The Club (34 page)

‘Hello, there,’ Leonard called to her now, jumping out when he’d parked and greeting her with a kiss on the cheek. ‘And how are we tonight?’

‘I’m fine,’ she lied, opening her car door. ‘You?’

‘Grand,’ he told her, his smile a mile wide. ‘Tony around?’

‘Inside,’ she said curtly, climbing into the car.

Rushing to the gate to close it after her, Leonard leaned down with his hands on his knees when she pulled up alongside and wound her window down.

‘Could you make sure it’s properly locked, please,’ Jenna said. ‘The delivery guys have left the beer crates outside again, and I don’t want anybody getting at them. In fact, you’ll probably see him before I do, so could you tell Maurice to bring them inside as soon as he gets here?’

‘My pleasure,’ Leonard said, waving as she reversed out.

Going in through the back door when he’d locked the gate, Leonard made his way through the kitchen into the clubroom just as Tony came out of the storeroom.

‘You took your time,’ Tony called, dusting his hands off. ‘I thought you said you’d be here this afternoon. I was waiting for you to give me a hand.’

‘Avril wanted me to take her into Didsbury to pick up some material, then she wanted me to wait for her to get ready so I could drop her at her women’s-forum thingummyjig,’ Leonard said, going to him.

‘And what the good lady wants, the good lady gets, eh?’ Tony shook his head scornfully. ‘Well, now you’re here, you can help me move these boxes. I don’t know where Eddie’s got to, but he’s getting a bit fucking good at disappearing when I want him nowadays.’

‘He’s out front having a smoke with a couple of the security chaps,’ Leonard told him, slipping his jacket off and looping it over the back of a chair. ‘I passed them on my way in.’

‘Figures,’ Tony grunted, propping the door open with a box and waving Leonard into the room. ‘Right, I want all this shit out. We’ll put it in the boardroom for now.’

‘I take it Jenna’s agreed, then?’ Leonard asked, rolling up his shirtsleeves.

‘Sure she has,’ Tony lied, passing one of the boxes to him. ‘Did you speak to your guys?’

‘Yes, I rang round before Avril dragged me out. They’re all thrilled with the idea.’

‘And you told them about the membership fee?’

‘Yes, and it’s quite acceptable. Lord Kimberly had a bit of a grumble, but he’ll stump up once he realises that he’ll have a place to hide away from Maureen and hang out with the chaps.’

‘I don’t imagine he’ll be too averse when he realises what he’s gonna get for his money,’ Tony said, grinning.

‘Jenna doesn’t know about any of that, does she?’ Leonard asked. ‘Only I don’t think she’d be too happy if—’

‘She don’t know nothing, and she ain’t gonna,’ Tony cut him off. ‘She might stick her nose round the door when we get up and running, but she won’t be interfering, don’t you worry about that.’

‘And you’re sure those girls won’t say anything?’

‘No one’s gonna say a word,’ Tony said, getting irritated now. ‘’Cos they know what’ll happen if they do. So quit freaking out.’

‘Okay,’ Leonard murmured, aware that he was getting on Tony’s nerves.

Working on in silence until all the boxes were stacked on the dance floor, Tony glanced at his watch.

‘Right, I gotta get back to the hotel. I need to get washed and changed, and check Melody’s all right.’

‘Oh, dear, is she still sick?’

‘Something like that,’ Tony grunted, shrugging into his jacket. ‘See you later.’

‘Bye for now.’ Watching as he walked out – the front way, obviously planning to pick Eddie up at the door – Leonard looked at the boxes and sighed. The club would be opening in a couple of hours, so they obviously couldn’t stay where they were. Big job for one man, but, oh, well . . . If it shifted another couple of pounds off his waist he wouldn’t complain.

Lifting the first box, he’d just reached the office door and was struggling to unlock it when Fabian came in.

‘What’s going on?’ he demanded, looking from Leonard to the rest of the boxes.

‘I’m taking them to the boardroom,’ Leonard told him. ‘Tony wants them out of the storeroom.’

‘Oh, does he now? And why’s that?’

‘Because we’re going to be converting it.’

‘Into?’

‘A, um, private members’ club,’ Leonard muttered, not sure whether he should be telling Fabian anything but unable to bring himself to tell him to mind his own business. He was the manager, after all.

Peering at Leonard narrow-eyed, Fabian put his hands on his hips. ‘Does Jenna know about this?’

‘Yes, and she’s quite happy about it,’ Leonard replied, wondering why the man was giving him such a hard time. He had never been as unfriendly when Leonard had been just a customer, but he’d been decidedly frosty lately and it was beginning to grate.

Giving a grunt of disapproval now, Fabian shook his head and unlocked the door. Propping it open, he said, ‘Make sure you stack them neatly, because I don’t want them getting in the way. And be quick about it, because we need them off the dance floor before the customers arrive.’

‘Well, maybe if you gave me a hand it’d be a lot quicker?’ Leonard suggested, but Fabian was heading up the stairs already as if he hadn’t heard him. Exhaling loudly, Leonard shook his head. There really was no excuse for such rudeness.

Going into his office, Fabian slammed the door, muttering ‘Fucking idiot!’ under his breath. He couldn’t stand Leonard. Couldn’t stand him hanging around all the time. But there was nothing he could do about it, because he was Tony’s
friend
. And Tony was
God
– everyone knew that!

Jenna had obviously lost her mind when she took them on, and Fabian was getting seriously pissed off with the lot of them. In fact, he’d have been tempted to walk out like Jacko, but he didn’t see why he should have to. This had been his club before any of them came along. He’d run it when James Lorde had been alive, and he’d carried on doing exactly that when Jenna took over – even if she hadn’t realised it. But it was getting to be a bit of a joke now that there were three chiefs stoking the fire.

Still, it couldn’t last for ever. Sooner or later, Jenna would come to her senses and realise that she didn’t want to be involved with a thug like Tony. All Fabian could do was cross his fingers and wait.

Melody was still in bed when Tony reached the hotel. Walking into the bedroom, he shook his head at her, a glint of disgust in his eyes.

Pulling a sulky face, she said, ‘You don’t have to look at me like that. I can’t help it if I don’t feel well.’

‘You’re a fucking hypochondriac,’ he snapped. ‘There’s nothing wrong with you. You just need to get your ass up out of that bed and quit moaning.’

‘I didn’t expect you to understand,’ she muttered, pulling the quilt up higher around her chin.

Sucking his teeth, Tony went to the wardrobe and took out a suit. Laying it over the back of the chair, he opened the drawer and took out some clean underwear, then went into the bathroom, slamming the door on her miserable face. He didn’t know what the hell was wrong with her, but she was doing his head in with all this moping about.

Back in the bedroom, Melody rolled over in the bed as another bout of shivering kicked in. Chase had gone off on his tour of the States a day and a half ago – and she had been counting every single second of every hour in slow motion since, because he had forgotten to leave his stash with her like he’d promised. Or, more likely, he’d accidentally-on-purpose taken it with him – the selfish bastard. He knew that she didn’t know anyone else to get it off, and now he was going to be away for months, so not only did she have to put up with Tony again with no relief, she had to face going cold turkey as well. And it was already killing her, so God only knew how she was going to get through the worst of it without Tony finding out.

Chase was such a bastard for slipping that smack into the coke that time.

Thought you’d like it,
he’d said.
Thought you’d get off on the different textures of the stone.

Yeah, right! He hadn’t done it for
her
, he’d done it because
he
was a junkie, and like all junkies he’d wanted her to be a junkie with him. Such generous people, these smack-heads, always looking for someone to share the experience with.

Coming back from the bathroom just then, Tony grabbed Melody’s dressing gown and threw it at her, saying, ‘Get up. I’ve had enough of this shit. You’re coming to the club.’

‘Aw, no, Tone,’ she moaned. ‘I can’t.’

‘Get the fuck up,’ he growled, glaring at her.

Peering up at him over the edge of the quilt, Melody knew she had two choices: get up – or stay put and get battered, and then be
made
to get up.

‘Okay,’ she muttered, an expression of pure martyrdom on her face as she eased the quilt back and sat up. ‘But I’m only doing this for you, so don’t expect me to put on a show when we get there.’

‘I expect you to get your face on, get dressed up, and get your ass on the dance floor and make like you’re having fucking fun, is what I expect,’ Tony said, spraying himself with deodorant and reaching for his shirt. ‘I own the place now, and you ain’t even shown your face there in weeks. Always too busy in the fucking gym, or getting your freaking nails and hair done. Well, enough’s enough, ’cos the gym obviously ain’t doing you no good, and your hair looks like shit.’

‘I take it you approve of my nails, then?’ Melody sniped under her breath as she stomped into the bathroom.

Sticking two fingers up at the door as he ranted on behind her, she reached in to turn the shower on. Stepping beneath the hot spray, she winced as it poured over her head and face. It felt like thousands of tiny pins digging into her flesh, and her stomach was tied in a sickening knot of tension. But she couldn’t refuse to go to the club again, because Tony would get really mad. Still, it might not be so bad, as long as she didn’t have to sit with Tony and his sycophantic fan club. And she hadn’t seen Fabian in a while, so that would be nice.

Fabian! Of
course
! Why hadn’t she thought of that before, instead of lying in bed thinking that the world was falling down around her. Fabian could get her something to take the edge off. He wouldn’t want to see her suffer like this.

Filled with anticipation now, Melody hurried her shower and rushed back into the bedroom to get ready.

Tony took off as soon as they got to the club. He no longer entertained his star friends at his table now that he was the owner, he spread himself about instead, visiting them at
their
tables, making his presence felt in every corner.

Alone at her table, Melody was so busy looking around for Fabian that she didn’t notice Leonard approaching. She jumped when he stood right in front of her.

‘Shit! You scared the fucking life out of me.’

‘Sorry.’ Frowning, because he wasn’t used to hearing women swear like that, Leonard leaned down to kiss her on the cheek – a habit he’d picked up from Tony, but one which Melody, for one, didn’t appreciate, because, while Leonard had undoubtedly lost weight, gained in confidence and regained a little of the once-famous sparkle in his eyes, his weight loss wasn’t enough yet to have rectified the excessive sweating. ‘Are you feeling any better?’ he asked now. ‘Tony told me you’d been sick. Nothing too bad, I hope?’

‘No, I’m fine,’ Melody murmured, glancing pointedly past him, wishing he’d get lost.

‘Shame I didn’t know you were coming,’ Leonard went on, not taking the hint. ‘Avril would have loved to have seen you, I’m sure. She was only saying the other day that we should arrange another dinner party. And, you never know, my children might actually be free this time.’

‘That would be nice,’ Melody lied, getting to her feet. ‘Sorry, Leonard, you’ll have to excuse me. I’m starting to feel a bit sick again.’

‘Oh, dear. Well, off you go.’ Stepping back to let her pass, Leonard called, ‘Shall I tell Tony you’re still not feeling well?’

‘No, leave him,’ Melody called back over her shoulder. ‘I’ll be fine in a minute.’

Seeing Tony chatting with Robbie Williams at the bar, Melody made a dash for the stairs. He’d liked Robbie ever since he’d done the Rat Pack tribute album, so he would spend hours with him, given half a chance. And Eddie would be busy doing what he did best – finding people to intimidate in his new role of security chief. Which left Melody plenty of time to find Fabian and get sorted out.

Dashing around the lower floor looking for him now, she spotted him at the foot of the stairs to the DJ’s booth and crept up on him.

‘Hello, stranger . . . remember me?’

Turning round, Fabian raised an eyebrow when he saw her. Melody hadn’t been in much since Tony had bought into the club, and he was a little shocked by how much weight she’d lost. Looking her over surreptitiously, he saw that her voluptuous body was in danger of becoming thin – and that wasn’t good, because she’d been perfect as she was. And her face was beginning to suffer, too, he noticed: her cheeks were gaunt, her eyes dull.

‘How are you?’ he asked, half expecting her to say that she’d been ill.

‘I’m all right,’ she said, smiling up at him flirtatiously. ‘Have you missed me?’

Folding his arms, determined to keep this impersonal, Fabian said, ‘I’ve been too busy. Your boyfriend likes to keep us on our toes.’

‘Don’t talk to me about him,’ Melody grunted. ‘I get enough of him at the hotel.’

‘Still there, are you? I’d have thought you’d have found yourselves somewhere more permanent now that you’ve decided to stay.’

‘Hey, Tony might have decided, but I haven’t.’

‘Oh, right.’ Fabian shuffled his feet uncomfortably. ‘So, what have you been doing with yourself?’

Smiling secretively, Melody said, ‘You don’t want to know.’

Guessing that she must have found another supplier, Fabian said, ‘Ah, well. I’m sure you’ve been having fun.’ Glancing at his watch then, he said, ‘Right, well, lovely to see you, but I’d better get moving before your boyfriend complains that I’m not pulling my weight.’