Bad Girls (30 page)

‘Lots of girls waiting outside for you, are there?’ Petal continued. ‘Making goo-goo eyes at you, trying to give you their phone numbers?’

‘Pet, there’s always girls, but—’

‘I knew it! It’s so
unfair
!’ Petal was sobbing full out now. ‘I’m bloody
trapped
in here, and you’re shagging your way through half of London!’

Even gentle, mild-mannered Dan could take only so much.

‘Now hang on, pet,’ he said angrily. ‘You’ve gone too far. I said I’d wait for you, and I am. I’ve had to nip out of a really fucking important recording session to ring you – everyone’s waiting for me to get back in there, and taking the mick ’cause I’ve been fussing about ringing you – and now you’re giving me grief!’

‘I’m having a miserable time!’ Petal wept. ‘And you’re having fun without me!’

‘I’m working!’ Dan protested.

‘Well, sorry for disturbing you!’ Petal snapped. ‘How incredibly fucking selfish of me to make you ring me while you’re working! I’ll just fuck off and leave you to it!’

She slammed down the phone, plastic smashing against plastic, her heart racing with fury. And then she folded her arms and stared at it, fully expecting Dan to ring right back and apologize.

Only he didn’t.

And when, five minutes later, it dawned on Petal that he wasn’t going to, she picked the phone up and threw it against the wall.

‘Hey!’ Daniyel promptly emerged from her office. ‘What’s going on in here?’

Petal was in floods of tears.‘I hate it here!’ she sobbed. ‘You’re all trying to ruin my life!’

‘Now, honey, you know that’s not true,’ Daniyel said soothingly. ‘But you can’t throw things just ’cause you’re not happy right now.’

‘I don’t even have a
photo
of him!’ Petal wept. ‘I didn’t even have time to get a photo of him done!’

She looked so forlorn, curled up in a ball on the sofa, weeping her heart out, that Daniyel reflected for a moment, then turned on her heel and went back inside the office, emerging with Petal’s black sparkle-encrusted mobile.

‘Here,’ she said, holding it out to Petal. ‘I shouldn’t be doing this. And if I see you acting out at all,
any
infraction of the rules, I’ll have it back off you faster than you can spit. Now pick up that phone you threw and put it back on the table before I give you this one.’

Petal jumped to obey, replacing the phone and then grabbing her mobile. Eyes lighting up, she immediately flicked it on, dying to call Dan back.

‘There’s no signal!’ she said, vastly disappointed.

Daniyel grinned. ‘Oh, no, honey. I’m not
that
nice. We’ve got a blocking system here – we triangulate from different buildings, or some such. You can look at your boyfriend’s photo all you want, but you can’t ring him outside of the designated hours for cellphone use. There won’t be another window till tomorrow. And I’ll be keeping an eye on you till then, seeing if you’re behaving, OK?’

‘Oh,
shit
,’ Petal said, vastly disappointed.

Turning on her heel, she slumped off down the corridor, heading for the garden. She wanted to throw herself on the grass, in the shade of a tree, and have a big private sulk; but as soon as she reached the patio, and took in the scene outside, she realized that wouldn’t be possible. Joe Jeffreys was stretched out on a lounger in the sunshine; Amber was on another lounger; and Skye, attention-hogging as ever, was doing stretches in the middle of the lawn, showing off her splits and giggling as Joe watched her with great enthusiasm.

Petal glanced over at Brian, who was sitting by the fountain, listening to music on his headphones, staring over at the group on the lawn with undisguised wistfulness.

Great, she thought sourly. It’s like being at school. The cool kids and the nerds.

Petal had hung out with Brian before, talking about music, bands they liked, listening to tracks on Brian’s MP3 player. Right then, however, she was in a filthy mood, and she was damned if she was going to go and sit with Brian in the rejects’ section. Maybe if Brian had looked up, seen her, waved her over . . . but he was so busy gawking at Skye and her antics that he didn’t even notice Petal’s arrival.

At least I get my room to myself during the day.
Petal trudged back there, shut the door, turned off all the lights and curled up in bed. Feelings of rejection and abandonment were flooding through her, and not just because her longed-for conversation with Dan had been such a disaster. All her life, she’d watched other women be more important to her father than she was. When her useless mother was still around, she’d hogged all Gold’s attention, at first by being sexy, and then, when Gold’s eye started wandering, by throwing ever more extreme and crazy scenes. After that, the procession of girlfriends, mistresses and one-night stands had always taken priority with Gold. Petal had been more of a nuisance than anything else.

All of this was, reluctantly, coming up in therapy; in the group sessions, and in her talks with Dr Raf. It was hard and painful, and Petal wasn’t enjoying it one bit. And somehow, seeing Joe with Skye and Amber was bringing it back even more powerfully. It was like reliving a bad experience all over again. There was Joe, the world-famous, incredibly sexy film star, with the model and the stripper all over him, as far as Petal could see. And next to those girls, no one gave Petal a glance.

Apart from Dr Raf. He was the only person here who looked at Petal and really saw her. When he focused his attention on her, she felt like the only person in the room. Back in London, Petal had deliberately surrounded herself with a posse as soon as she could; Tas, JC, and all her other party friends made sure that she was never alone unless she really wanted to be. From the moment she met Dan, they’d lived in each other’s pockets.

And now she was not only all alone, but being totally ignored by practically everyone.

Amber deliberately hogs Dr Raf whenever she can. She’s such a cow. I hate her.

Skye’s just throwing herself at Joe, like a complete slut. He’s got a fiancée, and Skye doesn’t even care. She’s fucking him right here in rehab, when they’re both here for sex addiction! How messed up is that!

Misery, loneliness and frustration turned slowly into resentment. Gradually, as Petal lay on her bed, all the problems she was inexpertly wrestling morphed into being the fault of Amber and Skye. They were both acting like all those women in Petal’s past, who’d trampled right over her to get to her dad. Or the ones now, in London, who were throwing themselves at Dan.

Skye doesn’t give a shit that Joe’s engaged to Jennifer Downs. And Amber’s totally throwing herself at Dr Raf.

I hate them both.

S
kye hadn’t expected to like Amber one little bit. Gorgeous, fragile, and so vulnerable that every man in a mile-wide radius was panting to look after her and cushion her from the cruel hard world, Amber was exactly the kind of rival every girl like Skye dreaded. No way could Skye compete with Amber. Because while every man alive might want to fuck Skye, Amber was the girl he’d want to marry.

And yet,Amber hadn’t turned out to be the man’s woman Skye had assumed she was. She seemed genuinely grateful for Skye’s offer of friendship, genuinely eager to open up to her, and genuinely willing not to compete with Skye for Joe’s attention.

The trouble, of course, was that Amber was competition just by existing. All she had to do was waft into a room, her delicate cardigans and shawls trailing behind her, chestnut hair tumbling down her back, her slanting green eyes focused on distant horizons, for Joe to sigh and stare at her wistfully.

And now that Amber was back in their bedroom again, Skye couldn’t slip out at night, or sneak Joe in there, to fuck his brains out so thoroughly that all thoughts of Amber were blotted out by the raging hard-on he had for Skye.

Plus, I need to film him doing it! she reminded herself firmly. That’s what I’m here for! That’s what I’m being paid for!

It was surprisingly easy to forget that fact. Daily life at Cascabel was unexpectedly absorbing. In her near-daily sessions with Dr Lucy, Skye was having a lot of fun feeding Dr Lucy made-up stories and watching her spin around them like a kid with a new toy, not smart enough to figure out that Skye was lying through her teeth. In Skye’s opinion, Dr Lucy shouldn’t be here at Cascabel at all.

She totally doesn’t care about people, Skye thought as she left her most recent session, watching Dr Lucy’s cold dark-pencilled eyes snap down to her paperwork again with relief at not having a living breathing human being to talk to any more. She should be in research – cutting up animals, or something. I bet she’s only here to be close to Dr Raf.

Walking past her in the corridor was Dave, the orderly. His eyes met hers, and he jerked his head briefly back to the patients’ lounge in a clear signal.

Dave’s in on this too, Skye reminded herself. He’s pushing me to get the goods on Joe. And he’ll get paid a ton when I do. As will I. So why aren’t I getting on with it?

As she entered the patients’ lounge and saw Joe, sunk into an armchair, reading a sports magazine, Skye realized the answer from the happiness that lit her up at the sight of him.

Oh shit. I actually like him. I don’t want to catch him out for the
National Investigator
: I want to date him.

I’m the biggest freaking idiot in the whole damn world.

Joe snapped his head up, hearing Skye come in, and flashed her a huge smile. There was a reason that Joe’s face was famous all over the world, and that smile was an essential element, full of sunshine, so infectious you couldn’t help smiling back. He winked at her, putting his magazine down on the arm of the chair, stretching his legs out luxuriously in front of him.

‘Baby, I’d give a grand just to be able to ask you to come sit in my lap right now,’ he said.

‘Oooh, it’d cost you
way
more than that,’ Skye said flirtatiously, tilting her head to one side, cocking one hip, standing there in a way that had guaranteed to get the guys in the Lounge clamouring for her attention. ‘I charge a ton for one of my special lap dances.’

Joe had a well-documented weakness for strippers; every time she referred to her career, his eyes sparkled with excitement, and right then was no exception. Skye let her eyes drift to the crotch of his jeans, and smiled smugly.

‘Though I suppose I could give you a discount for – uh,
quantity
,’ she added sexily.

‘Hold that thought, OK?’ Joe said, beckoning her over. ‘You, me, the storage cupboard in an hour?’ he muttered when she was closer. ‘I squared it with Dave. Daniyel goes on break, there’ll be no one around.’

Can I figure out a way to get the camera in there?
Skye hesitated, wondering if that would work.

‘Please, baby, say yes!’ Joe pleaded. ‘I’ve been thinking about nothing else since the other night in the bathroom . . .’

‘You look just like a horny dog,’ Skye said saucily. ‘I’m surprised your tongue isn’t hanging out.’

‘I can do that,’ Joe said, lolling his tongue out of the corner of his mouth and panting.

He looked so funny that Skye couldn’t help giggling, loudly enough that it alerted Daniyel, who popped her head into the open doorway of the lounge to see what was going on.

‘Hey,’ she said reprovingly. ‘The contract you both signed when you entered Cascabel said no flirting, remember?’

‘Daniyel!’ Joe spread his hands wide as Skye backed away from his chair. ‘You know you’re the only lady in my life!’

‘Addiction is a serious business, Joe Jeffreys,’ said Daniyel, wagging her finger at him, but even she couldn’t control an upward quirk of her lips in response to his grin. ‘Skye, honey, why don’t you come join me and take yourself away from this situation?’

‘
Situation
,’ Joe said with comic sadness. ‘I’m a
situation
now.’

Daniyel was already whisking out of the lounge, and Skye had a chance to wink agreement at Joe before she followed dutifully.

Shower, shave everywhere, perfume, and my best lingerie, she listed quickly to herself. I’ve got just enough time to get myself perfect . . . and camera-ready . . .

Hovering just outside her bedroom was Dave, making a play of emptying the trash can in the corridor. He shot a look behind him, making sure no one was approaching, and Skye, picking up his cue, darted a glance inside the room to check for Amber: she wasn’t there.

‘Gimme your bag,’ Dave hissed at Skye. ‘I’ll plant it in the storage room. It’ll be running. Just make sure you’re facing it, OK?’

‘Gotcha.’

Skye nipped inside and handed it to him; he tucked it under his arm, which was so big and brawny that the tote bag half-vanished immediately in the folds of his green uniform top.

‘You know where it is, yeah? On the way to the garden. Just make sure no one sees you going in. It’s Daniyel’s afternoon off, so she won’t be doing no snooping around.’

Dave lumbered off down the corridor in the direction of the storage room as Skye vanished into the bedroom to embark on her beautifying session.

Next door, Petal had been alerted by the whispering. Running to her door to listen, she had heard Dave’s last words with perfect clarity.

The storage room had overhead lights, but Joe hadn’t switched them on, not wanting to alert anyone that the room was occupied. Still, there was a high, wire-covered window in the back wall, that let in plenty of natural light; enough for Skye to see Joe immediately as she sneaked in. Enough for her, darting a glance around as she pushed a step stool against the door to wedge it shut, to spot where Dave had concealed the camera – halfway up one of the galvanized steel units that lined the walls, stocked with boxes of stationery and cleaning products.

Dave did a good job, Skye thought, turning to face Joe. You’d never see the bag if you weren’t looking for it.

‘Wow, you look good enough to eat,’ Joe said happily, taking in her short skirt, her snug T-shirt, and her gleaming, freshly washed golden hair.

He was sitting on a metal folding chair he’d brought out and placed in the middle of the room, and as he beckoned Skye towards him, she heard a very faint whirr as she passed the camera. Nothing that would attract the attention of anyone who wasn’t looking for it, but another reassurance that the scene was set perfectly for the
National Investigator
’s scheme to work just as they’d planned it.