by Paige Toon
‘We should go on a proper date,’ I say suddenly. ‘Without . . .’ I glance down at Barney.
‘That’d be nice,’ he replies. ‘How long is Bess sticking around?’
‘Two weeks, but it might be longer. She’s got nothing to rush back to the UK for.’ I tell him about her job. ‘She won’t mind me going out one night, though. In fact, she’d probably offer to babysit.’
‘Sorry,’ he says with a frown. ‘I know we were changing the subject and everything, but doesn’t Johnny babysit?’
I smile wryly. ‘Not really. He did the other night, but Dana turned up and I don’t want her anywhere near Barney.’ My tone sounds venomous and I can’t help it.
Joseph raises his eyebrows. ‘Not keen, hey?’
‘Nope.’ I look down at the ground.
Suddenly Bess pushes through the crowd. She looks anxious.
‘What’s wrong?’ I sit up in my seat.
She glances at Joseph and obviously feels awkward.
‘Refill?’ he asks me tactfully.
I hand him my glass. ‘Yes, please.’
He gives Bess a concerned look before walking away.
‘What is it?’
‘I just snogged Eddie!’ she bleats.
‘Really?’ My face breaks into the hugest grin. ‘That’s good, isn’t it?’
‘No, no, no, it’s terrible,’ she says mournfully. ‘I was flirting with him, you know, as you do, because he’s quite hot, and then I . . . I forced him into it, Meg! It was awful. He didn’t want to snog me! I made him do it!’
I scoff. ‘You can’t make someone snog you, Bess.’
‘Yes, I can. I just bloody did!’ she erupts before looking apologetically at Barney. ‘Can we leave?’ she pleads. ‘Well, no, you can stay, but can I leave? I’ll take Barney home; he looks exhausted.’
‘Don’t leave,’ I try to convince her, but she’s having none of it, and while I definitely want her to stay, I’ll have to leave within an hour myself, before Barney hits meltdown. The thought of being here with Joseph . . .
‘Are you sure?’ I ask her.
‘Yes, please.’ She nods her head fervently.
‘Okay. I’ll call Davey.’
Joseph returns before Bess and Barney leave. ‘I got you one, too,’ he tells her, handing over a glass of orange punch.
‘Thanks, but I’m off,’ she replies.
‘You’re leaving?’ he asks with surprise.
‘Going to take Barney home.’
He glances at me.
‘I’m staying,’ I tell him with a small shrug. ‘I’ll walk Bess out,’ I add. ‘Meet you at the bar.’
‘Don’t worry about Eddie,’ I tell Bess at the kerbside. ‘It’s just a drunken snog; there’s no harm in it.’
‘If you see him, tell him I apologise.’
‘I’ll tell him no such thing,’ I reply hotly. ‘Why should you apologise for kissing someone? He’s a lucky git, if you ask me.’
She smiles a small smile. ‘See you in the morning.’ She gives me a sly grin. ‘Or maybe not,’ she whispers.
My face heats up.
‘Seriously,’ she adds. ‘Don’t rush home. Get back on—’
‘Do not mention the hoofed animal again,’ I interrupt.
‘Whatever.’ She laughs and climbs into the limo. Barney is already fast asleep in his car seat.
‘Call me if you need me.’ I nod at Barney. ‘I’ll come straight home.’
‘We’ll be fine,’ she assures me. ‘Have fun!’
That’s exactly my intention . . .
Chapter 39
I feel nervy as I walk back through the crowded mansion in search of the Karate Kid. I find him at the bar, chatting to a beautiful blonde princess, and my heart sinks, but he turns and smiles and introduces us.
‘Meg, this is Penny. She shares the same agent as me,’ he explains.
‘Hi,’ I say. ‘Are you an actress?’
‘And a waitress,’ she replies with a grin. ‘Gotta make a living somehow, right?’ She smiles at Joseph and gives him a meaningful look. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’
‘Nice to meet you,’ I say to her departing back. I turn back to Joseph and take a sip of my drink. I have no idea what’s in this tasty orange punch, but it’s making me feel warm and tipsy, so it’s doing something right.
I lean up against the bar and look at him, in his white cotton outfit with a bandanna tied around his forehead. I can’t help but smile. ‘You know, you do look remarkably like Ralph . . . what’s his name? Macho or something.’
‘Macchio,’ he replies with a grin. ‘I hope my hair is better than his.’
‘Oh, it is,’ I assure him. ‘And your muscles are an improvement, too.’ Unable to help myself, and certainly aided by that cheeky little punch, I reach over and squeeze one of his biceps. He flexes it for a joke before laughing.
‘Whoa,’ I say, removing my hand and not for the first time wondering what his chest looks like. I have a mad urge to slip my hands inside his costume. Down, girl. I take a large gulp of my drink and force myself to look away from his dark eyes, which still manage to twinkle even though they’re as black as night.
White light on the other side of the room rouses my attention and I look around to see Dana and Johnny standing there. Johnny is chatting animatedly to a guy I recognise from somewhere or other and Dana has just thrown her head back and laughed, while clutching onto the arm of another man. She buries her face in his shoulder, still laughing. That’s a bit flirty, I think to myself. I look at Johnny to see if he’s reacting. He’s not. He must be used to it. Maybe that’s why he likes her: she’s not clingy. That’s one way of putting it, in any case.
I glance back at Joseph. He’s watching me intently.
Glow White starts to move so I turn to see Dana as she’s led, laughing, out of the room. More people begin to follow.
‘What’s going on?’ I ask Joseph.
‘I don’t know.’
‘Fancy-dress time!’ someone shouts behind us.
‘The competition,’ I say to Joseph.
‘Shall we go and see?’ he asks.
‘Sure.’
He leads the way, and because I’m walking so closely behind Joseph, I don’t see the person who grabs my hand and turns me round until I’m face to face with him.
‘Where’s Barney?’ Johnny demands to know.
I turn to call after Joseph, but he’s already left the room.
‘He’ll wait for you outside,’ Johnny tells me firmly. ‘Where’s Barney?’
‘Bess took him home,’ I reply, removing my hand from his grip. He hooks his thumbs through his belt loops and regards me unhappily.
‘How can you have a problem with that?’ I ask him with annoyance.
He shrugs and turns his back on me. I hurry after Joseph and for a split second think that I see bitchy Charlie out of the corner of my eye, but when I turn around she’s nowhere to be seen. Joseph is craning his head to look back into the room.
‘Sorry,’ I tell him. ‘Let’s go.’
He gives me an inquisitive look, but says nothing.
By the time Dana is announced as the winner of the fancy-dress competition, Johnny has joined her in the garden. She squeals with irrational delight and leaps off the platform into his arms. Even he looks taken aback by her actions, but somehow manages to keep his cool. She gives him a passionate kiss on his lips as the crowd whoops and cheers. I feel a warm hand take mine and turn to look into Joseph’s dark eyes.
‘Let’s go for a walk,’ he suggests, squeezing my hand briefly before letting it go.
I nod and follow him, my hand now feeling a chill despite the outdoor heating.
‘I wonder how many staff it’s taken to keep those pumpkin candles burning all night,’ he wonders aloud.
‘I was thinking the exact same thing when we walked in!’ I exclaim.
‘Great minds,’ he says.
‘Can you really do kung fu?’ I ask with a smile.
&nb
sp; ‘Yeah.’
‘I can’t believe I missed your part in the movie.’
He chuckles. ‘You didn’t miss much.’
‘How did you get into martial arts?’
He glances at me and then looks away again. ‘I wanted to know how to fight.’
‘Why?’ I ask with a frown.
He shrugs. ‘Something to do.’
I know that’s not the real reason, but he’s not opening up to me. And why should he? I’m not opening up to him, either. I’ve barely told him anything about Johnny, and I sure as hell am not going to be mentioning Christian anytime soon. He’d run a mile if he knew what sort of a person I really was – the lies I’m capable of. I suddenly feel deflated. Almost as though sensing my mood, he turns to face me. We’re alone. We’ve left the party-goers back at the mansion and we’ve wandered along this winding path for some time. There’s no one else around – even the pumpkin lanterns have dried up.
I look down at his lips and then back to his eyes. Neither of us says anything for a very long time, and then he’s kissing me.
I feel drunk, giddy. His hands are on my waist. I do what I’ve wanted to do for what seems like forever and slide my hands inside his uniform. Oh my God, he feels so hot and warm and so deliciously toned. I want him. I really, really want him. Everything else has flown far from my mind.
‘Come back to mine,’ he murmurs into my mouth.
‘Yes,’ I gasp.
He wrenches my hand away from his chest and leads me along behind him as we hurry back towards the house, his phone to his ear as he arranges for his friend’s car to be waiting.
We reach the mansion and hurry through the rooms. Somewhere along the way I become vaguely aware of Dana’s glow, but I don’t look back to see if she’s accompanied by Johnny. I don’t want to see his face. I don’t want anyone to ruin this moment.
Out at the front, a vaguely bored paparazzo takes a couple of lazy snaps, but no one’s interested in us when there are so many A-listers still inside. Joseph grips my hand hard and my heart is pounding as much from rushing through the house as from the adrenalin of kissing him. His car pulls up and he yanks open the door and climbs in after me. The heat of his hand in mine is scorching, but apart from that he doesn’t kiss me or touch me on the journey home to God knows where. I couldn’t concentrate on geography right now if my life depended on it. All I can think about is him.
Finally, we’re there.
‘It’s nothing fancy,’ Joseph warns as he unlocks the door.
‘I won’t be looking at the furniture,’ I reply and then he’s kissing me again and I can barely take in my surroundings as we trip and stumble our way to his bedroom.
‘I can’t get this bloody knot undone!’ I gasp, grappling with his black belt.
‘Fuck that,’ he says. ‘Where’s the zip?’
‘Here. Mind my tail!’ I cry. ‘I don’t want to pay for the repairs.’
He just laughs and unzips me and the look in his eyes as he grins down at me makes my heart flip. I want to kiss him again. So I do.
I slide his top off and butterflies swarm in my stomach when I see what I’ve been dying to see ever since I first laid eyes on him at the premiere party. He’s beautiful, so beautiful. It’s not right that he’s not a big-screen star already so other woman can share in his glory.
Oh, God, and he’s such a great kisser. I go to take my cat ears off.
‘Leave them on,’ he says with a grin as he pulls me onto the bed. ‘Sex kitten.’
I laugh and lie down on top of him. A split second later I’m underneath him and his lips are on my neck. His hands cup my breasts and then I’m pulling him into me, hot and urgent and utterly desperate to be back on the . . .
Johnny.
Christian.
GO. AWAY.
And then it’s just Joseph, Joseph, Joseph . . .
‘That was mind-blowing,’ I say with a small laugh afterwards. My head is still tingling, and as for the rest of me . . .
‘Mmm,’ he murmurs, his eyes closed.
I lie there for a while in his warm arms, and I desperately want to stay there, but reality keeps tugging away at me. Finally I shift in his arms and sit up.
‘I should go.’
‘Really?’ His voice is tinged with disappointment.
‘Barney,’ I explain. ‘I don’t want him to wake up without me.’
He nods and sits up himself. I look around for my cat costume.
‘I’m going to feel like a right tit going home in this,’ I say.
He laughs. ‘Do you want one of my shirts?’
‘No, you’re alright. At least it’s still dark.’
I smile at him and he raises one eyebrow at me sexily before pulling me back down again. We kiss, long and languidly.
‘Don’t, you’re making me feel drunk again,’ I say.
‘Without the hangover,’ he replies.
‘That’s true.’
More kissing. I pull away and stare down at him.
‘Did you use to have your eyebrow pierced?’ I ask. I can just make out two tiny holes there.
‘Yeah,’ he replies. ‘A long, long time ago.’
‘Can’t have been that long,’ I reply.
‘Feels like forever to me.’
‘Back when you had a West Country accent and wanted to know how to fight,’ I say with a smile, but his has faltered somehow.
He kisses me perfunctorily on the nose and goes to sit up again. Something has changed in him, but I don’t know what.
‘I’ll call you a cab.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll ring Davey.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes. You’d better tell me your address, though. I wasn’t exactly paying attention in the car.’
He makes me tea while I wait for Davey. He lives in an apartment block with two other wannabe actors. It’s a bit of a tip.
‘Where are your flatmates?’ I ask him.
‘Out and about. Networking, probably,’ he replies.
‘You don’t seem to do much of that.’ I try to ignore his naked torso – he’s wearing black PJ bottoms and nothing else.
‘No.’ He grins. ‘Not as much as my agent would like me to. It’s not really my thing.’
‘Yet here you are, wanting to be an actor.’
‘I’m not that desperate.’
I smile and stare at him for a long moment.
‘You’re going to be huge one day.’
He raises one eyebrow at me. ‘Is that right, Mystic Meg?’
I crack up laughing. ‘Oh my God, do you remember her from the National Lottery?’
‘Yeah, I do. Did she ever predict the winner correctly?’
‘I have no idea.’
My phone buzzes. Davey is here.
‘Gotta go,’ I say and stand up. ‘Thanks for having me.’
‘It was my absolute pleasure,’ he replies with a cheeky twinkle in his eye. ‘Thanks for having me.’
I laugh. ‘Oh, that was a pleasure also.’ I place my hands on his beautiful chest one more time, just for luck and all that.
He kisses me softly on the lips.
‘You can go back to bed now,’ I say.
‘I’ll call you,’ he replies, but I recognise something in his eyes – a sadness. As I walk out through the door I wonder who it was that hurt him.
Soon my thoughts gravitate towards Johnny and Christian, and my earlier euphoria dissolves into dust.
Chapter 40
‘What the—’ I murmur out loud. ‘What’s going on?’ I ask Davey with alarm.
We’ve pulled through the gates to Johnny’s house and now I see that the whole driveway is lined with cars.
‘I think the boss is having a house party,’ he replies chirpily. ‘I thought you knew?’
The hell I did. I can hear the music pounding before I even climb out of the limo. It’s almost one o’clock in the morning. I hope Barney is alright.
‘Thanks, Davey.’
�
��Will you be needing me again tonight?’ he asks.
‘No, no. Sorry I called you out again,’ I say apologetically. I should have rung for an ordinary taxi – I don’t know what I was thinking.
‘Of course, it’s no problem if you do,’ he says graciously.
‘I’m pretty sure we’ll be in for the night, now,’ I tell him unhappily, looking at the house. It’s practically vibrating with the noise. I must check on Barney.
I hurry to the front door and get there seconds before a group of Goths. No, hang on, they’re vampires. I recognise a couple of them from Sylvester Middleman’s Halloween party. What are they doing here? I hurry through the door and see Dana almost immediately, standing a few feet away with a couple of guys. One of them turns around and laughs while pointing at someone behind me.
‘Look what the cat dragged in!’ he shouts gleefully. I turn to see who he’s pointing at.
‘Fuck off, Derek,’ a vampire guy jokes, giving him the finger.
‘That’s fucking HILARIOUS!’ Dana screams, hooting loudly. ‘Look what the cat dragged in!’ she repeats the joke, pointing at me and almost crying with laughter. Is she on something? It wasn’t that funny.
‘You’ve lost your ears,’ she says suddenly, looking at me with odd surprise. She wobbles slightly and one of her companions holds her up. I feel sick as I notice her pupils are dilated.
‘Where’s Johnny?’ I demand to know.
‘WHEEERRRREEEE’S JOHNNY?’ Derek shouts to much hilarity. They’re all off their faces. I turn and look around, wildly scanning the room for him. I see with disgust that a blond-haired knight in shining armour is snorting a line of coke off the coffee table, but Johnny is nowhere to be seen.
Barney.
I run up the stairs, bumping into you know who at the top.
‘JOHNNY!’ I shout.
‘Nutmeg!’ he cries with unbridled delight, trying to put his arms around me. I push him away.
‘Where’s Barney?’