Bad Girls

by Rebecca Chance

  ‘Joe was very into me,’ Skye said. She’d known this question would be asked, and had already worked out an answer. ‘I thought we’d definitely do it again, and I could record that too.’

  ‘I can’t believe anything else could be as hot as that!’ he said cheerfully. ‘But hey, what’s done is done.’ He pulled a face. ‘Look, the bonus was dependent on your bringing the story to us first, so we could break it. Now that British tabloid’s got there before us, the bonus is off the table. You get that, right?’

  Skye couldn’t argue. It was her own fault for not getting out of Cascabel as soon as she had that explosive piece of video safely recorded.

  ‘But,’ Kevin said cheerfully, throwing her a bone, ‘we’re gonna run a big tell-all piece by you. Well, “as told to” me. And you’ll get a fee for that.’

  ‘Great,’ Skye said dully.

  ‘And of course, there’s the whole rights issue for a DVD,’ he went on. ‘We’d love to release it. You’d get a cut, naturally. Our lawyers are working on it right now – there are big issues with the hidden camera, plus being actually filmed at a medical facility like Cascabel. The pics are one thing, but putting out a sex DVD’s bound to drive Joe’s people crazy. We might not be able to pull that one off.’

  ‘Oh, that’s a shame,’ Skye lied.

  She hadn’t even thought about their wanting to market the DVD, and crossed her fingers tightly now, praying they weren’t able to do it. The thought of everyone, till the end of time, being able to watch her and Joe doing it turned her stomach.

  What would Joe think?

  God, what an idiot you are. As if Joe gives a shit about you.

  ‘So, good news for you, Skye!’ Kevin beamed, his eyes glinting behind the lenses of his preppie gold-framed glasses. ‘We definitely want you to stay on in LA for a while – we’ll need you for follow-ups. See how far we take this story. God knows if Jennifer will take Joe back – this one will run and run. So, we don’t want you talking to anyone but us. We’ll get you to sign an exclusive-access contract, give you a nice extra fee for that, and put you up at a hotel here, all expenses paid. My assistant’s booked you into the Grafton, on the Sunset Strip. We’ll get you checked in there just as soon as you’ve told me every single detail you can remember about your wild times with Joe Jeffreys.’

  Beaming, he pulled out a mini digital recorder from his desk drawer, and slid it halfway across the desk, positioning it between them.

  ‘I’m going to record this and take notes, OK?’ he said. ‘You want a coffee? Soda? Water?’

  Skye shook her head.

  ‘OK, let’s get started!’ he said happily. ‘What was the first thing Joe said to you?’

  I don’t want to do this, Skye thought miserably. I really don’t. But I’m not getting my bonus now – I need this money. If I don’t tell him the story, they’ll pack me back to New York. And then I’ll be at square one again. I can’t go back to the Lounge with my tail between my legs. I can’t go back to that life.

  ‘I don’t remember exactly,’ she heard herself say. ‘Something like “Welcome to Cascabel”.’

  ‘Huh. I think we’ll go with “Hi, gorgeous!”,’ Kevin said, starting to type. ‘Or maybe “Hi, blondie!” Sounds sexier, doesn’t it?’

  Amber

  ‘Amber! Honey!’

  Even by Californian standards, Tony seemed impossibly tall and bronzed. His teeth flashed white against his tanned skin as he strode towards Amber; his outstretched hands – one glinting golden with a signet ring – looked huge.

  ‘Let’s get you out of here!’ he said, reaching her and enveloping her in a big hug. ‘Jeez, what a place I sent you to, baby! I’m so sorry!’

  ‘Oh, no, it was fine,’ Amber said into his shoulder.

  ‘How’re you doing?’ He pulled back, looking down at her. ‘Baby, you look great. Better than I’ve ever seen you.’

  ‘I’m off the pills,’ Amber said simply. ‘Everything’s in focus.’

  ‘Wow, that’s wonderful,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘I just hope you still like me now you’re all cleaned up!’

  You sound like we had a relationship; but I don’t even know you, Amber thought, almost amused at Tony’s level of self-delusion. I was paid to date you a few times. That’s it.

  ‘Thank you so much for sending me here,’ she said sincerely, gazing up at Tony’s handsome face. ‘I really think you saved my life.’

  ‘Oh, baby . . .’ Tony shook his head. ‘You were in a bad, bad way when I came round that day. Your mom was hysterical.’

  He shrugged his impossibly wide shoulders. He was wearing a crisp white shirt, with a faint pink check, tucked into equally starched and ironed flat-fronted beige chinos. Both items of clothing smelled pleasantly of fabric conditioner, and both had definitely been bought from a shop that specialized in fitting men over six foot four. Amber remembered him telling her that his leather shoes were all custom-made.

  ‘But that’s what I’m for,’ Tony continued seriously. ‘Amber, I take care of things. That’s what my job is. I’m a troubleshooter. They give me all these fancy titles, but that’s the long and short of it. I fly round the world sorting out problems, making sure people can run pipelines from A to B. That’s hardcore stuff, honey. So if I can take care of that kind of thing, no way I can’t take care of you too.’

  ‘I don’t know what to say,’ Amber said honestly. ‘Tony, I need to pay you back for all the money you’ve spent on me. I have some savings – I can at least make a start. Can you tell me how much—’

  ‘Shh now!’ He raised a finger to his lips. ‘Don’t say anything! Tell you what. We’re gonna take you to see your mom – she’s dying to see you, I can tell you that. I got her settled in a nice house in the Hills my company rents for its people. We got places all over, so don’t go thinking this is some sorta huge deal, OK? You and she can have a good old catch-up.’ He grinned. ‘I know how the ladies love to talk each other to death. These your cases?’

  ‘Yes, but—’

  ‘Later, baby. After we settle you in.’

  Tony waved to someone outside the big glass doors of the Cascabel lobby; a driver in a dark suit entered, picking up Amber’s suitcases and whisking them outside.

  Daniyel, standing by the reception desk, said: ‘Amber, sweetie, we’re very sorry to see you leave before the end of your treatment month—’

  ‘Well, what the hell do you expect?’ Tony exclaimed. ‘You got this huge scandal breaking over all your heads – Amber was roommates with that stripper girl! I mean, I don’t know much about this whole rehab setup, but I do know that you gotta trust everyone else is here for the right reasons, isn’t that right?’

  ‘Absolutely,’ Daniyel said, nodding. ‘We can’t apologize enough for everything that’s happened. And I know Amber’s doctor has referred her to an outpatients programme.’

  ‘I’m going to go for treatment every day,’ Amber said to Daniyel. ‘I just can’t stay here any more.’

  ‘Oh, I do understand,’ Daniyel said sincerely, taking both Amber’s hands in hers. ‘You’re a sweet, sweet girl, honey. We just all want the best for you, and it’s really soon to be discharging yourself. I mean, you came here in a pretty bad state.’

  Tony nodded.

  ‘You talked all this over with Dr Raf, and you’re still sure you want to go?’ Daniyel asked, her brows drawn together in concern.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Amber said quietly. ‘I talked everything over with Dr Raf.’

  ‘Amber!’ Dr Raf wrung his hands together. ‘I can’t carry on treating you – you have to understand that! To put it simply, you wouldn’t be able to confide in me – to tell me things that perhaps you’re ashamed of, or don’t want to –’ he winced – ‘don’t want to tell to a man with whom you’ve been sexually intimate.’

  ‘But I can’t be treated by Dr Lucy!’ Amber protested. ‘You know I can’t!’

  Dr Raf looked even more agonized. ‘No, I suppose you can’t,’ he said helplessly.r />
  ‘So what am I supposed to do if you can’t treat me, and I can’t see Dr Lucy?’ Amber insisted.

  ‘I couldn’t bring in another therapist,’ he said, his dark eyes haunted. ‘Not at this stage of treatment. It would look so strange, and you would have no continuity.’ He hung his head. ‘I’ve thought about nothing else, Amber. You have no idea how much you’ve been on my mind. Even this awful situation with Joe and Skye – normally that would be obsessing me. But all I can focus on is how I’ve let you down.’

  Oh no! Amber’s heart sank. I was hoping he meant he was thinking about me so much because he really has feelings for me . . . not because of letting me down . . .

  ‘You haven’t let me down!’ she said desperately. ‘You haven’t!’

  ‘What I’ve done has broken every rule of good practice,’ Dr Raf said sadly.

  ‘But wasn’t it –’ Amber leaned forward in her chair and touched Dr Raf’s knee. He jumped as if she had scalded him – ‘wasn’t it wonderful?’ she persisted. ‘How can something that feels that good be a mistake?’

  ‘That’s probably just what Joe and Skye thought,’ he said bitterly.

  ‘Oh, that’s not fair!’ Amber protested. ‘You can’t say that’s the same thing!’

  Dr Raf took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes with his palms so hard that when he looked at Amber again, the whites of his eyes were streaked with red.

  ‘No, it’s not the same thing,’ he said. ‘What they did only involved a betrayal of the celibacy pledge they made when they came to Cascabel. What I did – having sex with a patient – is much, much worse than that.’

  Amber wanted to scream with frustration.

  ‘Amber,’ he continued, ‘you think you have feelings for me because of your transference. I assure you, those feelings simply aren’t real.’

  ‘They are,’ Amber said defiantly. ‘I know they are. Believe me, I’ve been with men before when I didn’t feel anything for them. I know the difference. What I feel for you is real.’ She shook back her hair from her face, confronting him with all her beauty, daring him to look at her and deny what he felt. ‘And what you feel for me is real, too. I know it is.’

  ‘Amber,’ he said bleakly, ‘this is the last time that you and I can ever be in a room together, alone, again.’

  Amber had never felt pain like this. It was as if he had stabbed her in the chest.

  ‘But then I can’t stay here,’ she said in a tiny voice, willing him, with everything she had, to contradict her; to realize that he couldn’t bear to have her gone from Cascabel.

  ‘No, you can’t,’ he agreed instead, and it was as if the knife was turning in the wound. ‘I can arrange for you to enter another residential programme—’

  ‘No,’ she said instantly, her green eyes flashing with anger and the wish to hurt him as badly as he’d hurt her. ‘No more residential places. After all, what if a doctor there takes advantage of me like you did?’

  His handsome face went white, the skin seeming to draw tighter over his strong bones.

  ‘I deserve that,’ he said quietly.

  ‘I’m going to ring my mother,’ Amber said, standing up, ‘and ask her to get in touch with Tony. He can sort everything out. It sounds like he’s good at that.’

  ‘I’m concerned about you going back to live with your mother,’ Dr Raf said worriedly. ‘After your past history of drug abuse together, is that wise?’

  ‘What I do now is none of your business,’ Amber said coldly. ‘You’ve made that very clear.’ She turned towards the door.

  ‘And do you even know this Tony?’ Dr Raf was on his feet too.

  ‘More than I know you,’ she snapped. ‘At least he’s not going to tell me he doesn’t want to be alone in a room with me! Quite the opposite, I imagine!’

  ‘Amber . . .’ He looked devastated. His hands rose to reach out for her, before he realized what he was doing and dropped them again, shoving them in his pockets to keep him from making the same mistake again.

  Great, she thought. I’ve hurt him as badly as he’s hurt me. I’ve slid the knife in just as deep. Funny, though – I thought it would help me feel better to see him suffering this badly. And instead, it only makes me feel worse.

  ‘Here we are!’ Tony gloated, as the Lexus, after winding its way up a series of narrow little streets, houses clinging to their sides precariously, pulled in at a short driveway that led into a small walled courtyard. He jumped out, striding round the car to open Amber’s door, nodding to the driver to bring her suitcases. ‘You like it?’

  Amber looked up at the pretty white two-storey stucco house, trellised with jasmine. ‘It looks lovely,’ she said truthfully.

  Tony beamed. ‘Your mom seems really happy here,’ he said, as the front door opened and Slava appeared on the doorstep.

  ‘Amber!’ she cried, holding out her arms. ‘Láska! I miss you so much!’

  Slava had adapted her style for LA’s warmer weather effortlessly. She was wearing beige linen trousers and a cream silk short-sleeved blouse, her necklace of big cultured pearls fastened choker-style around her neck to conceal the wrinkles. Her ash-blonde hair was freshly styled, and her fingernails were painted coral, the same colour as her toenails, which were peeking through the pewter leather sandals on her feet.

  She looks great, Amber thought. And, despite everything that had happened, she found herself running towards her mother, arms outstretched, a gulp catching in her throat. Slava was the only constant in her life, the only person who had always been there for Amber.

  ‘Matka!’ she cried, hugging her mother tightly. ‘Oh, Matka, I missed you too!’

  Without Matka, I’d be completely alone, Amber thought, breathing in her mother’s familiar Rive Gauche perfume. She could scarcely count Tony; sweet as he was, he didn’t know her at all.

  ‘You’re happy here, láska?’ Slava pulled back, looking up at her tall, beautiful daughter. ‘The sunshine, it’s lovely! And Tony is so kind, so nice!’ She smiled widely at Tony, who was hanging back politely to give mother and daughter a chance to reunite.

  ‘I’ve made a lot of changes, Matka,’ Amber said quietly. ‘I need to sit and let everything settle for a while. And we need to talk about everything that went on. We need to make some changes together.’

  Slava’s eyes flickered away from her daughter’s serious, direct gaze. ‘You’re all better,’ she said brightly. ‘And we are happy – we have no money worries – you have a nice boyfriend – what needs changing here?’

  She waved at Tony, the heavy rings on her fingers catching the sunlight. Duly summoned, Tony loped up to them.

  ‘I’ll leave you two ladies for the moment,’ he said. ‘Let you show Amber round the house, Mrs Peters.’

  ‘It’s a lovely house,’ Slava cooed.

  ‘Amber –’ Tony looked at her – ‘I have to fly back to Houston tomorrow, first thing. Can I take you out to dinner tonight?’

  How can I say no?

  ‘Sure,’ Amber said, as Slava pinched her encouragingly with the hand still wrapped around her arm.

  ‘Great! I’ll pick you up at eight!’

  Tony bounded down the courtyard and into the Lexus.

  ‘He’s like Tigger,’ Amber observed.

  Slava wrapped her arm through Amber’s and led her inside.

  ‘Look!’ she said, gesturing around them. ‘Look! Beautiful!’

  The house was built around a Tuscan-tiled central atrium, with a cluster of ferns in the centre to catch the sunlight that poured in from the skylight overhead. A staircase wrapped around the atrium in a dramatic sweep, and as Slava led Amber under its curve, they entered a glass-walled sitting room, beyond which water glittered against the bright blue tiles of a small oval swimming pool.

  ‘I see you’ve made yourself comfy, Matka,’ Amber said affectionately, squeezing her mother’s waist.

  Slava had re-created the cosy nest she had made for herself in the Mayfair flat: an upholstered loveseat was drawn up clo
se to the flat-screen TV, with a stool in front of it for Slava’s legs to rest on. A tangle of knitting wool and needles was coiled up on one arm of the loveseat, and on a small side table next to it was Slava’s embroidery box and wooden petit-point frame.

  The TV was tuned, naturally, to a daytime talk show, an earnest group of women sitting on a curving couch, leaning into each other as across the bottom of the screen ran the caption: ‘Should Jennifer take Joe back after these latest shocking revelations? Go online to let us know what YOU think!’

  ‘I am very happy here,’ Slava said complacently, sinking into her favourite seat. ‘The sunshine, it’s good for my bones.’

  ‘It’s lovely,’ Amber said, walking over to the garden door, surveying the garden beyond, with its swimming pool, twin loungers, and landscaped patio. They were high up in the Hollywood hills, and beyond the low stone wall, the ground dropped away, providing a stunning view of the canyons below.

  ‘I want to stay here,’ Slava announced, picking up her knitting.

  ‘I’m not surprised,’ Amber said wryly, turning to look at her mother. ‘I would too. But, Matka –’ Amber hesitated, trying to work out how to word what she needed to say – ‘everything’s up in the air for me right now. I have to work out what I want, where I’m going.’ She took a breath. ‘I’m off the pills, you know that. And they say I shouldn’t drink any more, either. I have to go to Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and to my therapy.’

  ‘Good!’ Slava said, working away with her needles, half her attention already on the TV screen. ‘That’s good, yes?’ She winked at her daughter. ‘It costs less, too. Doctors are very expensive.’

  ‘Yes, it’s good,’ Amber said a little hopelessly. ‘Matka –’ she dropped onto the arm of the loveseat, forcing her mother to look at her – ‘they say when you’ve been addicted, everything needs to change. That means not just me, but us. You and me. We’ve been living in a really unhealthy way.’