Paradise (20 page)

‘Cheek!’ Angel exclaimed. ‘Can too! And I feel just fine!’ She omitted to mention to Ethan that she now had the spinny-head feeling and the room was revolving before her eyes.

‘Call me in the morning your time. You can tell me then.’ Angel took his advice and then practically passed out in bed.

In the morning she felt every bit as rough as Ethan had predicted. She was just trying to will herself to get up when there was a knock at the door of her suite and one of the maids presented her with an extravagant bouquet of velvety red roses. She was just about to text Ethan to thank him when she read the card and discovered they were from Daryl, saying how much he had enjoyed meeting her and that he was looking forward to seeing her again. Maybe what she had taken for playful banter, he had taken for flirtation? Angel sincerely hoped not, she didn’t want any other complications in her life. She ordered breakfast in bed and thought no more about it before heading off to Jez’s Islington salon where he was going to redo her highlights. Just as well. She wasn’t up to doing any work and Cal had Honey, so Angel could just relax.

She and Jez were having a great time gossiping when Angel’s mobile rang. She frowned when Benny’s number flashed up and almost considered not taking
the call, then pressed the Accept key. Benny didn’t bother with any niceties like saying hello before he launched in with, ‘What the fuck were you doing with Daryl Webster last night? I told you if you ever messed with Ethan, I would personally take it on myself to fuck up your life. You’ve only been engaged five fucking minutes!’

‘Er, hello, Benny. It’s none of your business what I was doing . . . not that I was doing anything.’

‘Yes, it’s my fucking business! Anything that effects Ethan is my fucking business! So did you fuck him? Give him a blow job? What? It would be better if I knew everything. Ethan’s saying that he doesn’t believe you would do anything like that. But I know better. I know what girls like you can be capable of.’ He was back to sounding vengeful and full of hatred as he had at his party, but rather than feeling shaken by his outburst, Angel was quietly furious. No way was Benny going to get away with speaking to her like this.

She held the phone away from her ear as Benny carried on ranting and Jez gave her a WTF look.

Then she moved the handset closer as she said coldly, ‘Benny, nothing happened. And if you
ever
speak to me like this again, I will do everything I can to persuade Ethan to get another agent.’

And before he could fire off any more abuse, she ended the call.

‘I can’t believe that!’ she exclaimed to Jez, then filled him in on what Benny had said, though he had heard much of it as Benny had been shouting. ‘And how the hell did he know anyway?’

‘I guess someone could have tipped off the press that you were talking to Daryl – you’re both so well known it was bound to happen.’

‘I’d better call Ethan, I don’t want him freaking out that something has gone on. Bloody hell Jez, why is my
life always so complicated!’ He gave a sympathetic shrug.

Fortunately Ethan was completely cool, saying that he trusted her and knew nothing would have happened. That Benny had over-reacted and he would talk to him about it. He didn’t know how his agent had found out about her encounter with Daryl, but suspected it was from one of Benny’s many press contacts.

But as Angel spoke to Ethan, she found herself wondering if that was the case; found herself wondering if perhaps Simone had something to do with tipping off the press. Angel knew the other woman was short of money, and whatever front she was putting on she had no great love for Angel. Simone would have been perfectly placed to make that call. She had certainly gone out of her way to question Angel about Daryl. Trouble was, Angel had no proof, and if she mentioned it to Jez or Gemma they would no doubt think she was laying the blame at Simone’s door because she didn’t like her.

She had barely come off the phone when Susie called her, and wasted no time getting to the point. ‘So what’s all this about you and Daryl Webster, flirting all night and then going back to his hotel? Not that I blame you . . . he is sex on legs! I’d do him any day of the week! So what was he like?’

Angel rolled her eyes at Jez. Some relaxing day this was proving to be! ‘There is nothing going on between me and Daryl, it’s all crap, Susie, so if any journalists contact you, can you simply say that, yes, I did talk to him. But he was one of many people I spoke to last night and we’re just friends. I’m happily engaged to Ethan, remember?’ How dare Susie think she would be so quick to jump into bed with another man!

‘Just friends?’ Susie said suggestively, then laughed.
‘Not that old line! I always think it’s code for “shagging each other’s brains out”!’

‘Susie!’ Angel exclaimed sharply.

‘Sorry, Angel, I didn’t mean to suggest anything. But just think this story is still good for you profile.’

It was so not! Angel thought crossly and said abruptly, ‘Got to go Susie, I’ll see you when I’m back in LA.’

And she switched her phone off for good measure. She didn’t need any more calls about Daryl Webster. She was starting to regret her little chat with him, she had forgotten how the press here always picked up on every single thing she did, picked it, twisted it and then printed a lie.

‘
HAS
DARYL
GOT
a new
Angel?
’ screamed the headline in the
Sun
the following morning. Susie didn’t seem to have done a good job of defusing the story, Angel thought bitterly as she scanned the article. A ‘friend’ had told the paper that the pair had seemed smitten with each other, that Angel had confessed she was seriously having doubts about her marriage to Ethan, and that they had spent most of the night together in the club, hardly able to keep their hands off each other . . . not that old bloody tabloid cliché! The couple were said to have left the club separately, only to meet up at the Mayfair Hotel where guests were said to have commented on the loud noises coming from their suite. As if!

Angel angrily threw the paper across her mum’s kitchen table, disgusted by the blatant lies. ‘I haven’t read that yet!’ Frank said accusingly, from his position at the head of the table where he was ploughing his way through a plate of bacon and egg which Michelle only allowed him to have once a week now, drawing the line at fried bread.

‘It’s all crap!’ Angel exclaimed. ‘I can’t believe they can get away with printing it. And I bet I know who “the friend” is,’ she added darkly.

‘Who’s that then?’ Michelle asked, sitting down with her bowl of muesli.

‘Simone bloody bitch-face Fraser.’

Michelle winced. ‘She was never very nice to you was she?’ A typical understatement from her mum.

‘And I never knew what Cal saw in her,’ Frank put in.

Blimey! Her dad was actually criticising Cal. Angel couldn’t resist pointing it out. ‘Not like you to say anything bad about him.’

‘Why do you say that?’ Frank asked.

Angel pushed her yoghurt and blueberries around in the bowl; she was trying to be healthy after overdoing the drink. ‘Well, it’s just sometimes I feel that you think Cal is perfect, whatever he does.’

Frank shook his head; he hated being criticised. ‘I’ve never thought that. I just think you shouldn’t be rushing into marriage with this Ethan.’ Okay, finally her dad had come out with what had been bothering him.

‘He’s not
this
Ethan!’ Angel exclaimed hotly. ‘And I’m
not
rushing into it. I love him and it’s the right thing to do.’

‘You could wait a bit longer, though, couldn’t you? I don’t see the need for the urgency. It seems spiteful somehow.’

‘Spiteful to who? Oh, to Cal? He’s the one who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants when we were married!’

Frank frowned at the expression; he had always been a bit staid in his ways, a little bit sexist. He thought it was fine for men to swear like troopers but that ladies shouldn’t. Both he and Angel were getting very wound up – Frank’s breakfast lay untouched as did hers. It was left to Michelle, as so many times in the past, to try and smooth things over between father and daughter.

‘Come on, you two! Angel’s going back tomorrow, don’t part on a quarrel.’

‘I’m not,’ Frank said gruffly, pushing his chair away from the table and getting up, ‘I just think she needs to think a little longer about what she’s doing. She’s got a daughter now; she needs to be more responsible. All this rushing headlong into marriage with a man none of us knows anything about . . . it’s not good.’

‘It’s your fault if you don’t know anything about him – I’ve asked you over enough times!’ Angel shouted back. But Frank ignored her.

‘Aren’t you going to have your breakfast?’ Michelle asked as he headed out of the kitchen.

‘I’ve lost my appetite,’ Frank called back. ‘I’ll see you later.’

Angel’s bad mood only continued when she met up with Gemma and found herself pursued by the paps round Brighton. ‘Simone’s got a lot to answer for,’ she said crossly as they went into Pret for coffee and to escape the cameras.

‘Why do you think it was Simone who tipped off the press?’

Angel glared at her friend who was wearing the Tiffany charm bracelet. She noticed the diamond horse shoe amongst the charms.

‘It’s precisely the kind of thing she’d do. Or do you think she’s turned into a bloody saint?’

‘But there were lots of other people in the club, it could have been anyone, and it did look like you and Daryl were getting on well.’

‘I was just having a laugh!’ Angel exclaimed.

‘And you could have come and sat with us, rather than wandering off with the first hot singer who comes your way.’

‘I’m sorry, Gem. I was just dancing. And I didn’t want to sit with Simone, it was bad enough having dinner with her.’

Surely Gemma wasn’t pissed off with her about that?
Simone really was doing a good job of turning Angel’s friends against her if so. But luckily Gemma sighed and said, ‘Yeah, and now she’s given me this charm, I feel like I have to be nice to her all the time!’

‘Sell it on Ebay and give the money to charity,’ Angel urged her.

Gemma stroked the horse shoe protectively. ‘But I’ve always wanted one!’

‘So you are happy to sell your soul for a Tiffany charm?’ Angel took the piss out of her friend. They both laughed, but Gemma couldn’t resist adding, ‘Just because you could buy yourself any number of Tiffany charms and not even notice a dent in your bank account!’

‘Okay, point taken. I can’t stand the woman. And I don’t trust her. I can’t help feeling that she’s trying to buy your friendship. And what was all that about her suddenly wanting to run the marathon? She never used to be into running.’

‘She’s lonely, isn’t it obvious? I think all her old WAG friends dropped her when they found out about the drugs and everything. Honestly, Angel, don’t get so wound up by her.’

Angel gave a wry smile. It was pretty hard not being wound up by someone like Simone, but equally she didn’t want it to be the only subject she talked about with her friends. There was a lull in conversation as both women sipped their lattes then Gemma commented, ‘Cal didn’t seem himself last night.’

‘What do you mean? He seemed okay – well, he was being judgemental and uptight because of me talking to Daryl, though I don’t know why that was any of his business.’ Even as Angel said it, she thought how she would have felt seeing Cal in close conversation with a good-looking woman.

Gemma shrugged. ‘He finds it hard being around
you. And you marrying Ethan has really thrown him. I think he always hoped you would come back to him, but now he realises that’s not going to happen.’

‘He’s said this to Tony?’ Angel asked, unsettled by the comment.

Gemma shook her head, ‘Nope, I can tell. I have known Cal for seventeen years. I saw the way he looked at you. But you’re marrying Ethan, so I guess he has to get used to it.’

Was her friend trying to make her feel guilty? Tell her that she was doing the wrong thing by marrying Ethan? Angel wasn’t having any of it. She shook her hair back defiantly. ‘Yeah, I’m marrying Ethan.’

It was Angel’s last day in Brighton before she and Honey flew back that night. She and her dad maintained a polite front with each other as Angel returned home to pack. No way was she going to be the first to apologise when he had been so totally in the wrong, and Frank was just as stubborn. Then Cal came round with Honey and Angel got the cold treatment from him as well. So much for Gemma thinking he was pining for her!

‘I saw the story, Angel,’ he said, not even bothering to say hello but standing in the tiny hallway, looking moody, hands shoved into the pockets of his black leather jacket, a frown on his face.

‘Yeah, well, it was all a load of bollocks!’ she exclaimed.

‘You did talk to him for a long time, and he has got a reputation.’

‘Talking being the word!’ Angel shot back. ‘Nothing happened, Cal. He didn’t come back to my hotel room – as you well know. You dropped me off! Do you really not know me better than that!’ She just hated him having a go at her, as if it was anything to do with him
any more. He didn’t have any say in her life. He had forfeited that right a long time ago.

Cal shrugged. ‘Like I said, he’s got a reputation. So will you see him again?’ He sounded so judgemental, it made Angel want to provoke him.

‘I might if he comes over to LA. He’s a laugh.’

‘And d’you think that’s a good idea?’

Angel wanted to stamp her foot with frustration! ‘I’ll see him with Ethan, of course. And maybe he could be in our reality show and that would prove to people we’re just friends.’

‘I don’t think Daryl has women as friends, just shag conquests.’ That was so like Cal, he had to get the last word in. Now it was Angel’s turn to shrug. She busied herself with getting Honey’s things together. She couldn’t wait to get back to LA after all this shit, even more so when she got a text from Daryl saying he was sorry about the story and hoped she would still be up for meeting him again. She sent back the blandest reply she could, saying everything was cool and that he was welcome to come round to house for dinner with herself and Ethan.