Sapphire (14 page)

Sapphire kept checking her watch, willing the night to be over. At midnight it was showtime. Sapphire and Jazz rounded up the women and led them upstairs to Alfie’s intimate cabaret room. Three other hen parties were already installed at the tables, while topless waiters in tiny silver shorts took their orders.

Georgia took a good look at them and then turned to Sapphire, ‘Not a patch on your fella and I bet they’re all gay aren’t they?’

‘Probably.’

Alfie strolled over to the table, ‘Can I get you ladies anything else? Champagne? Cocktails?’

‘Vodka and Red Bulls all round, I think, Alfie my darling,’ Georgia replied. Her eyes slid over him appreciatively. ‘I really don’t know why Sapphire was in such a hurry to get rid of a dish like you. We all make mistakes, don’t we darling? You’ll have to come to my wedding, I need more gorgeous men there – it will look better in the magazine shots.’

‘Thank you, Georgia, I’d love to come,’ Alfie replied, while Sapphire gritted her teeth. Bastard! He must know how much that would wind her up.

She looked away from the pair of them and noticed Ryan walking through the door. He looked very good in a black suit and black shirt, sophisticated and slick. Suddenly the night didn’t seem quite so bad as he walked over and lightly kissed Sapphire on the cheek before introducing himself to Georgia. ‘You’ll have to come to my wedding too!’ Georgia exclaimed. ‘I had no idea there were so many good-looking men still on the market, otherwise I might have taken my time getting hitched again.’

Ryan smiled, ‘Thanks but I’m not the marrying kind.’ He was looking straight at Sapphire who felt herself blush again.

Georgia might have been off her head but she was still quick to pick up on the vibe, ‘Now, now Sapphire, don’t be greedy, you’ve already got that gorgeous boyfriend. Don’t you think you ought to leave Ryan for someone else? Simone’s single at the moment.’

Sapphire was mortified; she couldn’t bring herself to look at Ryan.

Georgia gave a dirty laugh. ‘Now, have I got time to go to the bathroom before the boys come on? I don’t want to miss anything.’

‘Plenty of time, Georgia.’ Alfie assured her.

Georgia got unsteadily to her feet, accompanied by Erin. They were both so drunk that they had to hold each other upright. Alfie shook his head at Sapphire then went over to help them.

Sapphire was left standing next to Ryan. ‘Sorry about that, she’s very drunk. She’s already sexually assaulted my boyfriend.’

‘Poor bastard,’ Ryan replied. ‘But she’s right isn’t she? Pissed as she is, even she could pick up on what’s going on between us.’ He stared at her.

Sapphire’s stomach did the dangerous delicious flip thing but she managed to shake her head and say coolly, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Ryan moved closer to her, and whispered, ‘You’re lying to yourself if you believe that, Sapphire.’

Sapphire was saved from having to reply by Simone marching over and saying accusingly, ‘Where’s Georgia? The cabaret’s about to start and she won’t want to miss it.’

Reluctantly Sapphire made her way to the ladies’. Jazz intercepted her at the door. ‘So is that Ryan?’ she demanded.

Great. Now she was going to get the third degree from Jazz. ‘Yeah,’ Sapphire mumbled.

‘He’s way too smooth. Jay’s much more handsome.’

Sapphire turned to her friend in exasperation, ‘I know! Look Jazz, I don’t fancy Ryan. He’s just a business contact.’ It was such a lie Sapphire almost expected her nose to suddenly grow three inches. ‘Let’s just get that silly cow out of the loos. She’s bound to be puking up in there.’

There was a queue of women waiting for the cubicles and Sapphire and Jazz had to push their way through,
ignoring the tuts. ‘I don’t want to go, I’m just looking for someone,’ she said, not wanting another punch in the face.

‘Georgia,’ she called out, ‘are you in here? The cabaret’s about to start.’

No response, where the hell was she? She tried calling her name again.

Then a voice came from the cubicle at the end: ‘She’s in here, I don’t think she’s very well.’

Great, so she was puking up, typical! Sapphire marched down to the cubicle and braced herself. She knocked at the door and Erin opened it, looking scared. Georgia was lying down, unconscious.

‘Shit! How long as she been like this?’

‘I dunno,’ she whined, ‘I’ve been trying to get her to wake up.’

‘Has she taken anything?’ Sapphire asked, bending down, suddenly fearful that Georgia had stopped breathing.

‘I dunno.’

God the woman was infuriating! Meanwhile Georgia barely seemed to have a pulse. Jazz knew some first aid and quickly put Georgia in the recovery position on her side. Georgia still didn’t open her eyes. Jazz looked at Sapphire. ‘She might just be pissed or it might be something else. If I were you I’d phone an ambulance.’

Sapphire scrambled for her mobile in her bag and then called 999, all the while looking anxiously at the unconscious Georgia as she explained the situation to the operator.

‘Erin, can you go and find Alfie and tell him what’s happened?’ Sapphire asked after she’d made the call. Erin looked at her blankly, still too out of it.

‘Oh for God’s sake! Jazz will you be okay if I get Alfie?’

‘Yeah, but don’t be long,’ Jazz said as she knelt down beside Georgia. Sapphire pushed her way back through
the women queuing for the loo and raced back to the cabaret room to find Alfie.

‘Shit! You could have asked me first,’ he exclaimed when she told him she had called an ambulance.

‘I was worried that it might be serious.’ Sapphire shot back.

‘It’s not the kind of publicity we need,’ Alfie was looking anxiously at Ryan.

How typical for Alfie to be thinking of himself at a time like this.

Ryan just said, ‘Chill, Alfie, it’s probably just the drink.’ He turned to Sapphire, ‘You haven’t seen Georgia take anything have you?’

‘Nope. Just drink bucket loads. I’d better get back to her. Is there a chance that you could get the other hens back to the hotel? I really don’t think I could stand for anything else to go wrong.’

Ryan reached out and touched her shoulder, ‘Don’t worry, Sapphire, everything will be fine, I promise.’

‘What the fuck’s going on?’ By now Simone had joined them.

‘Nothing that Sapphire can’t handle,’ Ryan said soothingly. ‘You must be Simone Fraser, I recognise you. But you look even better in the flesh than you do on TV.’

Ordinarily such outrageous flattery would have Sapphire reaching for the sick bag. But right now flattery was the only thing standing between them and a whole lot of trouble.

Simone smirked and looked coy, ‘Thank you, but that doesn’t answer my question.’ Underneath that simpering exterior was a will of steel.

‘Georgia has passed out. I’ve just called an ambulance,’ Sapphire said quickly.

‘I knew you shouldn’t have plied her with so much alcohol,’ Simone said accusingly. ‘I did warn you.’

She had done no such thing. In fact Simone had been
the one ordering more drinks for everyone all the time, even though she herself seemed barely to have touched a drop.

‘Why don’t we take Simone to Georgia?’ Ryan suggested. ‘I’m sure you’d like to be with your friend wouldn’t you?’

‘You should work for the United Nations,’ Sapphire whispered under her breath as Ryan led Simone out of the cabaret room.

‘All part of the service,’ he replied, winking at her.

The next hour was a frenzy of activity. The paramedics arrived and checked Georgia over. She still hadn’t regained consciousness. ‘She’ll be okay, won’t she?’ Sapphire asked them anxiously.

‘Let’s just get her to hospital shall we?’ One of the men said calmly and Sapphire could only watch helplessly as they attached an oxygen mask to Georgia’s face and lifted her onto a stretcher. Simone went with her in the ambulance while Sapphire and Jazz took a taxi to casualty.

‘Don’t worry, Sapphire, I’m sure she’ll be fine,’ Jazz did her best to reassure her friend. Sapphire only hoped she was right.

Walking into the casualty waiting area on a Saturday night was like entering a war zone. It was packed with the walking wounded, a high proportion of them pissed. Sapphire noticed Simone sitting on one of the blue plastic chairs at the far side of the room and walked over, with Jazz following behind. ‘How is she?’ Sapphire asked taking a seat next to her.

‘I don’t know, they’re still trying to work out what’s happened.’

Under the harsh overhead lighting Simone no longer looked so immaculate. There were deep lines around her
eyes, the sign of too much sun worship and her forehead looked unnaturally shiny, a consequence of Botox. Mind you, Sapphire was sure she didn’t look too good either. The three of them then watched a very drunk man weave his way past them, pausing to throw up over his shoes and narrowly missing Sapphire’s Louboutins. Really, it was enough to put anyone off alcohol for life.

‘Gross!’ Jazz exclaimed, as the smell of vomit hit them, ‘Let’s go and sit somewhere else.’

‘I hope the press don’t get wind of this, it could really damage Georgia’s career,’ Simone said darkly as they relocated to the opposite corner of the room.

‘Well, I’m not going to tell them,’ Sapphire replied, ‘but an awful lot of people saw Georgia at the club.’

‘I suppose we can say its food poisoning or something,’ Simone continued.

‘We can’t – that will reflect badly on the restaurant!’ Sapphire protested.

‘All you think about is your precious business! My best friend is lying in there unconscious.’ Simone must really be summoning up what precious little acting ability she had now. Melodramatic is the word Sapphire would have used to describe her performance; that or hammy.

‘She’s unconscious because she fucking caned it!’ Sapphire was on the verge of losing it.

Jazz shot her a warning glance and luckily before Sapphire could say anything else, the nurse called them over. As Sapphire had suspected, Georgia had simply drunk too much. She’d had her stomach pumped and they were going to keep her in overnight. Sapphire wanted to see her, but Simone insisted that Georgia wouldn’t want to see anyone but her. Jazz called for a taxi and the two girls went outside to wait for it – both of them had had enough of being stuck in A&E.

Sapphire felt completely shattered. She reached for her phone again. Still nothing from Jay. ‘This has been
one of the worst nights of my life! And all because of that silly cow,’ Sapphire told Jazz.

‘It’ll be all right,’ Jazz replied, linking arms with her to keep warm while they waited. ‘Hopefully the press won’t find out.’

Famous last words. Sapphire had only been asleep for two hours when her mobile rang, shrill and piercing. It was a journalist wanting all the dirt on the hen weekend and promising her a hefty fee if she dished it.

‘No comment!’ Sapphire shouted and angrily hung up, throwing her phone across the room. She tried to go back to sleep but it was no good. Guilt about Jay and stress about what the press were going to make of the hen weekend put sleep out of the question. She looked at her bedside clock – it was only eight o’clock. She got up, showered and put on her jeans and leather jacket. She had to see Jay to apologise for what had happened. Outside it was a stormy November morning.

The sea was a forbidding slate grey, matching the sky. Sapphire couldn’t face walking and drove the mile and a half to Jay’s flat. Jay lived in the Kemptown area of Brighton, which had a studenty, bohemian vibe, in a two-bedroom flat, just off the main high street. It took her ages to find anywhere to park, and when she rang the doorbell there was no reply. She tried shouting through the letter box. She called his mobile again but nothing.

She couldn’t face going home after that and headed instead to the boutique. The treatment rooms looked as if a bomb had hit them. It took her nearly an hour to clear up. Georgia and her gang had got through ten bottles of champagne before they’d even made it out. And there were empty glasses and bottles everywhere, plus plates of half-eaten sandwiches.

Sapphire had a feeling that she wasn’t going to see any money for the weekend. The magazine was hardly likely
to run an article where the bride to be gets hospitalised at the end of her hen weekend. She sat down in her office and with a sinking heart tried to calculate the exact cost of the weekend to her business. Never mind the impact on the rest of her life, she thought bitterly, her relationship with Jay and the damage it had done to her professional relationships. By her reckoning she was going to be out of pocket to the tune of at least five and a half grand. It was the last thing she needed after the five grand she had shelled out to cover her mum’s gambling debts. She checked both her business account and personal bank account online and felt distinctly uneasy. She had some money in reserve, but not much. She had been pinning her hopes on Georgia’s weekend giving the business a boost. She’d noticed that bookings had been down lately because of the recession but had been too busy focusing on Georgia to worry. Now, she was worried.

She sat at her desk drinking coffee, trying to work out what she could do. Several times her business line went with still more journalists wanting the inside story. Bad news travelled fast, it seemed. She wondered who had tipped them off, then realised it was a pointless question – there were so many people who could have done it.

She sent another text to Jay asking him to call her. Then she texted Georgia asking her how she was; and if there was anything she could do. She felt horribly vulnerable, as if suddenly everything was outside her control and she was powerless to do anything. And there was no one she felt she could turn to. It would be no good telling her mum, she would only worry. Jazz and Sam would tell her she’d be fine. She needed to speak to someone who understood about business. She found herself reaching for her phone again and this time she selected Ryan from her contacts list.

‘Hi,’ he said sleepily. Clearly he was still in bed.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.’

‘No, no it’s fine, I was going to call you. How are you, Sapphire?’

‘Stressed, to be honest,’ Sapphire could actually feel tears pricking her eyes. ‘I’m really worried about the impact this weekend is going to have on the business.’