Beers, Hens, and Irishmen (Warbler's Point Series) (40 page)

Panic started to swell in her body. She wouldn’t be able to finally finish her moment with Finn if his brother was standing in her house. Thinking quickly she said, “Yes, I am so if you don’t mind, could we could talk about whatever you want to talk about later, that would be appreciated.” She was still holding her robe tight while she silently begged for Liam to catch her drift and leave abruptly.

But with O’Leary men, she should have re
alized a long time ago, they were stubborn ass cows a lot of the times and if they were set on something, they were going to see it through until they get what they wanted. Hence Liam not making a move for her door to leave.

“I will be quick.” He shut her door and stood in front of it. “I just…God this is hard.”

Oh crap! Please don’t let him confess his love for her, Sophie thought. She could not deal with that right now, especially when she had so many feelings for Finn at the current moment, so many inappropriate feelings that would for sure rip the two brothers apart. Liam was already distraught from Neala, she didn’t want to break his heart as well.

She tried to interrupt him, “Liam, we can talk about this later…”

“NO!” She shouted and then gave her an apologetic look for raising his voice. “I’m sorry. I just have to get this out now.” Sophie braced herself. “I want to let you know that I love you…”

SHIT!!! Sophie started to say something but he cut her off. “But I love you like a friend. I have finally realized that the feelings I have for you are nothing but an old flame that has burned out and the love I have for you is pure friendship.”

A little shocked by his omission, all Sophie could say was, “Oh.”

He grabbed her hand and held it tight. “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but I just needed closure…
you know between us. I’m going to go get my wife back and I wanted to make sure all obstacles were out of the way before I do that.”

Sophie just nodded.
She didn’t know what to say. A part of her was relieved that she didn’t have to deal with two O’Leary men fighting over her especially since their favorite way of fighting was with fists. But there was also a part of her that was extremely disappointed. Liam just told her he had absolutely zero feelings for her, as if she was just his sister now. Didn’t their relationship mean anything to him? Shouldn’t he have some sort of yearning for her?

Just as she was about to ask Liam if he was completely sure he wanted to go back to Neala, there was a knock on her door. Liam grinned up at her, “Oh sorry. That must be the guy you are waiting for. I will get out of your way.”

He went to go open the door and she quickly said, “No!” but it was too late. Finn and Liam were staring at each other in her doorway. Finn’s mouth fell open, as did hers. Liam looked back at Sophie with an angry scowl and then at Finn. She knew the minute Liam figured out Finn was the man she was expecting because an angry snarl came out of his mouth and Liam landed his fist right on Finn’s face sending him flying backwards off her porch.

“No! Liam!” Sophie screeched and went over to see if Finn was ok. She was just about to check out his face when he bounced up and charged after Liam who was now standing in her front yard waiting for Finn to attack. “Please don’t
!” She screamed.

Finn didn’t even bother to listen to Sophie’
s pleads instead he charged after his brother and tackled him to the ground. Sophie stood by in the dark, in her silk robe, on her front yard watching the O’Leary boys go after each other. She knew she should go call someone but she was so terrified that her legs didn’t move. She kept telling them to move toward the house and grab the phone but it was as if when she stepped onto her lawn, she stepped into cement because she was completely unable to move.

Finn was on top of Liam now with his fist cocked back, aiming for Liam’s face. Before Finn co
uld connect with his older brother’s face, Liam jerked Finn up with his hips, throwing Finn off just enough for Liam to wiggle free. They both scrambled on the ground trying to get at one another while Sophie just stared.

“You son of a bitch.”
Liam growled out while flinging a punch at Finn’s head that Finn avoided as he swung at Liam, connecting with Liam’s side. Liam grunted and stammered back slightly, giving Finn enough time to throw another punch, this time connecting with Liam’s cheek. The sound in the air was deafening. Sophie just stood still, crying. She was completely useless and couldn’t pull herself together enough to stop what was going on.

Liam gathered himself just in the nick of time to avoid another blow from Finn. “What the fuck do you think you are doing with Sophie?” Liam asked
while he threw a punch into Finn’s stomach. “Were you going to fuck her? Is that why she is dressed like that?”

Finn quickly took a glance at Sophie
while holding his side and she watched his eyes widen which made Sophie blush furiously. Did she read Finn wrong? Was he not expecting to take her tonight? The thought that she might have mistaken his phone call overwhelmed her senses, which shot a bolt of embarrassing heat through her body.

Finn was breathing heavily and took his eyes off of S
ophie to look back at Liam. Both of them had blood falling from their faces and were in extremely defensive positions, just waiting for an attack from one another.

“NO!” Finn answered Liam’s question
with a loud grunt.

“Then why the hell is she dressed like that with candles lit all over her house?”
Liam said while flinging his arm toward Sophie and her house.

Finn looked absolutely shocked and shook his head. That was when Sophie knew she was wrong about Finn’s intentions of coming over. She wanted to go dig a hole and bury herself in it she was so embarrassed.

“I have no clue. I came here to…” Finn stopped talking and ran both of his hands through his hair, looking at loss for words.

Liam took a step forward letting Finn know
he better start speaking soon. “Why did you come here?” Liam practically growled.

Finn exhaled and looked his brother dead in the eyes. Sophie gave Finn a lot of credit for the maturity he was showing at the moment, well besides the fighting.

“I came here to apologize for my actions the other day...when I was drunk” Liam started charging toward Finn but Finn held his hands up to stop his brother so Finn could finish explaining. “I was drunk, man and way out of line. I realized that I was out of line with Sophie and stopped before anything happened.” Finn was just talking to Liam now, not even Sophie. She was still stuck in the same spot, observing the two brothers. “I knew what I was doing was wrong and I knew I was using her to get back at you for the things we said to each other at the pub but I knew if I went there with Sophie I would lose you forever and she wasn’t worth it.” He shook his head in defeat. “She’s not worth it, Liam.”

Finn’s last words cut right through Sophie, her stomach grew in knots. She didn’t know how much worse her night could get until Finn added, “I want nothing to do with her. She’s not who I am in love with and she’s not who I’m attracted to. I’m sorry, she’s all yours man.”

Sophie felt tears starting to prick the front of her eyes but she would not allow for them to drop. She would not break down in front of these two assholes. All her thoughts about Finn wanting her and coming over here to finish what he started the other night vanished within the matter of a couple of seconds. What she thought was going to be an extremely romantic and fulfilling night turned into a night of total loss and embarrassment.

Liam looked between her and Finn and then finally said, “I don’t want her man. I came over here for closure. I’m going after Neala, I love my wife and I want her back.”

Sophie watched as a giant grin spread across Finn’s face. If she wasn’t so heart-broken she would have fallen in love with Finn and that gorgeous smile of his but instead she wiped a stray tear quickly off her cheek so the two O’Learys wouldn’t see how much they hurt her. Even if they didn’t want her she thought they were at least friends and friends didn’t talk about each other like that, as if she was a piece of trash that could be flung around without a worry or care.

“You and Neala?”
Finn asked. “Wow, man that is great.” Finn held out his hand for Liam to shake. Liam looked Finn up and down for a second and then pulled his brother into an embrace. Well good for them, Sophie thought. How nice that they could beat the crap out of each other and then spit out nasty things about her and make up. What a wonderful moment for them she thought as she rolled her eyes.

A wave of bitter coldness washed over her body. While she watched the O’Leary boys make up and pat each other on the back, she realized that even on her best day she couldn’t land either of them. She was not good enough for Finn or Liam and the mere fact that they both dismissed her in one night
hurt, it hurt badly. She felt like she couldn’t breathe from such loss. She was so convinced that she was going to end up with Finn or Liam for that matter but she didn’t, she wasn’t good enough for them, never had been and never will be.

The bitter truth cut through her and she could feel her heart slowly starting to turn black.
What was so wrong with her? She was cute, nice, had a good body and could make a man extremely happy in the bedroom and in the kitchen. She was actually quite the catch and the fact that Finn and Liam didn’t realize that made them complete idiots and she was going to make them pay for that. Some way, somehow, they were going to pay for the embarrassment and heartache they put her through tonight if it was the last thing she did.

Chapter 18

Fiona found herself repeatedly wiping her clammy hands on her pants. Why she decided to wear her winter gear to a place where it was sixty eight degrees in December was beyond her. The thought of being in a place with a different climate Never actually crossed her mind. All she could think about was all the things she talked to Blaire about over the phone. Once she hung up, she had to get on a plane and see Booker, to find out if everything Blaire said was true.

Although she wished she took a second to contemplate what she was wearing because at the current moment while she was driving along the pacific coast highway in her yellow taxi with some creepy realtor’s face plastered on the side, all she could think about was how sweaty her entire body was, and not just from nerves. She felt pools of sweat starting to form under her armpits and she worried that when she actually saw Booker he might turn her away for being a sweaty disgusting monster.

Thanks to Tipper picking up her shifts at the pub, which also helped Tipper out, Fiona was able to take a couple of days off and see if there was a possibility that she could actually save her relationship with Booker. She was also grateful to get away from the pub for a little bit because
the tension between her brothers was almost unbearable. She heard from her ma that Finn and Liam were fighting but now have resolved their issues. Fiona just rolled her eyes, even if they did solve their problems she needed a break from the Neanderthals. There was only so much she could take when it came to her brothers and their short tempers. Sometimes Fiona wondered if they were actually men because they sure seemed like a bunch of clucking hens on their periods most of the time.

Sophie also heard from Tipper that there was a big scene at Sophie’s house the other night involving Finn and Liam.
Fiona assumed that was where her two idiot brothers solved their problems. The sad thing she heard though was that Sophie got the short end of the stick and was extremely upset about the whole ordeal. Apparently Finn and Liam said some really nasty things about her without thinking. Fiona found that hard to believe since both her brothers adored Sophie, maybe Sophie took it out of context. Fiona did find it weird that Sophie turned to Tipper since Tipper and her were never really close. Well at least close enough to cry to Tipper on the phone. Thanks to the Warblers Point grapevine of information, Tipper immediately called Fiona right after she got off the phone with Sophie and divulged all the juicy gossip. Fiona felt slightly bad about what happened to Sophie but she also didn’t appreciate that Sophie was starting to bad mouth her brothers but she would have to worry about that later. Right now she was focused on getting her man back…hopefully.

When Fiona talked to Blaire about Booker the other day on the phone, she asked about Finn and how he was doing. She could tell Blaire still had feelings for him but t
o hell if she was going to get Blaire’s hopes up about Finn. She had no clue what Finn was currently thinking and until he got his head out of his ass and stopped acting like a drama queen, she was not going to say anything promising to Blaire. Not that Blaire would even do anything if Finn did confess his feelings since she was in California and had no intention of moving to Warblers Point, she made that quite clear to Finn when they broke everything off.