Diamonds Forever (11 page)

Jenna leant her head on his shoulder, then thought better of it when her cheek came into close quarters with her lover's grimy T-shirt.

‘They'll tire of us eventually,' she said, but she didn't sound convinced. ‘If only Deano would bugger off, it might happen sooner.'

‘Maybe,' said Kayley tentatively, and Jenna gave her a sharp stare, intrigued by her tone. ‘Maybe if you went along with him about the documentary … then he'd have to move on once it was done. I mean, all this stalling is just making him dig his heels in. If you just said yes, I'll do a couple of quick interviews or sound-bites or whatever, then he'd have nothing to pester you about.'

‘Oh yes?' said Jenna. ‘And where exactly have you gleaned this in-depth knowledge of Mr Diamond's personality and motivations?'

Kayley looked back down into her cup. ‘Nowhere,' she mumbled. ‘It's just a thought. Bit of, like, psychology, or whatever.'

‘Maybe she's got a point,' said Jason. ‘And you wouldn't have to see him, necessarily. Do your bits of the film, then leave him to it.'

Jenna gave each of them a hard stare.

‘Has he been paying you?' she said, then she laughed. ‘God. Listen to me. Paranoia central. OK, maybe you do have a point. Let me think about it. Once I've been to Nottingham and looked into this Harville thing.'

They finished their tea, chatting generally about the weather forecast, the plans for the gala and the satanic alliance of Lawrence Harville and Deano Diamond, until there was a ring at the doorbell.

‘It'll be some journalist,' said Jenna. ‘Leave it. I'm not expecting anyone.'

But a flurry of noisy activity from outside drew her to the window to peek at the visitor.

‘What?'

Her strangulated cry of outrage brought Jason and Kayley over to join her.

Deano Diamond stood on the doorstep, suave in a tight long-sleeved black T-shirt and skinny jeans in a Prince of Wales check.

‘Oh God,' moaned Kayley, when he caught sight of them and gave Kayley a beaming smile and big wave.

When he beckoned her to the door, she left Jenna's silent outrage behind her and went to speak to him.

‘What the hell are you doing?' she hissed through gritted teeth, opening the front door a crack.

‘You put the phone down on me!' he cried. ‘What did you think I was going to do? We weren't finished.'

By this time, Jenna and Jason were hovering behind her.

‘What does he mean?' demanded Jenna. ‘What do you mean?' She referred the same question to Deano.

‘Kayley here invited me for a cup of tea,' he said with a sharky smile. ‘But she got cut off. So I thought I'd come over anyway and make sure she was OK. You are OK, aren't you, Kayley?'

‘Fine,' she muttered, wanting to get behind one of the new big urns on either side of the door and hide there until the storm was past. ‘But I didn't invite you.'

‘Did I misunderstand?' he asked. ‘Oh dear, I'm really sorry about that. But I've come all this way, and …' He turned to indicate the pack of press photographers, hanging on every second of this exchange. ‘If you don't want another front page …'

‘Oh, for fuck's sake,' fumed Jenna. ‘Come in then. But you're not staying.'

Deano smiled more widely still as Kayley opened the door enough for his slender frame to ease through into the hall.

‘Nice outfit,' he said glibly, eyeing Jason's dirty jeans and T-shirt combo. ‘Wouldn't have recognised you from the other night.'

‘What do you want?' said Jason, with barely suppressed menace.

‘Like I said, to have a drink with Kayley. She's my new pal. I need her advice.'

‘I'll leave you to it then,' said Jenna, stalking back into the drawing room. ‘But you're leaving in ten minutes max.'

Jason, after giving Deano a stare that contained daggers, clubs and shotguns for good measure, followed her.

‘Well, thank you very much,' said Kayley dully. ‘There goes my job.'

‘Don't be like that. Where can we go to talk in private?'

‘I don't want to talk to you.' She sat down on a chair set into an alcove and buried her face in her hands.

Deano stood, almost awkwardly despite his rock star poise, fidgeting with the ends of his fringed scarf.

‘Do you know what?' he said, quite softly. ‘I can't remember the last time a girl spoke to me like that. Well, apart from Jenna. I wouldn't take it from just anyone. I mean, hanging up on me, for Christ's sake! Nobody
ever
does that to me.'

‘I guess that's why you're such a berk,' said Kayley, raising her face to give him an uncompromising glare. ‘I get why Jenna left you now. Never understood it before.'

‘Didn't you?' said Deano, apparently deaf to the insult she'd just shot at him.

‘No. Well, you know.
Little
people like me never understand, do we? How could anyone cheat on Cheryl Cole? How could anyone dump Johnny Depp? You don't understand it, when you're outside it. But now I've got to know Jenna, and I've seen what a selfish, inconsiderate prick you can be, it's much easier to get my head round it.'

She watched Deano take a deep breath and look away from her, towards the drawing room door. For a moment, she'd wondered if he might hit her, or at least deal a vituperative tongue-lashing. But he didn't. He steadied himself, then looked back at her.

‘Ouch,' he said, with such wounded dignity she almost laughed. ‘You know, if I didn't like you so much …'

‘Oh, get off. You don't like me. I'm a means to an end. And Jenna's the end.'

‘Yeah, she pretty much is, isn't she?' He gave her a weak smile. ‘At least, as far as it goes between me and her. I get that she hates me right now, but you know her, Kayl. She's worth fighting for, isn't she?'

Kayley nodded, slowly, feeling a leaden weight right under her ribcage.

Yes, she was being used. And yes, she would let Deano use her again. He was a jerk and a twat and a bastard, but something in his silvery, soulful eyes had her right against the wall.

But it was Jenna he wanted, pinned there, crushed against him, not her.

‘Give up, though,' she said. ‘She loves Jason. They're happy.'

Deano waved his hand. ‘A nine-day wonder,' he said. ‘An infatuation. Me and her, we've got so much history. Years and years. We grew up together. We're part of each other. That has to count for something, right?'

‘Look,' said Kayley. ‘I was really close, back then, to getting her to agree to do your film. She was going to think about it. I think she'd have done it. But she won't now. You've really pissed her off. Again.'

‘Were you really? Do you think she'd have done it?'

‘Even Jason thought she should.'

‘Shit. Why didn't you call me? Why didn't you say?'

‘You didn't give me the chance!'

Deano got up to pace, his hand over his mouth.

‘So you think I've blown it with Jenna?' he said after a while.

‘Yeah. For both of us.'

‘What am I going to do, Kayley?'

His self-absorption sparked rage in her.

‘I don't give a shit,' she exploded. ‘Just like you don't give a shit what happens to me. Oh, fuck this, I'm out of here.'

She stormed over to the front door, as if to open it.

Jenna returned to the hallway, her lips set in a thin line.

‘I think it's time you left now, don't you?'

‘Jen, hear me out—'

‘Get. Out. Now.'

Kayley watched with growing bemusement as Deano Diamond threw himself on his knees in front of Jenna.

‘What do you want from me, babe? Name it. It's yours. I'm lost without you. I need you.'

Jenna turned away, her eyes shut. When she spoke her voice was less firm than it had been.

‘You can't give me anything any more, Deano. Give it up. Leave now, or I'll call the police. I'm serious.'

‘You wouldn't?'

But he was back on his feet, brushing down his knees, eyeing the front door in seconds. The adverse publicity was just as undesirable to him as it was to Jenna, apparently.

‘Give me my space,' said Jenna, hurrying to the front door to open it. ‘I'm not saying we'll never have an amicable relationship at some stage. But not like this. This is all wrong. Goodbye, Deano.'

‘I'm down, Jen, but I'm not out,' he said, and then he left without as much as a backward glance at Kayley.

‘I'm sorry,' said Kayley, immediately the door shut.

‘Yes,' said Jenna, icy and unsmiling. ‘You should be. What on earth possessed you to invite him here?'

‘I didn't – he invited himself. He did ask me, but I said no …'

‘When? When did he ask you?'

‘Earlier on, on the phone.'

‘He phoned you this morning? Oh my God. What else aren't you telling me?'

Jenna threw up her hands, then covered her face.

‘It's not like that …'

Jenna took her hands away from her eyes and stared.

‘Like what? You don't have a cosy little private relationship with my ex, then? Because it certainly sounds that way. No.' She spoke over Kayley's attempts at protest. ‘No, I don't want to hear any more of this. I don't feel I can trust you now. And I really, really need to be able to trust the people in my life. You've let me down. You're on his side.'

‘It's not about sides! He did me a favour, so I felt I owed him one, that's all.'

‘You owed
him
one? What about me? Don't you owe me anything?'

‘Jenna …'

‘No, don't speak to me. Don't even dare speak to me. I want you out of here. Now. Get out. I'll have your stuff sent back over to your dad's. If I can't trust you, I can't have anything to do with you.'

‘But Jen …'

‘Get out.'

Her voice rose to a pitch of hysteria.

Kayley couldn't think of anything to do. She looked for Jason, but he didn't seem to be anywhere nearby. Jenna's face was rigid with fury and something a bit like fear, as if she wasn't sure she could control what she might do.

‘I'm sorry,' she said again. ‘I hope you change your mind.'

‘Out!'

Kayley wasn't going to beg. She had her pride.

She opened the door and slammed it shut behind her, stalking with her head held high all the way to the gate, where she expected to find the usual throng of camera-wielding jackals … but where were they? Oh, right.

At the corner of the street, Deano was holding court, waving his hands, doing the charm-school body language. Well, he wouldn't be feeling so charming once she was done with him. She was having a word with that flash git.

She put her head down and began a determined progress towards the corner.

But she hadn't gone far when a car pulled up to the kerb beside her and the tinted window lowered.

‘Get in.'

‘What? Who are you?'

‘Do it.'

She was still frowning, bewildered at this latest development, when the back door of the car opened and an arm, heavily tattooed and even more heavily muscled, shot out and grabbed her, forcing her into the car.

‘What the fuck?' she shouted, but the door was shut and locked and the car already in motion. As they passed the street corner, bulbs flashed and popped, but not for her.

For Deano Diamond.

‘YOU DID
WHAT
?'

Jason turned from his frescoes, to which he had retreated while Deano was in the house, and gave Jenna a look that combined astonishment, confusion and outrage in one wide-eyed package.

‘Well, what else could I have done? She betrayed me.'

‘Betrayed you?' Jason put his brush in a water jar and ran paint-streaked fingers through his hair. ‘Jenna, I'm only here now because of her. Because of the brave, unselfish thing she did for us.'

His words took the hot wind out of Jenna's sails.

How could she have forgotten that? How had her privacy and her need to avoid Deano have come before the great debt she owed Kayley?

She tried to justify herself. ‘Well, she just did what was right. She just stopped doing what was wrong. Everyone would have done the same.'

Jason shook his head.

‘They fucking wouldn't. As far as I'm concerned, that girl is number one on my guest list for life. She deserves it.'

‘But she was … colluding … with Deano.'

‘Oh yeah? Got proof, have you?'

‘She told me she'd been on the phone to him earlier today. She invited him here! I can't trust her.'

‘Jen, she's allowed to take phone calls from whoever she likes. And she probably didn't even want him to phone. He's probably been pestering her just as badly as his PR people have been pestering yours. Did you even let her give her side of the story?'

‘I was angry. And why should I believe what she says when she … she …'

‘When she's been so truthful in the past?'

‘She told the truth
once
, after lying for
months
. Who's to say she's changed that much? You can take the girl out of the estate …'

‘Oh,
fuck off
! Listen to yourself!'

Jenna felt her face burn. She knew that had been a low thing to say, but somehow she couldn't seem to let go of this paranoia, and it had the upper hand of her.

‘So,' she said in a low, barely controlled voice, ‘you're saying that Kayley is more important to you than I am?'

‘Don't be a dick, Jen.' He picked up his cat, as if he needed it as a shield, tickling it under its ears. ‘I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is that, until you pick up that phone and give that girl her job back, I don't want to know you.'

Jenna's head was a deafening noise of conflicting options. Admit she'd acted in haste? Burst into tears? Run into Jason's arms? Swallow her pride?