‘It’s going to be all right, Parker,’ said Jenna. ‘Everything is finally going to be all right.’
She ended the call and turned to Greg.
‘I need a few moments to get rid of this wobble in my hands,’ she said. ‘Do you think you could drive us to the hospital? Fuck the insurance. I’m good for it.’
Chapter Fifteen
THE WINDOWS WERE blank and boarded and every room was blackened and stinking – except the attic rooms, which had escaped the ravages of the fire and remained intact.
It was to these attic rooms that Jenna, in silver satin evening wear, led a group of journalists and art critics, three weeks after the blaze. They stepped inside the door and marvelled at the stunning murals covering the space from floor to ceiling, still as vibrant as ever, having miraculously escaped any trace of smoke damage.
‘So you see,’ said Jenna. ‘Jason’s portfolio might have been destroyed by the fire – but this lives on. And so does his talent. I am confident that he will build up another body of work, better than the first, and you will all be invited to the private view when it’s ready to show.’
The critics and experts busied themselves photographing the walls while Jenna stood back in the doorway, watching them and smiling.
‘If you don’t mind, I’d better go back to the party,’ she said. ‘Do be careful on the way down. I shouldn’t really have let you up here, but the back stairs are still perfectly safe. As long as you don’t mind losing the banister halfway down.’
She took her own advice, walking slowly down the back stairs in her unsuitable silver heels. At the foot of the stairs, she was greeted by Linda, who raised a bottle of … oh, it looked like pink lemonade … and said, ‘Cheers, kid. Don’t worry. It’s lemonade.’
Jenna admired Linda’s new hairstyle and the new dress they’d shopped for together at John Lewis. She looked years younger after her beauty counter makeover, and her eyes were clear and focused. If Jenna hadn’t recognised the familiar voice, she might have wondered if this was even the same woman.
‘Lemonade?’ said Jenna, smiling.
‘Yeah. So I’m not going to get plastered and make a show of our Jase. Those days are over.’
‘Are you saying you’re on the wagon?’
‘Three weeks and counting,’ said Linda proudly. ‘Ever since I saw our Jase in that hospital bed. It made me think, you see. I missed so much of his life through being out of it …’ Her lip wobbled and she looked away to hide the mist of tears, but Jenna had seen it and she put a hand on Linda’s. ‘The booze … it stole his mum away from him. I’ll never be able to give him his childhood back, but I can be here for him now, and watch him make a go of his life.’
Now it was Jenna’s turn to be misty-eyed.
‘Oh, Linda, that’s so …’ She swallowed. ‘Lovely. Really lovely. And you know, he will appreciate it. No matter what’s happened in the past, he loves you, and I know you love him.’
The two women embraced, choking back their emotions.
‘Watch the dress,’ said Linda with a self-conscious laugh, stepping back. ‘This cost about ten times more than owt I’ve ever had before.’
A woman in a pair of headphones carrying a clipboard waved at Jenna from the front door.
‘Are you ready for the speech yet?’ she called. ‘Everything’s set up out there.’
Jenna nodded briefly and followed the woman out into glorious late September sunshine, beneath which a good-natured crowd milled, looking at stalls and gravitating slowly towards a stage area festooned with bunting and piled with recording equipment.
A group of little majorettes were twirling batons to booming music beneath a banner reading: SEVENTY-EIGHTH BLEDBURN MINERS’ GALA.
Jenna’s eyes alighted naturally on Jason – she could pick him out from a crowd of millions – who stood watching near the front, pint in hand, exchanging the odd word with Parker at his side.
He certainly didn’t look like a man who’d been recently treated in hospital for the effects of severe smoke inhalation. He didn’t even look like the half-feral creature she’d found asleep in the attic a few months ago.
He looked tall, straight, clean, relaxed, confident and utterly, mesmerisingly desirable. Whilst she had, with hindsight, possibly overdressed for a fun community event, Jason had got the balance right. In smart jeans and a well-cut leather jacket over an open-necked white shirt, he looked ready to both party and make historic speeches.
Jenna cut through the crowd, smiling and nodding as people tried to make contact, on her way towards him, touching him on the shoulder when she was beside him.
‘Yeah? Oh, it’s you, babe. Where were you?’
‘Showing off your genius to the leading lights of the art world,’ she replied, linking her arm with his. ‘They want us to do the speech next.’
‘What do you mean, “us”?’ he said, giving her a vivid, dark look. ‘I thought you were doing it.’
‘I was asked to do it,’ she corrected him. ‘But I want you to speak too. It’s your house, morally speaking. Harville never really had the right to sell it to me.’
‘Yeah, but … I don’t do speeches! I’ve never done one before.’
‘You’ll be perfect. Honestly, you’re the man for the job. And I want Deano and Kayley up there with us too. Where are they? Have you seen them?’
Jason shrugged, shaking his head.
‘Not since the end of the talent contest.’
‘That was an hour ago. Where is he?’
‘Where is she?’ said Jason.
They stared at each other.
‘Do you think they’re …?’
‘You’re such a dick,’ said Kayley with a laugh, putting down her Bacardi Breezer on one of the collapsible tables. ‘Insisting on a VIP marquee, for God’s sake. I thought you were supposed to be a man of the people.’
‘I am,’ said Deano with mock affront. ‘I’m a Bledburn lad through and through. I just thought I might need a bit of privacy.’
His voice dropped to an intimate level on the final word, and Kayley gave him a hard look that didn’t quite disguise her burgeoning blush.
‘Oh yeah?’ she said softly. ‘What for?’
‘What do you think?’ he replied in the same caressing tone. ‘To get you alone.’
Kayley’s eyes met his. Yes, the look he gave her was cocky at first glance. It seemed to say ‘I know you want me’. But when she looked deeper, she saw something else behind it. Something that said, ‘I hope you want me’.
‘Why … would you want to do that?’ she said, her tone still light and teasing, but her mouth suddenly dry. What if he doesn’t give me the answer I want? What if he doesn’t mean it? What if he thinks I’m just some slut who’s up for it with anyone? After seeing those photos …
The thought ruined the moment for her.
‘Get me alone?’ she said, hearing how harsh her voice sounded, and cringing. ‘I suppose those photos of Harville’s gave you ideas about me.’
His face fell. He looked utterly crestfallen.
‘God, Kayley, no. No, it’s nothing to do with … don’t be like that. Look at me. Come here.’
He held out his hands. She hesitated for a moment, then moved towards him. You can’t help yourself, she scolded herself, but it was true. She couldn’t.
He made a swift move, enclosing her hands in his. She was powerless to resist.
‘We’ve both got pasts,’ he said softly. ‘Mine doesn’t exactly cover me in glory either, believe me. But because I am who I am, I’ve been allowed to get away with it. But nobody forced me or tricked me into any of the bad things I did. I blame me for everything I’ve done, but I blame Harville for what you did. If I judged you for those photographs, I’d be the worst kind of hypocrite.’
Kayley took a breath then smiled crookedly.
‘So, what you’re saying is, I’m a bad penny but you’re a worse one? That’s romantic.’
He shook his head, half-grinning, and looked d
own before facing her directly again.
‘No, Kayley. What I’m saying is, I don’t think I deserve you. But if you want me …’
She hesitated, trying to take in what he was saying.
‘Do you mean … a shag? No strings? Or …’
‘Kayley, Kayley, do you really think that’s what I mean?’
‘I don’t know. I mean … you’re Deano Diamond.’
‘Yeah, and sometimes I wish I wasn’t. Sometimes, like when I’m with you, I just want to be any old guy. No, not just any old guy. Your guy.’
‘You’re serious?’
‘I’m serious about you. It’s so long since I really felt something and you’ve woken me up to myself. I’ve been fawned over and told I’m amazing for nearly twenty years. You’re the first person – OK, apart from Jenna – who’s been straight with me since I was a kid. I don’t care about snorting coke off models’ tits any more. I want you, that’s all. Just you.’
Kayley laughed, a sudden, shocked kind of laugh.
‘I … don’t know what to say.’
‘Say yes. And tell me you want this. Because I’ll understand if you don’t. I mean, I’ll be gutted, but I’ll understand. You’ve seen what this life is like – the madness and the spotlight on you twenty-four seven – with Jenna. If you want to walk away and live a normal life … yeah.’ He swallowed. ‘Shit.’
Kayley laughed again, but there were tears in her eyes this time.
‘Normal?’ she said. ‘What’s normal?’
‘So …?’ His eyes were bright too, but not with tears.
‘Just stop chuntering and kiss me, you daft sod,’ she said.
She had been wondering for the last three weeks what it would feel like to kiss Deano Diamond, and now it was happening, she wasn’t sure she could explain it.
But it was too difficult to separate out the different elements: the warmth, the eagerness, the firmness, the passion, what he was doing with his hands … The only word that came into her head was nice, and after that, gorgeous, and then, Ohhh.
A sharp pang of disappointment interrupted the divine flow when Deano’s lips left hers for a second.
‘There’s, er, a kind of little secret room over there behind those screens,’ he whispered. ‘I’ve told everyone it’s totally off limits. Just in case anyone comes in …’
‘Oh, you dirty bugger,’ whispered Kayley, a wide grin stretching to the edges of her face. ‘You’ve got this all planned, haven’t you?’
‘Well, let’s say I had high hopes …’
She gave his bottom, in its skin-tight jeans, a loud smack.
‘I bet you did. Now get in there.’
Giggling, the pair ran hand in hand over to the screened-off private corner, which contained a low kind of divan covered in cushions and not much else.
‘My secret little crash pad,’ murmured Deano, pulling Kayley down into the soft nest.
She fell so abruptly that her skirt rode up to mid-thigh and there was a worrying pull on her shoulder strap, as if a couple of stitches had gone. But she couldn’t have cared less.
She reached up to cup Deano’s face, pulling it back down to hers for more ravenous kisses. Cushions slipped and slid beneath them as they rolled joyously to and fro, their bodies pressing together with heated urgency.
Deano explored every inch of Kayley’s clothed body with his hands, then ventured into hidden territory, slipping fingertips inside her cleavage and under her skirt. She encouraged him, opening up to him, seeking his corresponding parts herself.
She slid a hand inside his shirt, enjoying the dual sensations of whispering silk and warm skin with the odd wiry hair. And oh, a nipple. He had such cute nipples. She opened the shirt wide and kissed them both.
He groaned, pulling her on top of him, getting a hold of her bottom under her skirt.
‘Watch those knickers – they cost me,’ she warned, before straddling him and smiling rapturously down at his rumpled, reddening face. He looked desperate to get into her, and she liked that look, wanted to drink it in until he was on the edge of frenzy.
‘What’s this?’ she whispered, grinding herself gently over the hard bulge in his unforgiving jeans. ‘Got something for me, have you?’
‘Ohh, you bet, baby. Just you wait.’
‘You’re the one that’s having to wait, duck,’ she said. ‘I could sit here like this for hours, just giving it a little bit of bump and grind every now and then.’
He groaned and reached up to slide her shoulder straps down, revealing her round breasts in their lacy bra cups.
‘Do you like them?’ she asked, glancing down at the mounds. ‘This push-up bra I bought makes ’em look massive. They’re not as big as that really.’
‘They’re perfect,’ said Deano, massaging them feverishly. ‘Oh God.’ He managed to lift his neck high enough to dot a kiss on each one before Kayley pushed him back down.
‘Yeah, I like ’em,’ she said, cupping them in her own hands and squeezing them together. ‘They’re all right.’ She reached behind and unclipped her bra, freeing them. ‘The bra was good,’ she said to Deano, ‘but I had to take it off. My nipples were getting that hard, it was uncomfortable. Look at them! Like bullets.’
She pinched at the tight brown buds, enjoying the look of anguished lust on Deano’s face.
‘Let me,’ he gasped, but she held up a finger.
‘You’ll get yours,’ she promised.
She spent a few moments more enjoying the tension written all over Deano’s face before taking pity on him and placing his eager hands on her breasts.
‘Mm, yes, just like that,’ she sighed appreciatively. ‘You’ve done this before, haven’t you?’
‘I’ve done a lot more than that,’ he said, rearing up suddenly and flipping her on to her back.
She shrieked, then subsided into giggles as he shushed her, jerking his thumb to indicate the crowds of people outside. She had completely forgotten about them.
‘Go on then,’ she whispered. ‘Show me.’
He lifted her skirt and pushed his face between her thighs, breathing heat over her skin as he slid his tongue inside her knickers.
‘Oh, you …’ But she couldn’t decide what it was she wanted to call him. A dirty bastard? An angel? Something in between, something without a name.
She rested her voice and concentrated instead on the divine sensations below. Her hands went again to her breasts, kneading them mindlessly while the combination of Deano’s tongue and her own juices contributed towards the thorough soaking of her knickers.
She clenched her buttocks and raised them off the ground, pushing herself into his mouth, inviting him to do his worst. And he certainly did it … or was it his best? … sending her into a spin of sticky delicious sensation that ended in a melting climax.
‘You’ve got me hungry, boy,’ she said, once her eyes had stopped blurring and were capable of supporting a mischievous glint again. ‘Get those jeans down.’
Deano shucked them over his hips with comic urgency, presenting her with the full proof of his desire for her as they crumpled down his thighs.
She reached out swiftly and seized his cock as if plucking a flower, bending over it to inspect it in detail.
‘It’s a nice one,’ she said, raising her eyes to him. ‘What does rock star cock taste like? Jack Daniels?’
‘Why don’t you suck it and see?’ invited Deano in strained tones.
She teased him first, blowing on it while she ran her fingers up and down, making sure she’d covered its full length and girth before going any further.
She had just curled her tongue around the very tip, ready to lower her open mouth and enclose it fully, when she heard her name being called, quite close by.
‘Kayley? Have you seen Kayley? Or Deano?’
Whoever it was was right at the tent flap.
‘Nah, sorry, duck.’
‘If you see them, can you …?’
‘Sure.’
And the tent
flap was opened.
For a second, Kayley couldn’t move, kneeling there with her tongue out and Deano’s cock pointing up at her parted lips, as if doomed to be found in this position.
Then she whipped up and back, repairing her state of semi-undress, though there was no time to put the bra back on.
‘Shit,’ she hissed, watching Deano pull up his jeans, wincing as the rough canvas chafed his erection. ‘Timing!’
‘This isn’t finished,’ he said, putting a finger on her lips before poking his head around the screen to see who was looking for him.
‘Ah, Parker,’ he said, with exaggerated cool. ‘What gives?’
‘What are you doing?’ she said, drawing closer, with a suspicious look in her eye. ‘You look a mess.’
‘Just, uh, needed to get my head down for a minute,’ he said. ‘Go back outside. I’ll be right with you.’
She stepped closer, sniffing the air.
‘You’re … oh my God … you’re not alone in there. Who are you with? Deano! Tell me!’
‘Parker … just …’
But Deano’s exasperation was not enough to put her off.
She flipped the screen aside and gasped.
‘Oh my God! Deano! Oh my God! I thought …’
‘You thought what?’ said Kayley, adjusting a wrinkle in her tights and flashing a look up at Parker.
‘I thought that we … I mean, I thought you were just in trauma after the fire and we’d … in time …’ Her eyes filled with tears.
‘Deano,’ said Kayley sharply. ‘Have you been leading this poor kid a dance? Or did you think you could play us both?’
‘It’s not like that, I swear!’ he said desperately. ‘Parker, I’m sorry, I should have been clearer. I know we had something going before we came out here but … I should have told you I couldn’t be with you. It was just … I don’t know … I didn’t want to hurt you.’
‘Well, that’s funny, because do you know what? I’m hurt! Hurt right here.’ Parker slapped a hand over her heart. ‘I thought we were going to be …’
She started crying.
‘The new power couple?’ said Deano. ‘The new Diamonds? Parker, I’m sorry, but that’s not what I want. I don’t want a carbon copy of my relationship with Jenna. There’s only one Jenna anyway.’
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