Starr Fated (29 page)

On a more
upbeat note, I thought you’d be pleased to know that your designs
have generated a lot of very positive comments during my meetings
here, exactly as I’d hoped. So aside from everything else, I’m
delighted you’ve agreed to accept the position in SCV, because
there are lots of very interesting challenges waiting for you to
start working on as soon as possible.

Please let me
know when you’re heading back to London, because we can talk
everything through so much more easily then. And if you insist on
making your way from Heathrow to the apartment on the tube, be
aware that it’ll take you over an hour and a half, will involve
several changes and then a walk, all with your luggage in tow. Look
it up for yourself if you don’t believe me. My offer stands for
Greg to pick you up. Look on it as providing him with some valuable
employment if that makes you feel better, because it happens to be
the truth. You see, I do my research, so I know Greg is self
employed and only gets paid for the pickups he’s assigned. That’s
why he’s so reliable – he really needs the work because he has a
wife and three young children to support. He knows there’s never
any quibble from me about paying for his services, so he’s always
more than happy to drive me and goes out of his way to provide a
good service. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. So, do you
still want to take the tube?

Really looking
forward to seeing you so that we can talk everything through
properly.

Liam.

Once I’d sent
it, I tried to push my niggling worries about Seraphina’s prickly
attitude to the back of my mind and get on with some work.

If I'm only on
a relatively short trip to the States, I try to keep myself on UK
time, so that I don’t have to re-adjust my body clock both ways.
I'm lucky – I have the ability to switch off and fall asleep
practically anywhere, and very often a short twenty minute power
nap is all I need to keep me alert and functioning. Going for a
swim and a work out in the gym also helps to revitalise me, and so
I always insist my PA books a hotel with decent facilities.

But even
though I had a mountain of preparation to complete for the
following day, as I thought about Seraphina the recent conversation
I'd had with Jamie came to mind.

“Don’t you
think you should at least try to apologise to Seraphina for your
appalling behaviour towards her?” I asked him. I’d insisted we meet
up for lunch the day before I left.

“I think it’s
best that we both move on, so I don't see the point in contacting
her. I know I didn't come out of this well, but Seraphina acted
badly too, Liam. She was a total fucking prick tease the way she
really led me on and then freaked out after I’d spent months being
patient with her. Anyway, you should be pleased, because it turns
out you were right about her all along - she is way too much
trouble. Poppy is far more my type of girl - one who likes to fuck
just as much as I do,” he grinned at me. He certainly didn't seem
broken hearted in any way.

“So you’ve no
intention of trying to reconcile with Seraphina at all?” I needed
to be sure about this. I didn't intend to open up to him yet about
my intentions, but at some point he was going to have to know if I
succeeded in persuading her to try to work something out with
me.

“Absolutely
not. I'm going to be a good boy and just concentrate on passing my
finals. Then Toby and I are going to travel round Australia and New
Zealand, just as we always intended.”

“I see. And
where does this girl Poppy fit into all of this?”

“She doesn't.
It’s nothing serious between us, it’s just a bit of fun. She’s got
plans to travel round Europe with her best friend, so I guess
that’s when we’ll go our separate ways,” he shrugged.

“Look, Jamie,
I just want to clear something up. You seem to be under the
impression that I’m rough with women, that I act as if it’s okay to
force a woman to do things she doesn’t want to. But you need to
understand that I’ve never forced a woman to do anything against
her will. Everything I've done has always been fully consensual. I
don’t dispute that I may have pushed them to try a new
experience…”

“That’s all I
was trying to do with Sera. Liam. I was just trying to use some
foreplay to get her to relax so that I could make it really good
for her and then she just freaked.”

“Wasn’t her
screaming at you to stop enough of a hint that you were pushing her
too far? And then cutting her lip, even if was an accident as you
claim, is just unforgivable.”

“I know, and
believe me I do regret that. It was just a reflex action when she
bit me and I pulled away. I never meant to hurt her, I’d never do
that intentionally, but I wasn’t thinking straight. I'd been
drinking, it had been months since I'd had a proper fuck, Sera was
all over me, tearing my clothes off, and then wham, suddenly she
called a halt, telling me I wasn’t want the one, whatever that
means. I'm telling you, she acted really weird, Liam.”

“Well, just
remember in future that however provocatively you think a woman is
acting towards you, she still has the right to say no, however hard
it is for you to stop. Otherwise next time you could find yourself
in court facing a charge of indecent assault or worse still, rape,”
I warned him.

“There won’t
be a next time. You tried to warn me about Sera but I wouldn’t
listen. You told me I should make sure I picked the right girl in
the first place – one who liked a good hard fuck, so now I have.
Poppy’s perfect for me and I feel much calmer and more relaxed now
I have my own little fuck buddy, just like you,” he grinned at
me.

“Just make
sure it’s always safe sex. And just make sure…oh, never mind.” I
wanted to say just make sure you don’t become a cold heartless
bastard like me, but I didn't. Jamie wasn’t really anything like
me, and for now, I guessed there was no harm in my little brother
playing the field.

~*~

From:
[email protected]

To:
[email protected]

Date: 11 May
2013

Subject: Re:
Don’t bite my head off…

Okay, okay,
Liam. Sorry. Perhaps I was a bit harsh, but it’s just the way you
take control of everything that makes me kick back against you.
It’s exactly what I mean about losing myself, being swept along by
you, and I think it makes me panic and overcompensate just a
tad.

So, on
reflection, now that you’ve explained a bit more about Greg, under
the circumstances I would be happy for him to meet me when I get
back. I’m booked onto flight EI712 on Monday the 13th, which should
get into Heathrow Terminal 1 at 13:05. To be perfectly honest with
you, I’ll be glad to get back because my family are driving me nuts
with their incessant questions about you. Nana seems to think the
sun shines out of your backside for some reason and you can do no
wrong in her eyes, poor deluded woman.

I'm very glad
to hear that you want a totally monogamous relationship just as I
do, and I hope you understand that I just had to put it out there
in case we were on completely different pages. I agree that perhaps
it’s best we talk through my concerns face to face when you get
back. Skype won’t really be any good because I’m afraid I don’t
have a web cam. Sorry you find the communication issues
frustrating, but there’s nothing I can do about the lack of network
reception here. I did come back to spend time with Nana, so I don’t
feel it’s fair to keep disappearing off in search of a decent
signal, especially now that I'm leaving again after just a few
days.

I really
appreciate that you’re going to try and be romantic for me when I
know this is a whole new concept for you – another piece of
information gleaned from the boys in the student house. Apparently
you’ve never believed in any of that romance crap, was how I think
they termed it. So trust that I’ll do my part to ensure I don’t
disappoint you with my choice of underwear, without the need blow a
fortune in Harvey Nicks lingerie department. Just try to reign in
the micro managing freak side of yourself, then hopefully you won’t
wind me up so much.

And what you
said about not wanting anyone else? It’s the same for me, Liam.
It’s only you. I already told you that was the reason I couldn’t go
through with things with Jamie. He wasn’t you. So hopefully you
won’t have to wait too long before we can take things further. On
that subject, I’ve managed to get an appointment at the campus
health centre for the day after I get back. I knew they were
usually pretty good about getting contraception sorted urgently –
with a large and highly sexually active student patient base, I'm
sure you can work out why.

I’m happy that
you're happy with my designs, and if they’ve helped on your trip in
anyway then I’m over the moon. I found producing them very
satisfying, so bring it on with the next phase. But here’s a
thought. I don’t want everyone at work thinking I only got the job
because I'm seeing the Boss, which inevitably I know most of them
would. So can we keep our new relationship under wraps – maybe
that’s what you had in mind anyway? Everyone was under the
impression that you barely knew of my existence, or that if you did
you couldn’t stand me, so maybe we should just allow everyone to
continue thinking along these lines? I have no doubt that you can
pull it off, the way you scowl at me sometimes.

I have to go
now; Aoife is trying to read this over my shoulder. Annoying nosy
relatives! Are your plans firmed up enough yet for you to have any
idea when you’ll be back? What’s it like in New York? I suppose
you’ve been so many times before that it’s all old hat to you.

Sera.

I was much
happier with the tone and content of this email from Seraphina, and
very relieved that she’d shortly be heading back to London. I
quickly made the necessary arrangements for Greg to be at Heathrow
at the designated time, safe in the knowledge that I could trust
him to see her right to the door. I also sent an instruction to my
facilitator, Andrew, asking him to give the apartment a final check
over to ensure everything was in full working order before she
moved in. It was a fully furnished, two bedroom apartment, so all
Seraphina would need to bring were her own personal possessions. I
thought she could maybe turn the second bedroom into a study/studio
for all her bulky art equipment that I'd seen clogging up her room
in the student house, so I had Andrew set it up accordingly.

I hadn't
actually explained to her yet that this apartment was in the same
warehouse conversion complex in Butler’s Wharf where I lived. I was
hoping this arrangement would work well – we would each have our
own space, but be near enough to see each other whenever we wanted.
I’d originally bought this second apartment as a buy to let
property to add to my property portfolio. It’d been very fortunate
that nothing had actually been signed with the latest tenant who’d
been about to move in, and I’d been able to cancel the contract at
the last minute, much to his annoyance. The lack of rental income
from the apartment was of no concern to me under the circumstances,
not if it meant that Seraphina would be living close by.

From:
[email protected]

To:
[email protected]

Date: 12 May
2013

Subject: Wise
Grandmothers

What can I
say? Your grandmother is clearly a very intelligent woman with
impeccable taste, and you would do well to listen to her.

I'm very happy
you’ve booked your return flight, and I’ve arranged for Greg to
pick you up. You should recognise him, but in any case he’ll be
holding a sign up with your name on it.

I’m pleasantly
surprised at how easily you got an appointment at your health
centre. All I would say is be sure to complete the necessary
research beforehand so you can make a well informed choice, and
that I'd be happy to talk through with you any worries or concerns
or health issues you may have. Let me know how you get on
anyway.

As to how you
wish to handle our relationship at work, no one who has seen your
designs can be in any doubt that you’ve been offered the position
purely on merit. However, I can appreciate that you don't wish to
be the topic of gossip any more than I do, and as I’ve always kept
my private life totally separate from my business concerns, I’m
happy to continue in the same way for the time being. The other
reason that it might be best to keep things under wraps for now is
Jamie. I imagine he’s going to be surprised about us, and I’d
rather he’d completed his finals before we drop this potential
bombshell on him. I don't want him distracted from all the studying
he needs to complete if he’s to do well. Jamie’s a very bright lad,
but he’s also lazy and leaves everything to the last minute, as I'm
sure you must’ve realised in your dealings with him. I know you
must be finding all this rather awkward, but as soon as the time is
right, I promise I’ll sit him down and explain everything. This
secrecy goes against the grain for me, I prefer to be open and
honest, but I hope you agree that it’s for the best under the
circumstances.

You asked me
about New York. Truthfully, I hardly get to see much of it as I
usually have back-to-back meetings, conferences and various other
functions to attend while I'm here, and the inside of one building
tends to look much like another after a while. Perhaps you'd like
to come with me on a future trip, and then maybe we could take some
time out to do some sightseeing?

I’m flying out
of New York on Thursday evening, and will be back in London on
Friday morning. So that gives you the chance of a few days to
settle yourself into the apartment before I’m back. I thought
perhaps I could take you out to dinner on Friday evening for our
first date?