Paradise (17 page)

‘Admiring the view?’ It was Benny.

She spun round. ‘I’m sorry, I came in here by mistake.’ She made to walk out of the room, but Benny stood blocking the door.

‘Great party, isn’t it?’ he commented.

‘Yeah, thanks, Benny. It was really nice of you to put it together for us.’

Benny narrowed his cold grey eyes and said with an edge to his voice, ‘I did it for Ethan.’

‘Well, he really appreciates it . . . we both do,’ Angel replied, wondering why he was giving off this vibe.

‘I hope you realise how lucky you are to be marrying him. He is such a big star, and you – you could be one of any number of girls. What’s so special about you, Angel?’

He seemed drunk and Angel really didn’t want to get into an argument with him, so she didn’t reply. But Benny carried on, ‘Played it well, though, didn’t you? I have to give you that. Very clever. Kept him hanging
on with your coy, “Oh, Ethan, I do love you but I don’t want to go through the trauma of a divorce”,’ here Benny put on a simpering expression, ‘till Ethan didn’t know what the hell was going on between you. And all along you
knew
you were going to marry him. Of course you were! You hit pay dirt; you weren’t going to turn down the chance to marry Ethan Turner. You’re a fucking glamour model, for Chrissake! He’s a multi-millionaire, a sporting hero!’

Benny had never sounded so hostile towards her before and Angel was shocked, both by his tone and by his words. She inched forward, hoping that he would get the message and move away from the door, but he remained standing where he was.

‘Benny, I don’t know what your problem is, but I do love Ethan and I was never playing any games with him.’ She took another step. ‘Now I’d really like to get back to the party.’

At this Benny finally moved aside, but as she walked past him he reached out a huge hand and grabbed her arm, gripping it so tightly it drew a gasp of pain from Angel.

‘Just don’t even think about fucking Ethan about. He loves you for whatever dumbass reason, but if you ever hurt him, I will personally fucking ruin you.’ Benny shoved his face in hers, so close she could see the pores on his nose, smell the brandy on his breath.

‘Let go of me!’ Angel exclaimed, frantically trying to shake off his hand. His blatant aggression and hostility were frightening.

He abruptly released her. ‘Enjoy the rest of the party, Angel,’ he said, perfectly normally, as if nothing had happened.

Angel took a few minutes to compose herself in the bathroom; there was an angry red mark on her arm
where Benny had gripped her. He had sounded as if he hated her. Maybe he was just being really protective of Ethan . . . but, no, it was more than that. She leaned against the wall – even this bathroom had pictures of Ethan all over it. In fact, the whole house was like a shrine to him. She had always thought that Benny was straight, but maybe his feelings for Ethan went beyond those of an agent for a client; maybe he was in love with him? Maybe she’d completely misread him. But then, why would he start up a relationship with Susie? Angel couldn’t imagine.

She returned to the party but felt pretty shaken up for the rest of the evening, staying close to Ethan. Every now and then she would catch Benny watching her.

‘Great party,’ Ethan said sleepily as they curled up together in bed. ‘Everyone loved you.’

Not everyone, Angel thought, thinking of Benny and wondering how to bring up her encounter with him. She hesitated, then blurted out, ‘Ethan, do you think Benny likes me?’

‘He adores you! Thinks you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Why do you ask?’

‘Just something he said at the party, along the lines of did I realise how lucky I was to be marrying you, and that if I messed you around, he would personally ruin me. He even grabbed my arm.’ She rubbed it. It still hurt, and even as she spoke an image of Benny’s cold grey eyes flashed into her head.

‘What the fuck!’ Ethan sat up in bed. He looked shocked. ‘D’you want me to call him now?’

Angel shook her head. She didn’t want the incident with Benny to ruin what had otherwise been a good night. She sighed, ‘I think he was drunk, most likely he had no idea what he was saying.’

Ethan frowned. ‘It’s no excuse but I guess he must
have been drunk. He can get aggressive when he has too much, I’ve seen it myself, which is why he rarely drinks. He’s bound to wake up in the morning and feel terrible and phone you up to apologise. And if he doesn’t, I’ll have something say to him. Let’s forget about him.’ He lay back down, murmuring, ‘Love you.’

But Angel had something else she wanted to ask. ‘I wondered if Benny might be . . .’ she hesitated, not knowing if she should come out with her theory about Benny; she really didn’t want to upset Ethan.

‘Might be what, babe?’

‘Gay.’

Now Ethan roared with laughter. ‘Benny’s one of the straightest men I know! He’s had more women than me! Not that it would matter if he was gay, but seriously, Angel, there’s no way. I’ve known him for ten years and there’s never been a hint of that.’

Angel didn’t like to say that people could be in the closet for years and maybe never come out. Ethan might be cool with people being gay, but she was willing to bet other people in his sport wouldn’t be. ‘What about that picture of you that he has in his study? You know, the one where you’re practically naked.’

Ethan frowned, considering her comment, ‘I guess that’s a bit out there. I’d never really thought about it before. Still, I bet your agent has got pictures of you in her office and that doesn’t make her a lesbian, does it?’

Okay, maybe Ethan was right, maybe she was reading too much into the picture, but could she simply put Benny’s threatening tone down to drink? Angel didn’t think so, but then again she didn’t want to make a big deal of it; she wanted to be happy about marrying Ethan, not have to think about anything else, and so Angel did what she always did with unwelcome thoughts. She pushed them to the back of her mind.

The first episode of their reality show aired a few days later and went down a storm with the viewers – the channel was thrilled, Benny and Susie were thrilled, even Angel didn’t think she came across too badly when she watched it back. And when she saw Benny he apologised profusely for anything he might have said to upset her, claiming that he had drunk too much and couldn’t even remember what he’d said. Apparently he’d spent the last few days apologising to several other people he had offended.

It was a plausible explanation, given how freely the champagne had been flowing, but Angel couldn’t help wondering if it really had been the drink. She vowed to avoid him even more than she did usually.

To celebrate the success of the show and to give them both a break, Ethan whisked her off to the Caribbean island of St Lucia, leaving Honey with Lucy for a weekend. It was luxury to the max. They had their own beachside villa, where they did nothing but make love, eat, sunbathe and have spa treatments. As they lay out on their balcony, sharing a hammock and counting the shooting stars, Angel thought it had been a very long time since she had felt this happy and content. She felt at peace. She had finally got closure on the past. Her new life was with Ethan. A fresh start without the shadow of Cal’s betrayal hanging over her, tainting everything.

‘
GOD, I’LL MISS
you,’ Ethan said, pulling Angel to him and kissing her, much to the delight of the paps who were crowding round them, clicking away with their cameras to get the best shot. Angel was just about to go through the departure gate at LAX to board a flight back to the UK. She was spending a week there for work, and to celebrate Gemma’s birthday. Ethan had an important game so couldn’t come with her.

‘I’ll miss you too,’ Angel murmured, then headed for the security check, holding on to Honey’s hand, pausing only to turn round and blow Ethan a kiss. She hated leaving him, even for such a short time. Since her marriage proposal she felt as if she’d fallen more deeply in love with him, he was wrapped round her heart and she felt intoxicated with love for him. Finding out about Cal and Simone had been a big wake up call, telling her to move on with her life because Cal certainly wasn’t waiting for her. The photographs Benny had showed her had turned up in the British press but there had been no more since then. Simone was quoted as saying that she and Cal were just friends but Angel didn’t believe her. And Cal never gave interviews. She had continued to avoid speaking to him on the phone.

Landing at Gatwick, Angel faced the usual scrum of paps. She had already prepared by putting on her
largest pair of black Chanel sunglasses and had arranged for Ray to meet her along with her mum and dad. Since the news of her marriage to Ethan had broken the paps had become even more desperate to photograph her, particularly as she had yet to do an interview – Benny and Susie were in the process of setting up an exclusive deal with one of the mags.

‘I thought Dad would come and pick us up,’ Angel commented, holding on tightly to Honey as Ray cleared a path through the photographers.

‘He’s not feeling too good at the moment, so I told him to stay at home.’

It was unlike Frank to be ill; Angel had never known her dad to even have a day off work.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I think it’s just a virus and he feels under the weather.’ Michelle paused. ‘He’s also a bit upset about you, love, not that he would ever say.’

Angel was just about to ask why, but then realised she had deviated from her plan not to show any expression at all before the greedy paps otherwise the next thing she knew they’d be writing some load of bollocks about how she had landed in a foul mood because she’d argued with her American lover, or something like that. ‘Let’s talk in the car,’ she said quietly.

But it turned out to be a conversation she really didn’t want to have. Michelle explained that Frank was really upset about Angel marrying Ethan, convinced that she was making a terrible mistake, that it was far too soon and that she should be with Cal. Angel didn’t want to say too much in front of Honey but she was really angry. It felt to her as if Frank was ruining her big moment, and what’s more was being really unfair on her.

‘Well, Dad’s completely wrong on that score. I am doing the right thing marrying Ethan. I’m really happy
and I’d have thought that my parents would be happy for me as well, especially after what I went through with Cal.’

‘I am happy for you,’ Michelle said quietly. ‘And I understand. It’s just your dad, you know what he can be like sometimes. He probably needs to see Ethan again and then he’ll realise that he is right for you. He just doesn’t know him well enough yet.’

Great. So instead of having a chilled out time with her family and friends, she was going to have to deal with her dad giving her grief. Angel sat back in the car seat and folded her arms, looking moodily out of the window as the car sped along the A23 into Brighton. She could always rely on her dad to make her feel like an awkward teenager again. She wondered when that feeling would ever stop.

But a day into her visit her dad had resisted saying anything about her engagement or Cal, so either Michelle had said something to him or he was waiting for the right moment – and Angel definitely wasn’t going to bring up the subject if she could help it. She was getting enough ear ache from Gemma, who continued to make it clear that she thought Angel was rushing into the marriage. After a quiet day with her mum and dad, Angel had gone to the beauty salon run by Gemma’s mum, Jeanie, to get her nails done ready for her shoot the following day. But she was definitely getting more than a manicure as Gemma talked at her over the nail bar. She had noted Angel’s sapphire engagement ring, briefly commenting that it was very beautiful before launching into a tirade.

‘Why don’t you wait a year? Why the big rush?’ she demanded, carefully applying bubble-gum pink varnish to Angel’s nails.

‘Because I really love him!’ Angel exclaimed. ‘And it’s what I really want!’ She moved her hand in her
agitation, causing Gemma to scowl as a blob of varnish went on to Angel’s finger. Angel couldn’t help feeling hurt by her friend’s attitude. She turned her head and appealed to Jeanie who was sitting at reception.

Jeanie was one of her mum’s closest friends and Angel had known her all her life. She was down-to-earth, warm and funny, and could always be relied on to defuse any difficult situations.

‘Jeanie, will you tell your daughter to stop giving me such a hard time!’

Jeanie looked over and smiled. At fifty-something she was still a very attractive woman, who was as into fashion as her daughter, though had to put up with mutton-as-lamb jibes from Gemma on a regular basis. She also changed her hair style as often as Danni Minogue – currently Jeanie had a long black bob with an asymmetric fringe, and had gone for the casual look in a black velour track suit with diamante love hearts on the sleeves, an Ed Hardy tee-shirt and black furry UGG boots.

‘You know what Gemma’s like. I can’t tell her anything! All I will say is that you need to follow your heart, Angel, and no one can tell you what you should or shouldn’t do, babe.’

‘See?’ Angel turned back to Gemma who had finished varnishing her nails and was just admiring her own handiwork. ‘You should listen to your mum for a change. She’s right about this.’

‘First time for everything,’ Gemma muttered. Once she had made up her mind it was practically impossible to get her to change it, Angel knew that from experience.

‘So have you seen much of Cal?’ she asked as casually as she could.

Gemma shrugged. ‘Not that much lately, he’s been
really busy. He might be coming to my birthday. You don’t mind, do you?’

Angel did mind and wished that Gemma hadn’t asked him. Recently she felt she had been very successful in compartmentalising her feelings for him and didn’t want the complication of seeing him. ‘’Course not,’ she replied. ‘So is he bringing anyone?’ She was fishing now to find out about Simone.

‘Don’t think so. I told you, I don’t think he’s seeing anyone.’

‘Not Simone?’

That comment earned her an eye roll from Gemma. ‘Why are you so obsessed with her and Cal? I’m sure there’s nothing going on between them.’