Angel (5 page)

'It doesn't affect my ability to save anyone,' she
told Tim defiantly.

'I'm sure it doesn't, but I expect there'll be a
queue of lads waiting to be rescued,' he said wryly.

At six o'clock precisely, when they were off duty,
Juan picked Angel up in his arms and raced into
the sea with her. She squealed in outrage as he
dropped her into the water. She retaliated by
dragging him under and the two splashed playfully
around, he threatening to undo her bikini, she
pulling at his trunks, their tussle ending with a very
salty and passionate snog. Finally, the prospect of a
cold beer lured them out of the water. As they
walked over to where Tony and Gemma were
sitting, Angel's stomach did a somersault, for there,
sitting down and drinking beer, were Cal and
Melanie, who had obviously seen Angel and Juan's
display in the water.

'I'll get the towels,' Juan said, jogging back to
their station.

Angel shook back her long wet hair and took a
deep breath.

'Hi, Cal, hello, Melanie.' Cal's upper body was
bare and he was wearing green camouflage
combats. He looked very, very good.
Don't think
about it
, Angel told herself sternly.
He's a bastard.
It
was the first time she'd spoken to him since they'd
met at the stables nearly two months ago when he'd
wanted her to pretend that their encounter at
Creation hadn't happened. But much as she
wanted to hate him for how he'd treated her, she
found it impossible. The only emotion she felt was
an overwhelming attraction for him.

The überbitch was wearing a pink kaftan top
trimmed with sequins, a white bikini and shedloads
of make-up.

'How are you, Angie?' Cal asked.

'Good thanks,' she replied. At that moment Juan
appeared and wrapped the towel round Angel. She
realised he had never met Cal and Mel and so
introduced them. It did make her feel good being
able to introduce this very good-looking man as her
boyfriend. She wanted Cal to realise that other men
found her attractive. For a second they did the
alpha-male thing and sized each other up, then
Juan shook Cal's hand and kissed Mel.
Must remind
him not to do that again
, Angel thought, seeing how
impressed the überbitch was with Juan's Latin good
looks.

Gemma, who'd been hovering around anxiously,
handed them each a beer and they sat down.

'You're very brown, Angie. Is it spray-on?'
Melanie asked snidely.

Angel laughed. 'No way, I couldn't afford that.
This is all real.'

Mel's face fell slightly. 'Had your hair highlighted,
haven't you? Looks good.'

Angel shook her head and Juan pulled her
towards him. 'No, she's all real, all of her, my
beautiful, beautiful Angel.' And ignoring all the
amused looks from the others, he kissed Angel on
the lips.

'And why do you call her Angie?' Juan
demanded. 'Her name's Angel.'

This really wasn't something Angel wanted to go
into right now in front of an audience. 'I'll tell you
later, babe,' she whispered, running her hand
possessively down his back and kissing him.

'When you two have finished, I've got some news
about Cal,' Tony put in.

Oh my God
, thought Angel,
he's going to marry the
überbitch
. Her heart sank.

'Chelsea are going to sign him.'

'Oh my God!' Angel squealed. 'That's fantastic!'
And without really thinking about what she was
doing she rushed over to where he was sitting, her
towel falling off her in her haste, and bent down to
hug a very surprised Cal.

She suddenly became aware of their bare skin
touching and pulled away as if she had been
burnt.

'Cal, that's brilliant news! I'm so pleased for you,'
Angel exclaimed, and she truly was. She knew how
talented Cal was and she knew how ambitious he
was. She was also hugely relieved that he wasn't
engaged to the überbitch.

'Cheers, Angie.' He smiled back at her. 'I won't
be in the first team straight away, but it's great to be
in the squad.'

Mel's eyes were boring holes into Angel through
her designer shades and Angel swiftly moved back
to her place next to Juan.

'So when do you start?'

'Next week,' Cal replied.

'Yeah, we're throwing a party for him at the
club,' Tony added.

He looked delighted at his friend's news but
Angel knew it must be hard for him. Tony dreamt
of playing professionally but it had never
happened for him and never would and she really
felt for her brother.

'Mel's organising the party, Angel.' Gemma's
mouth twitched. 'It's going to be a fancy dress one.'
She took a quick swig of her beer to stop herself
catching Angel's eye.

'I'm planning to start a business organising
parties and thought this would be good practice,'
put in Mel grandly.

'What's the theme?' asked Angel.

'Hollywood stars.' Mel was obviously proud of
such an original idea.

'Fantastic – Juan, you can be Antonio Banderas!'
exclaimed Angel.

'Yeah, but I don't want you looking like Melanie
Griffith!'

'Cheeky bastard,' Angel teased. 'Do I look like
Melanie Griffith? Although she wasn't bad before
she became obsessed with looking young and
skinny.'

Juan put a hand up to Angel's face and considered
her.

'You will have to be Brigitte Bardot or Marilyn
Monroe. Or maybe Pamela Anderson, but your
breasts are much more beautiful.'

Angel squirmed with embarrassment. 'He's
Spanish, got no inhibitions!' she explained in mock
horror, seeing the looks on everyone's faces.

'So what do you think, everyone, Bardot or
Monroe?' Juan persisted.

'Monroe,' Gemma put in.

'Yeah,' agreed Tony.

Juan looked at Cal questioningly. Cal cleared his
throat. 'Yeah, Monroe,' he mumbled. Angel
sneaked a look at Mel, who had a face like thunder
– she hated anyone else getting compliments.

'Who are you going as?' Gemma asked Mel
innocently.

'Actually,
I
was going to go as Monroe,' Mel
replied sniffily. 'I thought I told you that, Cal.'

Cal looked mortified at his mistake and much as
Angel would have loved to see an argument
between them, Juan put in, 'Well, Angel can go as
someone else then – there are so many possibilities
for her.'

'Anyway,' said Cal, clearly desperate to change
the subject, 'who wants to get something to eat?'

Angel claimed that she and Juan were broke,
which wasn't strictly true, she just didn't think she
could bear being with Cal and Mel any longer. The
others said their goodbyes and got up to leave and
Angel and Juan stayed on the beach, finishing their
beers. As the others walked away Angel pulled Juan
into a passionate embrace. Partly she was doing it
because she wanted to and partly because she
wanted to flaunt her lover in front of Cal. She
couldn't resist looking at the party walking along
the promenade as she kissed Juan.

Bingo!
she thought to herself, seeing Cal turning
round and staring back at her as she deliberately
pressed her body into Juan's.

'So how do you know Cal?' Juan asked as the two
of them packed up their things.

'I've known him for years,' Angel tried to say as casually
as possible. 'He's just a friend.'

Three weeks into their romance and Juan still
hadn't persuaded Angel to have sex with him,
despite his best efforts. But by the time Cal's leaving
party came round, Angel had decided that she
wanted to go further with Juan. She knew that he
was just a summer fling who would soon be gone,
but she liked him a lot. She trusted him and he had
already proven himself to be a skilful lover. And
after the crap sex with Greg, Angel thought she
deserved him.

They had spent the week before the party
scouring the second-hand clothes shops to find a
gangster-style suit for Juan, who was going to go as
Al Pacino in
The Godfather
. Angel still didn't have an
idea of who to go as, but then they came across an
amazing playboy bunny costume in a dress hire
shop. Juan persuaded her to try it on as a laugh, but
when she checked herself out in the mirror she
knew that would have to be her costume. The black
satin all-in-one fitted her perfectly, showing off her
curves and long legs. So what if Mel's theme was
Hollywood stars? Angel wanted to make an impact.

'Sit still, can't you!' Gemma ordered Angel as she
tried to stick on her false eyelashes while Angel was
fidgeting.

'Gemma,' Angel moaned, 'if you're going to be a
beautician you really need to learn how to talk to
your clients properly!'

'I'm certain I'm never going to have a client as
difficult as you,' replied Gemma. 'Now for the lips.'
Gemma surveyed her handiwork; Angel looked
ravishing.

'Gemma!' Angel squealed, catching sight of
herself. 'That is so cool.'

She loved the way that Gemma's make-up subtly
but skilfully made her look sexy, and she practised
fluttering her false eyelashes and pouting with her
sexy glossed lips.

'I definitely think you should go blonde soon,'
Gemma said to her friend. 'It would really suit you.'

When Juan came to pick her up he couldn't
believe his eyes; he kept going on and on about how
beautiful she was.
He is so good for my ego
, Angel
thought to herself, thinking he also looked pretty
hot in his pinstripe suit, with his smouldering
brown eyes and handsome tanned face.

She was dreading the next part of the evening.
Before the party she and Juan were going to meet
her parents. She had warned him that her dad
might be offhand and distant with him, but in the
end it wasn't like that at all. Frank had already had
a few drinks. He and Michelle were won over by
Juan's perfect manners and charm and when her
dad discovered his passion for football, as a lifelong
Barca fan, he had no problem in seeing him as
Angel's boyfriend. And for the first time her
parents seemed to notice that their daughter was a
beauty. Her mum actually insisted on getting out
the camera and taking a picture of her.

'He's very handsome,' Michelle told her
daughter, sitting on her bed and watching as Angel
put the finishing touches to her make-up in her
bedroom mirror.

'Yes, he's lovely,' Angel agreed.

'You are being careful, aren't you, love?'
Michelle whispered, looking anxiously at her
daughter.

It took a second for Angel to realise what she was
talking about as she and her mum never had
those
kinds of conversations.

'Of course, Mum,' she insisted, desperate not to
go into details. 'Don't worry about it.' If she wanted
advice on contraception, her mum was the very last
person in the world she would have asked. 'Come
on, the taxi's here and you know Dad doesn't like to
keep it waiting.'

The party was well under way by the time they
arrived. Angel immediately spotted Gemma and
grabbed Juan by the hand as she rushed over to see
her friend. Gemma was dressed as Catwoman and
looked amazing; Tony was Batman and looked selfconscious.
Juan went to get the drinks and Angel
found herself scanning the room for Cal.

'He's over there,' Gemma told her friend,
knowing exactly whom she wanted to see.

Angel looked to the far side of the room. She
knew that Melanie had persuaded him to go as
Brad Pitt in
Troy
and she so wanted to laugh at Cal,
figuring that it would help her get over her
attraction to him, but tonight wasn't going to be the
night. He was indeed dressed as Brad Pitt, but
whereas most men would have looked ridiculous in
the Ancient Greek get-up of a leather skirt and
leather body armour, Cal looked heart-stoppingly
gorgeous and got to show off even more of his fit
body than usual.

'Oh no,' Angel whispered to Gemma. 'I so
wanted him to look a complete tit.'

'Don't worry,' Gemma told her. 'Just you wait
until you see Mel.'

Suddenly she came into view. Mel had gone for
Monroe in a big way, with the peroxide-blonde wig,
the startlingly red lipstick, the white fifties-style
dress. But her features weren't good enough to
carry it off and instead of being sexy she just looked
overly made-up and tarty.

'She looks well minging!' Angel said gleefully to
Gemma, starting to enjoy the evening. Juan
appeared with their drinks and when he told them
it was a free bar everyone cheered up even more,
knocked back the first round and sent Juan back for
refills. Angel was longing for Cal to notice her but
so far he seemed oblivious to her presence and was
constantly surrounded by people congratulating
him on his news, so she took to the dance floor with
Juan instead. He spun her round, took her in his
arms and generally showed off with her. Angel was
aware that they were the centre of attention but for
once she didn't care. She was with a gorgeous man
who adored her. When Juan took her into his arms
and kissed her, her mind was made up.

'Come on,' she whispered in his ear. 'Let's go.'
And she led him outside the clubhouse and away
from the crowds.

'Where are you taking me?' Juan asked her.

'It's a surprise, but I think you'll like it.'

They walked across the deserted football pitch.
There was a full moon in the August night sky and
it was almost as if the pitch was floodlit. Angel took
off her shoes and walked barefoot, enjoying the
feeling of the grass against her feet. They came to
the groundsman's hut and Angel felt above the
doorframe for the key, which she knew was kept
there, as it had been one of hers and Gemma's
hiding places when they got tired of watching the
match. Inside there was just a table and chair, and
a cleanly swept wooden floor. Angel took off Juan's
jacket and laid it on the floor, and told him to turn
around. She unzipped her bunny costume and
slipped it off, along with everything else. Only
when she was naked did she tell him to turn back
round and she stood before him with the pale
moonlight shimmering on her naked body.