Starr Destined (Starr Series) (24 page)

How annoying.  He’d had his fuck pad cleared out before I'd had a chance to see it for myself, and I couldn’t help suspecting he’d done that on purpose to avoid any awkward or embarrassing questions about his allegedly amazing stock of sex toys and equipment that Jamie had often boasted about to the other lads.

“Oh, right.  It’s just I understood from Mr. Starr that this was a rush job, so I assumed you’d got it all planned out ready to go ahead.”

As usual, it seemed Andrew had dropped everything the second Liam had called.  Perhaps he thought this whole project had been my idea rather than Liam's, when nothing could be further from the truth.

“It is urgent, but how about I give you a call once Sera has had a chance to put some ideas together, Andrew?  For now, just talk her through a few possibilities with the fixtures and fittings maybe?”  Liam glanced over at me.

“Sure, no problem at all.  If you’d like to follow me?”  Andrew suggested.

“So, how’s Aggie’s boy working out?  Is he any good?”  Liam queried, as we went up the spiral stai
rcase towards the bedroom. 

“Young Peter?  Och, he’s not such a bad lad - more brawn than brain, but that’s fine.  You don't need to be a member of Mensa to shift furniture.  I get the distinct impression he doesn’t dare put a foot wrong or he’ll have a very irate mother to answer to.  And I confess, I certainly wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of Aggie,” Andrew chuckled.

“No, I can well imagine her lecturing him and threatening to box his ears if he didn't behave himself and make the most of this opportunity.  I know she’s been worried sick about him finding some sort of gainful employment, seeing as he’s not really the academic sort,” Liam agreed.

“My boy Stuart’s taking him under his wing this week, and then I’ve got him working with Douglas, my other son, next week, so we’ll see how he shapes up after that.”

“Well, I'm sure Aggie appreciates you giving him this chance, Andrew.”

“I was glad to help out once you mentioned him.  As you know, I’m always on the lookout for solid, dependable staff to help out with the heavy lifting work.  A lot of these lads nowadays think it’s b
eneath them, just because they’ve got a few exams under their belt, so they rarely last more than a day or two.”

This was all news to me.  Liam playing some kind of altruistic role for Aggie’s son Peter?  What was that all about?  But that would have to wait until later, because now I was finally standing in Liam's secretive fuck pad.

And it was totally empty. 

No bed, no furniture, even the carpet had been rolled up.  Liam hadn't been joking when he’d said he was going to have the room completely gutted.  I looked around curiously, but it was really just a pretty standard room. Nothing mysterious or intriguing about it whatsoever.  The usual bland white walls.  Nothing hanging on the walls.  Plain white vertical blinds at the window.  The standard large built-in wardrobe and cupboards.  I wandered over to a door on the opposite wall and saw that it led to the ensuite bathroom - and yes, that was also the usual standard white.

“Do you want that ripped out as well?”  Andrew queried, notebook in hand, as he awaited my orders.

“What?  The bathroom?  No, that’s not necessary,” I shook my head as I looked over at Liam for confirmation.

“Sure?  It’s not a problem if you want a new suite fitted, although I'm not sure if the bathroom could be refigured in any way.  Andrew?”

“It’d be tricky, because of how the pipework is configured through the apartment…”  Andrew rubbed his chin with his fingers as he contemplated the challenge.

“Look, before you two get carried away, there’s really nothing wrong with the bathroom as it is,” I insisted, horrified at this extravagant madness.  “Liam, you need to set some sort of budget, give me some sort of idea of what you had in mind for this project you’ve sprung on me.”

Liam looked at me as if I were stupid, while Andrew watched with apparent interest.  I hated to think he assumed I'd been throwing my weight around and demanding changes like a spoilt little madam.

“Budget?  There is no budget, Sera.  You can have anything you choose in here.  Just tell Andrew what you want, and he’ll sort it for you.  You have free rein - the budget is whatever you want it to be,” Liam stated.  “I’m actually quite intrigued to see what you come up with for a complete change, so don't disappoint me,” he winked and smiled, as Andrew stood there, notebook still in hand, patiently waiting for me to command him.

I wasn’t used to doing things this way, but as usual, Liam was forcing things along at the speed of lightning.  The room was already stripped bare, waiting for new life to be breathed into it, so som
ething had to be done, and Liam was handing that responsibility over to me.

But what the hell did I know about interior design?  How was I going to come up with something acceptable?  And where on earth should I start? 

Then, as the evening light streamed into the room through the large picture window, inspiration came, and suddenly it was blindingly obvious to me what this room was crying out for.

No more bland, boring, uninspiring safe options.  No, it needed the complete opposite.  In my head, I could see this room done out in gorgeous exotic jewel colours.  Deep rich peacock blue mixed with a touch of green, highlighted with accents of silver.  Or clashing orange and purple tones, with a hint of lime green thrown in.  And some sort of an ornate bed as the centrepiece, rather than the straight lines Liam had in his ultra masculine bedroom…

It was a stroke
of pure genius on my part to get Sera involved in refurbishing the guest bedroom.  Despite her initial reluctance, once her creative imagination kicked in, she got that dreamy faraway look she always has when she starts working on a design, and I knew then she’d throw herself into the project wholeheartedly. 

To be honest, although I was curious, I really didn't give a fuck what she chose, as long as she was happy with it.  It was only a temporary measure anyhow - I’d already decided I wanted to move on from the apartment to a proper house, so for now the refurb was just to try and purge any remin
ders of my past life that had been connected to Scott Franklin.

I had a long discussion with my lawyer, Jonathan Mead, concerning the case against Scott. 

“There’s enough evidence to convict his accomplice, the barman.  Open and shut case really, considering the evidence, along with the fact that he’s admitted obtaining the drugs, and administering them to render victims helpless to his sexual assaults.  That’s why he’s co-operating - he knows he could be looking at a ten year stretch otherwise. But I’m afraid the case against Scott Franklin isn’t as strong - it basically comes down to his word against the barman’s, so naturally he’ll claim the barman is lying, because he knows there’s no actual hard evidence against him concerning the drugs.  He can also claim it was just a terrible misunderstanding with your brother that led to them fighting, that he was only trying to protect Miss Jones because he thought she was drunk.  I have little doubt that a good defence lawyer could get him off,” he warned.

“That can't be allowed to happen.”  I tried to contain my anger at the injustice of it all.  “That fucker is a danger to women everywhere if he gets released, but especially to Seraphina.  I know he’d come after her again.”

“You could seek a restraining order,” Jonathan suggested.

“Yeah, right, as if he’s going to play by the rules and pay anything more than lip service to that,” I ranted furiously. 

“I know it’s frustrating Liam, but for now we have no option but to sit tight and see how this plays out.  We just have to pray to God he’s landed with a crap defence lawyer.” 

That was the best solution he could come up with?  Trust in the Almighty?

Fuck that. 

Time to come up with a backup plan.

“What do you think?  You can be honest and tell me you hate it,” Sera asked nervously as she led me into the newly decorated and refurbished bedroom.  I’d put pressure on Andrew to really push things along, so it was only just over a week since I’d initiated the project. 

I’d declined all offers to look at colour swatches and so on, telling Sera I'd rather wait until I could see the finished version.  That way, I knew I’d be less tempted to interfere, so I’d managed to stand back and give her free rein to change things.  I told myself it was only one spare bedroom after all, and if it made Sera happy, I could live with it, however loud and horrendous it turned out to be.  I picked up various hints, something about jewel colours, but I resisted the temptation to suggest something more neutral that I'd be more comfortable with.  That would defeat the whole object of the exercise, which was to wipe out the festering memories associated with that room and the fuck buddies Scott Franklin had arranged for me to take my selfish pleasure with in there.

So now I found myself stepping into an alternative universe.  One where colour exploded in my face.

The walls were a light but bright turquoise blue, and there were rich emerald green curtains draping the wide picture window.  Dominating the room was a large bed, which had a very ornate and unusual twisted silver metal bed head, the like of which I'd never seen before. 

The bed cover was made from a contrasting rich, silky, magenta fabric, which had a silver thread shimmering through it. 

On one wall was a large abstract painting with swirls and crosses of all the vivid shades Sera had used. 

But the thing that really caught my eye, was the large, ornate silver-framed full length mirror, which was hung on the opposite wall to the bed.  It had swirling patterns around the edges, which on closer inspection appeared to
be feathers - or were they wings - angel wings maybe?

Instead of the light beech wood furniture the room had contained before, there were two walnut bedside tables and a large matching chest of drawers.  On here, there were several glass vases in shades of jewel colours to match the room.  The sun was glinting on them, casting vivid shafts of colour across the walnut wooden flooring.

I would never have chosen anything like this in a million years, and I knew I should hate such a shocking change. 

But somehow, I didn't.  Somehow, all these clashing colours worked to make the room seem restful and welcoming.  How that was possible, I have no idea, but that’s how it felt.

“Say something, Liam,” Sera prompted.  “Anything.  You look a bit shell shocked, so any kind of feedback would be appreciated.”  She nudged me further into the room, where I saw she’d had some of her photos enlarged and made into canvases to hang on the wall.  Places we’d been, where we’d laughed and had fun together.  Happy memories. Walks along the river.  Strolling around the markets.  Simple things, but the best things. Because they were shared memories.

“Well, I like those,” I murmured as I stared at them.

“That’s a good start,” she smiled, obviously relieved that something met with my approval.  “Anything else?”

“All of it.  I like all of it,” I stated, looking round.

“Liam, you don't have to be polite.  I’ve got Andrew on standby to have the room repainted white again - he said it wouldn’t be a problem.”

“No, I mean it.  I’m not being polite.  If I hated it, I'd say so, but even then I wouldn’t change an
ything, because you’ve done exactly what I asked for when I gave you free rein to change everything in here.  Well, Seraphina Jones, I don't know how you’ve pulled it off, but I actually really like what you’ve done.  Maybe because it reminds me of you - it’s vibrant, it’s alive and it’s very different.”  I smiled as I pulled her into my arms and kissed her.  She never disappointed, did she?  She’d risen to the challenge to eradicate all those old memories, because now it was hard to believe this was actually the same room, as it had such a different vibe to it.

“I’m not sure I believe you, but I’m glad that at least you’re being open minded about these changes,” Sera sighed with apparent relief.

“Where did you get that painting from?  Someone you know?”  I pointed to the abstract piece of art, thinking she’d done well to find such a perfect piece to go in here.  I thought I hated abstract art, but this piece I liked because it just looked right.

“That?  It’s nothing special.  I just knocked it up myself, because it was the only way I could get e
xactly what I wanted.  And I got my uni friend Sasha, who did a textile course, to make this bed cover from some shot silk fabric she sourced from a great little Asian shop in Southall, when I couldn’t find the exact shade I wanted anywhere else.  I really love this colour, and I think it turned out quite well in the end,” Sera explained as she fingered the fabric lovingly.

“It’s certainly very…
bright,” I commented.

“And how about the wooden flooring? Do you like it?” she queried, as she circled her foot on the wooden surface.

“Umm, yes, I suppose so.  I’ve always had carpet in the bedroom, but I suppose this could work.”  I could always get carpet put down again if I found it too cold, I thought to myself.

“I wanted to get that chaise longue thing of yours back in here - you know, the one I saw them shif
ting out, but Andrew was a bit funny about it.  He told me it was a Tantra chair, but when I asked him what that was, he got all embarrassed and told me to Google it.  So I did.  Liam, why did you get rid of that special sex chair?  It looked like it could be a lot of fun.”