Angel Uncovered (12 page)

'So, have you got all your outfits planned for the trip?'
Candy asked.

Angel shook her head. 'I'm not that into clothes to be
honest. I mean, I like them, but I can't get that excited
about them.'

Candy looked horrified and exclaimed, 'Angel, you
have
got
to start planning. All the WAGs here have got
theirs sorted already.'

Angel laughed. 'You'd get on well with my friend
Gemma. She's been having a go at me too. In fact, I'm
leaving her to choose all my clothes.'

'You'll have to come up to my house in Liverpool and
I'll show you what I've got,' Candy suggested. 'I've
labelled everything with the day I'm going to wear it, and
worked out what accessories I'll need as well.'

'Oh, God, she's not going on about clothes again, is
she?' They'd been joined by Liam her boyfriend, a cutelooking
lad with short brown spiky hair and a cheeky
grin. He and Candy were both twenty-one and had been
childhood sweethearts since they met at school in
Manchester. Liam had recently been signed to Liverpool
and they both lived there now.

'And I thought it was supposed to be about football,'
Angel answered.

Liam rolled his eyes and put his arm round Candy.
'Yeah, well, so did I, but not Candy. You are going to
come and watch the matches, aren't you, Babe?'

She laughed. ''Course I am! You know I wouldn't miss
them for anything.'

'Not even if Roberto Cavalli offered you and only you
one of his exclusive designs at the same time as England
were kicking off?'

Candy looked as if she was thinking hard. 'It would be
a difficult decision, but in the end you'd understand,
wouldn't you, Babe?'

Angel and Liam both laughed.

'You're terrible!' he said, kissing his girlfriend. Angel
felt a sudden pang watching them. They seemed so in
love, just like she and Cal used to be, hardly able to keep
their hands off each other, continually flirting and
teasing each other. And now Cal had his back turned to
her and didn't seem to care who she was talking to.
Didn't seem to want her anymore. But suddenly he
turned round and, seeing Angel, walked over to their
group. She was glad he had joined them but the contrast
between Candy and Liam and Cal and her was painful.
Candy and Liam kept touching each other – he would
stroke her arm, she would smooth back his hair – but it
was more than a physical bond. They seemed connected,
on the same wave-length, whereas she and Cal were
worlds apart.

Candy knew all about Cal and Angel, having followed
their relationship in the tabloids and celebrity mags, and
seemed to be in awe of them. She kept saying how
stunning Angel was, how amazing their wedding had
been.

'When I get married, I want a wedding just like yours,'
she declared.

'Sorry,' Liam said, smiling. 'As you can see, Angel, she's
your Number One fan. But, I promise, she's not a weird
stalker type, I've got her under control.' It seemed
strange to Angel that Candy would look up to her when
she felt her marriage was in such a bad place right now.

Liam went on, 'It's good you two have met. Some of the
other wives and girlfriends haven't been so friendly to
Candy because she's new to the whole thing.'

'Be good for Angel too,' Cal said. 'Especially when we
go to Portugal next weekend with the team.' Angel
looked at him enquiringly and Cal said, rather irritably,
'I told you last month, Angel. Before we fly to the States
we've got a team-building couple of days, and wives and
girlfriends are coming too.'

Angel couldn't remember him mentioning it but that
wasn't surprising, she hadn't exactly been with it lately.
But she didn't like his tone of voice. It was as if he was
ordering her, as if she had no identity of her own
anymore, that she mattered only in relation to him. 'I'll
have to check that I'm not working,' she replied quietly.
She knew she wasn't but hated the way he just assumed
she would drop everything for him.

Cal clenched his jaw. '
Everyone
is going, Angel.'

And Candy leaped in, obviously picking up on the
tension, 'Angel, you've got to come, you can't leave me
alone with all the other WAGs!'

'Oh, I'm sure Gabrielle would look after you,' Angel
said, and even though she was angry with Cal, couldn't
help smiling at Candy who was every bit as sweet as her
name.

Dinner was next and Angel was really hoping that she
would be on the same table as Candy and Liam but she
wasn't. Instead she found herself sitting next to
Gabrielle's best friend Lauren, a skinny, hard-faced
blonde who'd OD-ed on the St Tropez and was naturally
extremely unfriendly. After the briefest of hellos she
ignored Angel completely. Cal was sitting next to his wife
too but was soon deep in conversation with Lauren's
boyfriend, so Angel was forced to sit in silence. The table
was too big for her to be able to join in with the
conversations opposite. Worse still, when she looked over
at the table next to her she noticed Simone.

Angel quickly looked away, wishing they could leave.

She turned to Cal, hoping to join in his conversation, but
he made no attempt to include her. She sighed and
stared miserably into space, hoping that she wasn't being
filmed at this precise moment. She could just imagine the
commentary: '
And here's an example of what a No Mates
WAG looks like . . .
'

After dinner her heart sank further still when Simone
sashayed over to Cal. She was wearing a gold off the
shoulder evening dress and Angel had to admit she
looked stunning, but there was something cold about her
beauty, probably because she rarely looked happy.

'Cal, good to see you!' she exclaimed, kissing him while
ignoring Angel.

'Hello, Simone,' he replied, sounding cool. 'How's it
going?'

'Good. Jamie and I are getting on
so
well,' she murmured,
looking all the same as if she longed to touch Cal.

'Glad it worked out for you,' he replied.

Simone lowered her voice but Angel could still hear
her. 'It's not what I would have wanted, Cal, you know
that.'

'Yeah, well, there's nothing more to say on that score,
is there, Simone? And I don't need to remind you of our
agreement, do I?'

And without waiting for an answer he took Angel's
hand and said, 'Come on there's some more people I
want to introduce you to.'

Simone gave the iciest of smiles as Cal and Angel
walked past her and Angel heard her exclaiming,
'Lauren, so wonderful to see you!'

Angel couldn't resist turning round. She saw Simone
sit down next to Lauren and start bitching right away. No
wonder Lauren had ignored her, if she was such good
friends with Simone. Angel squeezed Cal's hand and
whispered, 'She's such a poisonous cow.'

Cal sighed, 'I know, just ignore her.'

'I will, but it's not going to be very nice in Portugal and
the States. She seems to be in with all the other wives and
girlfriends.'

'She's not in with all of them, Angel. Please remember
we're going there for the tournament . . . the most
important tournament of my career! So try and get
things in perspective.' He didn't sound sympathetic at all
and Angel felt riled again by his lack of understanding.

'Okay,' she said sulkily, 'I'm going to the bathroom.'

She headed to where she thought it was, weaving her
way through the partygoers, some of whom were now
definitely the worse for wear, and headed down one of
the red velvet-lined corridors. But as she turned a corner
she froze because there, leaning against one of the walls
with the Marilyn Monroe waitress kneeling in front of
him, was Connor. Angel was in no doubt what the
waitress was doing and it didn't involve canapés . . . She
quickly turned round and started walking back, praying
he hadn't seen her.
God, he was vile.
But it was too late.

He called her name. 'Angel!' Reluctantly, and very
slowly, she turned round. Connor shrugged as if to say,
What do you expect? and buttoned up his fly. 'I'd be
grateful if you didn't mention this to anyone. Maybe you
and Cal fancy borrowing my yacht in the South of France
sometime?' Marilyn meanwhile was nonchalantly
reapplying her lipstick.

Angel shook her head.
What a creep.
'There's no need,
Connor, I won't say anything to Gabrielle.'

'Good girl.' He smiled knowingly, showing off a
mouthful of bleached teeth, 'After all, you know what it's
like for your secrets to come out in the press, don't you?'

When Angel was nineteen she'd had a relationship
With Mickey – a boy band member. It was Mickey who got
her into taking cocaine and it was Mickey who persuaded
her to have a threesome. Unfortunately for Angel, the
third party was a hooker who then sold her story . . .

She itched to tell Connor to fuck off. Instead she
murmured, 'Like I said, I won't say anything,' then
turned and walked quickly away.

'The next item is a weekend cruise on Connor and
Gabrielle's luxurious yacht, fully crewed, round the
South of France . . . oooh, la-la! Who's going to start the
bidding at twenty-five thousand?' declared Duncan
Williams, the comic and TV presenter hired by the
couple to compere their charity auction. So far he'd
auctioned a £750,000 diamond necklace, a white Ferrari,
and a pair of diamond watches.
God knows what Connor has
got up to on that yacht,
Angel thought as she took her place
next to Cal, and then realised that her husband was
bidding. She wanted to tell him not to then stopped
herself in case the cameras were on her. Instead she had
to sit there while he ended up outbidding everyone else
for a fifty grand weekend on Connor's floating shag pad!

As soon as the auction finished Candy came rushing
over. 'Oh, how romantic, Angel, your own personal
cruise. I'd love to go on one of those!'

Angel wanted to say that she was welcome to it, but
decided that sharing her discovery about Connor could
wait until another day.

'Do you want a glass of champagne?' Liam asked and
Angel found herself saying yes. The night was nearly
over, and she could really do with a drink. Liam chatted
to Cal, while Angel and Candy picked up their
conversation from earlier. Angel could do with some
allies when she went away with the WAGs – or hags as she
was beginning to think of them. Several of them could
have accessorised their outfits quite well with a pointy hat
and a broom . . .

Conversation grew more difficult as the disco started
up. Angel wondered if Gabrielle would actually be able to
dance in her dress. It appeared not as she stayed chatting
to her guests, but Connor was obviously up for it and
before Angel knew what was happening he was in front
of her and Cal, asking her for a dance.

Angel shook her head.
No way was she dancing with this
perv!
But Cal intervened. 'Go on, Angel, you love this
song.' It was Mika's 'Lollipop', a song that she had been
known to dance to outrageously with Gemma. She knew it
would look really rude if she turned her host down and
very reluctantly followed him on to the dance floor, trying
not to think about the activity she'd just seen him involved
in. Unfortunately the lyrics didn't help – she knew someone
had sucked his particular lollipop only too recently!

'And to think I would have given you a trip on the
yacht for free!' Connor shouted at her over the music.
'Ironic, isn't it? Still, it's all for charidee.'

Angel stared at him coldly.
He was such a wanker.
'Smile,
Angel, they might be filming you,' he shouted, grabbing
her by the waist and twirling her round.
God, she was going
to have to disinfect this dress.
'Cal's a very lucky man,' he said then, leaning closer to
make himself heard over the music. 'I hadn't realised
how stunning you were in the flesh.' His eyes slid
appreciatively over her body and Angel had to fight the
urge to tell him to fuck off.
God, why did he have to be the
England Captain? Why couldn't it have been someone lovely like
David Beckham?

She managed to escape after one dance, but just as she
was making her way back to Cal, Simone sidled in front
of her. 'That was a lovely thing Cal bought at the auction,
wasn't it? But then, he was always very generous, I
remember.'

'Let's not pretend we have anything to say to each
other, Simone. I'll keep out of your way if you keep out
of mine,' Angel shot back.

Simone flicked back her hair – Angel had forgotten just
how much that habit annoyed her – and hissed, 'Don't
imagine that just because you've got a ring on your finger
it means a damn' thing. Maybe it will be a different girl
who gets to try out the yacht with Cal. Maybe an Italian
with a little more class than you, although that really
wouldn't be hard, would it? You've always been more
chavvy than classy.'

That did it! Angel forgot her resolution not to sink to
Simone's level. 'Fuck off, Simone. You don't know
anything about Cal. No wonder he left you.'

'He wouldn't have left me if it hadn't been for
you
, you
scheming, big-boobed bitch!' Now it was Simone's turn to
lose her cool and this last comment came out as a screech.

By now the guests immediately next to them had
stopped their own conversations and were openly
listening to the slanging match. But just as Angel was
about to retaliate, Gabrielle came marching over.

'Ladies!' she hissed. 'Can we cut the bitch fest! We're not
on
Jeremy Kyle
now, are we?'

Simone was the first to regain her composure, 'I do
apologise, Gabrielle.' And the two women walked swiftly
away from Angel, but not before Gabrielle shot her a
filthy look.
Go and ask Marilyn what she's been doing to your
husband,
Angel felt like saying.

'See, it wasn't so bad, was it?' Cal said as they lay in bed
later.
It was so much worse!
Angel wanted to protest, but he
was going away with the England team in the morning
and she couldn't bear anymore conflict between them. So
instead she nodded and curled her body round his,
wondering why Cal didn't seem interested in making
love with her anymore. She knew she'd pushed him away
enough times in the past, but now he was the one who
was being distant.