‘Rex, this is stupid,’ snapped Tiger. ‘It’s not funny any more. Stop playing games.’
‘This isn’t a game. I know you feel the same. Don’t fight it.’
‘I feel nothing! Get off me! My sister is downstairs. How could you do this to her?’
‘Sienna? But what about us?’
‘There is no ‘us’. You have Sienna, remember.’
‘Maybe I don’t want her. I want a woman, a strong woman. I want you. I had you for a moment, I want you back.’
‘How dare you! You made your choice!’
‘No, you made it for us, remember?’ Rex hissed, tightening his grip on Tiger’s wrists.
‘I had to, I – Sienna – you wouldn’t understand. Anyway, you moved on quick enough. You could have chosen someone who wasn’t family!’
‘Sienna means nothing!’
‘How can you say that! You made your bed, now lie on it! That girl adores you. If you hurt her, I’ll kill you. Blood is thicker than water.’
‘Oh listen to Don Corleone here.’ Rex laughed mockingly and simply pushed his knees apart further, so that Tiger’s legs spread wider. He shoved his erection down on her. Tiger struggled to banish sickening flashbacks of Ed Rogers pinning her down from her mind. A smear of white powder trickled from Rex’s nose. Tiger felt rage welling inside her.
‘What are you doing!’ spat Tiger through clenched teeth. ‘You’re off your face! And while Sienna is downstairs!’
‘Ha! She’s no Snow White I can assure you.’ Tiger felt sick to the stomach at his words.
‘Whatever she is, she’s only metres away right now. She worships you. Don’t break her heart.’
‘What do you care? She doesn’t speak too highly of you.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Oh, I get to hear all sorts,’ he laughed, lunging to kiss Tiger as she struggled and bucked wildly to free herself.
The door to Tiger’s cabin was ajar as Lewis approached. As he pushed it open, Sienna came panting up the spiral staircase.
‘Wait for me, Lewis, have you seen Rex any …’ She stopped mid sentence as she saw a flash of Tiger and Rex in the cabin. Lewis pulled the door shut immediately, but it was too late. A nano-second of Rex in his unmistakable striped shirt rolling around in apparent ecstasy with Tiger was enough. Sienna’s face crumpled in slow motion, before she pelted back down the stairs in floods of tears. Lewis felt a red mist descend in front of his eyes. Barging through the door to the cabin he flew across the room and grabbed Rex by the shirt collar, pulling him roughly to his feet.
‘Oh thank god!’ puffed Tiger panic stricken, immediately rolling from underneath Rex and catching her breath.
‘Get out there and explain yourself to your girlfriend,’ snarled Lewis in Rex’s face, pushing him roughly against the wall, one hand up at his throat.
‘That woman’s a fucking animal!’ roared Rex, pointing at Tiger. ‘She couldn’t keep her hands off me!’
‘You bastard!’ Tiger gasped loudly from the bed, anxiously wringing her bruised wrists. In a second Lewis registered the lipstick smeared across Rex’s cheek and dropped him without a word. He looked down at him on the floor with disdain, the tic starting in his cheek, before turning to Tiger, looking horrified as she sat on the bed heaving for breath.
‘You stupid—’
‘He’s lying!’
‘You stupid bitch!’ Lewis growled.
‘He jumped on me!’ Tiger wailed as Rex slipped from the room unnoticed.
‘You have to have everybody, don’t you!’ Lewis cried out, flying towards her and grabbing her roughly by the arms as she tried to leap up. ‘Everyone has to fall under your spell!’
‘No! You’ve got it all wrong! He crept up on me and pinned me down!’ she squealed, struggling to free herself but falling back on the bed. ‘Get off me! Let me go, you animal! You’re just as bad as Rex!’
‘No, you’re the animal! I saw how you looked at each other after dinner last night! He’s your sister’s boyfriend! You’re just acting like a bitch on heat!’
‘No! You’ve got it so wrong! Don’t be like all the others!’
‘Like hell have I got it wrong! I gave you everything! I gave up my work, my life—’
‘How DARE you!’ screamed Tiger hysterically, thrashing about and managing to wriggle a hand free. She brought her talons slashing down across Lewis’ cheek.
‘Just let me go!’ yelled Sienna into the wind, struggling against Rex and Georgia’s grip as they tried to sedate her by shoving a Valium in her mouth.
‘Don’t do this, babes,’ said Rex in a low voice.
‘I’m jumping overboard, leave me alone!’ cried Sienna, tears running down her cheeks as she collapsed to the deck, convulsing with sobs.
‘I’m going to get Lewis,’ said Georgia gravely. ‘We have to turn this boat round.’ Rex grunted and turned back to Sienna.
‘Babe, what you saw – she just jumped on me, I was fighting her off. You know I only have eyes for you. Trust me,’ pleaded Rex as Sienna bawled into her dress.
‘I want to go home!’
‘Babe, we’re in the middle of the ocean.’
‘I’m swimming home then!’ Sienna cried as she struggled to stand up. Rex yanked her down again.
‘Come on, babe. Let’s just get to Sardinia and I’ll take you straight home.
‘But tonight—’
‘Forget tonight, let’s just lock ourselves in the cabin. You don’t have to see anyone.’
‘Well …’
‘I’ve got a couple of grams on me. We could have our own party. Come on, babe, you’re with me on this aren’t you?’
Georgia heard the commotion before she saw it. Tiger and Lewis were screaming and yelping, and Georgia could hear things being thrown. As she peered through the crack in the cabin door, she watched the pair fighting like animals; rolling around, groaning, hissing at each other, pinning each other to the bed. With one last howl, Lewis flung a sobbing Tiger heavily on to the floor and stormed towards the door. Georgia backed into the corridor before freezing as Lewis slammed his way out of the room. Seeing her standing before him, Lewis pushed her out of the way and he staggered back downstairs, his face and neck covered in smears of make-up, scratches and bite marks. If she hadn’t just witnessed the terrible brawl with her own eyes, Georgia wouldn’t have been able to tell if Lewis had just been fighting or fucking.
Georgia followed him anxiously down to the saloon. At that moment Blue came wobbling down the stairs. ‘Ooh that was fascinating,’ he gushed, flopping down onto a sofa. ‘I need to get me a Captain.’ Sensing an atmosphere he looked round and saw Rex huddling a hysterical Sienna off to their cabin, and a shocked Georgia staring over at Lewis who was standing out on deck, visibly shaking.
‘Did I miss something?’
By 3 a.m. Georgia woke from her fitful sleep and realised she was alone in her cabin. Great. She had every right to be pissed off at Lewis and Tiger, but everyone else seemed to be acting like the victim in all this. She rolled out of bed and padded out to find Lewis. Predictably he was out on the deck, a large whisky in his hands.
‘What are you doing out here?’ Georgia asked over the hum of the engine.
‘What are you doing out here?’ Lewis countered.
‘I came to find you,’ she replied.
‘You’re naked.’
‘I just got out of bed.’ Lewis stared into his whisky before taking a swig. Georgia put her hand tenderly on his shoulder and slid onto his knee. Lewis pushed her away roughly.
‘Put some clothes on.’
Georgia was lost for words. An awkward silence fell as she just stood there shivering in the cold sea breeze, looking at him.
‘What’s the matter, babes?’ she asked after a minute, crouching down to look up into his eyes and putting her hand on his arm.
‘I’m not your “babes”,’ he replied, shaking off her hand. ‘Let’s … let’s finish this thing.’
‘What?’
‘It’s not working, Georgia. We’re not working.’ Georgia stared at Lewis, open mouthed for a moment, suddenly feeling sick. She stood and stumbled backwards.
‘But—’
‘I’ll put you on a flight from Sardinia tomorrow.’
‘Wait, but … is this to do with the Misty thing? I can – I can explain,’
‘Oh that? Hmmm, Rex couldn’t wait to tell me about that today. No, don’t trouble yourself with that.’
‘Oh, good because—’
‘Because it was over long before that. I’m just relieved I now know for sure I’ve made the right decision.’
Chapter 25
Sienna stared at the transcript on her desk, her eyes blur-ring in and out of focus. She had been reading and rereading the same line for half an hour now. She forced herself to go over page four again.
EOC: Oh, it was round the school like a forest fire. Fourteen years old and pregnant? We were all shocked. We knew something was wrong because she’d just disappeared one day. We had a maths test, and we thought she was skiving … but no, that was it … she was gone.
LDB: So who told you she was pregnant?
EOC: Well, it’s what my parents told me. We were all told to keep away from her, you know. We all thought it might be catching … oh, you know how it is when you’re that age. But Poppy came back one day to get her books and things and I – I spoke to her. I couldn’t resist, she seemed different somehow. I don’t know, more … mysterious in a way. I guess I just wanted to see if she was just the same old Poppy.
LDB: Who was the father?
EOC: We weren’t really told exactly. She was a dark horse, that Poppy Adams. Always got good grades you know, we all thought she just used to stay in working, but she was obviously out messin’ around with boys. It was such a surprise. We never knew she had it in her to be a – tart like that. Of course my mum said it was her punishment from God that she fell pregnant. That she wasn’t a good Catholic. Looking back, she even had a thing for lovely Mr Rogers. We all used to tease her about it. Always thrusting her chest at him, wearing tight gym shirts, she was. He left the same week Poppy left. Went back to Australia apparently. A funny rumour went round that he was the father and some of us got into trouble for spreading gossip. Terrible really, poor Mr Rogers was a terrific teacher – he’d never have lowered himself to messing around with a girl like Poppy. No, we all reckoned the father had to be one of the yobs from the local boys’ school. They all showed an interest in her – or her chest, more like.
LDB: And so what happened next?
EOC: What do you mean? When she left?
LDB: No, after you spoke to her when she came back to collect her stuff. Did she tell you anything?
EOC: Um, not much, all she said was that she was going away, being sent to boarding school.
LDB: She didn’t tell you anything about the baby herself?
EOC: Oh yes! Yes, she told me she had already chosen a name. She seemed quite excited about that.
LDB: And what was the name?
EOC: Robin. I remember because there was a Robin Hood film out at the time. Although she didn’t say if that was why she’d chosen the name …
LDB: Did you see her after that?
EOC: No. She went off to her boarding school in England somewhere. Probably the best thing for her. Keep her out of trouble and all. I think she was going to give little Robin away you know, just between you and me. How else would she be able to go away to boarding school? And it made sense that her family wanted to get the bejesus out of Tipperary after the shame she brought them.
LDB: Did she keep in touch?
EOC: No. That was it. Well, I mean, I’ve seen The Tiger Starr in newspapers and magazines since then of course! But she doesn’t look anything like Poppy. Like a different person. Although looking back it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that a girl like that would take her clothes off for money.
Sienna couldn’t bring herself to turn the page and read any further. So Tiger was her sister after all, lock stock and barrel. Sienna didn’t know whether to be relieved or disgusted about it. Particularly now she knew what the big secret was. That the cold-hearted ice queen had given away her son after getting knocked up by some unknown boy at fourteen, the dirty whore. Well, if Sienna had a nephew out there, she was damn well going to find him.
The words on the page in front of her blurred again as her mind wandered. Where to start? She couldn’t rely on Tiger to tell the truth any time soon about the son she gave away. And Sienna had already used up all her free favours from Lance just to get this far. Forget the detective act, there had to be a quicker way of flushing her nephew out, and Sienna knew just the way. Bob Bell may have eaten her for breakfast once before, but now she felt ready to play the game properly.
Chapter 26
‘I need some more of the big pink ones, darling.’
‘You can say that again,’ said Blue, sliding the dish of jumbo pink Swarovski crystals across the shag-pile carpet of the parlour to where Tiger lay, stretched out in her black satin déshabillé, silk stockings and fluffy mules. She grunted a distracted thank you as she delved into the crystals with one hand, whilst keeping her eyes on Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? playing out on the mini cinema screen set into the wall. A towering spike-heeled shoe was perched on a silver tray on the carpet in front of Tiger like a sculpture, with beautiful clear and pink crystals snaking their way up the heel and spreading out towards the toe.
This was a favourite ‘work and pleasure’ past-time for Blue and Tiger; sitting peacefully in front of a good film whilst rhinestoning all manner of costume pieces. Since the drama of St Tropez, Tiger had wanted to reclaim some modicum of reserve about her life; so keeping herself safely at home and well away from the public eye seemed a step in the right direction. Besides, she needed to focus one hundred per cent on Vegas now. She was past the slow jog and was now shifting up two gears before the final sprint for the finishing line. Her own Vegas show, for Chrissake! Finally it had hit her. She was already psyching up.
It proved a welcome antidote to the black well of anger she had been teetering on the edge of since the St Tropez trip. Anger at what Rex had done to her. Anger that Lewis and Sienna had both misjudged her so badly. Anger that she had been tarred with the wrong brush yet again, anger that nothing had changed in all these years. The dark shadows of her past were reaching for her, threatening to prise open the Pandora’s Box of memories and emotions she had kept firmly locked up for so long. Tiger knew she couldn’t afford that possibility – it would surely swallow her up. She just had to be pragmatic and deal with today’s mess if she were to survive.
Tiger certainly had enough of that mess to deal with. She was still reeling from what Rex had done on the yacht. She had played it back in her mind so many times over, and each time she felt like she had just witnessed someone’s mask slip. She had known Rex for ten years and she just didn’t recognise him back there on that boat; he had been just a bizarre champagne, cocaine and lust-fuelled cartoon of himself. She couldn’t reconcile the two personalities. And now Sienna wasn’t even talking to her. All Tiger could do was to keep calling and leaving messages, and pray that Sienna would figure out the truth in her own time. If nothing else she was a smart girl.
Tiger had been kicking herself mentally that straying into a social scenario with Lewis had proved so disastrous. If only she hadn’t agreed to the trip. The pair had been forced to clear the air the moment they had reached Sardinia. Tiger was still offended at how Lewis could have been so wrong about her, but both had agreed on one thing – neither wanted to drop their working relationship after they had put their hearts and souls into it for so long.
Lewis was now esconced in Tiger’s pad as previously promised. Strangely, since he had moved in, Tiger still found herself regretting having kept herself so distant from Lewis for the last fourteen years. She hardly dare admit that he was pretty good company around the house. Since their fight he seemed to be making
an effort to be more agreeable, setting their disagreement to one side. He had fantastic stories that were aired after his nightly bourbon and even Blue enjoyed his dry humour. Tiger and Blue giggled between themselves that they felt like kids on the Jackanory rug when Lewis started with one of his tales late at night. It was almost as though his presence made everything safe somehow; she hadn’t even received a pink letter since she had returned to London. Tiger hoped it wasn’t the calm before the storm.
The temporary living arrangements weren’t appreciated by everyone, needless to say, and tensions ran high between Tiger and Georgia back in the rehearsal studio. Georgia had taken her split with Lewis pretty badly. But since her naked ambition hadn’t dissipated a jot in the face of her romantic failure, and since she could hardly blame Tiger for any of it, she was still as professional and hardworking in the studio as her jealousy would allow her to be.
Tiger bravely continued to put sticking plasters over the situation. Meanwhile, she gave Lewis and Blue strict orders to keep her fully occupied with work. Gluing rhinestones to her stage shoes was about the only thing she could do this evening to keep herself safely distracted from the siren’s call of that terrifying Pandora’s Box.
‘Another hour and I’ll have this baby all finished,’ said Tiger, squinting as she carefully daubed spots of glue onto the silk of the shoe on the tray before her.
‘I’m nearly done with the other one,’ said Blue. ‘I can finish yours too if you like.’ Tiger looked up alarmed, and snatched her shoe up, clutching it to her bosom.
‘You must be joking! This is my therapy!’ she gasped, smiling.
‘Spoilsport,’ huffed Blue. ‘More champagne?’
‘Go on, top me up.’ Tiger nodded, stretching out and yawning languidly. ‘Boy, rhinestoning is hard work.’ She grinned, flexing her biceps theatrically.
‘Oh I love this bit,’ said Blue, as Bette Davis slapped Joan Crawford up on the screen. ‘Yeah! Right in the chops! Oof!’ squealed Blue, clapping his hands together.
Tease Page 26