The Club (7 page)

Sorted, Fabian put everything away and headed back down to the club floor with a fresh swagger in his step. Pretending that he hadn’t seen the old biddies when they started waving their bingo wings at him, he headed on up to the VIP lounge to give his celebrity friends a dose of the King treatment.

Sitting at her table, surrounded by some of the brightest stars of British stage and screen, Melody should have been in her element. She wasn’t happy though – as they would have known if they’d bothered to look at her. But none of them
had
bothered, which was precisely why she was so pissed off. It wasn’t like she expected to be the centre of attention or anything, but there was no excuse for people being so rude as to totally ignore her.

She blamed Tony.

Ever since they’d landed two weeks ago, they couldn’t go anywhere without people falling all over themselves to talk to him. And once they did, they were hooked. He’d had so many invitations to parties since they’d got here, it wasn’t even funny. Everyone in Manchester seemed to think he was some kind of big shot and wanted to be his new best friend, and that really peeved Melody, because he was nothing but a big-talking hood who liked to splash the cash. Whereas
she
had two hit movies on her CV – and many more to come, if the critics who had been calling her
America’s Next Big Thing
were right.

Melody had been so pleased when the invitation for tonight’s party had arrived at the hotel in
her
name; thrilled that at
last
somebody had realised she was alive and kicking in Tony’s shadow. But the thrill hadn’t lasted long once they’d got here, because Tony only had to open that big mouth of his for the spotlight to turn firmly his way.

Brenda Thompson had been the first to invite herself to join them. She’d sailed up to their table, almost knocking Melody clean off her chair in her effort to squeeze herself in beside Tony.

‘Don’t mind if I join you, do you?’ she’d asked, in the breathy rasp that Melody had spent hours copying as a teenager. ‘But I simply
had
to meet the man behind that wonderfully evocative accent. New York – am I right?’

For a very brief moment, Melody had been thrilled to be in the presence of her long-time acting idol. But that had soon changed when she’d tried to join in the conversation and received the frosty raising of a pencil-thin eyebrow and a turned back in return. She was so offended that she nearly lamped the old cow!

And her mood hadn’t improved when two bitches from a top soap came along and proceeded to air-kiss their ‘good pal’ Brenda and suck up to Tony, while looking down their noses at Melody. Followed by some ugly old Lovie-Dahling actor who was more plastic than Cher, and his
personal assistant
, Clive. Like Clive wasn’t his boyfriend –
much
!

Chase Mann was the last straw. Despite slagging him off when they’d seen him at the hotel a couple of days back, Tony had greeted him like a long-lost mate tonight. Melody hadn’t minded at first, because she’d thought that Chase would at least talk to her, given that they were closer in age and attractiveness than the rest of these idiots. But he was so stoned that he’d barely even glanced at her. And the tarty little slappers who were sticking to him like gold-digging leeches wound her up by giggling and whispering behind their hands whenever they looked at her.

Shifting irritably in her chair now, Melody glared at Tony, but he was too busy telling jokes to notice. So she gazed down at the crowded dance floor instead, toying with the idea of grabbing a good-looking man and dragging him off to the toilets for a revenge fuck. Tony would notice
that
, she was sure.

Yeah, and then he’d kill me – stone, no messing dead!
These people might think he was a charming teddy bear of a man, but Melody knew
exactly
what he was capable of.

Sighing loudly, she snatched up one of the champagne bottles that were cluttering the table and poured herself a large glassful. She might as well get hammered if she had to sit here listening to Tony’s boring stories all night, and watching these shitty never-really-weres laughing their facelifts off. Boring, boring, boring!

Fabian arrived at that exact moment.

‘How’s everyone doing?’ he asked loudly, a big smile on his handsome face.

‘Having a blast,’ Tony grunted, giving him the cold eye. Glancing past him then, he frowned. ‘Where’s the boss lady?’

‘She’ll come and say hello as soon as she gets a chance,’ Fabian assured him. ‘Anything I can do in the meantime?’

‘Nah, don’t trouble yourself.’

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Fabian said, ‘Right, well, I’ll leave you to it, then.’
And I hope you choke on your free champagne, you dismissive cunt!

‘Just a minute,’ Brenda Thompson called out huskily as he started to back away. Picking up her gift pack, she dangled it off the tip of her finger. ‘Are you responsible for this?’

‘Er, yes,’ Fabian admitted. ‘Is there a problem?’

‘Oh, no, it’s delightful,’ she purred, reaching for his hand and pulling him towards her. ‘I just
adore
the lighter,’ she said then, gazing seductively into his eyes. ‘And the perfume smells divine. But I was wondering . . .’

Peering at Fabian when he dipped his head to listen to whatever Brenda was saying, Melody felt a sickening tug in her gut when she noticed the fine white traces under his nose. Coke! Oh, God, what she wouldn’t give to get her hands on some of
that
right now. But there was no chance of that with Tony keeping tabs on her. According to Mr Big Shot, ‘
Ladies don’t touch that shit
.’

‘What’s up with your mush?’ Tony asked out of the corner of his mouth, making her jump.

‘Nothing,’ Melody snapped, pushing her chair back with a dull scrape. ‘I’m just fed up of all this yakking, that’s all. I’m off for a dance.’

‘Not on your own, you’re not,’ he hissed, gripping her wrist.

‘Come with me, then,’ she hissed back, knowing full well that he wouldn’t.

Flashing her a warning glare, he said, ‘You know I don’t go for all that jiggy-jiggy shit. But I ain’t letting you loose with all them chancers down there, so forget it.’

‘What . . . so, now you don’t trust me?’

‘Sure I do. But you’ve had too much to drink, and I don’t trust
them
. Eddie’ll go with you.’

‘Oh, come
on
,’ Melody moaned, glancing at Eddie who had been leaning against the wall behind Tony all night. ‘He’ll scare everyone off the dance floor. Have you seen the way he’s looking at people – like he wants to skin them and
eat
them.’

‘Well, you ain’t going alone,’ Tony said flatly. ‘Take it or leave it.’

‘What about him?’ She nodded in Fabian’s direction.

‘You putting me on?’ Tony frowned darkly.

‘Oh, for God’s sake!’ Melody tutted softly. ‘He’s
gay
, you big idiot. Can’t you tell? Look at his
hair
. And the way he talks.’

Tony peered at Fabian for a moment and decided that he
did
look kind of effeminate.

‘Yeah, you could be right,’ he conceded. ‘Okay, you can go with him – but no funny business.’

‘What, like getting him to give me make-up tips?’ Melody sneered.

‘You know what I mean.’ Giving her a hooded look, Tony turned to Fabian and clicked his fingers. ‘Yo! A word.’

Extracting himself from Brenda’s clutches, Fabian said, ‘What can I do for you, Mr Allen?’

‘She wants to dance.’ Tony jerked his head at Melody. ‘But she’s loaded, so I want you to go with her and make sure she don’t get mauled by none of them cunts down there.’ Pausing, he sent a clear message with his eyes as he added, ‘Wouldn’t wanna spoil the night having to warn anyone off – you get me?’

‘Got you.’ Fabian agreed, feeling the coke buzz turn into a sharp stab of paranoia. ‘I’ll see she gets back in one piece.’

‘You do that.’ Grinning darkly, Tony reached up and patted his cheek none too gently.

‘Come on, then,’ Melody snapped, looking at Fabian as if she’d rather be swimming with sharks than about to dance with him.

Following her down the stairs, Fabian was conscious that his legs were shaking. He hadn’t liked Tony Allen from the off, but he’d sensed something dangerous about him just now, and he was sure the threat had been aimed at him. But whether or not it had been, there was no mistaking what it had meant: if any man – Fabian included – stepped out of line with his woman, Tony Allen would take it very, very personally.

Melody’s mood changed as soon as she and Fabian hit the dance floor. Smiling now, she thrust her breasts at him and yelled, ‘That was fun, wasn’t it?’

‘What was?’ Fabian yelled back, glancing around self-consciously.

‘Getting you alone without raising suspicion,’ Melody told him, raising her arms above her head and throwing her hair back sexily as she twirled around to a remix of Chic’s ‘Freak Out’. ‘Course, he only let you come with me because you’re gay.’

‘Ex
cuse
me?’ Fabian gasped, not sure he’d heard right.

‘Why else would he trust me with such a good-looking guy?’ she teased, bumping him with her shapely hip. ‘Unless he thinks you’d be more interested in
his
bits than mine. You’re not gay, though, are you, Babe?’

‘Absolutely not!’

‘Didn’t think so.’ Looking up at him through her lashes, Melody bit her lip seductively. ‘You really are gorgeous, though. Bet you’re hot as hell in the sack.’

Jerking back when she moved even closer and pressed herself against him, Fabian shot a nervous glance up to the VIP lounge, where, he was glad to see, Tony had his back to them.

‘Jeezus!’ he squawked when Melody suddenly slid her hands over his buttocks. ‘Are you trying to get me shot?’

‘Aw, now that’s not nice,’ she scolded when he pushed her away. ‘I thought Tony told you to look after me.’

‘I doubt he meant like
that
,’ Fabian protested. ‘Look, why don’t I go and get you a nice cup of coffee?’

‘Rather have something stronger.’ Melody gave him a knowing look.

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Sure you do.’ Raising a finger to her nose, she said, ‘You really should check yourself in the mirror when you’re finished.’

Realising what she was getting at, Fabian quickly wiped the coke traces away. Christ! If
she
’d noticed, who else had?
Jenna
? Oh, God! He’d lose his job. Then he’d lose his apartment, because he wouldn’t be able to afford it. And his car. And—

Interrupting his racing thoughts, Melody said, ‘Chill, Babe. I won’t tell if you don’t.’

Exhaling nervously, Fabian ran his hands through his hair and gave her a sheepish smile. ‘Pretty careless, huh? But thanks for the warning. I would have been in real shit if anyone else had seen it.’

‘No problem,’ Melody drawled, a glint of something steely sparking in her eyes. ‘All you have to do is give me some, and I’ll never mention it again.’

‘Yeah, right!’ Fabian grinned, sure that she was joking.

‘I’m serious,’ she retorted icily. ‘Give me some, or I’ll tell Tony you were trying it on with me. And you
know
he’d believe me.’

‘Ah, but he thinks I’m gay,’ Fabian reminded her, still grinning – still sure it was a joke.

‘Only because I
told
him you were so he’d let me dance with you,’ Melody countered smoothly. ‘But I could have made a mistake, couldn’t I? It’s easily done. So, how about it, Mr Manager? You going to make your new favourite customer happy.
Or
 . . .’

Gazing down into her lovely face, Fabian realised that it wasn’t a joke. The bitch was actually trying to blackmail him. And what the hell was he supposed to do about it? If he didn’t do what she wanted, she’d drop him in it with her bad-ass boyfriend. But if he did, and got caught, he’d lose his job.

‘Well?’ Melody said, still managing to dance – although Fabian didn’t know how, because
his
limbs felt like lead weights.

‘Look, I only had a bit,’ he lied, hoping that she would back off. ‘If I’d known you were into it, I’d have saved you some, but I didn’t.’

Narrowing her eyes, Melody pursed her lips petulantly. He was lying, she could tell, and she hated being lied to.

‘Aw, now, you wouldn’t be fibbing, would you?’ she drawled with a mean edge to her voice. ‘That’s not very nice when I’m trying to be friendly.’

As friendly as a rattlesnake!
Fabian thought incredulously, wondering how he’d managed to get himself caught up in this.

Softening her tone suddenly, Melody moved closer, whispering, ‘I’ll make it worth your while. Babe. I know you want me – I can see it in your eyes.’

Fabian glanced at the people surrounding them, terrified that someone might have heard. Under normal circumstances, if a gorgeous woman came on strong like this he’d go for it good style. But these were not normal circumstances, and he had too much to lose if anybody got hold of the wrong end of the stick. Tony Allen, for example.

‘Look, I
swear
I haven’t got any left,’ he whispered back, praying that she believed him. ‘If I did, I’d give it to you.’

‘Fine,’ Melody snapped, losing patience. ‘I’ll just have to go and tell Tony what you’ve been doing, then, won’t I? And he hates it when anybody upsets me.’ Blinking rapidly now, making her huge eyes swim with tears, she quivered her bottom lip and whimpered – loudly, ‘No . . . please don’t . . . I don’t want to.’

Fabian’s heart sank. If he hadn’t seen and heard it for himself, he’d never have believed that anybody could switch it on so fast – and so convincingly. Glancing around for witnesses to verify that he hadn’t touched Melody should he need to prove it, he was dismayed to see that none of the sweaty, drunken dancers were paying him the slightest attention. It would be his word against hers.

‘All right,’ he hissed when she started to back away with a terrified expression on her face. ‘Over here.’