Angel (28 page)

Over dinner the hen and stag party compared
notes about their trips. Tony tried to pretend that
they hadn't been lap-dancing, but it didn't take
long for Gemma to prise the truth out of him. All
the other girlfriends took the news with a pinch of
salt, but Simone muttered something under her
breath to Cal, who didn't look too pleased.

'Come on, Simone,' Antonio called out, 'it was
just a bit of fun, and I promise you we did nothing
more than watch.'

'Well, I just think it's tacky,' she replied crossly.
'Almost as tacky as where we ended up yesterday –
Alton Towers.'

'Come off it, Simone,' Gemma cut across her,
angrily. 'We all had a great time.'

'I was just wondering, Angel, weren't you
worried your implants might explode on some of
the rides?' Simone said cattily.

You hard-faced bitch
, thought Angel, but not
wanting to sink to Simone's level, she pushed out
her chest and said, 'I think they're still in one piece,'
and then something made her add, 'Cal can always
check them out and report back to you.'

Simone looked absolutely furious, Cal wouldn't
look at Angel, and Tony quickly changed the
subject, asking everyone if they were ready to
order.

'Just ignore her,' Antonio muttered under his
breath to Angel. 'She's just jealous of you.'

'Oh, I don't care,' Angel replied, taking a large
sip of wine and wishing the night was over. To get
through it, she drank much more than she had in a
long time and longed to crash out in bed. But after
dessert, Tony said that everyone was invited up to
his suite for champagne and Angel knew it would
look extremely odd if she didn't go.

Once up there, to her very great surprise,
Simone handed her a glass of champagne, and then
said to everyone, 'I'd like to give a toast to Angel for
organising Gemma's hen weekend – and although
we had our differences, she did a really good job.'

It was so out of character that Angel couldn't
help wondering if Simone had an ulterior motive.
She raised her eyebrows at Gemma, who also
looked confused by Simone's announcement.

'And now I've got a suggestion to end the weekend,'
Simone declared. 'Why don't we play spin
the bottle?'

Angel couldn't think of a worse idea, and by the
look on Cal's face, he thought the same, but
everyone else was drunk enough to be up for it.

As they all sat round in a circle, Antonio leant
across to Angel and whispered, 'That's a pity, I was
hoping for strip poker!'

Angel laughed, then caught Cal's eye. She
thought he looked a bit pissed off to see her talking
to Antonio again. Simone gleefully spun the bottle
and it pointed to Cal, which meant he had to choose
between truth or dare.

'Dare,' he replied.

Simone reached for the card in front of her and
read out the challenge. 'You have to spin the bottle
again and kiss the person it points to.'

'Bloody hell,' Gemma muttered next to Angel.
'Now I don't think this is such a good idea.'

Cal spun the bottle and it pointed to Angel. She
felt her heart beating wildly and didn't know how
to react.

'Go on then, Cal,' Owen, one of Tony's stags,
called out. 'If you don't, I will!'

And so Cal crawled across the circle to Angel and
gently kissed her. She kept her eyes lowered and
tried not to think about everyone watching them.

'Rubbish,' called out Owen. 'The rules say it's got
to be a proper one!' But Cal had already returned
to his place.

Angel was dreading her turn. Tony was dared to
down three tequila shots, Simone went for the truth
option and Andrea asked the question, 'What is the
most sexually adventurous thing you've ever
done?'

'Oh,' Simone simpered, 'I'll have to check with
Cal, but I think it was when we made love on the
beach in the Maldives.'

Angel felt something snap inside. She felt
humiliated and hurt and she was starting to feel very
angry over Cal's treatment of her. Andrea was dared
to take her top off, Owen kissed Simone, Gemma
had to perform 'Like A Virgin' and then spun the
bottle and it pointed to Angel. To give her courage,
she had finished her champagne and now felt quite
drunk. 'Dare,' she declared, praying for an easy one;
she didn't think truth would be such a good idea at
this precise moment in time. Simone picked up a
card and smirked as she read it. 'Perform a striptease.
Right up your street then, Angel.'

'What?' exclaimed Angel, grabbing the card and
discovering that it did indeed say that.

Immediately, everyone started clapping their
hands and chanting, 'Off, off, off!'

'Fuck it!' Angel exclaimed, thinking it would be
better to get it over and done with. She asked
Gemma to unzip her dress, then she stood up, and,
looking into the distance, she slipped first one strap
from her shoulder, then the other, then she let the
dress fall to the ground, to cheers from the lads.
She undid each stocking in turn and rolled them
down her long legs, unclipped her bra and
whipped it off, but covered her breasts with her
long hair. Then she slipped one hand under the
side of her briefs as if to take them off, paused for
effect, then declared, 'That's all you're getting!'
Everyone clapped and Angel quickly got dressed
again. In the meantime the bottle had spun to
Antonio and he had also asked for dare.

'Kiss the person you fancy,' Simone read out.

'That's easy,' he replied and crawled over to
Angel and started kissing her. So far everyone else
who had played the game had given fairly innocent
kisses, but Antonio was passionately kissing Angel.
She tried to pull away, but he was very persistent, to
the group's enormous delight. When he finally let
her go, Angel happened to look up at Cal. He
looked angry, but was obviously trying to hold it in.
Suddenly Angel felt giddy and spaced out, as if
she'd taken something.
But I haven't
, she thought
blearily as the champagne glass in front of her
multiplied.

'Gemma,' she murmured, 'I feel ill, will you
come with me to my room?'

'Course, babe,' she replied, 'I've had enough of
this game anyway.'

But as Angel tried to stand up, she felt very
unsteady on her feet and thought she would fall.
Immediately, Antonio and Cal stood up and
grabbed her.

'Are you okay?' Cal asked, holding onto her arm.

'I just feel a bit giddy, I'm going to bed.'

Both men then spoke at once. 'I'll come with—'
but Simone cut across them and said to Cal,
'Darling, I think Antonio can cope. And, anyway,
you wouldn't want to be a gooseberry, would you?'

For a split second Cal hesitated, then let go of
Angel and muttered, 'Hope you feel better,' and
turned away before Angel could speak to him.

Antonio and Gemma then walked Angel to her
room and at the door it was clear that he was
expecting to be invited in.

'Thanks, Antonio, but I really don't feel too
good. I'll see you in the morning,' Angel told him.
He made a bad job of hiding his disappointment as
he said goodnight. Angel managed to open her
door and then collapsed on her bed. Gemma
poured her a glass of water.

'It's weird, Gemma, I feel as if I've taken
something, but I haven't. I know I've drunk a bit
too much, but not that much.'

'Your tolerance is probably really low after not
drinking for so long,' Gemma told her. 'Just drink
lots of water and you'll be fine in the morning. I'll
stay if you want.'

'God, no, I'll be fine,' Angel lied, not wanting to
keep Gemma away from Tony. Once her friend
had gone, she lay back and tried not to think about
the room spinning round.

'Hi, I'd like the bill please,' Angel said to the
receptionist. She still felt a little fuzzy and lightheaded
this morning. Suddenly, Cal was by her
side.

'Enjoy yourself last night, did you?' he asked in
an uncharacteristically cold voice.

'Not really,' Angel replied, wondering what the
hell his problem was. She was the one who should
be pissed off. He looked at her and shook his head.

'What's the matter?' she demanded. 'I didn't
want to play that stupid game last night.'

'It didn't look that way to me. I've never seen
anyone so quick to get their kit off, or to kiss
someone. What was he like in bed, then?'

'What the fuck are you on about?' Angel asked,
hardly believing what she was hearing.

Seeing that the receptionist was eavesdropping,
Cal grabbed her arm and practically pulled her
outside, where she ended up pressed against the
wall with Cal leaning over her.

'You and Antonio. He was all over you and it was
obvious where it was going to end up.'

'Do you seriously think I would sleep with him?'

'You seemed off your face at the end of the night,
it looked like you'd been using again. Jesus, Angel,
I thought so much more of you.'

'I didn't take anything, I swear. I think someone
must have spiked my drink,' she shouted back, cut
to the quick by his accusation.

'What, again? Don't be so pathetic, who would
do that?'

'I can think of a few people,' Angel said sulkily,
thoroughly pissed off by Cal's attitude. 'Anyway,
why didn't you call me?' she demanded, anger
making her bold.

'Yeah, well, I'd forgotten it was Simone's
birthday and things got difficult. So you didn't
sleep with Antonio?' he asked again.

'If you really don't know the answer to that, then
you're not the person I thought you were,' replied
Angel, suddenly finding strength that she didn't
know she possessed. How dare he speak to her like
this? Suddenly, a flash bulb went off in their faces.
They both turned and saw a photographer a few
metres away, his camera focused on them.

'Shit!' shouted Cal, running after the photographer
and trying to grab his camera.

Fearful of what might happen, Angel ran after
Cal and tried to reason with him. 'Just leave it, Cal,'
she shouted. 'Come back inside.'

Once she had managed to get him back into the
hotel lobby, they were confronted by a furious-looking
Simone. Ignoring Angel, she spoke only to
Cal. 'Have you paid yet? I want to go now.'

Without even saying goodbye to Angel, Cal
marched over to the desk. Angel took the lift back
to her room and tried to gather her thoughts. She
felt completely shaken by what Cal had said to her
and horrified that they had been photographed
together. Suddenly, her mobile rang. Praying it was
Cal, she was disappointed to discover it was Carrie.
'Fantastic news, darling!' she gushed. '
LA Dreams
want you on their cover!'

'Great,' Angel replied, feeling too upset about
Cal to be excited about anything else.

'Come on! Where's your enthusiasm? This could
be your big break in the States. They want to see
you next week.'

Everyone else travelled back to London with their
partners and so Angel was alone in the car with
Chris, her driver. Sensing her mood, he didn't try to
make conversation but simply put the radio on, for
which Angel was grateful. She gazed out of the
window. She should have been delighted at Carrie's
news. It proved that her career hadn't been finished
by her recent drug problem; it looked like it was
only just beginning. She tried to drum up some
excitement, but felt too numb and too bruised from
her recent conversation with Cal. As they neared
London, Carrie called her again. She was expecting
an ear-bashing about how she must get in shape for
America, but she received entirely different news.

'Who's been a naughty girl, then?' Carrie said
slyly.

'What are you talking about?' Angel demanded,
suddenly feeling panicked.

'I've just spoken to a journalist and he tells me
that you've been seeing Cal Bailey. You lucky thing,
he's gorgeous! They're going to be running the
story tomorrow. This is such good PR for your
American trip! I couldn't have planned it better
myself!'

Angel felt her world crashing in around her. 'But
I haven't been to the press. How did they find out?'

'Who knows, who cares, it doesn't matter, it's
great publicity – everyone will forget about that
sordid threesome now—'

'Look, Carrie, I've got to go, I'll speak to you
later.' She cut Carrie off mid-sentence and
frantically texted Cal:
Please call me, I need to speak to
you. It's urgent.

But Cal didn't reply, and when Chris pulled up
outside her flat the press were already camped out,
anticipating the next day's story. As the car slowed,
several photographers advanced on her, cameras at
the ready.

'Oh my God,' Angel exclaimed. 'I can't get out,
please take me to Gemma's.' Chris put his foot
down, denying the photographers their shot, as
Angel called her friend.

Angel didn't dare leave Gemma's flat once she
arrived there, she didn't want the press tracking
her down. To her relief, Tony had already gone
away with the team; she didn't feel up to his
judging her, which he undoubtedly would. Carrie
kept calling her with the latest update from the
tabloids of how much they would pay her if she
agreed to sell her story. She just wouldn't take no
for an answer – obviously thinking of her percentage
from the very large sums of money Angel was
being offered.

'Look,' Angel finally shouted, 'I'm not talking to
anyone about what happened, not now, not ever, so
you tell them that once and for all.' And without
allowing Carrie the chance to reply, she switched
her phone off. She had left several text and phone
messages for Cal, but he still hadn't replied.

'He's going to blame me, isn't he?' she said
miserably to Gemma as the two girls sat on the sofa,
supposedly watching a DVD, although neither was
following the slushy RomCom plot.

'Well, he shouldn't do, because it takes two
people to have an affair and he should know that
you would never talk to the press,' Gemma replied.