, hardly scar at all, and anyway it’s right in your eyebrow.  I’ll just put some steri-strips on to secure it.  The rest of your cuts and bruises should heal up fine by themselves now I’ve cleaned them up.  I just need to go and fill out the paperwork, so wait here please.” 

“Great.  Thanks,” Jamie murmured, tentatively reaching up to touch the nurse’s handiwork, as he disappeared off through the cubicle curtains.

I was surprised my vain little brother hadn't asked for a mirror to check out the damage for himself, but for once he didn't seem preoccupied about his appearance.

“So what happened?  How did you and Sera end up in hospital?”

“Well, I told her to wait where she was while I organised the taxi.  Then I needed to take a piss, and after that I needed to find Abbey and Toby to let them know we were going.  Then it took a while to sort out a taxi, so I suppose I was gone quite a while.  Anyway, when I finally got back to where I’d told Sera to wait, she was nowhere to be seen.  I thought maybe she’d gone to the loo as well, and as Abbey had come to say good-bye, I sent her into the ladies to look for her, but she wasn’t in there.  So we all went looking for her.”

“Where the hell had she gone?”

“That’s what we couldn’t figure out.  Finally, as I was heading out the back looking for the bouncers to ask for some help, I saw this big swarthy bloke leading Sera towards a back door of the club.  It was open, and I could see there was a car parked outside.  I knew something was badly wrong b
ecause Sera was just leaning on him, totally out of it.  So I asked him what the hell was going on.”

“What did the fucker say?”  I growled, clenching my fists into a tight ball, already having my susp
icions about who this big swarthy bloke might be.

“He claimed he was one of the security team, and that he was looking after Sera because she was very drunk.  He said he was helping her into a taxi to go home, and that I should mind my own business and go back into the club.  But I knew this was a pack of lies - Sera wasn’t drunk when she arrived at the club, and all she’d had was the orange juice I’d got her.  So I told him to leave her alone and I’d take care of her.  That’s when he turned really nasty and told me to fuck off if I knew what was good for me, and threatened to smash my face in if I didn't.”

“And he’d actually got hold of Sera?”  I asked.

“Yeah, he only let go of her when I launched myself at him, and he started lashing out at me.  She fell to the floor, mumbling and trying to crawl away, but she could barely move, and I couldn’t help her because I was fighting with him, and I’m telling you Liam, this guy was built like a huge fucking gorilla.  I’ve got to say things weren’t going too well, until Toby arrived and leapt on him too, and even with the two of us, we were struggling.  But then Abbey came and started yelling for help, and a whole bunch of the proper security guys turned up and finally started taking control when they saw Sera lying there virtually unconscious, and realised how serious the situation was.  They ma
naged to restrain the gorilla, and one of them put Sera in the recovery position, and called for an ambulance.  Abbey insisted the police were called as well, because she was sure that someone must have spiked Sera’s drink, as it was the only logical explanation.”

“So was the gorilla one of the security team or not?”

“Not sure, to be honest.  They did know him I think.  The ambulance arrived pretty quickly, but the paramedics were worried about Sera, because they said her breathing was really shallow and her blood pressure was very low.  They thought she’d probably been given a large dose of whatever it was, and as she’s only a small build, it’d had a very powerful sedative affect on her.  So we came here with the full blues and twos, and they rushed her straight into the emergency room as soon as we got here.  Then the police turned up, and said they’ll want to interview everyone at some point.  And that’s about it.  That’s all I can tell you.”

Jamie lay back on the couch and closed his eyes.  “I’m sorry I didn't do a better job of protecting Sera for you.”

“You did brilliantly, little bro.  I’m really proud of you.  If you hadn't had the guts to challenge that fucker…”  My voice broke as I thought about what could have happened if Jamie hadn't leapt on the guy.  “Toby and Abbey as well.  Sounds like you made quite a team.”

“Yeah.  Christ, you should have heard Abbey yelling blue murder until help arrived.  And Toby got the gorilla in a real vice like grip, which wasn’t easy.  His rugby skills came in pretty handy as it turns out,” he smiled weakly.  I could see he was totally wiped out - he’d been through one hell of an e
xperience.  I found myself brushing his floppy fringe out of his eyes for him, just as I used to when he was little.  It was always me he ran to whenever he fell over, or got into some scrape with the other boys at school, never the latest nanny or au pair.  But tonight, my little baby brother had been Sera’s knight in shining armour.

I looked up as the nurse poked his head around the curtain.

“Are you Liam?  The boyfriend?” 

“Yes, I am.  Why?”

“Could you come with me?  We’ve managed to stabilise her condition, so she’s been moved to CDU - the Clinical Decision Unit - where we’ll be keeping her in overnight for observation, just to be on the safe side.  She’s becoming more responsive, but she’s very distressed, and keeps calling for you, so we think your presence might help to calm her down and reassure her.  She’s still very confused and disorientated, and is likely to be for some time yet, until the drug has passed out of her system,” he explained.