Angel Uncovered (14 page)

At dinner the women managed to stay together. Angel
felt safe with them, felt she could almost be herself, they
were so unpretentious and down-to-earth. Simone and
Gabrielle were sitting some distance away and Angel was
relieved to be spared their company. She had three allies
now.

Just before dessert she decided to make a quick check
on Honey. Lucy was lying on the sofa in the sittingroom
of the suite reading, and told her that the baby
was fast asleep, but Angel still wanted to see for herself.
Lucy was right, though, Honey was out for the count.
Angel was just quietly shutting the door to her suite
when someone called her name. She turned round. It
was Gabrielle.

'I just wondered if we could have a quiet word in my
suite?'

'Why don't we talk on the way back down to dinner?'
Angel replied, anxious not to spend any longer than she
had to in Gabrielle's company.

She shook her head. 'It's a personal matter, Angel.'

'Okay,' she answered, extremely reluctantly. Spending
any longer than was strictly necessary with the Queen of
the WAGs was about as pleasurable as a full bikini wax.
Gabrielle didn't say a word as they travelled up in the
lift. Angel tried to guess what she wanted to say to her
and could only imagine it was something to do with
Simone.
God knows what lies that witch had been spinning
her.

As soon as they were in the suite, Gabrielle made a
beeline for the drinks cabinet. 'I'm going to have a
Southern Comfort, would you like one?'

Angel shook her head and watched as Gabrielle
poured herself a very generous measure, threw in a
couple of ice cubes and downed half of it in one go. Then
she swirled the rest of the drink around in her glass, the
ice cubes clinking. She suddenly didn't seem quite so sure
of herself as she said, 'Connor and I were wondering if
you wanted to join us after dinner here?'

'Thanks, but I need to get back to Honey,' Angel
replied, surprised by the invitation.

'It would be for a
very
exclusive party.' Gabrielle was
gripping the glass hard and looking distinctly awkward.

Angel shook her head. 'Sorry, another time.'

'Just you, me and Connor,' Gabrielle continued, avoiding
eye contact with her. 'It's the kind of party you've had
before, I think. Connor wanted me to ask you.'

For a few seconds Angel wondered what the hell
Gabrielle was on about, then realisation hit her and she
burst out, 'Are you seriously asking me to have a
threesome with you and your husband? Well, you can
fuck right off, both of you! How dare you think I'd be up
for anything like that?'

She swung round and headed for the door, not
wanting to spend another second in the same room as
Gabrielle. But the Queen of the WAGs moved surprisingly
quickly for someone in such high heels and
reached the door before her. She stood there blocking
Angel's exit and said snidely, 'Oh, come off it, Angel,
don't play the innocent with me. I know all about your
threesome with Mickey and that hooker.'

'It was one time only in the past, when I was off my
head. I would
never
do it again,' Angel shouted back
passionately.

'Well, if it's coke you need to get you in the mood, I can
easily find you some,' Gabrielle persisted, clearly not
used to being turned down. Angel wondered how many
other woman she'd propositioned for her husband.

'No fucking way! Not if you and your pervy husband
were the last people on earth.' She put out her hand to
open the door and Gabrielle grabbed her arm. She
looked ugly with anger, her skin red and blotchy under
the fake tan. 'How dare you turn us down? A slut like
you! You'd better not tell anyone about this or I will do
everything I can to ruin you.'

'Get out of my way, Gabrielle, you can't tell me what to
do!' Angel shouted angrily, shaking her hand away and
opening the door. She was about to slam it behind her
when someone seized her arm. 'Hey!' she exclaimed,
trying to pull away. She was being restrained by a
mountain of aman, dressed entirely in black and wearing
an earpiece. She recognised him as Gabrielle and
Connor's bodyguard.

'Everything all right, Mrs Carter?' the bodyguard
asked.

'Can you tell him to get off me?' Angel exclaimed,
struggling. He was gripping her arm extremely hard.

Gabrielle gave a barely perceptible nod and the guard
let her go. Angel winced as she rubbed at the red marks
his fingers had left on her skin.

'I hope you'll remember what I said, Angel,' Gabrielle
said coldly. Angel ignored her and headed for the lifts.

Suddenly her arm was seized again by the bodyguard.

'Fuck off!' she yelled in pain and anger.

'Mrs Carter asked you a question,' the man mountain
said. Angel fleetingly considered kneeing him in the nuts,
but thought better of it.

'Yes, I heard her,' she hissed, 'and if you don't let go of
me, right now, I'm going to scream the place down and
then people will want to know why you've assaulted me.

'Let her go,' Gabrielle ordered, and the bodyguard
abruptly released her. Angel swiftly walked away from
the pair of them, extremely shaken by what had just
happened. She was so disturbed by it that there was no
way she felt up to returning to dinner. Instead she went
straight back to her suite and asked Lucy to let Candy
know that she felt ill. Then she curled up on the bed still
fully clothed.

Despite the warm night she suddenly felt cold and
shivery. The nerve of Gabrielle, thinking that she would
be up for something like that! The threesome with
Mickey had been one of the biggest mistakes of her life.
She'd done it to please him and had had no idea that the
other woman was a hooker. When she sold her story,
Angel was plastered all over the tabloids and her life fell
apart.

Cal had rescued her. He had never judged her for
what she'd done. In fact, when they finally got together
he made a point of saying that they should never get
hung up about each other's past, that what had
happened belonged in the past. Now she didn't know if
she could tell him about Gabrielle's proposition – their
marriage seemed to be so fragile nowadays, she didn't
want to remind him of her past mistakes. And she
couldn't possibly say anything negative about Connor in
the run up to the tournament. Still, she longed for Cal
now: to feel his arms round her, to know that he loved
her.

But from the minute her husband walked into the hotel
suite the following day, he seemed tense and on edge.

Angel threw her arms around him and kissed him.
'Cal, it's so great to see you!' He kissed her back, but it
wasn't a passionate kiss.

'Do you want to go to the beach? We could take Honey
in the sea . . . she loved it yesterday.' Angel was aware that
she was gabbling but she so wanted a response from him,
she couldn't bear his silence.

He shrugged. 'Could do. Then I'd better have a couple
of hours in the gym.'

'Really? Haven't you done enough? I thought this trip
was supposed to be a bit of down time?'

Cal looked annoyed. 'I've got to be at my best for the
tournament, Angel, surely you understand?'

'Okay,' she said sadly, turning away and starting to
gather up all the things they'd need.

At the beach Cal stripped down to his trunks and for
the first time in what seemed like a very long time Angel
felt a flash of desire. He was so gorgeous – with his
muscular, perfectly proportioned body, just the right
amount of hair on his chest and that delicious line that
ran from his navel into his trunks. She remembered what
it had been like wanting him so much, being so turned on
by him, what it had felt like ripping off his clothes, feeling
his hard cock, tasting him, touching him, fucking him;
remembered how he knew exactly how to turn her on,
how he gave her the best orgasms ever . . .

'Do you want some sun cream on you?' she asked.

'Yeah, thanks.' Cal lay down on his stomach and she
started smoothing cream across his shoulders and back.

'You know, we could ask Lucy to take Honey for a walk
this afternoon then we could spend some time together,'

she murmured, imagining getting Cal back to their suite
and making love with him.

'No, I told you, I've got to go to the gym.'

'Well, there are other ways of working out, aren't
there?' Angel asked suggestively.

And then regretted it as Cal said abruptly, 'Maybe
later. Gym first.'

God, she couldn't even seduce him anymore!
Angel finished
applying the sun cream and flopped back on her
lounger, feeling disappointed and frustrated. The first
time in months she'd felt like having sex and Cal didn't
want to. What was wrong with her?

They spent the next couple of hours on the beach and
Cal focused all his attention on Honey and barely spoke
to Angel. She wandered down to the sea, taking pictures
of him and Honey in the water – the baby in
her yellow inflatable seat, laughing as Cal spun her
round.

'Hey, are you feeling okay now, Angel?' It was Suki.
Angel had almost forgotten that she'd pretended to be ill
last night after her encounter with Gabrielle.

'Yeah, fine. I suddenly felt really sick but it didn't last
long,' she lied.

'Well, you missed all the fun – Connor and Gabrielle
had a blazing row and she threw a wine glass at him. He
ended up in Casualty having four stitches.'

'Wow! Do you know what the argument was about?'
Angel asked, suspecting it had been to do with her.

Suki shook her head. 'Probably about his womanising
– he's got a terrible reputation. Phil was absolutely livid,
gave Gabrielle a right dressing down. I don't think she's
ever been spoken to like that in her life. Anyway the good
thing is they'll be keeping a low profile for the rest of the
stay.'

At that moment Cal came out of the water, holding
Honey in his arms. He knew Suki and they spent a few
minutes catching up. 'Do you guys fancy meeting up
tonight for dinner?' she asked.

'That would be great, wouldn't it, Angel?' Cal replied.

Angel agreed, even though she would far rather have
spent the evening alone with him.

She was hoping that Cal might have changed his mind
about training in the gym, but as soon as they got back to
the suite he was into his sports gear and trainers. 'Don't
you want to have some lunch first?' she asked.

Cal shook his head. 'No, I want to get on. I'll be a
couple of hours.' And then he was gone.

'What shall we have for lunch then?' Angel asked
Honey who was sitting on the rug chewing on what Angel
saw was Cal's mobile.

'Oh, Honey, don't do that!' she exclaimed, racing over
to take the phone from her, triggering a wail of protest
and tears from her daughter.

'Look, have this.' Angel tried to distract her by giving
her the toy phone. But that apparently was not as good
as Daddy's and she continued to cry. So Angel resorted to
giving her a rice cake. Suddenly Cal's phone vibrated and
beeped. He had a text message.

Angel hesitated. She could take his phone down to the
gym or she could see who had texted him. She had never
wanted to check his texts before but right now she had
the strongest feeling that she should open this message.

He hadn't password protected his phone this time so she
was able to access his inbox, where she discovered the
message was from someone Cal had simply labelled A.
Well, at least it didn't say F for Flavia. She opened the
message. It was written in Italian and ended in three
kisses. Suddenly it became very important for Angel to
know who the message was from and what it said.

But just then the door opened and Cal walked back in.
'I forgot my phone,' he said, stopping in his tracks when
he saw that Angel was holding it.

'Who's A?' she asked, trying to keep her tone casual
while feeling anything but.

'Have you been looking at my messages?' he
demanded. 'Christ, Angel, I would never look at your
phone! Give it to me.' He held out his hand but she kept
hold of the phone.

'I just wondered who would give you three kisses.
Obviously not a male friend . . . and three kisses seems
like a lot for a female friend to give. That's if they are just
a friend?'

'Give me back my phone,' Cal repeated, his voice low
and angry.

'Tell me who texted you then,' Angel persisted.

'I don't believe it! I would never question you like this.'
He came right up to Angel and stood in front of her.

'Well, I'm sorry, but I'd like to know who's sending my
husband texts with kisses on them.'

'A is for Allegra – she's my physiotherapist. Satisfied?'

'Very friendly for a physio,' Angel said coldly. 'I doubt
my brother puts kisses on the end of texts to his clients.'

Cal sighed in exasperation. 'She's Italian. It doesn't
mean anything.'

Without warning Angel threw him his phone. She just
didn't know whether to believe him or not and hated
feeling so insecure.

'Hey! There was no need to do that!' Cal snapped, only
just managing to catch the mobile. 'I'm going back to the
gym, and I hope when I've finished you'll be in a better
mood.'

'Aren't you going to read your message from Allegra?'
Angel said as he was walking out of the door.

'I'll read it in the gym. It'll just be some advice about
my knee. You know, the knee I injured trying to protect
you from some nutter. The knee that could ruin my
playing career. But don't worry about that, you just carry
on worrying about a stupid message you shouldn't have
read anyway!'

Cal was shouting at her now and Angel was torn
between wanting to retaliate by demanding how he'd feel
if he found a message with three kisses on her phone and
feeling sorry for him when he was obviously anxious that
his knee would not hold up for the tournament. In the
end sympathy won. 'Okay, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have
looked. Don't worry about your knee, I'm sure it'll be
fine.'