Finley (Decoy Dynasty #1) Read online

  “You leave your girls all alone last night Fin?” Asks Liam, a fucking knowing smirk on his face.

  “You know that he doesn’t sleep with them.” Points out Caleb, giving me a proud slap on the back.

  “Why though?” Liam frowns. “I just don’t get it! This morning I got extra, that’s what you get when you share the bed with them Fin.”

  “I like my own space.” Simply put, but it’s the truth.

  “Man, you two got lucky last night.” Sulks Caden.

  “It’s not like you haven’t had a threesome before.” I remind him.

  “And you got some extra ass this morning.” Liam laughs.

  “And it was delicious.” Sings Caden, bursting into laughter.

  My text alerts and it’s my mum, she wants to know if I’m coming over for dinner tomorrow. I obviously say yes and it makes her happy. Whenever I go away for more than a couple of weeks, my mum wants to have me over. She even asks the guys over.

  “My mum wants to know if you two are coming for dinner tomorrow.” I ask them.

  Liam looks up from his Xbox. “Can’t, my mums already got me over hers.”

  “I’m the same.” Caden answers. “My mum secured her slot last week.”

  I let mum know that it will be just me tomorrow but she assures me that all the family will be there to see me and honestly, I can’t fucking wait. I’ve always been close to my parents and my siblings, so when I do spend a long time away from home, I’m always eager to get back. The best thing about returning to my parents’ house is it still feels like home.

  When we’re nearly home, I get another text but this time it isn’t my mother. It’s from a girl called Emma.

  Emma: Hey, I heard you’re back from your tour tonight x

  I already know where this is going, but I decide to play along.

  Me: You heard right. Why?

  Emma: I thought we could catch up x

  Me: I’ll let you know if I’m free

  Emma: Ok! X

  I shouldn’t be so cruel, of course I’m going to drop by and see her but I can’t let her know that! I’ll keep her hanging until I get home.

  “What are you weirdly smiling for?” Asks Caden.

  “Setting up something for tonight.” I put my feet up on the little sofa. I can’t wait to get of this tour bus. It’s a luxury one, with everything we need but I just want to get home now and be around my own things and be able to sit on a normal sofa and sleep in my own bed.

  I wake up to my phone ringing, rolling over to reach for my phone, I see it’s my dad calling.

  “Dad?” I ask, my eyes slowly closing again. “Why you ringing me so early?”

  “Early?” He laughs down the phone. “Fin, it’s two in the afternoon.”

  My eyes snap back open. “What?”

  I pull the phone away, and sure enough the time reads just after two.

  “Yeah, I remember that after tour feeling.” He laughs, no sympathy at all.

  “Shit, what time’s dinner?” I ask, the last thing I want to do is let my mum down.

  “Not for another couple hours, so you’re safe.” My father assures me. “Now get up and get over here, your mother can’t wait to see you.”

  We hang up and I lie in bed for another twenty minutes, browsing through social media before I manage to crawl from my bed and get into the shower. When I got home last night, I finally let Emma know I was able to meet her and she excitedly opened her apartment door and pulled me inside. I haven’t seen her for about three months, and it was plain to see that she missed me. Emma did not want me to leave her, and kept asking if I would stay over, but as tired as I was, I said no. I didn’t get home until the early hours, probably why I’ve slept through the morning.

  Once I’m dressed and ready, I make my way to my childhood home and I can’t wait to have some proper food. Another thing about being on tour, eating out seems good in the beginning but I always end up craving my mother’s good, homemade cooking.

  As soon as I pull in inside the protective gates of my parents’ house, my parents are at the door. I can’t help the big smile on my face as I approach them, my mother squeals, wrapping her arms around me and my dad slaps me on the back.

  “How was the tour son?” He asks.

  “Great.” I nod. “Not that you didn’t know that already.”

  He dares to give me a sly smirk, confirming to me that he was using Tom the tour manager as his own personal spy.

  “Come on!” My mum ushers me inside, buzzing around me and I soak it all up. “The boys are here too, they’re off to Marbella at the weekend.”

  I already know this, but I’m not about to be rude and tell her that. My mum leads me into the living room and right there on the sofa, sits my baby sister, Haiden. I stand in the doorway and as soon as she sees me, she’s out of her seat and running towards me.

  “Fin!” She screams. Haiden is only sixteen and already earning herself a fortune by her YouTube channel. Out of all my siblings, Haiden is the one that looks the most like me. Her dark hair and grey eyes match mine, inherited from our dad. She’s adorable and I’m already petrified about boys around her. It’s bad enough thinking about my other sister, Gracie and she’s only four years younger than me, but nobody protects her more than Noah and Rory. They’re her triplet brothers and have a bond that is even tighter than usual siblings, which I can only understand because I’ve witnessed it for their whole lives.

  Dad raised his sons to adore women, and to look after our sister and take care of our mother. Noah, Rory and I take dads words seriously. The amount of fights we had at school because boys were talking about Gracie, or one of them made her cry. Dad wasn’t too disappointed though, because we were doing as he taught us, to look after our sister. I’m just as protective with Haiden, even more so because she hasn’t got her brothers at school and she’s the baby of our family.

  “Hey Haiden.” I squeeze her tight as she runs into my arms.

  A ringing comes from her pocket and she’s backs away, looking at her phone. “Gotta go, Tia is Face Timing me.” And off she runs to her bedroom.

  Dad places a strong hand on my shoulder shaking me as he laughs. “So, did you have fun?”

  “The usual.”

  My mother chokes in disgust, “Stop that talk.”

  Dad and I follow her to the kitchen, and sitting around the table are my two younger brothers, Rory and Noah.

  “Hey!” Rory stands, greeting me in his regular, back slapping way. Noah just nods his head as he stays sat down, a big smile in place. These boys are identical, and if it wasn’t for their differences in personality, or the little mole Noah has under his left eye, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

  “Heard your albums going well.” I sit down at the large table, opposite Noah and Rory takes his place beside him.

  “You heard correct.” Noah nods. “But we’re still looking for some more collaborations before we finish.”

  “The more the merrier.” Rory agrees. “DJs need special features.”

  “What about the band Finley?” Our mum asks, and I share a knowing look with Rory and Noah.

  “We’ve spoken about it before.” I answer her, hoping she drops it.

  “Yeah.” Nods Rory.

  “And why hasn’t it happened?” She asks.

  All three of us exchange looks, not knowing whether to say anything.

  “Because they’re brothers.” Dad fills in for us, kissing my mother on the cheek. “It’s an easy choice for them to get together for songs.”

  “Exactly what dad said.” Noah chimes in. “Maybe in the future.” And Rory and I nod in agreement.

  It’s not that I don’t want to make some songs with my brothers, because of course I would. That would be a great opportunity as a family, and considering our fan base as Jax Parker’s sons, it would no doubt sell amazingly but as Rory told mum, we’ve already spoken about it. I’ve been with the band since school, but it was only five years ago that the ban
d got our big break and it’s only been two for Rory and Noah. It’s predictable if we were to work together, and the easy way. Perhaps sometime in the future, but unfortunately not any time soon.

  “Mum!” We hear from the front of the house. “Mum, I need some help.”

  Mum tuts and quickly goes to see what Grace needs. As we’re on our own, Rory leans over the table towards me.

  “Have fun on tour bro?” He asks, wiggling his eyebrows and sticking out his tongue.

  “Of course.” I laugh.

  Dad joins in, shaking his head. “You’re all sluts.”

  Noah bursts out laughing. “Dad, we know you were just as bad.”

  “Until I met your mother.” He points out, and his eyes flash to me and I know why. We all know the story between our parents. It’s a famous love story and growing up it’s all we heard about, especially myself. The paparazzi see me as the symbol of that story, because I was the secret child. I was the reason my mother left my father, keeping me a secret in her belly and letting dad continue his dreams with Decoy.

  “Yeah well, I don’t intend to fall in love any time soon.” Rory sits back in his chair, cool as ever.

  “You’re off to Marbella soon, right?” I ask them and both Rory and Noah’s face lights up.

  “Hell yes.” Noah nods.

  “Honestly, do you lot ever talk about anything other than girls?” Grace frowns as she enters the kitchen, mum right behind her.

  “What was the emergency?” Dad asks, greeting his eldest daughter in his arms.

  “She needed help bringing the hundred bags inside from the car.” Mum raises her eyebrows at Grace. “She’s been spending again.”

  Dad pulls Grace back and looks at her from arm’s length. Grace has the nerve to smile at him. “I needed new clothes for the Caribbean.”

  “Caribbean?” I ask, and Grace takes the opportunity to break away from dad.

  “Yes!” She squeals and my brothers and I wince. “I have the most amazing photoshoot coming up! It’s on the beach and in the sea.” She claps her hands together. “I can’t wait, it’s going to be so beautiful.”

  “It sounds pornographic.” Rory scowls.

  “No it doesn’t.” Gracie growls back.

  “Fucking does.” Noah shakes his head. “You should get a different modelling agent.”

  “Stay out of my career.” Grace points an angry, perfectly manicured finger at Noah and Rory.

  “I think your mother should go with you.” Dad adds. My mother’s face is full of shock, Grace looks like she’s about to scream the house down and I have to say, I agree with dad. “I’ll pay for her ticket if I have to, you’re not going alone Gracie, and that’s final.”

  “Looks like mummy needs some new clothes too.” Mum adds with a little attitude and I can’t help but smile. Even though dad didn’t ask, my mother wouldn’t turn down a trip to the Caribbean. Shit, neither would I.

  “Any more spare tickets floating around?” I ask and Grace turns to frown at me.

  “No!” She shouts. “Don’t even think about it.”

  “Chill Grace.” Mum approaches her, kissing her on the cheek. “They’re just looking out for you.”

  Grace throws herself down into one of the seats. “Too protective. It’s why I keep my business secret.”

  “Oh we know, you had a girl’s night in London last weekend.” Rory taunts, and Grace is shocked once again, but she quickly covers it with a plain expression.

  “Oh, but you didn’t know what I did with who, do you?” She giggles, and we all turn pale. Except mum, no she’s laughing along with Grace.

  “You’re lying.” Dad shakes his head, taking a seat.

  Grace just carries on laughing, while Haiden runs down and joins us.

  “Dad, why do you look sick?” Haiden looks over to him and as mum places a plate of food in front of us all, trying to hold in her laughter.

  Chapter Three

  “We need to start thinking about new material.” Liam suggests.

  Liam, Caden and I are waiting at mine for April to arrive. We’re trying to write some fresh songs for our next album and we’ve asked Max’s daughter, April to help. She’s a talented writer, and usually writes fiction stories and poetry but she helped us out with our last album and was surprisingly amazing at it. We didn’t write anything while we were on tour, our minds were elsewhere. So now that we’re home we have shit to do.

  “Damn straight, this album isn’t going to write itself.” Caden nods.

  “Let’s hope April can help us out.” I wish out loud, my pen hovering over a black notebook.

  “You know, a lot of hit songs right now have female vocals.” Liam’s right, and I nod in acknowledgment.

  “You mean you wanna bring a girl into the group?” Caden sounds disgusted and it almost makes me laugh, but I think Liam is onto something.

  “No, we aren’t going to do that.” I tap my pen on the paper, trying to think this through. “But we could reach out and suggest some collaborations.”

  April then walks in, and greets us all. She looks so much like her mum, Maisy. She smiles and sets down her things.

  “So April, can you sing?” Asks Liam, and I hide my smirk. We all know April can’t sing. He’s teasing her.

  “What?” Her eyes widen. “No, you know I can’t.”

  “We’re thinking of bringing a female vocalist into the band.” He continues and I can practically hear April’s heart beating.

  “You aren’t thinking of me!” She panics. “I can’t sing at all.”

  “Relax April.” I let her out of her misery. “We aren’t thinking of you.”

  April lets go of a long sigh. “Thank god for that.” She then looks around at us all. “But you’re serious about having a girl come into the band?”

  “Not as a band member.” Caden answers her.

  “So just a collection of features?” She asks, and we all nod. “Well that means we need to create songs that are suitable for a woman.”

  We haven’t had a woman singing with the band. Ever. So I think it will be a good direction for us as a band. April manages to get our creative juices flowing, and we’re able to get some words down.

  Later that day, I pay a visit to my dad. My mum and Grace are away in the Caribbean, so the house is pretty quiet when I arrive. “Dad?” I shout out.

  “He’s in the studio.” Haiden replies, from the living room. Dexter and Tegan are sat with her in front of the TV. Dexter is Rhys son and Tegan is Leo’s daughter. They’re both the same age as Haiden and the three of them go to school together. When my eyes connect with Dexter, he straightens himself and turns back to the TV. I know what boys his age think, and he’s lucky enough to be sitting with two girls. Looks a little too cosy to me.

  “What are you doing?” I ask them.

  Haiden looks to me in annoyance, as a little sister does with her oldest brother. “Watching TV.”

  I stand in the doorway, watching them. I don’t trust that boy with my sister, alone. So instead of running upstairs to my dad’s studio, I send him a text to come downstairs. Haiden rolls her eyes, as if she knows exactly what I’m thinking.

  “Fin.” My dad calls, and I see Max, Leo and Rhys with him. They all greet me, asking how my tour went. “So, why the text? Why didn’t you come up to the studio?”

  I gesture to the living room behind me, “I don’t think they should be left alone.”

  “You worried about my son?” Rhys laughs.

  “Don’t worry Fin, we gave him a little chat before we left them.” Leo assures me, his heavy hand lands on my shoulder.

  “Hey.” Rhys frowns. “Dexter wouldn’t do anything anyway, he cares for the girls.”

  “If I can remember Rhys, you wouldn’t let your girls alone with any guys!” Laughs Leo. “You wouldn’t even let Lily share a tour bus with Caleb and Taylor.”

  Rhys decides to stay quiet, proving that Leo has a point, but now to the reason why I’m here.

  “I n
eed some advice.”

  Dad looks at me with an alarmed expression. “What’s happened?”

  “Nothing serious.” I laugh and I see all four of them relax. “We were writing some songs today, and we thought about collaborating with a girl.”

  They all nod, thinking it through. Dad motions for us to follow him into the dining room, where we can all sit comfortably.

  “Why do you want to bring a girl into the band?” Dad asks.

  “Not permanently.” I insist. “Just a handful of songs, maybe more than one girl?”

  “Songs with women are cool.” Leo nods.

  “And duets sell great.” Rhys adds.

  “Exactly.” I look to my dad. “What do you think?”

  My dad’s opinion means the world to me, and I wanted to run this past him before the band did anything.

  “A female vocalist sounds a great idea, but I think you should make this girl permanent.”

  “We don’t want a woman in the band.” I quickly put him straight on that.

  My dad shakes his head. “No, I’m not saying that. What about finding a girl to be with the band for collaborations, when she needs your band you help her, when you need hers, she returns the favour.”

  “Would that work?” Asks Max.

  “All they would need to do is audition some girls, explaining that’s what’s involved.” Leo nods. “I like it.”

  “So, she would be part of Lunacy, but not officially.” I ponder.

  “Exactly.” My dad claps. “I think it’s the best way, you would bond like a band in the end so you would have the family vibe like all bands do, but she won’t be a permanent fixture.”

  “I like it.” And surprisingly, I really do.

  “If you find the right girl, it could be amazing for your band Fin. Just look at how well Glitch is doing.” Rhys shines with pride for his daughter, and I have to agree. Lily’s band, Glitch, along with Taylor and Caleb, are killing it right now.

  “I’ll speak with the guys, get some auditions planned.” I look to my dad. “Did you wanna come to the auditions?”

  My dad shakes his head. “I’ll set up some scouts and have them filter out the best. You and the lads need to concentrate on your album and then when you’re free, you can listen to the final girls and make a decision together. Just let me know who you choose.”