Bad Girls (39 page)

‘I should say so!’ she agreed happily. ‘I’ve been filming a series for VH1 – I had a
lot
of work done.’

Linda looked her daughter up and down, taking in the suitcases. Then her gaze moved onto Dr Raf, and her eyes brightened visibly.

‘Well,
hi
,’ she said flirtatiously. ‘Are you Dr Green? You’re
much
hotter than you sounded on the phone!’ She giggled. ‘God, I’m awful, aren’t I?’

She wriggled across the lobby to him on her flip-flop kitten heels, which were the same hot pink as her Juicy Couture velour hoodie.

‘It’s very nice of you to come to pick up Petal,’ Dr Raf said.

‘Yeah, about that . . .’ Linda flashed him a smile. ‘Do I
have
to take her with me? It’s
really
inconvenient at the moment. I just wrapped a show, I have to do publicity for it . . . Couldn’t she stay on here? Pretty, pretty please?’ She fingered the lapel of Dr Raf’s jacket, stroking it seductively.

Petal writhed with embarrassment.
As if that girlie stuff would ever have worked on Dr Raf – even when you were young and pretty enough to pull it off.

Gently, Dr Raf removed Linda’s hand.

‘I’m sorry, Mrs Gold,’ he said, his tone genuinely apologetic. ‘I would have liked to keep Petal on as an inpatient, but it’s not my decision. She can see me on a daily basis for therapy.’

‘God! Do I have to drive her here every day?’ Linda exclaimed, trying to frown and failing because of the Botox in her forehead. She turned to Petal, hands on her hips. ‘What kind of stunt have you pulled that they’re kicking you out?’ she fumed. ‘I should put you on a plane and send you straight back to your dad!’

‘No, Mum, please . . .’ Petal pleaded. ‘I need to finish my treatment!’

Dr Raf smiled at her approvingly.

‘Ugh! So I’m stuck with you!’ Linda said crossly. ‘This is lousy timing!’ Then she brightened as a fresh thought occurred to her. ‘Though, mind you, I suppose it might help with publicity for the show . . . I’ll ring VH1 and see what they say . . . Maybe they’ll give us a show together! Mother and daughter! Like
The Gastineau Girls
!’

Petal glanced at Dr Raf. He was too well-versed in the ways of Hollywood to be surprised at Linda’s reaction, but he did give Petal a sympathetic glance.

‘Well, come on then, if you’re coming!’ Linda said to Petal. She wiggled her fingers in farewell at Dr Raf. ‘
Lovely
to meet you,’ she said. ‘And you’ve got my number now . . . feel free to use it!’

Grabbing the handles of her Samsonites, Petal followed her mother out of the lobby, bumping the cases over the slate path. She loaded them into Linda’s lime-green Beetle, Linda speculating loudly as she did so about the possibility of a new VH1 reality series.

‘They have this whole strand called Celebreality,’ she babbled happily, ‘and they’re always looking for new ideas . . . we could go in together and do a pitch . . .’

‘I’ve had enough publicity for a while, Mum,’ Petal said. She stopped for a moment, amazed. ‘God! I can’t believe I just said that!’

‘You’ll have to sleep in the pool house,’ Linda said, starting up the car.‘It’s a studio – it’s got its own bathroom. Give us both some privacy that way.’ She giggled. ‘And I have to tell you about Bobby! Ooh, this show’s been so much fun!’

‘Who’s Bobby?’

Petal closed her eyes as her mother pulled out into traffic without checking her mirrors or indicating; a car behind them beeped angrily.

‘Bobby’s my boytoy!’ Linda said happily. ‘I picked him out! This show, right, it’s called
Cougar Hunt
. I had fifteen twenty-somethings to choose from – we all moved into this big house in the Hills to film it – apparently they usually hire it out for porn shoots, isn’t that a blast? One of the kids recognized it from a porno he watched.
So
funny. Anyway, fifteen hot boys jumping through hoops to be with me! Can you imagine! Each episode I can one of them by saying: “Sorry, but you’re not cougar bait!” Hilarious, right?’

‘Hilarious, Mum,’ Petal echoed drily.

‘Oh –’ Linda turned her head to look at Petal, taking her eyes completely off the road – ‘about that? Could you call me Linda? Anything else makes me sound really old. I had you
so
young . . . I mean, really, I could be your older sister . . .’

Oh God, Petal thought hopelessly. Cascabel, with all its restrictions, was looking more and more like paradise on earth.

‘J
oe’s publicists sure are doing a good job getting ahead of the story,’ Kevin said, leaning back in his chair and watching the TV. It was showing
E! News
, and an excited presenter was saying breathlessly: ‘And now, the biggest story in celebrity news, breaking live from Hollywood! Joe Jeffreys leaves sex rehab in disgrace after being caught with a stripper – and dashes straight to his fiancée, Jennifer Downs, to plead for forgiveness! Check out our footage!’

‘Oh my
God
,’ said another
National Investigator
journalist, coming into Kevin’s office and staring at the screen. ‘This is better than Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley after he got caught with that tranny . . .’

‘Check out what she’s
wearing
,’ said Kevin gleefully.

Carmen might have pushed the envelope just a little too far with Jennifer’s styling this time. Jennifer’s short crop had been dyed to a pale blonde, which gave her an even more ethereal appearance than usual; her huge, wide-set hazel eyes were heavily mascaraed, and she was wearing a white crepe slip dress, which fell to below the knee. Round her neck was—

‘It’s a freaking
cross
,’ the other journalist breathed in awe, as the camera panned in on it.

The scene had been staged in the garden of a friend of Jennifer’s, specifically chosen so that the news cameras (summoned by a tip-off from Carmen) could get a perfect view of Jennifer and Joe over the low stone wall. Jennifer was seated on a garden swing, its pale pink canopy casting a rosy glow over her. It was, indeed, a silver crucifix, large enough to be clearly visible, hanging round her slender neck.

And before her, in supplication, kneeled Joe.

‘Too much,’ Kevin said. ‘Way too much.’

‘He’s been a bad, bad boy!’ the
E! News
presenter continued, almost salivating in pleasure. ‘And now the burning question is: will Jennifer forgive him?
Should
she forgive him? They were America’s sweethearts – is it all over now for this golden couple?’

The focus was a little blurry, and the angle meant that all that could be seen of Joe was his back. Skye stared at his strong, muscular shoulders, his thick fair hair, with real yearning.

I’ll never touch him again, she thought. I’ll probably never even see him again, apart from up on a big screen, pretending to be in love with his gay fiancée. She heaved a deep sigh. I’m such an idiot. Falling for a movie star who was just killing time with me. Talk about your basic stripper mistake.

‘Keep tuned for the latest on this breaking news with
E!
’ said the presenter, as they went to a commercial. Kevin reached for the remote and clicked off the sound.

‘We’ve gone through the footage you recorded, Skye,’ he said, swivelling his chair to face hers, nodding at the other
Investigator
journalist to leave his office. ‘Nice work! Though I don’t understand why you didn’t just leave when you had it and bring it straight to us.’ He steepled his fingers together, propping his chin on top of them. ‘That way we wouldn’t have been pipped at the post by that damn British paper.’

‘Joe was very into me,’ Skye said. She’d known this question would be asked, and had already worked out an answer. ‘I thought we’d definitely do it again, and I could record that too.’

‘I can’t believe anything else could be as hot as that!’ he said cheerfully. ‘But hey, what’s done is done.’ He pulled a face. ‘Look, the bonus was dependent on your bringing the story to us first, so we could break it. Now that British tabloid’s got there before us, the bonus is off the table. You get that, right?’

Skye couldn’t argue. It was her own fault for not getting out of Cascabel as soon as she had that explosive piece of video safely recorded.

‘
But
,’ Kevin said cheerfully, throwing her a bone, ‘we’re gonna run a big tell-all piece by you. Well, “as told to” me. And you’ll get a fee for that.’

‘Great,’ Skye said dully.

‘And of course, there’s the whole rights issue for a DVD,’ he went on. ‘We’d love to release it. You’d get a cut, naturally. Our lawyers are working on it right now – there are big issues with the hidden camera, plus being actually filmed at a medical facility like Cascabel. The pics are one thing, but putting out a sex DVD’s bound to drive Joe’s people crazy. We might not be able to pull that one off.’

‘Oh, that’s a shame,’ Skye lied.

She hadn’t even thought about their wanting to market the DVD, and crossed her fingers tightly now, praying they weren’t able to do it. The thought of everyone, till the end of time, being able to watch her and Joe doing it turned her stomach.

What would Joe think?

God, what an idiot you are. As if Joe gives a shit about you.

‘So, good news for you, Skye!’ Kevin beamed, his eyes glinting behind the lenses of his preppie gold-framed glasses. ‘We definitely want you to stay on in LA for a while – we’ll need you for follow-ups. See how far we take this story. God knows if Jennifer will take Joe back – this one will run and run.
So
, we don’t want you talking to anyone but us. We’ll get you to sign an exclusive-access contract, give you a nice extra fee for that, and put you up at a hotel here, all expenses paid. My assistant’s booked you into the Grafton, on the Sunset Strip. We’ll get you checked in there just as soon as you’ve told me every single detail you can remember about your wild times with Joe Jeffreys.’

Beaming, he pulled out a mini digital recorder from his desk drawer, and slid it halfway across the desk, positioning it between them.

‘I’m going to record this and take notes, OK?’ he said. ‘You want a coffee? Soda? Water?’

Skye shook her head.

‘OK, let’s get started!’ he said happily. ‘What was the first thing Joe said to you?’

I don’t want to do this, Skye thought miserably. I really don’t. But I’m not getting my bonus now – I need this money. If I don’t tell him the story, they’ll pack me back to New York. And then I’ll be at square one again. I can’t go back to the Lounge with my tail between my legs. I can’t go back to that life.

‘I don’t remember exactly,’ she heard herself say. ‘Something like “Welcome to Cascabel”.’

‘Huh. I think we’ll go with “Hi, gorgeous!”,’ Kevin said, starting to type. ‘Or maybe “Hi, blondie!” Sounds sexier, doesn’t it?’

‘A
mber! Honey!’

Even by Californian standards, Tony seemed impossibly tall and bronzed. His teeth flashed white against his tanned skin as he strode towards Amber; his outstretched hands – one glinting golden with a signet ring – looked huge.

‘Let’s get you out of here!’ he said, reaching her and enveloping her in a big hug. ‘Jeez, what a place I sent you to, baby! I’m so sorry!’

‘Oh, no, it was fine,’ Amber said into his shoulder.

‘How’re you doing?’ He pulled back, looking down at her. ‘Baby, you look
great.
Better than I’ve ever seen you.’

‘I’m off the pills,’ Amber said simply. ‘Everything’s in focus.’

‘Wow, that’s wonderful,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘I just hope you still like me now you’re all cleaned up!’

You sound like we had a relationship; but I don’t even know you, Amber thought, almost amused at Tony’s level of self-delusion. I was paid to date you a few times. That’s it.

‘Thank you so much for sending me here,’ she said sincerely, gazing up at Tony’s handsome face. ‘I really think you saved my life.’

‘Oh,
baby
. . .’ Tony shook his head. ‘You were in a bad, bad way when I came round that day. Your mom was hysterical.’

He shrugged his impossibly wide shoulders. He was wearing a crisp white shirt, with a faint pink check, tucked into equally starched and ironed flat-fronted beige chinos. Both items of clothing smelled pleasantly of fabric conditioner, and both had definitely been bought from a shop that specialized in fitting men over six foot four. Amber remembered him telling her that his leather shoes were all custom-made.

‘But that’s what I’m for,’ Tony continued seriously. ‘Amber, I take care of things. That’s what my job is. I’m a troubleshooter. They give me all these fancy titles, but that’s the long and short of it. I fly round the world sorting out problems, making sure people can run pipelines from A to B. That’s hardcore stuff, honey. So if I can take care of that kind of thing, no way I can’t take care of you too.’

‘I don’t know what to say,’ Amber said honestly. ‘Tony, I need to pay you back for all the money you’ve spent on me. I have some savings – I can at least make a start. Can you tell me how much—’

‘Shh now!’ He raised a finger to his lips. ‘Don’t say anything! Tell you what. We’re gonna take you to see your mom – she’s dying to see you, I can tell you that. I got her settled in a nice house in the Hills my company rents for its people. We got places all over, so don’t go thinking this is some sorta huge deal, OK? You and she can have a good old catch-up.’ He grinned. ‘I know how the ladies love to talk each other to death. These your cases?’

‘Yes, but—’

‘Later, baby. After we settle you in.’

Tony waved to someone outside the big glass doors of the Cascabel lobby; a driver in a dark suit entered, picking up Amber’s suitcases and whisking them outside.

Daniyel, standing by the reception desk, said: ‘Amber, sweetie, we’re very sorry to see you leave before the end of your treatment month—’

‘Well, what the hell do you expect?’ Tony exclaimed. ‘You got this huge scandal breaking over all your heads – Amber was roommates with that stripper girl! I mean, I don’t know much about this whole rehab setup, but I do know that you gotta trust everyone else is here for the right reasons, isn’t that right?’