Friends & Rivals (51 page)

‘I never loved Ava!' Lex was shouting now. ‘Just like I never loved Leila, not really.' These were things he'd never said to anyone, never even said to himself out loud. It was as if he needed to throw the words out of his body, to get rid of them like live hand grenades. ‘It's always been Kendall. But she always wanted you.'

Jack frowned.

‘Maybe I wouldn't even care so much if I thought you really loved her too,' Lex went on. ‘But you don't. What happened in London was just sex for you, wasn't it? That's the part I can't forgive.'

‘You are way off base,' Jack said calmly.

‘Am I?' Lex stood up to go. ‘Am I, Jack?'

‘Yes, you are,' Jack said more forcefully. ‘Now, for God's sake sit down before you make even more of an ass of yourself.'

Lex hesitated, then sat with his head in his hands.

‘Do you want the truth?' asked Jack. He took Lex's pained groan for assent. ‘Number one, nothing happened between me and Kendall in London. Nothing. I swear on my wife's memory.'

Lex looked up. If ever there was a sacred vow for Jack, that was it. ‘Really?'

‘Really. We'd both had too much to drink that day. We were talking, catching up till late, and she fell asleep on my couch. Period.'

‘So what were you doing in bed together?'

‘We weren't in bed “together”,' said Jack. ‘I was sleeping. Kendall came in to say goodbye. You just caught us at an awkward moment, that's all.'

Lex digested this information. ‘But what about afterwards? At the Annabel's party, you offering her a contract, trying to get her to move out here?'

‘That was business.'

‘You had your arm around her.'

‘I'm her friend!' said Jack. ‘She'd just missed out on Christmas number one, she was devastated. What was I suppose to do? Shake her hand? Wave from a distance? It was brave of her to show up at that party, especially knowing you'd be there.'

Lex looked puzzled. ‘Me? What do I have to do with it?'

Jack shook his head. How stupid people were when it came to their own love lives. ‘She loves you, you moron. It's not me she wants. It's you. What do you think we spent the whole night talking about when she stayed over at The Berkeley?'

‘But she … she never said anything.'

‘Are you surprised? You were with Ava. Plus you were giving her the major cold shoulder.'

Because I thought she was with you.

‘I gotta say, it wasn't just Kendall you had fooled,' said Jack. ‘I knew you held a torch for her in the past, but I thought all that was dead and buried after the Chateau Marmont pictures.'

Lex sat in stunned silence, too amazed by what Jack had just told him even to be happy. Was it really true? Did Kendall really love him? Suddenly he felt his whole body tense with fear. What if she
had
loved him, but he'd pushed her away and now it was too late? What if she'd already found someone else?

‘She's here you know,' said Jack, guessing at his friend's thoughts. ‘She's in LA, staying at her mom's.'

‘Hi!' The waitress was back with the rest of Jack's order. ‘How's the food so far? Is there anything else I can get you gentlemen?'

Ignoring her, Lex stood up and stumbled out of the restaurant without another word. He hadn't even said goodbye to Jack. It was as if he were sleepwalking.

‘Is he OK?' asked the girl, frowning.

‘Not really,' said Jack. ‘But I'm hoping he will be in about – ' he looked at his watch – ‘half an hour. The food's excellent, by the way. Can I take a look at your dessert menu?'

Kendall sat by the fire in her mother's house, poring over old photograph albums with her younger sister Holly.

‘Can you believe that's me?' She pointed to a picture of herself standing outside the house on the first day of shooting for her reality show, eight years ago. ‘I look so young. And check out those
pants
! Why did none of you stop me?'

‘You still look young,' said Holly loyally. ‘And with your figure you could get away with those pants. Unlike me.'

‘Nonsense. You have a gorgeous figure.' Kendall wrapped an arm around her sister. At twenty-two, Holly was plumper than Kendall had ever been, and her cheerful, round face was pretty rather than sexy. But she was without doubt the kindest creature on the planet. Having barely laid eyes on her for the last four years, Kendall was immensely grateful for the warm, forgiving way that Holly had welcomed her back into her life. Their brother Joe was away working in Houston, and Lorna's social life put Paris Hilton's in the shade, so the two girls had had plenty of time alone to reconnect.

Holly yawned. ‘I think I might hit the hay. I have an audition tomorrow morning at ten and I still need to learn half my lines.'

‘OK,' Kendall kissed her. ‘Goodnight.' Watching her sister walk upstairs, she felt a pang of anxiety. She wished Holly hadn't decided to go into acting. The thought of her kid sister at the mercy of all those Hollywood vipers made Kendall's blood run cold. But she knew she mustn't preach. She'd had her own moment in the spotlight. And, besides, Holly was so much more grounded than she was – she might even be OK.

The doorbell jolted her out of her reverie. The grandfather clock by the fireplace said five after ten. Who on earth could it be at this time of night, and why had security let them past the front gates? If it was some bozo selling something, she was gonna give them a piece of her mind.

Putting on her slippers she shuffled to the front door. ‘I hope this is impor …'

She left the sentence hanging. All of a sudden her throat had gone horribly dry.

‘It's late. I know. Is it too late? Oh shit, I woke you up, didn't I?' Lex stammered. Only then did it occur to Kendall that she was wearing a pair of Snoopy pyjamas and giant fluffy slippers with dog faces on the end.

‘I should have called. I'll come back tomorrow.' He turned to go.

‘No!' It was more of a yelp than a word, so great was her panic that he would disappear again, that the magic would come undone. ‘It's fine, I was up. Come in.'

She led him into the living room. Her heart was pounding so wildly she could hardly hear herself think. ‘Would you like some hot chocolate?' All she wanted was for him to stay. Whatever he'd come to talk to her about, a hot drink would drag it out.

‘Er … OK,' said Lex. After he left Jack, he'd driven into Beverly Hills like a bat out of hell, desperate to see Kendall with his own eyes, to ask her if what Jack had told him was really true. But now that he was here, opposite her, his courage seemed to have deserted him. Where to begin?

‘Jack told me you were staying here. Are you just visiting or is it permanent?'

‘I'm looking for a place here,' Kendall said cautiously. ‘But I don't really know. I've given up planning for the future. It never works out the way you think it's going to.'

Lex smiled. ‘That's true.'

An awful silence descended. He wanted so badly to reach out and touch her, but it was as if he'd lost the use of his limbs as well as his tongue.
Do something! Say something, you idiot.

‘Jack says you're not in love with him any more.'

Not that! Jesus fucking Christ, why did you say that?

‘Is it true?'

It was like he had Tourette's. The stream of idiocy just kept coming, spewing out of his mouth like sewage. What a fucking disaster.

‘Yes, it's true,' said Kendall. ‘I'm in love with someone else now.'

‘Oh,' said Lex, crestfallen. But what had he expected? Of course she'd found someone else. Why wouldn't she? He'd missed his window, if there'd ever really been a window. What had possessed him to come here?

‘He's all I think about, this guy,' said Kendall. ‘But it's hopeless. He's taken.'

Lex stood up, his mind a blur. He couldn't cope with hearing about some new man Kendall had set her sights on, with being her shoulder to cry on yet again. ‘I'm sorry,' he blurted. ‘I made a mistake. I shouldn't have come here.'

Kendall watched him walk away. She tried to be stoic but her heart cracked.

‘Why?' she called after him.

‘Kendall, I can't.' To his immense embarrassment, Lex realized he was crying.

‘Why can't you? Because of Ava? You're getting married, aren't you?' Kendall sobbed. ‘That's why you came here tonight, to tell me. You're engaged.'

Lex turned around and stared at her. ‘Engaged? Of course I'm not engaged. Ava and I are finished.'

‘Then what …?'

The two of them gazed at one another, neither one of them daring to hope. Then somehow, without words, they came together, clasping each other like two shipwreck survivors miraculously washed up on the shore.

Lex found his voice first. ‘I love you,' he murmured, kissing Kendall's hair and neck and cheeks. ‘I've loved you for so long.'

‘Even after Ivan?' asked Kendall, kissing him back.

‘Even after Ivan.'

‘And the Chateau Marmont?'

‘And the Chateau.'

‘And—'

Lex stopped her with a kiss. ‘Let's not run through the whole laundry list, shall we?'

‘OK,' sighed Kendall. She felt replete with happiness, gorged like a nectar-swollen bee.

‘I don't have a ring,' said Lex. ‘But I don't think I can wait another second. Darling, darling Kendall. Will you marry me?'

She hesitated momentarily. Technically she wasn't divorced from Ivan yet. But this was definitely, categorically,
not
the moment to focus on technicalities.

‘Of course I'll marry you, Lexi,' she beamed ecstatically. ‘Consider yourself stuck with me till death do us part.'

Jack Messenger walked around the empty office space, trying to visualize the room filled with noise and people and computers and constantly ringing telephones. The best thing about the building was its windows; floor-to-ceiling, arched Georgian sashes giving way to panoramic views across Magdalen Meadow and The Fellows' Garden.

Everyone had told him he was mad to set up JSM's UK offices in Oxford rather than London, but Jack had insisted. If he was going to run the UK office himself and start a new life away from LA, he was damn well going to do it in a place he loved. Staring out at the sparkling, frosted wonderland – a late March cold snap had dusted Oxford with a gossamer-thin blanket of snow – he was sure he'd made the right decision. He and Sonya had been happiest here, amid the mellowed, honey stone buildings and charming cobbled streets. The city was idyllic, accessible and creatively inspiring. And the rents were four times cheaper than central London.

‘It's serviced, you say?'

‘Fully serviced.' The pretty estate agent adjusted the top buttons on her blouse and thought again how much she would like to fully service Jack Messenger. Most of her firm's clients were fat, balding middle managers in telecoms companies, relocating from Swindon or Slough. Drop-dead gorgeous LA rock managers didn't pass through Oxford all that often. ‘If you were able to put down a year's rental in advance, we could offer you a considerable discount.'

‘I'll take it.' Jack turned away from the window and smiled. ‘But I need to be up and running within a week. Can you do that?'

‘I'll try,' said the estate agent, flicking back her glossy auburn hair.

‘Don't try,' said Jack. ‘Succeed. I'll be staying at The Randolph for the next few days. You can drop all the paperwork off there.'

Strolling idly across Magdalen Bridge, past All Soul's, Brasenose and Exeter Colleges towards the spectacular Ashmolean Museum, Jack felt a warm glow of contentment that insulated him against the biting March wind. He'd found an office, which meant that JSM UK had just moved from being a concept to a reality. There were so many opportunities in the British market and across Europe. Coming here with Ava had opened the door, and her battle with Kendall had been the catalyst. But the possibilities for growth went way beyond broadening the careers of JSM's existing clients. There was a wealth of new, untapped talent in the UK, all of it desperate to sign up with a management company that had genuine global reach. For the first time in a long time, Jack found himself genuinely excited and inspired by the business again. Being back in Oxford was merely the icing on the cake.

He was also looking forward to lunch with his godson. Jack hadn't seen Hector in person since his second internship at JSM last year, and even then their paths had crossed rarely. Sticking to his policy of non-involvement in Charles family life, a policy based in equal parts on respect for Ivan's recovery and self-protection, Jack had made no contact since the accident, so he was surprised and delighted when Hector called him up out of the blue and suggested a lunch date.

‘You'll have to pay,' he told Jack cheerfully. ‘I'm so broke I owe myself money. But can we please go somewhere with big helpings and decent puddings? I'm trying to make the Burford Rugby Club first fifteen so I need to bulk up.'

Jack had chosen Carlo's, a cheap and cheerful Italian that had been around since his own student days and that still served the best spaghetti vongole and tiramisu in town. Hector was already at the table, attacking the bread basket, when he walked in.

‘I'm not late, am I?' said Jack, looking at his watch.

‘Nope. I was early,' said Hector through a mouthful of crumbs. ‘I thought if I sat here for fifteen minutes they'd be bound to feed me something. And they did!' He flashed his godfather a cheeky grin. It was uncanny how much he looked like Ivan.

‘So how are things?' asked Jack, sitting down and ordering a salad and chicken paillard. Hector went for the vongole to start, another creamy pasta dish as a main and a side of rosemary roast potatoes, all washed down with full-fat Coke.