Crystal (7 page)

He stood up and held out his hand. Crystal hesitated, torn between desire and guilt. She knew that upstairs meant Max’s office, where he sometimes stayed the night. She knew there was a bed . . . Somehow she managed to blurt out, ‘No, I can’t.’ And before Max even had a chance to try and stop her, she got up and ran for the door, pushing her way through the clubbers and out into the cold November air.

‘
CHRISTINA, GET UP!
You’ve only got ten minutes before the car picks us up.’ Belle was standing by the side of Crystal’s bed looking extremely pissed off. ‘Dallas will go ape if we’re late.’

Groaning, Crystal sat up. She picked up her watch. Eight o’clock. ‘Okay, okay,’ she muttered, hardly able to look Belle in the face. She was the very last person she wanted to see this morning.

Belle walked over to the door. She looked pretty and fresh in her tight white cashmere cardigan and denim mini, her long blonde hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail. ‘And don’t think I don’t know what you did last night,’ she called out as she opened the door.

Crystal’s stomach lurched,
Oh my God, how could she know?

‘You were smoking!’ Belle called out. ‘I can smell it. For God’s sake, Crystal, you promised you’d given up.’

Crystal collapsed back on the bed, feeling a mixture of guilt and relief. ‘I know Belle, I’m a bad person.’

Belle laughed. ‘You’ve got no willpower, just like Max. Now get your arse into the shower and put some slap on, you look like shit. What did he have to say, by the way?’

‘Oh, er, it’s still a bit vague; he’s hoping for some news in a couple of days,’ Crystal lied, hating herself for doing it.

Dallas had meetings all morning so, to Crystal’s relief, it was just Kathy, their singing coach, rehearsing with them. The girls adored her; she was laid back and had been in the
business for years and never worked them quite as hard as Dallas, who often left them feeling on edge and stressed. Crystal tried to push what had happened the night before out of her head and concentrate on her singing. But she couldn’t stop the images flooding back, the feel of Max’s lips on hers, his body against hers . . .
It can’t ever happen again. Ever.
She told herself sternly. But when she checked her phone during a break there was a text from Max asking her to meet him again that night, which triggered the all-too-familiar feeling of desire. She wanted to text back no, to tell him to leave her alone. Instead she ignored the text and turned her phone off.

Don’t fuck up
, she urged herself. Winning the competition could change her life and she couldn’t allow herself to be distracted like this. For as long as she could remember all she had ever wanted to be was a singer. Singing had always been her escape. When she sang she was at her happiest; she knew she was doing something she was good at. She could block out the pain of her dad leaving her, her mother’s lack of interest, the responsibility of looking after her brother, and lose herself in the music. It made her feel alive like nothing else ever had and she loved every minute in front of the mic. People like Belle wanted to win the competition because they longed to be famous and to live the life of a celebrity, to be photographed in the celeb mags, to go the parties, to hang out with other celebs. But to Crystal winning the competition wasn’t about fame; it was about being a singer.

After their singing rehearsal came a three-hour session with dance instructor Tash. She was petite and ravishingly pretty but as tough as old boots and pushed them to nail their dance routines spot on. Luckily they were all good movers, though Crystal knew she was the weakest and Belle was the best dancer – a fact which she was frequently fond of pointing out. By five, Crystal was flagging, the lack of sleep was catching up with her and she kept making mistakes.

‘Come on, Crystal!’ Tash shouted, ‘You’ve got two left feet at the moment. Get with the programme, or I’ll be telling Dallas.’

Crystal immediately pulled herself together and mentally shook off her tiredness. A bollocking from Dallas wasn’t something she could handle right now on top of everything else on her mind.

‘Do you want me to show you the moves again?’ Belle said in her most patronising voice, and Crystal had to grit her teeth to stop herself from telling her where to go.

After dance it was straight back to the hotel to be interviewed for the TV show. She was dying to check her messages to see if Max had called again, but couldn’t risk doing it in front of Belle. Crystal dreaded these interviews more than the live show itself. Having a camera stuck in her face made Tahlia even sweeter than she usually was, Belle came across as bubbly and fun, but it had the opposite effect on Crystal and she worried that she came across as a right hard bitch. Belle had agreed to do most of the talking and Crystal did her very best to sound sweet and humble, when really she was thinking,
vote for us, we’re the bollocks!

‘So how’s this week been for you girls?’ asked Hadley, the very attractive black co-presenter of
Band Ambition
. Crystal and Belle were convinced he fancied Tahlia, but she wouldn’t have any of it.

‘It’s been great, Hadley,’ answered Belle, as Crystal worked on her sweet look.

‘It was a tough one last week when you and Trick or Treat were in the final two and had to sing your songs again, wasn’t it?’

‘Yeah, thanks for reminding us,’ Crystal couldn’t stop herself blurting out.

‘It was hard,’ Tahlia added, ‘and we felt really sorry for the guys going out.’

Like fuck we did
, thought Crystal, doing her best to look sympathetic.

‘Crystal, do you think you are ready for this week’s performance?’ Hadley pointed the mic at her.

‘We’ve been working our arses off and the song’s sounding shit-hot.’

Hadley frowned. ‘Crystal, I did ask you not to swear if possible; this programme goes out before nine. Can we have the same question again?’

Crystal tried not to giggle; he took himself so seriously. He was very good-looking, but not in a raunchy get-your-kit-off, let’s-have-sex-against-the-wall-now kind of way. He was more like a clean-cut member of a boy band – definitely not Crystal’s type.

‘Sorry, Hadley. We’ve been working really hard and we’re really hoping that everyone’s going to like the song. We’ve put everything we’ve got into it.’

Hadley seemed happy with that and the cameras stopped filming. As the girls were filing out of the room, Hadley walked over to Tahlia. Looking a little awkward, he asked, ‘Um, Tahlia, I was wondering if you fancied going out for a drink sometime?’

‘Okay,’ Tahlia said shyly. ‘But would it be okay if we waited until after the competition?’

Belle and Crystal gave each other meaningful looks and walked out of the room, giving Tahlia and Hadley the chance to swap numbers.

‘Lucky Tahlia,’ Belle said outside. ‘He’s fit.’

‘What are you up to now?’ Crystal asked, longing to get to her hotel room to check her mobile.

‘Oh, I’m meeting Mum and Dad for dinner. What about you?’

‘Having an early night,’ Crystal replied forcing a yawn. ‘See you in the morning.’

She was just opening the door to her hotel room when Tahlia walked along the corridor with a huge smile on her face.

‘Well?’ Crystal asked, raising her eyebrows.

‘What do you think of him?’ Tahlia asked.

‘He’s very sweet; you should definitely go out with him. Do you want to come in and talk?’ she asked, praying the answer would be no as she thought she might explode if she couldn’t check her messages.

‘Thanks, but I’m going to babysit for Mum,’ Tahlia answered.

Tahlia was always babysitting her little sister and Crystal had given up telling her that her mum should bloody well find her own babysitter. Tahlia had enough on her plate with the competition.

‘Okay, see you in the morning then.’

Finally Crystal was alone. She reached for her phone. There were five texts from Max and ten voice mails. The first message simply said, ‘Crystal, please call me. I need to talk to you. You know why.’ And the following were all variations of that until the last: ‘Crystal, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, about that kiss. Babe, please, I never beg, but I’m begging you now. I’ve got to see you.’

Crystal played the final message several times, agonising about what to do, but each time she heard Max’s voice, her resolve to ignore him weakened until she knew she would have to speak to him.

‘I can’t see you Max,’ she said, her voice sounding more certain than she felt.

‘
Please
, Crystal, I’ve got to see you, babe,’ he replied passionately.

Crystal took a deep breath. ‘I can’t. You’re with Belle.’

There was a pause and Max said, ‘So if I wasn’t with Belle you’d see me?’

Crystal hesitated, ‘Yes. No. I don’t know!’ She felt so torn, she wanted Max so badly but she didn’t want to hurt Belle.

‘We can’t do this over the phone; please come to the club. We’ll talk, that’s all.’

An hour later Crystal was sitting at one of the private tables next to Max, smoking (her willpower had totally crumbled) and sipping her drink, trying hard to play it cool.

‘You know I can’t finish with Belle until after the competition. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardise the group’s chances, but as soon as it’s over I will. I want to be with
you
, Crystal,’ Max said urgently. ‘I want you, Crystal,
I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you.’ He reached over and took her hand, ‘We could be so good together, I know we could.’

Hearing the words that she’d been dying to hear Max say for so long Crystal felt something inside her give. She looked at him. ‘So after the competition, you promise?’

He nodded, and Crystal continued, ‘And you won’t tell her it’s because of me? I don’t want to hurt her.’

‘I won’t, babe, I promise’, and he put his arms round Crystal and pulled her to him, kissing her deeply.

‘No running away,’ he murmured. As Crystal lost herself in the kiss, she had never felt less like running away. And this time when Max suggested they went upstairs, she didn’t resist.

She held his hand and the two of them walked quickly through the bar and up the private staircase. Max had brought the bottle of champagne with him and as soon as they were in the room he poured them each a glass and locked the door. They both drained their glasses, unable to take their eyes off each other in anticipation. They were suddenly in each other’s arms, kissing. He was running his hands over her body, unbuttoning her jacket and letting it slip to the floor, caressing her breasts, kissing them as he led her to the bed, taking off her jeans,

‘No underwear, Crystal, you are a naughty girl.’ He pulled off his T-shirt, revealing his toned chest and his perfect tanned skin. She unbuttoned his jeans and slipped them off. Max was pinning Crystal to the bed, kissing her all over, caressing her with his tongue, sending shivers of pleasure through her. She kissed him, moving down his body, slipping off his black Hugo Boss boxer shorts, teasing him with her mouth. And then they were fucking, and Crystal wasn’t thinking about anything else except how good it felt, how it felt the best ever. And when she came she cried because it had been
so
good and because she knew that she should have waited.

She closed her eyes, not wanting Max to see the tears, but
he already had and was kissing them gently away. ‘Oh Crystal, what have you done to me?’

The next morning when she woke up she couldn’t help but feel guilty even though Max had told her that he was going to finish with Belle. What if Belle really loved him? Then it would destroy her if he split up with her. It was, admittedly, hard to tell what Belle thought of Max – she definitely seemed to enjoy the glamour of their relationship, going out with a famous ex-racing driver, hanging out in all the hip clubs, being taken out to expensive restaurants. But, then, it hadn’t stopped her flirting with Dallas and doing God knows what else . . . Crystal tried to remember if she’d ever actually heard Belle say that she loved Max. She never had, had she?

She spent the rest of the day in a loved-up haze. Last night had been the most intense sex of her life and she couldn’t stop thinking about Max even though she knew she should have been putting 100 per cent into her work. Everyone noticed she was distracted and she got several ear bashings from Dallas.

‘Sorry,’ she told him, after a particularly weak performance, ‘I guess it’s nerves.’

Dallas looked disgusted: he despised it if his performers showed any kind of weakness.

‘If you’re nervous now, what the fuck are you going to feel like on Saturday? Get a grip, Crystal; I don’t have any time for losers.’

Crystal tried her best to pull herself together for the remainder of the rehearsal and by the end of the day she had managed to get out of Dallas’s bad books. When she checked her phone at the end of the session Max had texted her, asking her to go over. Crystal didn’t hesitate this time in saying yes. When Belle and Tahlia asked her what she was doing, she lied, saying she was meeting one of her friends in town for a quick drink.

This time when she arrived at the club she went straight to the back door. She felt breathless with desire, anticipation
and guilt. She rang the bell and a few minutes later Max opened the door.

‘Hey, gorgeous,’ he said as he pulled her towards him by her jacket and kissed her.

Crystal wriggled away from him, trying to shut the door, paranoid that they would be seen, but Max just laughed. ‘There’s no one outside, babe.’

Upstairs in his office was a rerun of the night before. Champagne, kisses, feverishly pulling off each other’s clothes and tumbling on to the bed. The sex was even better now they knew a little about each other’s bodies. Crystal loved what he was doing to her with his hands, with his tongue, but she liked it best when they were fucking, when it felt like he was part of her, when she could pretend that he belonged to her . . .

Afterwards she demanded, ‘Give me a cigarette then.’

Smiling, he lit a cigarette and passed it to her.

‘That was amazing, babe,’ he whispered stroking her hair. ‘
You’re
amazing.’