Sapphire (34 page)

She felt completely despondent as she trailed out of the bathroom, moving out of the way of groups of giggling girls heading to the loos. She couldn’t face joining her friends just yet, so she moved into the chill-out room, and leant against the wall trying to collect her thoughts and pull herself together. But she was thrown into further confusion by the arrival of Jay.

‘Hey, why are you here on your own?’ He had to stand close to her so she could hear him over the music.

‘No reason, just needed five minutes by myself,’ she replied.

Jay didn’t catch what she said and bent closer so she could repeat herself. When she spoke to him they were so close that their faces brushed together – his skin smooth and clean-shaven. He asked her about moving back to Brighton, wanted to know where Colin was. She just couldn’t bear to ask him where he’d been, didn’t want to hear how he was moving in with Sam.

‘How’s the thumb?’ he asked.

She stared at him blankly, then remembered. She held it up so he could see. He took her hand and examined her thumb close up, his hand warm on hers.

‘Looks okay to me,’ he declared. ‘So how are you, Sapphire?’ He was still holding her hand. She felt breathless and reckless with desire.

‘I’m fine,’ she lied. ‘So what’s this about you moving to London?’

He shrugged, but didn’t let go of her hand. ‘Nothing much for me in Brighton, might be good to have a
change. I’ve got plans. I need to do something different with my life. I’m not going to be a personal trainer for ever. I want my own business.’

He was gazing directly at her, Sapphire gazed back and she knew her eyes told the truth about her feelings for him.

‘I’ll miss you,’ she said quietly, so quietly that he had to bend his head closer still,

‘What?’

‘I said I’ll miss you.’ She paused, hardly daring to breathe, ‘I miss you, Jay.’

‘Yes,’ he murmured. ‘You too.’ And he brought her hand up to his lips and lightly kissed it.

At the feel of his lips against her skin Sapphire felt something in her give way, she could not resist. She knew she should pull away, but she was powerless. And then she kissed him, kissed him with all the intensity and desire she had been feeling for so long, building inside her, a hard, longing, burning kiss that said take me, I’m yours. And he kissed her back with an intensity that matched hers. She found herself pinned against the wall as Jay pressed his body into hers, wove his hands through her hair. It was as if they were blind to everything else except their own reckless desire for each other.

Sapphire was the first to come to her senses. ‘No,’ she gasped. ‘We can’t do this. I can’t do this to Sam.’

And before Jay could stop her she moved out of his embrace and pushed her way through the clubbers. She didn’t know where she was going, she just had to get away from Jay. She found herself at one of the bars. She would have a drink, calm down and then return to the group. Her heart was racing wildly, she felt giddy, desperate, capable of anything. As she paid for her drink she was aware of the man next to her staring at her. She turned and found herself staring back into Ryan’s green eyes.

‘Sapphire, hi.’ He sounded casual as if there should be absolutely no reason why Sapphire shouldn’t welcome him with open arms.

‘What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at your own club?’ Surely he didn’t expect her to be nice to him?

‘Just having a night out with some mates, why don’t you join us?’ Ryan seemed drunk, his green eyes slightly unfocused, but still raking over her, taking in the skimpy outfit.

She folded her arms and shook her head, ‘No thanks.’

‘We’re in the VIP area upstairs if you change your mind. I’m with a couple who are getting married and the girl’s thinking about having her hen weekend in Brighton. I could put in a good word for you. They’re high rollers. And the new owner of this club’s in, he might be worth meeting.’

Sapphire hesitated; she really didn’t want to spend any time with Ryan. On the other hand it would be good to meet his friend and at the very least hand over her card and get her details. The books didn’t look great. It was quite possible that she might have to reduce Kiki’s hours, something which she didn’t want to do. And at the very least, it would give her chance to get her head together after the encounter with Jay.

‘Okay, I might join you in a while.’

But when she returned to her group she discovered Jay was back there as well, sitting on the sofa with Sam on his lap, as if the scene with Sapphire had been something she imagined. Why was he doing this to her? Was it some kind of revenge? Or did he still have feelings for her? He surely didn’t by the look of him with Sam – the couple looked so loved-up that Sapphire couldn’t bear to be near them. She quickly walked over to where Ben was chatting with his mates, and told him that she was going to the VIP area.

It was a tiny balcony up a flight of stairs and to call it a
VIP area was a bit of a joke. Ryan’s party occupied the booth furthest from the stairs. Ryan was sitting next to a tarty blonde who looked completely caned, opposite two other men. He saw Sapphire and waved her over.

He made no attempt to introduce her to the two men he was with, who both seemed to be foreign. Sapphire did not like the way they all looked at her and then talked amongst themselves. She sat down opposite Ryan, while one of the men poured her a glass of champagne. Ryan introduced her to the drunk woman, ‘Megan, this is Sapphire Jones, she could give you the best hen party ever.’

Ryan tried getting through to Megan who looked at him blearily through her false lashes.

‘Here’s my card,’ Sapphire told her, sliding it across the table.

Megan picked it up and squinted at it. ‘Pretty colour,’ she said, then popped it into her bag.

Sapphire asked her all the usual questions about her wedding plans but the woman barely seemed able to follow her. She was wasted and the music was way too loud to make small talk over. It was pointless.

Sapphire turned to Ryan, ‘I’m going to go back to my friends, thanks for the introduction.’ She made to stand up, but Ryan grabbed her hand. ‘At least finish your champagne. I haven’t seen you for ages.’

He paused then leant closer across the table, ‘And I wanted to say sorry, Sapphire. I feel so bad about what happened. I miss you.’ He looked at her intently, none of the usual flirtatious cheekiness in his eyes.

‘Look, Ryan, forget it, okay? We were never serious, don’t sweat it.’

She just wanted to go now. She’d drunk too much and her head was beginning to hurt.

She picked up the glass of champagne and took another sip of it; it tasted strange, but she put that down to drinking it after vodka.

‘So how have you been, Sapphire?’ Ryan asked. ‘I saw you on TV, I thought you were really good. A natural.’

‘I’m fine, Ryan. But I must get back to Jazz – it’s her engagement party and she’ll wonder where I am.’ She drained the glass of champagne.

‘Well, well, Sapphire Jones sitting at my table. What a pleasant surprise. I thought I saw you on the dance floor earlier.’

Sapphire jerked her head round and found herself staring directly into Markov’s cold shark eyes. And there was the smell of that revolting aftershave again.

Immediately she stood up and made to go, but Markov remained blocking her path. With a mounting feeling of panic she looked round for a way of escape.

‘You shouldn’t be anywhere near me,’ she managed to blurt out.

‘But you have come to me, this is my club – didn’t Ryan tell you? I must say how lovely it is to see you.’

Markov reached across the table and filled Sapphire’s glass of champagne before she had chance to stop him. Then he held up the now empty bottle and said to Ryan, ‘Go and get some more champagne.’ It wasn’t a request, more of an order.

‘Ryan, please, don’t leave me with him,’ Sapphire begged her ex. Ryan hesitated, clearly torn, then the man next to Sapphire said something in Ukrainian which decided him. ‘Sapphire, I’ll be back in a minute,’ Ryan told her, ‘just chill.’ Why couldn’t he grow some balls! she thought.

‘You heard what your old friend said, Sapphire,’ Markov told her, sitting down and pulling her down next to him, ‘just chill.’

Sapphire was trapped between Markov and another man. ‘Markov, I didn’t realise that you would be here, now please, let me go, otherwise I’ll have no choice but to call the police.’ Despite her best intentions there was a
quiver in her voice. She felt really weird and out of it.

Markov fired off something in Ukrainian and the other man gave a nasty laugh.

‘So melodramatic, Sapphire. I just want to talk to you. Everyone else round here is drunk,’ he gestured dismissively at his friends, saving a particular look of loathing for the drunk woman.

‘So tell me, Sapphire, is it true that you’re not interested in Ryan any more?’ Markov said, inching closer to her, far too close for her liking. ‘You know you’re a very beautiful woman, and clever too, I like that.’

‘I swear if you don’t let me go, I’m going to scream, you’ll only make things worse for yourself with the police.’

Markov reached out and ran his hand along her bare arm. Sapphire flinched at his touch as he leant closer still and said, ‘A woman like you needs a real man to love her. You should be with someone like me, Sapphire. I thought that the moment I first saw you. I wish there hadn’t been this misunderstanding between us, I really do. If I could turn back the clock, I would, believe me. But I can forgive you the incident with the scissors.’ At this he reached up and stroked the small scar under his eye.

Sapphire was cornered, he was so close that she could see the black hairs in his nostrils, the tiny nick on his chin where he had cut himself shaving that morning, his freaky hairless arms, everything was magnified and intense. She had to get out of there. Where the hell was Ryan? She abruptly stood up and all at once felt so giddy she had to grab onto the table for support.

‘Steady,’ Markov said, reaching out and grabbing her arm and pulling her back down. Sapphire tried to push him away but the giddy feeling was overwhelming and suddenly it felt as if she was underwater, everything felt muffled and distant, she tried to speak but it was too
much effort. Her eyes felt so heavy, she could hardly keep them open. ‘I have to go,’ she said, her words seeming to boom and echo round her head.

‘We’ll take you to my office,’ Markov said. ‘You don’t seem very well, Sapphire. I’ll look after you.’

He put his arm round her; Sapphire tried to push him away but found that she couldn’t. Then Markov and another man were standing up and pulling Sapphire from her seat. Each had an arm round her and they practically dragged her along the corridor and into an office, with walls of blacked-out glass. Sapphire wanted to tell them to stop, let her go, but she couldn’t do anything. She was completely powerless, she was drifting in and out of consciousness. Help me! she tried to shout, but no sound came out as her mouth uselessly opened. Then everything went dark.

She lost track of time. She opened her eyes, struggling to focus. She was lying on a grey suede sofa and couldn’t move. She could hear men talking round her. She tried to get up. Markov loomed over her, pushing her back down.

‘Get off me!’ she tried to cry out.

Darkness again. Then shouting, she could hear Jay calling her name. But she couldn’t open her eyes. She felt someone hold her hand, and then nothing.

‘I’ll sit with her, you two go and get a coffee.’

It was Jay speaking. She must be dreaming. She shifted in the bed, wanting to snuggle down in her duvet, she felt completely wiped out. But there was no duvet, she only had a sheet and blanket on her. It didn’t feel like her bed and why could she smell that antiseptic hospital smell?

‘Sapphire? Are you awake?’

With some difficulty she opened her eyes to see Jay sitting next to the bed and looking at her with concern.

‘Why am I in hospital?’ she asked in bewilderment,
struggling to sit up and wincing as she experienced a thumping pain in her head.

‘Hey, take it easy,’ Jay said. ‘You really can’t remember anything?’

Sapphire frowned. ‘I remember meeting Jazz and everyone at the Star Bar and then going to the club and dancing a bit. Then I saw you and—’ her cheeks flooded with colour at the memory of their kiss and it was with some difficulty that she continued. ‘Then I saw Ryan, I think. But I can’t remember anything after that. Why am I here, did I have an accident?’ She rubbed her right wrist which felt sore.

‘So you don’t remember seeing Markov?’ Jay asked gently.

‘No!’ At the mention of his name an icy feeling of dread unfurled in Sapphire. She thought of his predatory shark eyes. He was pure evil. Suddenly an image of Markov leaning over her flashed into her mind. She felt fear spike through her, why was last night a blank? She had no more than four drinks, no way was she that drunk. She looked at Jay, ‘Why can’t I remember? What happened?’

Jay reached out and took her hand. ‘You’re okay, nobody hurt you.’

The fear and panic increased. ‘What do you mean? Please tell me, Jay.’

‘We think Markov spiked your drink with something, possibly Rohypnol.’

Sapphire’s eyes widened in shock. ‘The date rape drug? Oh my God, Jay, what happened?’ She suddenly found herself shaking as a feeling of horror and helplessness invaded her.

Jay held her hand more tightly. ‘It’s okay,’ and he went on to tell her that after the drug had taken effect on Sapphire, Markov and one of his gang had dragged her into his office. Meanwhile, Ryan suspected what had
happened and came and found Jay and Ben and they’d got Colin. Ryan knew that Markov would have taken Sapphire to his office and they broke in and found her lying on the sofa. There was a scuffle and they managed to overpower Markov and get her away. Jay looked at Sapphire’s stricken face and said, ‘He hadn’t touched you.’

At this Sapphire’s face crumpled and she put her hands up to her face as tears streamed down her cheeks. ‘He was going to, wasn’t he?’ she sobbed. ‘Oh God, this is so horrible.’

‘Don’t think about it, Sapphire, you’re safe now, that’s what matters.’

Jay moved from the chair and sat on the side of the bed and put his arms round Sapphire. He held her so close to him that she could feel his heart beating. She buried her face in his shoulder and put her arms round him and held him tight.