Starr Destined (Starr Series) (27 page)

“Well, are you going to let him in, or are you going to get security to deal with him?”

“I’d better let him in and see if I can sober him up with some coffee.  Looks like he’s been out either celebrating or drowning his sorrows - it all boils down to much the same thing with Finny,” I sighed as I buzzed him in and went to open the door, with Abbey following behind.

“Sera!  Aren't you a sight for sore eyes.  Aren’t you gonna give me a big hug hello?”  Finny beamed as he lurched towards me.  I nearly passed out from the alcoholic fumes as he gave me a big bear hug.

“Finny, why didn't you let me know you were coming?”  I managed to extricate myself from his grasp and then led him through to the lounge.

“I wanted to surprise you.  See, I thought maybes you’d wanna know - I’m gonna be famous,” he slurred, as he pushed his long dark curly hair out of his eyes.  He was wearing washed out scruffy black jeans, a short-sleeved black T-shirt that showed off the full sleeve tattoos on his arms, and his usual black leather waistcoat.

“Famous?  How so?  I’m Abbey by the way.  Sera’s best friend,” Abbey introduced herself.  Finny turned to look at her, not having noticed her before in his befuddled state.

“Well, hello there Abbey.  Really grand to meet you.”  Finny took her hand and shook it enthusiast
ically several times as he grinned at her.

“You got your recording contract then?”  I asked somewhat incredulously.  I thought Rivershades - Finny’s band - were pretty good, but I also knew how hard it was to get anywhere in the music bus
iness.  

“Sure did.  So me and the boys are gonna be rich and famous.  And just think, Sera, you could’ve been part of it if you’d stuck with us, instead of going off with that stupid stuck up English twat,” he pronounced, as he took a swig from the whiskey bottle he was clutching.  Jameson had always been his drink of choice for getting hammered, which he did on a pretty regular basis.  Good looking as Finny undoubtedly was, this was one of his less attractive attributes, along with his habit of smoking homemade roll ups of either tobacco or weed, which meant his fingers were usually stained and smelled disgusting.  Just the thought of that made me appreciate Liam's strong anti-drink and drug stance and his fastidious personal standards.

“How about I go and put that coffee on?”  Abbey murmured.

“Good plan.  And make it extra strong,” I suggested as she nodded and headed off to the kitchen.

“Don’t start with all that rubbish, Finny,” I warned him.  “I’d never have made the grade as your singer, so I did you a favour by dropping out all those years ago.  And anyway, don't forget that I’m English too, so easy on the insults, okay?”

“You’re not really English.  Your mother was Irish, your family are Irish, and that’s where you b
elong.  In Ireland, with me, not here with that English fucker,” he stated belligerently as he took another swig of whiskey.

“Actually, Liam’s mother was Irish too, so he’s as Irish as I am,” I pointed out.

“No, he isn’t.  He just isn’t, ‘cos I’m telling you there’s not a drop of Irish blood in that arrogant fucker whatsoever.  And he’s all wrong for you, Sera.  He's changed you, bought you, made you lose sight of who you really are.”  He jabbed his finger at me to make his point.

“That’s enough, Finny.  You have no right to come here and start with all this shit again, so if that’s all you’ve come to do, you might as well leave right now,” I told him firmly, as I folded my arms across my chest. 
Abbey and I had dressed for a girl’s night in, so the fact that I was wearing my black cat onesie possibly made it harder for him to take me seriously, but the message that he was pissing me off should still have been getting through loud and clear.

“Aw, don't be like that, Sera.  I'm only telling you the way I see it, because of how much I care about you.”  Finny took another swing of whiskey.

“For your information, Finbarr Fitzpatrick, I’m very happy with Liam, because he’s a really good guy.  I have a great job where I can put my graphics degree to very good use.  For once in my life I'm not living in a hovel and I'm not struggling to keep my head above water, so from where I'm standing right now, my life looks pretty good actually. So. Shut. The.  Fuck. Up.  Got it Finbarr?”

“Oooh, listen to you getting all defensive,” Finny swayed, as he held his hands up.  “He’s really got to you, hasn’t he?”

“And anyway, if you’re going to be as rich and famous as you seem to think, aren’t you the one who’s selling out, seeing as you’ll no longer be an impoverished struggling musician?”

“S’different.  I’ll just be performing my music to a wider audience.  Nothing else’ll change,” he insisted as he followed me to the kitchen.

“Yeah, right.  If things really take off for you, you’ll be earning crap loads of money, and you’ll be having all those screaming groupies after your body – and you don't think that’ll change you in any way?”

“Aww, getting jealous are you?  You’ve got nothing to worry about, ‘cos you and me are meant to be together - I’ve even written you a special song about it.  I just don't get why you can’t see that English fucker’s all wrong for you.”  He started to make a grab for me until Abbey intercepted him and handed him a mug of coffee.

“Get that down you,” she told him, as she firmly headed him towards the table and chairs.  “Maybe it’ll help stop you talking out of your arse and making a total prat of yourself.”

Finny raised his eyebrows as he stared quizzically at her.

“What the feck do you know about anything anyway?” he frowned, as he slumped in a chair.

“A darn sight more than you do, especially at the moment.  If I were you, I’d shut my gob before you say something that’ll really piss Sera off and she throws you out and never speaks to you again.”  Abbey held his gaze.

“Seems to me you’re the gobby one around here,” Finny muttered, but he lowered his gaze and took a swig of the coffee.  “Jaysus, I’m only saying the truth, Sera.  If
he
hadn’t come along, blinding you with all his fancy wealthy ways, I know me and you would’ve ended up back together.  Well, when I’m as rich as he is, you won’t need him anymore, will you?”

“Finny!  We’ve never been more than just friends, and I’ve never encouraged you to believe othe
rwise, have I?  How could you even think money has anything to do with how I feel about Liam?” 

“We spent ages together – we kissed and everything.  You can’t deny that,” he argued.

“That was years ago when we were just silly teenagers messing around, and we only kissed once or twice at the most.  Even if I hadn’t met Liam, it would never have worked out between us, because you’re more like a cousin or a brother to me – we’re family, Finny,” I tried to get him to see.

Finny fumbled as he reached into the pocket of his waistcoat, pulled out a small oblong tin, and frowned as he concentrated on constructing a roll up with some of the contents.

“No smoking in here.  This is a drug free zone,” I informed him disapprovingly.

“Oh for feck’s sake, lighten up, will you?  Where’s the harm in having a toke or two?” he scowled, as he lit up his messy joint then closed his eyes as he inhaled.

I sighed as I fetched him a small glass dish to use as an ashtray, and then went and opened the patio doors to let the fumes escape.  Luckily, it was a nice warm evening, with just a gentle breeze.

After he’d finished off the last of the whiskey, Finny’s eyes glazed over and he slumped on the table with his eyes closed, just quietly singing to himself.

“What are you going to do with him?”  Abbey asked as we watched him from the kitchen.

“I can hardly throw him out, the state he’s in, can I?”  I sighed in resignation.

I toyed with the idea of letting Finny sleep on the sofa, but as it was white leather, I didn't think it would stand up to him vomiting all over it, which was a distinct possibility - at least bedding could be thrown in the washing machine if needs be. 

It made more sense to put him my bedroom to sleep things off, as we’d set Abbey up in my spare room - she’d agreed it was best she stayed the night after drowning her sorrows by polishing off the whole bottle of wine she’d brought with her.  Since the drink-spiking incident, I wasn’t interested in drinking any kind of alcohol, because I hated that feeling of not being in control, so I hadn't had any. 

Between us, Abbey and I managed to plonk him on my bed, and after removing his boots, and throwing a cover over him, we left him to sleep things off.  It was no big deal for me to share a bed with Abbey in the spare room - we’d done it many times in the past. 

Shit, shit,
shit
.

I should’ve guessed Liam would most likely rush back earlier than expected, the way he’d been fus
sing about staying away for just one night. 

I’d planned that Finbarr would be out of my apartment before Liam arrived back.  I had been going to tell Liam about Finny dropping in, but I’d have preferred to have picked my moment.  Now, by arriving back much earlier in the morning than expected, he’d seen my unexpected guest crashed out in all his drunken glory and I had to admit it didn't look
good. 

Naturally, I hadn’t planned on Liam finding another man in my bed, so I went running to my
room the following morning when I was woken by the sound of his angry voice.  I stood in the doorway, shocked to see him standing over my bed, staring at Finbarr with a look of total disgust on his face.  Finny was still happily snoring away, totally oblivious as he lay there curled up with the empty whiskey bottle we’d given up trying to prise out of his hands last night.

“Do you mind telling me what the fuck this Irish git is doing in your bed?”  Liam demanded fur
iously.  It didn’t help that Finny stirred slightly and whispered my name as he smiled in his sleep. 

“Liam…you’re back earlier than expected…”  I stammered, thinking that now he’d walked in like this unexpectedly, maybe it hadn't been such a great idea for Liam to keep a key to my place.

“Well I'm so sorry to have interrupted things,” Liam replied sarcastically.  “But you haven’t answered my question.  What is
he
doing in your bed?”

“Oh holy shit,” Abbey whispered as she came up behind me, still in her leopard print onesie - I was still in my black cat one.

“What does it look like, Liam?”  I snapped back, annoyed at his accusatory tone.  “Finbarr turned up here last night because he wanted to share the good news that he’s got a recording contract, and I'm the only family he's got over here.  He was a bit worse for wear, so we put him in here to sleep it off.  What was I supposed to do, just turf him out?”

“Why not?  Sounds good to me,” Liam glared at Finny.

I grabbed Liam's arm, pulled him out of the bedroom and headed for the lounge, pushing past Abbey as she quickly jumped back out of our way.

“So when Kimberley turned up at your place that time with her ‘damsel in distress’ routine, did you turn her away?  No, as I recall, you felt obliged to help her, because that’s what decent people do, don't they?”  I stared up at Liam, determined not to feel guilty. I’d done nothing wrong, so there was nothing I had to feel guilty about.

“That was different.  I only invited Kimberley in because she felt threatened,” he retorted.

“So she claimed, but anyway that’s not the point.  The point is, if I had turned Finbarr away when he was in no fit state to take care of himself in a strange new city, and something bad had happened to him, I'd never have forgiven myself.”

“But after what happened to you… letting him stay the night… in your bed…”

“Well, obviously I didn't share it with him, did I?  I slept in with Abbey instead, and please don't tell me you have an issue about me sharing a bed with her?”  I glared at him.

“No, of course not, but…”

“No ‘buts’ Liam.  Either you trust me, or you don't.  So which is it?  Are you seriously accusing me of cheating on you with Finny?”

Liam stared at me for a minute.

“Well, no…”

“So what’s this all about then?”

“Look, it was just such a shock to come in and see him in your bed like that, you know?  Especially as I know he has feelings for you.”

“But I don't have those kind of feelings for him, do I?  So maybe you should feel a bit sorry for him instead and show a little compassion?  I'm with
you
, I’m in love with
you
, not him, aren’t I?  So surely you can call on some maturity to be the bigger man here, Liam.”

I knew it was a big ask, and I did feel a bit of a hypocrite, considering how I’d overreacted about Kimberley in the past.  But I thought we should both try harder to overcome our jealousy issues and act like the adults we were supposed to be.  Especially Liam, as he was meant to be the older, more mature one of us.

Liam closed his eyes as he turned his head upwards and took a deep breath, and then slowly released it.  Obviously a bit calmer now, he opened his eyes and reached over to pull me into his arms.

“You’re right, and I'm sorry for acting the way I did,” he sighed.  “I just had this picture of coming back early and slipping into bed with you… but instead I find
him
in there.”