Swan (31 page)

Alice fed this information back to her girlfriend
and snapped the phone shut. ‘Okay, let’s down these and go.’

      *
* *

Alice and I stepped into the street and were
instantly enveloped by a cool blast of night air. The evening had turned chilly
and I now wished I’d worn a warmer coat. We walked briskly. To reach the Tesco
we had to cross through a tunnel that led to the high street. Just as we
reached the entrance, we heard of succession of wolf-whistles. Turning, we saw
a group of yobbish men standing across the road from us.

‘Oi Blondie! Come here, I wanna talk to you.’ They
were obviously referring to Alice.

‘Keep walking,’ she whispered in a frightened voice.
‘Don’t look at them, Maddy.’

We quickened our pace. Shivered as we descended into
the dark tunnel. In the far distance was a light but we had a long way to go
before we reached it.

One of the men, a burly youth with closely cropped
hair, told his mates to go on ahead. He would try his luck with Alice on his
own.

‘Oi, oi, slow down ladies!’ he shouted, skipping
across the road like a drunken ballerina. ‘I wanna talk to Blondie. What’s so
wrong with that, eh?’

Alice and I exchanged terrified glances and continued
walking. Within seconds, the hard-faced youth had caught up with us.

‘I told you to slow down, love. I only wanna talk to
you.’ A sickly leer spread across his face as he grabbed hold of Alice’s arm.

We glared at him. Pursing her lips together, Alice
roughly pulled her arm away. ‘I’m sorry, but we’re in a bit of a hurry. We’re
supposed to be meeting someone.’

‘What’s with all the attitude? I only want your
phone number, then you can go.’ He reeked of booze.

Alice swallowed hard, looked at me. I didn’t know
what to say. It was all happening so quickly.

‘Sorry, I’m spoken for,’ she told him quietly. ‘I
can’t give out my number.’

He put his hand on her shoulder, pulled her toward
him. Alice struggled to wrench herself free. Extricate her body from him.

‘Come on love, give us a kiss ...’ Slobbering all
over her, he violently pushed her against the wall and started fumbling with
her jumper.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ I shouted. ‘Get away
from her!’ With all of my might, I attempted to drag him off, but he sent me
sprawling with a stinging back-hander.

‘Stay out of this, bitch.’

Choking for breath, I managed to stumble back to my
feet. I looked down at my knees. They were red from bleeding, my coat covered
with mud. Then, with something like a battle cry, I lunged at him again, but
this time got the full force of a punch in my face. I collapsed to the ground.
Gasped for air. Put my hand to my face. My lips were cut and my temples ached
dully.

‘Please, don’t hurt her,’ Alice whimpered.

Flashing a devilish grin, the thug kneed her in the
back of her legs, dragged her to the ground, covered her mouth with his hand.
Alice’s face was mottled with pain. Her long blonde hair riddled with dirt. She
was pleading, begging him to stop. But her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Her desperate cries echoed down the tunnel.
Imploring someone to help us. The youth gave a mirthless chortle, muttered
something about having a knife. Then with the weight of his whole body, he
pinned Alice down and started tearing at her skirt.

I curled up in a ball. Frozen from the shock of it
all. It was like I was locked inside my body, like the volume had been turned
down on everything and I was swimming under water.

‘Will someone please help us?!’ I screamed at the
top of my lungs.

Then suddenly, a vision appeared. A messiah in the
distance. A lone avenger dressed in a funny tweed coat, steel-rimmed spectacles
and florescent orange trousers. It was my dear David Powell!

‘Get your hands off of her!’

Everything went still. The thug stopped what he was
doing, locked eyes with our saviour and got to his feet. ‘Come on then, let’s
see what you’ve got!’ he growled.

Gasping for air, Alice managed to drag herself along
the floor and huddle in a ball next to me. Then we watched with goggle-eyes as
the next events unfolded.

The youth tried to aim a drunken punch, but David
ducked and blocked the blow with his forearm. Then with lightening speed, he
kicked our attacker hard in the shins, grabbed him in a headlock and sent him
sprawling into the tunnel wall. The man’s body lay stiffly on the ground. He
was out cold. There was something darkly comic about it, almost like I expected
to see stars circling his head like in a Warner Bros. cartoon.

Alice cupped her hand over her mouth. ‘Oh my God,
that was awesome!’

David didn’t say anything. Nervously, he adjusted
his specs, walked over to us, helped us both to our feet. Alice’s eyes were
wide and glassy, like she’d seen a UFO or something.

‘Are the two of you all right?’ he asked softly.

Alice stared at him. ‘Oh my God, oh my God.’ Then
she burst into tears. Shook with emotion. It was all too much for her. I
wrapped her in my arms and mouthed “Thank you” to David over her shoulder.

His smile didn’t reach his eyes. Gently, he ran his
fingers over my bleeding lip. ‘Are you sure you’re okay baby?’ he whispered.

I nodded, closed my eyes. His touch was Heavensent.
There was so much I wanted to say, so many things that were left unsaid. But I
knew that now was not the right time. Our focus was making sure that Alice was
okay.

I took out my phone and dialled 999. David locked
eyes with me. They burned into me, making silent promises, raising my hopes. We
both knew that he had to go. He couldn’t hang around waiting for the police to
get here. There would be too many questions. Too much was at stake to risk him
blowing his cover.

So David turned and walked away. I watched him
disappear down the tunnel. Walk out my life for the third time.

‘Who was that man, Maddy?’ Alice whispered. ‘Do you
know him?’

I hesitated before answering, ‘No, I don’t.’

Chapter
Twenty-Two

I didn’t get home from the hospital till six o’clock
the next morning. When I finally unlocked my door and staggered through the
hallway, streaks of daylight were making an appearance through the window
curtains.

It had been a complete nightmare. After the
ambulance arrived and the police had taken our vile attacker into custody, we
had spent hours in A&E waiting to see a doctor. Thankfully, our injuries
turned out to be minor, but as we had both suffered head injuries, you could
never be too careful. The statements we had given to the police were brief but
to the point, and we still needed to go back to the station later that day to
be fully interviewed.

Alice was coping marvellously well under the circumstances.
She had even managed to crack a joke or two at her own expense. Her girlfriend
Molly was a revelation – a gorgeous-looking biker chick with high
cheekbones, alabaster skin and a purple crew cut. She had been a tower of
strength to us in our hour of need, mothering us, helping to keep the mood
light.

However, the one thing Alice couldn’t stop talking
about was David: How amazing he was, and how much she wanted to track him down
so she could thank him properly for rescuing us. I remained silent throughout,
playing along with the assumption that he was just some random Have-a-go-hero.

There was no question of Alice or I going into work
that day, so I had already left a voicemail on William’s answer phone
explaining what had happened. I expected him to call me back at some point for
more details.     But to be honest, work was the furthest thing
from my mind. All I could think about was Chet and how he had come back for me.
What did it all mean? Was he back in my life for good? Had he decided not to go
through with Pantelli’s demands after all?

I entered the kitchen, ran my hand under the cold
tap. Patted water on my face. I was still in a half-awake, half-asleep state.
With a stifled yawn, I padded into the living room, turned on the light and covered
my mouth with shock. Chet was waiting for me. He was standing by the window,
gazing vacantly at the street. He had removed David’s mask but was still
dressed in those awful orange trousers and jacket.

When he saw me he smiled. ‘I wondered when you’d get
back. How’s your friend?’

I licked my lips. ‘S-she’s good, thanks. I-I just
got back from the hospital.’ My heart was racing.

‘You’re really something, do you know that? I leave
you alone for five minutes and look at all the trouble you’re in.’ He laughed
softly to himself.

‘How long have you been here for?’

‘A couple of hours. I knew it would take a while,
but hey, you’re worth waiting for.’

I didn’t say anything. I just stared out the window
at the trees and the street and the white-skied drizzle.

‘Come over here,’ he said.

I obeyed him. Never could I refuse that sexy drawl
of his. He placed his hands on my shoulders, ran his fingers over my face to
assess the damage.

‘That dirty son of a bitch,’ Chet murmured, his face
screwing up with rage. ‘I should have killed him!’

‘No you shouldn’t have. What you did was best. You
kicked his ass. Men don’t like getting their ass kicked. Trust me.’

A brief smile crossed his lips. Then he became
serious again. ‘Is your friend really okay?’

I nodded. ‘Yeah, Alice is fine. It’ll probably take
her a while to get over it, but she’ll live.’ I paused for a moment. ‘By the
way, she told me to say thanks for saving her life.’

‘It’s my pleasure.’

I swallowed painfully, looked away from him. ‘So
what’s the story, Chet? How come you’re not partying in Brazil with Pantelli?
What were you doing in the tunnel?’

‘I followed you.’

‘But I thought - ’

He placed his finger over my mouth. ‘Shush. I love
you but sometimes you talk too much. Now listen; I followed you because I
needed to talk to you. Needed to see you one last time. After Pantelli left, I
came looking for you but you weren’t at home, so I checked out all your usual
hangouts.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m so glad that I did. Who knows what could
have happened?’

I turned away from him, folded my arms protectively
across my chest. ‘Tell me what’s going on Chet. Tell me where I stand, and
please don’t lie to me. My heart can’t take any more of this indecision.’

He put his hands on my shoulders. ‘Madeline, don’t
be angry with me, okay? Listen, I’ve got this all worked out. We
will
be together – you just need
to give me some time, that’s all. Tomorrow I fly out on Pani’s jet. I don’t
know where we’re going, but it’ll be somewhere exotic. Somewhere away from the
media spotlight. It’s only a couple of weeks till Oscar night, Madeline. All
we’ve got to do is play it cool till then. Play along with Pani, lay low and
then I’ll be free to get on with the rest of my life. The rest of
our
lives. That’s when I’ll come back
for you. I promise.’

‘Do you really mean that, Chet?’ My voice was
breaking. ‘Will you really come back to me? I can’t bear to imagine life
without you.’

‘Come here.’ He turned me round and rested my head
on his shoulder. Tenderly caressed my back. Tried to calm me down. We parted. I
looked up at him through red-rimmed eyes. I needed more reassurance.

‘Do you really love me? Honestly and truly?’

‘Honestly and truly.’ He wiped my wet face with the
palms of his hands.

‘But I don’t understand how you can love me. I mean,
just look at me. What have I got to offer? I keep thinking about what Pantelli
said, and he’s right. You could have any woman in the world. Any woman. What do
you see in me?’

Chet hesitated. His dark brown eyes flickered with
emotion. ‘You’re real. You’ve got a heart. You cut through all this celebrity
bullshit. When I’m with you, it’s like I’m more alive, more myself than I have
ever been with anyone. I can talk to you about anything and you don’t judge me.
When you look at me, I know that it’s not just Chet Vincent the actor you’re
seeing – it’s the real me, with all my imperfections. You fell in love
with David Powell when you thought he had nothing, when you thought he was a
nobody. I know that you’re motives are pure, and that’s so refreshing. In this
shark-infested world I’ve found one genuine person – and that’s you. I’ve
never, ever had that before.’

I nestled my head into his chest. I was so touched
by his words. For what seemed like forever he just stood there holding me, our
hearts beating as one. At length, I drew away from him. He seemed reluctant to
let me go. My head was starting to swim a bit. The lack of sleep was catching
up with me.

‘Poor baby needs her sleep,’ he tutted, leading me
towards the bedroom. I kicked off my shoes and climbed into bed fully clothed. Chet
took off his jacket, pulled his shirt off over his head, took off his shoes.
Then he got in the bed next to me, wrapped me in his arms. I felt so warm and
secure. I looked up at the darkened ceiling.