The Club (16 page)

‘Is that it?’ he sneered. ‘You just cost me thousands, all because you didn’t get one fucking part?’

‘Is that
it
?’ she screeched, really blazing now. ‘Don’t you get it, Tony? I’m
finished
! They picked some big-titted long-legged
freak
who thinks she’s
me
– and it’s all
your
fault, because
you
kept me
here
when I should have been
there
!’

‘Aw, quit freaking out,’ Tony grunted, laughing at her now. ‘I told you you was no good from the start, but would you listen? No. So now you’re gonna have to feel what it’s like to hear it from the rest of the world.’

‘No good?’ Melody repeated incredulously. ‘What kind of crap is
that
? I’m great – everyone’s been saying it. I knocked them dead in that Clooney film!’

‘Aw, get over yourself,’ Tony shot back at her. ‘You’re an average actress, and it was an average film. Yeah, they was hyping you for a while, but only ’cos they had nothing better to do. Do you think they’d have forgot you so fast if you was great? Jolie could take
ten
years off, and they’d be lining up with their tongues hanging out if she said she wanted to come back. You’re away six weeks and they can’t even remember your name. Think about it.’

‘You got the hots for her, or something?’ Melody demanded jealously. ‘’Cos you sure sound like it – always comparing me to her. If she’d kept her fucking clothes on she wouldn’t be
half
as famous as she is, but I don’t suppose you care about that, do you?’

‘Clothes on, clothes off – who gives a shit?’ Tony replied scathingly. ‘Fact is,
she
’s got it, and
you
ain’t – not for the kind of acting you want to do, anyway. I always said you should stick to doing what you do best.’

‘Oh, yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?’ Melody hissed. ‘And there was me thinking you actually
loved
me. Well, I guess I know the truth now, don’t I? You don’t love no one but
you
. Well, that’s it, Tony. I’ve had it with you and your shit. First thing tomorrow, I’m going home – without
you
!’

‘No, you ain’t.’

‘Oh, right, so you’re allowed to do whatever
you
want but
I
’ve got to do what
you
tell me?’ Melody demanded. ‘That the way it works in your thick head?’

Tony didn’t answer. He just stared at her with rapidly darkening eyes. A sure-fire warning that Melody was too fired-up to heed.

‘Well?’ she continued, thrusting her chin out at him, her eyes sparking with pure hatred. ‘That how you think it is with us, Tone? You do whatever the fuck you want, and I just go along with it – like all them fucking
whores
you used to be hooked up with?’

‘You remember what you was doing when I picked you up?’ Tony cut in quietly.

‘What’s
that
got to do with it?’ she spluttered. ‘Christ, Tony, have you any idea how
sick
I am of listening to your macho crap? I’ve been
begging
you to go home, but you’ve been so busy making friends with these up-your-ass morons round here, you don’t give a toss what you’re doing to my career. Well, you can go screw yourself if you think I’m staying now, ’cos I’m going home, and I’m gonna get my life back on track without
you
hanging round my neck like a flaming millstone.’

‘That right?’Tony snarled, losing patience now. ‘Let’s see how far you get without
this
, then, eh?’

Marching to the dresser, he wrenched open the drawer and took out her passport. Slipping it into his back pocket, he looked around for her handbag.

Guessing what he was thinking, Melody lunged across the bed, but Tony beat her to it. Shoving her roughly aside, he snatched the bag up off the floor and rifled through it until he found her credit-card wallet.

‘Give that back!’ Melody screamed, throwing herself at him and beating him with her fists. ‘That’s mine! You’ve got no right!’

The punch sent her sprawling across the bed. Winded, she lay on her back, blood from her cut lip trickling down her cheek. Staring up at him with huge, terror-filled eyes when Tony came and stood over her, she held her breath.

‘Look what you done now,’ he said, his voice deceptively soft as he unzipped his fly. ‘Gone and got me all worked up.’

‘You can’t be serious?’ she gasped when he flopped his dick out and started rubbing it. ‘You can’t expect me to
sleep
with you after what you just did?’

‘What makes you think I’m asking?’

‘You can’t
force
me. Eddie’s out there.’

‘And what’s
he
gonna do?’ Tony gave a nasty laugh. ‘He don’t give a flying fuck about you. Anyway, you think he’s never heard me putting a smart-mouthed bitch back in her place before?’

‘But I’m not like the others,’ Melody cried. ‘You said I was special.’

‘You was till a minute ago,’ Tony said, shoving her legs apart.

‘No!’ Melody yelled, struggling with him as he climbed on top of her. ‘Pack it in, you twisted bastard! I don’t want you to touch me. I hate you! You make me
sick
!’

Grabbing her hair with one hand, Tony forced her head down into the mattress and gave her a couple of hard slaps. Bringing his face down then, until their noses were touching, he hissed through clenched teeth, ‘Make you sick, do I? Well, what do you think your moaning and whining does to me? You think you’re so fucking special, but you’re a demanding, talentless, money-grabbing, pig-thick
whore
, who’s only ever been good for one thing – and you ain’t even so good at
that
no more!’

Realising that she’d pushed him way too far, Melody stopped struggling and gazed tearfully up into his eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Tony,’ she murmured in a tiny remorseful voice. ‘I didn’t mean it. It just slipped out because I was mad at you about that film. It’s my fault.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ he snarled. ‘And so’s
this
, ’cos you should learn to zip it when you’re told to. You was nothing but a whore when I found you – a filthy little tramp who spread her legs for any cunt who had the price of a wrap of smack. I took you away from all that and turned you into something decent, and you repay me by telling me I make you
sick
?’

Crying for real now, Melody held on to Tony’s wrists to ease the pressure of his grip on her hair.

‘Please, Babe, I don’t want to fight. I swear I didn’t mean it. You’ve been good to me, and I don’t deserve you, but you know I love you, don’t you? You’re the only one I’ve
ever
loved. And I haven’t looked at anyone else in the whole time I’ve been with you, so that’s got to tell you something.’

‘You couldn’t be stupid enough to look at no one else while you’re with me.’

‘And I haven’t.’ Reaching out, Melody stroked his cheek. ‘You’re everything I’ve ever needed or wanted. Please, hon . . . let’s just forget this ever happened and get back to how we were before.’

Breathing hard, Tony peered dark and deep into her eyes. ‘Yeah, all right, I’ll forget it, but I’d best not hear any more shit about going home, ’cos it ain’t happening – not till
I
say so. And before you get any smart ideas about running away,’ he said then, his voice so low that she could barely hear him, ‘just remember that I bought and paid for every inch of this body.
And
this . . .’ He gripped her face and squeezed it hard. ‘All mine. And nothing that’s mine gets away from me till I’m good and ready for it to be gone. You got that?’

Wincing with pain, Melody nodded.

‘Good girl.’ Smiling nastily, Tony let go of her face and patted her cheek hard. Pushing himself up then, he got off her and zipped himself up.

Sitting up gingerly, Melody watched as he walked to the dressing table and straightened his clothes. Then, opening a tub of wet-look gel, he slicked his hair back.

‘Are you going out?’ she asked, sure that this would all be over if she could just get him to come to bed.

‘Yep.’ Splashing on aftershave now.

‘Do you have to?’

‘Don’t know how long I’ll be gone,’ Tony said, as if she hadn’t even spoken. ‘Don’t wait up.’

Lying down when she’d heard him and Eddie leave, Melody let the tears of self-pity slide down her cheeks. She’d always prided herself on succeeding in taming him where his other women had failed, but she’d been stupid to confront him like that – and really,
really
stupid to tell him that she was leaving, because that was a red rag to a bull with a control freak like Tony. If only she’d kept her mouth shut, she could have waited for the right opportunity and sneaked away. But he would never let her have her cards and passport back now that the battle lines had been drawn.

And there was nothing she could do about it, because nobody could help her. Not Eddie. Definitely not Fabian. And it was more than her life was worth to even
think
about involving the police. All she could do was carry on acting the loving, doting girlfriend until Tony trusted her again – however long that took. And she might as well forget getting her career back on track, because if it wasn’t already over it sure as hell would be by the time she escaped – if she ever did.

‘She all right?’ Eddie asked as he and Tony headed down to the car park where the taxi they had ordered was waiting.

‘She’s fucking lucky, is what she is,’ Tony grunted. ‘But I got more important things to think about right now. That call I got just before she kicked off? That was Ronson saying the Feds have just pulled Zorba in, and they got the Johnson brothers as prosecution witnesses.’

‘Might be a good time to make the money disappear,’ Eddie muttered, holding the door open for him. ‘While the heat’s on and no one’s looking too hard.’

‘Could be right,’ Tony agreed, pursing his lips thoughtfully as they climbed into the cab.

He was quiet on the ride to the casino, thinking everything over. He’d given Melody a hard time just now, but better that than have her run back to the States to a certain death. If she did but know it, he’d saved her life by dragging her over here when he had, because she’d be in a concrete box at the bottom of the Hudson by now – and, to teach Tony a lesson, Zorba would have taken great delight in fucking her front, back, and inside out, before personally pouring the liquid cement over her screaming head.

But she didn’t know that – and she wasn’t
going
to, because Tony didn’t trust her. He didn’t trust
any
body all the way, except maybe Eddie. But he definitely didn’t trust
her
, not while she was so mad at him for fucking up her career.

It couldn’t have come at a better time, as far as he was concerned, because, brilliant as
she
thought she was, she hadn’t reached the point of being unforgettable to the public yet, so it wouldn’t be too long before she was plain old Fiona Dawn again. And when she was, Tony would marry her, ensuring himself a permanent ticket to stay in England. Nobody would give a toss
who
she married by then, so there would be no publicity. No publicity – no way of Zorba reading about it and knowing where to look for him.

In the meantime, he had to find a way of investing the money he’d stolen while Zorba’s men were concentrating their efforts on getting to the Johnson brothers. And they
would
get to them, because in all the attempts the Feds had ever made there had never been a witness
yet
who’d made it into court to testify against Zorba. Tony had until then to get something sorted, but the way things were going it wasn’t looking too good.

Ripping the money off had been too good an opportunity to miss, and Tony had whacked it into his bank back home before anyone realised, withdrawing the bulk in a draft and the rest in cash a couple of days later. Then he’d grabbed Melody and Eddie and jumped on the first plane to England, thinking it would be a doddle to set himself up in business and make himself untraceable once he got here. But it was proving to be much harder than he’d anticipated because the British banks were tougher than Fort Knox to get into. With no paper proof as to how he’d come by such a large amount of money, they wouldn’t touch him.

Stuck with almost one hundred gees in US bills that needed changing over, he’d been going into the local bureau de change every few days, changing a couple of hundred at a time. And, by night, he’d been rotating around the few casinos that Manchester boasted, playing the tables like a butt-lucky novice. But you could only win so many times without raising eyebrows, so he was having to lose as well – which was time-consuming, and more than a little frustrating, because he could have wiped them all out in a single night if he’d been free to play his usual game.

But while that might be tedious, it was at least doable. But the million-dollar bank draft wasn’t. With no account to deposit it in, he was stuck with it. And, in his pocket, as it had been the whole six weeks he’d been here, it wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on.

But something would come up, Tony was sure, because he was nothing if not determined. Sooner or later, he would find a way around the mess. But until then he would have to carry on doing what he was doing – and keep a very close eye on Melody to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid and blow him sky-high.

Still awake when Tony came back a few hours later, Melody kept her eyes firmly closed and pretended to be sleeping when he came into the bedroom and stood over her. Wincing when he traced a finger over her bruised lip, she held her breath, praying that he didn’t try and wake her.

Leaving her be, Tony slipped his jacket off and hung it over the back of the bedside chair. Then he went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Peeping out through half-closed eyes to be sure he’d really gone, Melody eased the quilt back and tiptoed across to his jacket. Stare riveted on the door in case he came back and caught her, she slipped her hand into his pockets, hoping to find her passport and cards. They weren’t there, but there was a thick wad of cash in the inside pocket. Taking it out, her eyes widened when she saw that they were all twenties and fifties.