Forever Dublin (An Ireland Forever Short Story)

by Olivia Hawthorne

  I sighed and shook my head. I didn’t have any other choice, I had to pee so badly I thought I was going to start leaking right there.

  I half ran and half walked to the front of the stage, right into the general admission area, and crossed to the washroom.

  Thankfully the line up wasn’t bad enough that I peed myself in line, I finished up and washed my hands in front of the mirror.

  I looked cute still, my dark hair was a little messy from being caught in the VIP pass, but my makeup was still on point and my green eyes popped with the smoky eyeshadow I’d applied earlier.

  I was gorgeous, I was drunk, and I was ready to party like a rock star with any random hot Irish guy.

  I just needed to get back into the VIP lounge.

  I pulled my phone out of my little purse and paused just outside the washroom to send a frantic message to group chat so Sarah and Jen would both see.

  They didn’t reply right away and I started to walk slowly back through the general admission crowd on the floor. They were already starting to get rowdy, the beer was flowing and people were still dancing and making out in the midst of the loud chaos.

  My phone vibrated, I looked down and began to read the message when I bumped right into a wall of hard muscle.

  I was in mid apology when I looked way up into a pair of incredible bright green eyes framed by tousled black hair and set in a masculine face with a square jawline and dark stubble.

  And belonging to the man who’d broken my heart.

  My ex-stepbrother, Marcus O’Sullivan.

  “Oh, you. Fuck.” I blurted and suddenly my night got a lot worse.

  4

  Marcus

  I ended up with Trixie. We all naturally paired off and she seemed to have chosen me straight away.

  She was bold and had the most adorable accent I think I’d ever heard.

  She was short, curvy and had blonde curly hair.

  She wasn’t exactly my type, but she was perfect for the night.

  My type didn’t exist really, not outside one particular person but there was pretty much zero chance I’d ever see her again so I always put her out of my mind.

  Between finishing school early and starting my job at the firm and sleeping with the occasional beautiful woman, I’d managed to almost forget about her for the past seven years.

  “What are ye thinking about, then?” Trixie asked me as we walked through the doors. I showed security my ticket and we passed through.

  “Was I being too quiet again?” I asked and decided I need a beer or two…or three…work was on my mind and I had to shake the obsession I had with my phone. I wanted to tackle Bryce and get it back to see if the office had replied yet.

  “Ye are,” she said with her lilting accent. She was cute, I should get a little drunk and actually enjoy this. The case we were working on back in Boston could wait another day or so without my input.

  “You unfortunately found yourself an American guy who is obsessed with work,” I laughed. “Sorry, I’ll focus on you.”

  She grinned. “Okay then, that I can get behind.”

  We followed the others through the crowd and managed to edge up to a spot fairly close to the stage.

  “Beers?” James asked the girls and they nodded enthusiastically. “You coming?” he asked me.

  “Yeah, I guess,” I said and we left Bryce with them so they could keep our little patch of floor.

  We got our booze, headed back and listened to the opening act. Trixie went nuts, screaming and waving her arms around as he sang and I took the chance to put my arms around her.

  She leaned back against me and it felt nice, she felt nice.

  It really had been too long that I’d done this, I should drag my head out of my work more often once I got home.

  She eventually turned around in my arms and swayed against me, and I bent to give her a little kiss during the last slow song.

  We set our empty bottles down and started making out as the lights came up and they began to get ready for the main event, Blackthorn.

  Bryce and James went and got the beer the next time, then me and Bryce.

  Finally as it got closer to the show starting, I thought we should head back and load up on booze before it got so packed that we were essentially trapped in the throngs of screaming fans.

  “You coming with?” I asked James and he nodded.

  We got to the back of the arena, stood in line for the bar, and made small talk with each other and the people around us.

  “That Trixie is a cute girl,” James said. “But so are Bonnie and Felicia so I guess none of us could go wrong.”

  “I think she wants me to talk more, but I don’t know what to say. I like listening to her and let’s face it, I’m planning on the old hump and dump tonight so it’s not like she needs to know anything about me.”

  “True, true,” he laughed. “This is the ultimate spot to do it. Let the Black brothers get them all hot and bothered, have our fun and then hop a plane back to Boston tomorrow afternoon.”

  We got to the bar at last, I ordered six bottles, handed them my card and started back across the arena to Bryce and the girls.

  James was walking behind me and I turned to tell him to check out the smoking hot cheerleader type in the stretchy neon pink dress when somebody ran smack into me.

  I almost dropped the beer, but managed to hang onto the three bottles I was carrying. “Fuck,” I said just as somebody swore at me.

  I looked down and almost fell right back onto my ass when I saw who it was.

  The last person on the fucking planet I expected to see, the only woman in the world who ever had been my type.

  My ex-stepsister, Bay Harrington.

  And good god, she was still fucking gorgeous.

  Even hotter than before, time and growing up had done her well.

  “Bay,” I said, working on keeping my voice even and the frog in my throat from closing it off. I swear I squeaked her name out like a prepubescent boy whose balls were just about to drop.

  “Marcus,” she spat. “What are you doing here?”

  “The same thing as you I guess, listening to music and getting drunk,” I replied, holding out the beer bottles.”

  She looked from me to James and back again. “You gonna introduce me to your friend?”

  “Shit, yeah. Bay, this is James. James, this is Bay.”

  “You’ve never mentioned a fine looking fox names Bay,” James said and I could practically see him sliding into her DMs with his instant seduction mode. “Why has he been hiding you from me? Are you too hot to handle?”

  “I think he’s embarrassed of me,” Bay replied and locked her eyes on mine. “At least that’s what I’ve always assumed. That’s why his disappeared.”

  “I didn’t—“ I started to dive into an explanation of what happened back then, but the crowd erupted into wild screaming around us and I heard the first discordant twang of an electric guitar being plugged in.

  “Blackthorn is starting,” James said, “and the girls are waiting. Would you like to join us?”

  “I don’t think so, I’m in the VIP lounge,” Bay replied and raised her eyebrow in absolute disgust. “I doubt Marcus would want me tagging along anyways.”

  “I didn’t say that,” I replied but she had already turned on her heal and was stalking off through the bunches of people close to the stage.

  “Well shit, she is fucking hot. Now tell me one good reason you’re not banging her like a broken door in a hurricane, my friend,” James said as we headed back to the girls and Bryce.

  “She’s my stepsister,” I said and watched until I caught one last glimpse of her before she disappeared behind the stage. “And she hates me.”

  5

  Bay

  I was shaking when I stormed away from Marcus.

  I didn’t think I’d ever see him again, and as much as I couldn’t believe he had gotten even better looking than he’d been before. I couldn’t believe I’d run into h
im.

  I felt hot tears sting my eyes as emotions that I’d been suppressing for seven years began to bubble to the surface.

  Lust, love…and ultimately humiliation.

  Our parents had married when I was nine and Marcus was eleven. I’d hated him at first, mom had moved us across the country into their ridiculous huge mansion in LA and he’d been horrible to me from day one.

  He’d teased me mercilessly, calling me bay-bay (like baby), tugging my braids and making fun of me at the expensive Hollywood private school we both attended.

  I’d been turned into an outcast simply because he was so popular, his dad was so famous and their family was so rich.

  After a while though, we’d ended up becoming friends of sorts. Our parents fought a lot and partied a lot and we’d be shoved off with some nanny somewhere while they rubbed elbows with famous people so we got to know each other.

  And by the time I was fifteen and he was seventeen, we were actually friends. Really good friends.

  I was integrated with his group of friends so my last couple years of high school was actually really fun.

  He graduated before me and started college close by so he was home every weekend.

  And one weekend it happened.

  My mom and his dad left for some awards show for the night and we decided to throw an epic party.

  We drank too much, danced too much and had the best night of my life…up to that point at least.

  People had cleared out around three in the morning when the cops were called, and Marcus and I had started the long task of cleaning up.

  But we were still tipsy and the music was still flowing through our veins and somehow I’d ended up taking my step brother to my bed.

  I’d given him my virginity in the most exquisite sexual experience of my life…up to this point even.

  He’d been so gentle and yet so passionate. He’d confessed his undying love for me, and had told me how he’d fallen hard for me from the first moment we met.

  I had to admit to him that I’d felt the same way, but had been confused not just by his rude behavior, but also the fact that he was my stepbrother.

  None of it had mattered back then though, none of it had mattered one little but when he had slipped his thick cock inside of me for the first time and made me his.

  I’d belonged to him from that moment on, and I’d loved him more than I’d thought possible.

  And then…he’d disappeared.

  We had a few months together but his father cheated on my mother, and in a dramatic move she booted him out.

  Marcus was away at college when his father had moved out, and I’d expected him to come back for me.

  I’d expected him to text me or show up and love me again.

  But he never did.

  And with each passing day my heart had become more and more encased in stone and my outlook on love had become more bitter.

  I’d become a party girl at college across the country, back east, and decided I’d probably never settle down with a man. I’d never give another one a chance to break my heart again.

  And then now, seven years later, he was here.

  And I was thrown into a loop and I felt like I was going to faint.

  I needed to get back stage, I needed to drink, and I needed to forget that I’d ever seen Marcus O’Sullivan. I had to pretend he didn’t exist.

  I finally found the security guard from before and said, “Did two girls come by here looking for me?”

  “I don’t know,” he replied grumpily.

  “Could you open the door and check?” I asked.

  “Fine,” he grumbled. He opened it and I saw Sarah and Jen anxiously peering out looking for me.

  “Oh my god, there she is!” they squealed in unison.

  “I’ll need her pass,” the guard said, unmoved by their excitement.

  “Oh, here,” Jen said and shoved it towards him.

  He looked at it, looked at their passes hanging from their necks, and said, “Fine. Go back inside.”

  “Are you going to say sorry for being such a dick earlier?” I challenged him as I passed.

  “Nope,” he replied and went back to scanning the crowd and ignoring me.

  “I can’t believe you got locked out!” Sarah squealed. She was obviously much drunker than I was at that point.

  Seeing Marcus had really sobered me up.

  “It was insane. Nobody believed me that I had my pass, and then I ran into my stepbrother,” I replied.

  We kept walking down the hall as the band started playing behind us. “We have to get into the VIP area to see Blackthorn,” Jen yelled. “Oh my god they’re starting, hurry up!”

  She dragged us faster down the hallway to the doorway to our special area cordoned off from the rest of the crazy fans.

  We were almost at the red door that led to the VIP area right in front of the stage when Jen came to a skittering stop and turned around to look at me.

  “Wait, you saw Marcus?”

  “What? You saw him?” Sarah exclaimed. “The Marcus? Your horrible, heartbreaking, super hot stepbrother, Marcus?”

  “Uh yeah, but it’s no big deal. Let’s go! Blackthorn is on! They started!” I yelled and laughed at them.

  “No big deal? Oh gawd I hate this!” Sarah practically screamed. “I need to go see them play but I need to hear every single detail about seeing Marcus. Fuck!”

  “Guys, guys, the concert is more important. I swear! I’ll tell you everything tomorrow after we recover from our night of drunken debauchery. But first, we need to get drunker and then we need to find men,” I insisted.

  What I didn’t tell them was that I didn’t know what to say. How could I sum up how the meeting had made me feel?

  How could I explain how my stomach still quivered like I was about to be sick, and my knees still felt weak, as if I’d just recovered from a dangerous fever?

  Blackthorn began to play one of their most popular songs and Sarah looked torn, she really wanted both things equally but she couldn’t put off seeing Blackthorn so finally she grabbed our hands and said, “Okay. But I need all the deets!”

  We ran through the door and took our seats near the front and I thought Jen and Sarah were going to faint when the Black brothers took their shirts off and began to move around the stage, crooning into the microphone, playing their instruments and being the rock gods they are.

  But I had only one thing on my mind, only one man.

  Marcus O’Sullivan, and how was it that even after all this time he seemed to have ultimate command of my heart.

  Would I ever be free of him?

  Did I even want to be free of him?

  6

  Marcus

  “You don’t talk much at all,” Trixie complained for the twentieth time after Bay left.

  I didn’t talk much when I had her on my mind. And I had her on my mind continually since the moment I watched her fine ass swishing off through the crowd and back out of my life.

  “I’m enjoying the music,” I yelled back at her, gesturing to the stage where the band was belting out another one of their top twenty hits.

  “Me too,” she said with a broad grin. She was a pretty woman, and in any other circumstance I’d be all over her by now…but Bay.

  Goddamn Bay Harrington.

  My little stepsister.

  Our parents had gotten married when I was about eleven. She was two years younger.

  And from the first moment I saw her I understood the power of attraction over a man. Even at such a young age, she could have had me twisted around her little finger if she’d wanted it.

  I had my first crush on her.

  And when I’d finally hit puberty, the feelings didn’t get any easier.

  She was too young for me to lose my virginity to, but she was the one I wanted as soon as she was old enough.

  And finally…fuck, finally.

  I finally had her.

  One night after a party we’d fallen into eac
h other’s arms and into her bed and had begun a fiery, short lived passionate relationship.

  Short lived because as soon as my father cheated and was kicked out, Bay and her mom blocked both of us completely.

  I tried to get back to her, but the gate security code was changed and nobody would let me in.

  I tried to jump the fence, but the extra security Bay’s mother had hired found me right away and dragged me away in cuffs.

  I tried to get to her at her school, through her friends, through my friends…but every avenue was shut down to me until one day they were gone.

  Bay’s mom had packed up and taken her away.

  And other than some light social media stalking, I never saw her again. And I put her out of my mind.

  And I was doing just fine dating casually and concentrating on my education and then my career. I really was okay with it.

  Until I saw her again and everything came crashing back into me.

  The intensity of the feelings I’d always had for her were too great for me to contain, to shove back down into the dark.

  They were just there at the surface again, threatening to come spilling out.

  “Hey, stud,” Trixie said and ran her finger along my chest and settled it on my shoulder almost possessively. “You’re off in la la land again. I know this isn’t just the music.”

  “Sorry,” I said quickly, looking down at her to try and focus myself on her pretty face. “It’s work. I’m a lawyer, it’s not easy for me to leave it behind even for a couple days.”

  She smiled and leaned against me, but I could tell she knew it was bullshit.

  I wasn’t sure if she’d seen me talking to Bay, but if she had then she would know the source of my disconnect.

  Trixie was adorable, her accent was perfection and her mouth looked like she’d suck cock like a pro.

  But she wasn’t Bay, and Bay had gotten under my fucking skin again.

  “You’re harshing our vibe here,” James said, leaning over as Trixie complained to Felicia who had just moments before been slow dancing and making out with him. “Get with the fucking program. Three girls, three of us, one night and plenty of time to get laid. Go Irish or go home.”