Crystal (33 page)

Ideally Crystal would have liked to buy a new outfit for the party, but there was no way she could afford to. Instead she went for one of her favourite designer dresses, a simple purple silk number, which showed off her curves. Fortunately her hair still looked good from when Jez had trimmed
it for the shoot and by the time Crystal had finished with her make-up she was pleased with how she looked. But even though she knew she’d mainly be among friends, she was still nervous of being out in public. Since the Max story had broken, and since her accident, she had avoided crowds if she could, scared that someone might have a go at her or that she’d have a panic attack. But there was no way she could let Jez down. She just wished Jake could be with her as she walked past the queue of clubbers waiting to get into the Royale. Someone had obviously tipped off the press about the party and the likely arrival of celebs because the paparazzi were out in force, something Crystal was not prepared for. As the flashes went off around her and the photographers shouted out her name, she felt she was back at the time when the press were hounding her and she almost bolted. But then she thought,
Fuck them, I’m going to Jez’s birthday and I’m not going let anyone spoil it for me
. So instead of putting her head down and running into the club, she shook back her hair and sauntered in as if she didn’t have a care in the world. With any luck the photographers would have so many other stars to photograph that her picture wouldn’t be of any interest to any tabloid or celeb mags.

‘Darling, happy twenty-fourth birthday,’ she said, once she was safely inside the VIP lounge, hugging Jez and handing over her present. ‘I’m sorry it’s only small.’

‘I’m sure it’ll be perfect,’ Jez replied. ‘Now, grab yourself a drink and party! There are Slippery Nipple shots and champagne cocktails. Who says I’m not classy!’ In the far corner of the room she noticed Belle and her fiancé, Lee and Belle waved at her. Crystal was relieved that things between her and Belle had moved on since their last meeting, but she wasn’t going to push her luck by going over to see her. Instead, when she saw Tahlia, Hadley and Danni, she made her way over to them.

Two cocktails later and Crystal was feeling relaxed; no one was looking at her, she was with her friends, having a great time. Lots of people who Crystal hadn’t seen in ages –
acquaintances rather than friends – came up and said hello to her, commenting on how good she looked. It was nice to get compliments again, Crystal thought – it wasn’t so long ago that people wouldn’t even speak to her – but she could have done without all the questions about what she was doing now and how her singing career was going. In the end it all got a bit much and after the fifth person asked her if she had a record deal, she retreated to the ladies for a bit of peace. For one night at least she wanted to be able to forget her worries. However, just as she was checking her make-up she heard a snide voice behind her: ‘Ooh, look who it isn’t – Crystal Meth, the very
ex
-member of Lost Angels.’

She turned round and saw Kimmi, the lead singer of @ttitude, shooting her a filthy look, though how Kimmi could make out anything through the layers of mascara was a miracle, Crystal thought, determined to ignore her. She went to walk past her but Kimmi stood her ground, blocking her exit.

‘Surprised
you
can show your face in public after what
you
did. No one in our group would ever behave like that. And Belle had the nerve to call
us
trailer trash. You’re the trash.’

‘Okay, you’ve had your say. Now please can I get past?’

‘Or what? Are you going to call security again?’

‘God, you’re pathetic,’ Crystal suddenly snapped. ‘Why don’t you just piss off and leave me alone. You weren’t even invited to the party so what the hell are you doing in the VIP area?’

‘I’ve got my contacts,’ Kimmi said, still trying to be cocky. ‘I’m surprised you were invited. I would have thought you’d be staying in crying over your lack of a record deal. Did I tell you that we’ve just recorded our second album?’

‘Yeah, and remind me where the first one went? Wasn’t it straight in at three hundred?’

‘Five hundred, I think,’ said a voice from one of the cubicles, then the door opened and Angel Summer, Britain’s most famous glamour girl, walked out.

Kimmi had obviously been about to tell the person to fuck off but once she saw who it was her whole manner changed, and instead of the scowl on her heavily made up face, she was doing her best – but failing – to look sweet.

‘Hiya, Angel, how are you?’ Kimmi said in a lick-arse kind of voice.

Angel, who had never looked more stunning in a white cat suit, unzipped several inches to showcase her impressive cleavage, looked at Kimmi as if she was a piece of garbage, and said icily, ‘I heard what you were saying to Crystal and I don’t appreciate bullying.’

‘But I wasn’t!’ Kimmi started to say, but Angel cut across her.

‘This is the VIP cloakroom and I suggest you get your arse out of here before I call the management.’

Kimmi tried to make a dignified exit, which was ruined by the fact that she had a piece of toilet tissue impaled on her stiletto heel.

When Kimmi had gone Angel turned to Crystal and said warmly, ‘Hi, nice to meet you at last. I’ve heard so much about you from Jez.’

‘Hi,’ said Crystal back, wondering what she’d heard.

‘Don’t look so worried!’ Angel exclaimed seeing her face. ‘It’s only good stuff. And forget about all that bollocks in the press, I know most of it is made up. Come on, let’s go and have a cocktail.’

The girls hit it off instantly and spent the rest of the night together. Crystal chatted to Angel about her fiancé, Cal, the gorgeous footballer who played for Chelsea. He was away in Italy as there was a strong possibility that AC Milan were going to bid for him.

‘So would you move over there?’ Crystal asked.

Angel pulled a face. ‘I guess I would but I’d want us to keep our London house, because all my work’s here and all my friends. To be honest, it’s a bit of an issue between us at the moment. Cal thinks I should live there full time with him, but I’m not sure I want to.’ Angel sighed. ‘So it’s nice to be
able to come out and forget about it. God, men can be difficult sometimes.’

‘They can be very high maintenance,’ Crystal agreed and looked at Angel – it was hard not to look at her, her beauty was almost mesmerising. She reminded her of a young Marilyn Monroe; she had the screen goddess’s beauty and sensuality but also her vulnerability.

‘And how are the wedding plans going?’ Crystal asked, changing the subject. Cal and Angel were going to be married early next year, in what was already being talked about as the celebrity wedding of the decade.

‘Okay, I think. We finally got a wedding planner because it was taking over my life and I couldn’t think about anything else. It’s going to be a total fairy-tale wedding, in a castle, and I’m going to arrive in a carriage pulled by six white horses. But I can’t tell you what I’m wearing because I want it to be a surprise. No one knows.’

‘It sounds wonderful,’ Crystal said wistfully, wondering if she and Jake would ever get married.

‘I’m so glad you two have finally met!’ Jez joined them, along with Rufus, his handsome twenty-two-year-old boyfriend who looked as if he was in the gym 24/7.

‘My two favourite girls in all the world!’ Jez had clearly been knocking back the cocktails.

Crystal had met Rufus a few times now, but couldn’t say that she knew him as he hardly ever spoke. But then Jez’s ability to talk could win him an Olympic medal, leaving no one else a chance to get a word in. Besides, he probably wasn’t attracted to Rufus because of his conversational skills.

‘Seeing you together has given me an idea. Why don’t you suggest to Carrie that you do a shoot together? It would look fantastic!’

Angel had recently had her naturally brunette hair dyed platinum blonde again.

‘A kind of angel and devil scenario, you mean?’ Crystal asked. ‘Do I get to wear horns and carry a pitchfork?’

‘Don’t be silly. I just meant the contrast between your
raven-haired beauty would look striking alongside Angel, a blonde bombshell.’

‘It’s not a bad idea,’ said Angel. ‘I’m probably not going to be blonde for much longer so it would be good to make the most of it. I’ll mention it to Carrie if you like.’

But it will make my tits look tiny
, thought Crystal, surreptitiously checking out Angel’s cleavage again and comparing it with her own.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Angel, ‘I’ll do the topless bit and you can flash your bum which is much perter than mine.’

‘
I’VE JUST GOT
back, Crystal, so why don’t you come over, and—’ Jake paused over the phone and said huskily, ‘wear something extra sexy.’ He’d just returned from Paris and Crystal couldn’t wait to see him.

She rifled through her wardrobe, considering what to wear – if Jake wanted extra sexy, she would deliver. She chose her shortest, most revealing black dress, her highest heels, and left her underwear at home.

‘Wow,’ he said, as he opened the door to her. Crystal immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, ‘Will I do then?’

‘Umm,’ Jake murmured back, kissing her neck and running his hands over her back and her bum. He slid his hands under her dress and caressed her naked skin.

‘I hope this is what you wanted,’ Crystal whispered, enjoying what he was doing to her, when suddenly she heard Stella call out from the living room, ‘Do you want some more wine, Jake?’

Crystal pulled out of the embrace. ‘What’s
she
doing here? I thought it was going to be just us,’ she hissed.

Jake avoided her eye and answered a little too casually, ‘Oh, didn’t I tell you? I’ve got some people round for dinner.’

She was about to ask why the hell he wanted her dressed like this when Gavin popped his head round the living room door and said, ‘Hi.’

Crystal forced herself to smile and say hi back, and walked into the living room where Gavin’s girlfriend Lara, Stella and another photographer friend of Jake’s were sitting on the sofas, drinking wine. They were all casually dressed in jeans, which made Crystal feel even more self-conscious in her bum-skimming dress and heels.

‘Crystal!’ Stella exclaimed, sounding as if she couldn’t have been happier to see her. ‘So glad you could join us.’
She’s so fake.
Crystal thought. She knew perfectly well the feeling of loathing was mutual.

‘We were just talking about the new Mario Testino exhibition. You know, he’s the photographer who takes all those amazing pictures of celebrities.’
God, she was a condescending cow!
Crystal was about to say that she knew perfectly well who he was, when Jake said dryly, ‘Crystal knows who he is, Stella.’

‘Oh, I was just checking,’ Stella gushed back. ‘I didn’t want Crystal to feel left out. Nice dress, by the way.’

Fuck off
, Crystal so wanted to say, hating the way that Stella acted as if she owned the place. Crystal sat down carefully on the sofa opposite Gavin, desperate not to give him a Sharon Stone
Basic Instinct
flash. The dress had been for Jake’s eyes only and she really didn’t feel comfortable revealing so much of her body to everyone else. Fortunately Gavin’s girlfriend Lara was as unpretentious and down to earth as Gavin and chatted easily to Crystal. But as they talked about what films they’d seen, Posh’s new hair cut and what Lara made of London after Sydney, Crystal couldn’t help being aware of how Stella kept offering to help Jake in the kitchen and how she was behaving as if
she
was his girlfriend.

‘Actually, Stella, you sit down and relax. Crystal can help me,’ Jake answered, forcing Crystal to make another careful manoeuvre up from the sofa, smoothing down her dress as far as it would go as she walked to the kitchen. As soon as she got there Jake pulled her into his arms.

‘Did I tell you how amazingly sexy you look tonight?’ he murmured, kissing her before she got the chance to reply.
Then he slipped the straps from her dress and ducked down to kiss her breasts. They’d been apart for a week and Crystal wanted him as much as he wanted her but, turned on as she was, she couldn’t relax knowing that everyone was next door. Maybe if he had told her about the dinner party she would have enjoyed the thrill of a secret fuck in the kitchen. As it was, she felt as if Jake was trying to prove a point yet again. He seemed to be ticking off another box on his invisible list of their sexual exploits –
number 5: have sex in kitchen while guests are in next room.

‘Save it till later, honey,’ she whispered as Jake put his arms round her waist and lifted her on to the table, pushing her legs open and unbuttoning his jeans.

But he acted as if he hadn’t heard. Crystal repeated what she’d said and this time Jake snapped back, ‘I bet you never said that to him, did you? No? I bet you were open for business with him 24/7.’

Crystal pushed him away and jumped down from the table, furious. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about! I’ve told you everything you need to know about me and Max. Jesus Christ, I’ve even told you how many times we did it! What more do you want to know? Did he make me come? Yes, he did. Did I suck his cock? Yes, I did. Did I enjoy it? Yes, I did at the time. But then he raped me and that’s all I remember now. Will you stop bringing him up in conversation? I’m with you now and I have the best sex of my life with you. I love you! I don’t know what more I can say to make you believe me!’ Without meaning to, Crystal had raised her voice, and even though there was music playing in the living room she realised that the guests would have heard everything. Jake went to speak but Crystal cut him off. ‘I’ve had enough of these games you’re playing. When you decide to stop, let me know.’ And she ran out of the kitchen, into the hallway and out of the flat.

It was still early when she got home. It had been a very brisk walk back, holding her dress down all the way and praying there wouldn’t be a sudden gust of wind. She was so
angry, she didn’t want to stay home wondering if Jake would call or not. And she couldn’t believe she’d told him she loved him. To say it like that! In the middle of a row, what shit timing.
That’s probably the final nail in the coffin of our relationship.
She angrily pulled off her dress and threw it on the bed, then pulled on a black jumper dress, tights and boots and called Tahlia, asking if she could come over to see her.