Lovers and Gamblers (42 page)

Why did I do it? Because I’ve been doing it for years one way or another. Because when I get off that stage I’m about ready to explode. Because you’ve never been around when I’ve really needed you. Because you think sex should take place in a bedroom, in the dark, once a week, using one position only. And whenever I’ve suggested anything else you’ve backed away in horror.

‘You can divorce me,’ he stated blankly, and was amazed at the relief that came flooding over him as soon as he said it.

‘I don’t want to do that,’ she interrupted quickly, ‘we’re very happy. I love you. I think that in time I can forgive you. After all if it was only this once…’ She trailed off, waiting for him to assure her that it was only this once.

He said nothing.

‘Where is Evan?’ she ventured.

It hadn’t taken her long to ask about her precious son.

‘He’s all right,’ Al replied brusquely, ‘you can see him in the morning.’

‘Yes,’ she agreed, ‘we’ll all feel better in the morning. This will seem like a bad dream in the morning.’ She sighed deeply, and summoned a tenacious whisper of a smile. ‘I’m going to try and forget it ever happened, Al. I’m going to forgive you.’

* * *

‘You sonofabitch!’ Melanie shrilled. ‘I could understand you having it off with some little tart –but sleeping with the bitch, spending the
night
with her. Who is she?’

Paul shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter who she is.’

‘It doesn’t matter who she is!’ mimicked Melanie. ‘You can bet your boots it doesn’t matter who she is – because
you’re
not seeing her again! That is if you ever want to see your
children
again.’ She paused triumphantly, knowing she had gotten to him with
that
threat.

They had been bickering ever since Linda had left. God, Linda handled it well, Paul thought. After the initial scene of French farce she had leapt from the bed, coolly shut herself in the bathroom, dressed, and left without a word to either of them – in spite of the temptation of Melanie’s spiteful verbal attack. Paul had wanted to applaud her dignity.

‘I should have thought,’ sniffed Melanie, determined to get as much mileage as possible out of the event, ‘you could have done better than that. I should have thought that while you were picking it might have been a nineteen-year-old nympho. Or are you losing your touch? Are all the best ones going in Al’s direction? Was this hag one of Al’s rejects?’

Paul wanted to slap her right across her pretty pointed face. But he knew it was important to stay calm, appear cool. If Melanie so much as suspected that Linda was anything serious…

‘She was some girl I picked up in the bar,’ he admitted, ‘some nothing girl.’ Christ! If Linda could hear him she would never talk to him again.

‘Absolutely charming! And I suppose if you had got syphilis or something from her I would have been the one you would come running home to with it.’

‘Don’t be silly.’

‘Oh – don’t be silly,’ Melanie narrowed her eyes and glared at him, ‘what are you? A fool? You could have got infected, she looked like a tramp. I want you to go to a doctor tomorrow.’

‘All right, I’ll go to a doctor if it will make you happy,’ Paul muttered.

‘Thank you. I think it’s the least you can do.’ She yawned, ready to forget the incident for the time being. Actually it had been rather exciting catching dull old Paul like that. He had become exceedingly dull in the last few years, only interested in business and making money. Well, she couldn’t complain about that – but it certainly was a change from the man she had married. A man whose sole interest in life had been getting her into bed.

She felt a tingle of excitement, and she thought of the good-looking airline official who had driven her to the hotel, and the tingle became an itch. She thought of the naked woman climbing out of bed with Paul. She had not been an old bag. She had been a very attractive female, a fact that Melanie would never admit.

She moved closer to her husband. ‘Did she have nice boobs?’ she asked, her voice becoming babyish.

He knew what to answer. He was not a fool. ‘Not as nice as yours.’

‘As mine?’ She feigned surprise, ‘but mine are only little. Do you like them little?’

He was relieved that forgiveness had been so quick, and he reached for his wife and massaged her small breasts the way she liked him to. She moaned immediately, and lifted the slip she was wearing. He pulled off her panties, all the time thinking about Linda. He bent his head to her breasts, and she moaned even louder. One thing he enjoyed about Linda was her delirious silence. He did not have an erection, but fortunately Melanie did not bother to notice. She had other ideas. She was pushing his head down and opening her legs.

‘I can’t let you make love to me properly,’ she gasped, as he attacked her with his tongue, ‘not until you’ve had a doctor look at your thing. I don’t want to catch anything, do I?’

* * *

In her room Linda was busy packing. She was numb with fury, number with disgust – and both emotions were directed at Paul. Her lover, her big brave man. He had practically shit himself with fear.

She relived the evening in her mind. The party – everyone had had a good time, everyone had still been recovering from the events of earlier, so a lot of drinking had gone on, and when she and Paul had returned to bed they were both slightly out of it. They hadn’t even made love. They had kissed goodnight, cuddled up, and gone to sleep. Just like an old married couple.

The next thing that Linda could remember was hands on her, hands that snatched themselves off her in double quick time, and a high-pitched voice screaming, ‘Who the hell are
you
?’

Paul had woken, switched on the light, and recoiled in horror at the woman who appeared to have joined them in bed. He said one startled word – ‘Melanie!’ That had been enough for Linda. Wordlessly she had left the bed, found her clothes, and gone into the bathroom to dress.

She didn’t know what else to do. Paul was struck speechless, and the skinny blonde – his wife – was screeching insults at him.

He was still speechless when she came out of the bathroom. The blonde stared at her, started to say something. But Linda didn’t wait to hear, she got out of there – fast. And when she was out of there, and in her own room, she suddenly saw the whole scene in a much clearer light.

Bloody hell – she wasn’t a hooker, for Christ’s sake. She was Paul’s long-standing girlfriend, he professed to love her. And yet he had not uttered one single word. He had not tried to protect her in any way, shape or form. He had been scared shitless.

Yes, she could understand that it was unexpected. But it
had
happened. It was a confrontation, and he
could
have dealt with it like a man.

Grimly she finished packing. She had no intention of hanging around to listen to his excuses. First plane out in the morning to New York – and fuck Paul King.

* * *

Evan awoke to the sound of the phone ringing. He had not slept properly anyway. How could you sleep properly three in a bed? Glory was in the middle, lying on top of the covers with all her clothes on, still fast asleep. Plum was squashed on one side, her vast nude body covered only partly by the sheet. She lay on her back and emitted harsh snores. Evan had about three inches of space on the other side. He felt worse than ever, his arm throbbed violently, and his body ached all over.

He licked dry lips and picked up the phone. On the other end was his father, who didn’t waste any words.

‘Get those two slags out of your room if they’re with you. Clean yourself up and get yourself up to my suite.’ There was a short pause, a heavy sigh, then, ‘your mother is here.’

Holy crap! His mother!

Evan glanced guiltily at the two sleeping girls. His mother! If she should ever find out…

He didn’t know what to do first. Dress. Wake them. Hide.

He ran in the bathroom, peered at his spotty face, ran back to the bedroom, shook Plum, who merely groaned and turned over.

Frantically he grabbed Glory by the shoulders, and she sat bolt upright, startling him. ‘Wassashitsamatter?’ she mumbled.

‘My mother,’ he explained, his panic-stricken voice uncontrollable, ‘she’s
here
. She’s with my father, she’s here.’

‘So what?’ Glory questioned, her thin mouth set in a mean line.

Evan was speechless. He had expected Glory to react in the same way that he had. He had expected her to leap up, dress, wake Plum, and get the hell out of his hotel room.

Glory was lying down. Glory was preparing to go back to sleep.

‘You’ve got to go,’ Evan said quickly, ‘you and Plum. If my mother comes down here, sees you…’

‘So what?’ repeated Glory, even more meanly than the first time: She was not pleased at being woken.

‘She’ll go mad,’ stammered Evan.

‘Take away your train set, will she?’ mocked Glory, ‘smacka naughty little boy’s ass?’

Evan reddened, his spots standing out lividly.

‘Shit!’ exclaimed Glory in disgust, ‘You’re just like all the rest. Had your good time – now we can just piss on off.’ She gave Plum a vicious kick, ‘Wake up, fatso, we’re gettin’ the push again.’ She climbed off the bed and gave Evan a bitter stare before going in the bathroom, ‘And t’think
I
thought you were one of us. What a laugh!’ She slammed the bathroom door, leaving him with Plum who had sat up and was looking at him suspiciously.

‘Why have you upset Glory?’ she asked.

‘I didn’t,’ he protested.

‘You must have.’

‘I woke her up because my mother is here and…’

‘You want us to go,’ finished Plum.

‘I don’t
want
you to go. But my mother… Well…’ He shrugged helplessly.

‘You’re frightened of her?’

‘Not frightened…’

‘I know, I know. You’ve got some shitty mother hang-up. Think she knows best and all that guff. I had hassles with my mom – old bitch. One day I walked, no more hassles. It was that simple.’

There was a crash from the bathroom.

‘You
have
upset Glory,’ accused Plum. ‘Why’d you have to do that? It will take me all day to get her together.’

‘I didn’t mean to…’ said Evan miserably. ‘I wouldn’t upset either of you. You’ve both been…’ His eyes filled with tears which he tried unsuccessfully to blink away.

‘Aw, c’mon,’ comforted Plum, ‘don’t you go gettin’ upset. Anyway, I think I got an idea. Whyn’t you go an’ see your ma – try an’ grab some bread from Al, and I’ll talk to Glory, try
and get her to go along with my idea.’

‘What idea?’ Evan asked hopefully.

‘You’ll know. I’ll tell you when y’come back. But it’s a trip – a real head trip f’us all. Now don’t forget – get some money – steal it if you can – he’ll never notice.’

More cheerful now that Plum had taken control, Evan nodded. He was still one of them. Nothing had changed.

* * *

Al did not sleep well at all. It had been some birthday. First the riot, then the drama with Evan. The party, and following orgiastic goings on with Golden Lady, and her friend, and then the sudden appearance of Edna.

It had all been too much.

He had terminated further discussions on his sexual goings on by telling Edna of the riot. She had been suitably sympathetic – in fact in no time at all she was acting as if nothing had happened, but when he mentioned that Evan had been slightly hurt she had gone mad, and he had to forcibly restrain her from dashing down to his room. Somehow, Al thought, she would not take too kindly to the sight of her son and the two queens of freaksville! If indeed they were still with Evan. Certainly a double discovery in one night would not be to anyone’s advantage. Al had persuaded her into bed – purely for sleeping purposes. And he had spent a restless night lying by her side wondering how he could tell her that their marriage was over.

He got up early, while Edna still slept, and crept into the living room to phone Evan.

He then phoned Paul, wondering how
he
had fared.

‘Paul,’ stated Al tersely, when his brother answered the phone. ‘Two questions. Where was Luke – who according to you never leaves the outside of my door. And how did Edna get my key?’

‘What can I say…’ began Paul, his voice destroyed.

‘Nothing,’ flashed Al. ‘Call me back with some answers.’

‘I
have
the answers. Do you think I’ve slept? Luke got the shit kicked out of him spiriting you off stage yesterday – he went off duty outside your room after he saw you safely inside from the party, I told him it was all right. Did
I
know?’

Al snorted, ‘Some fucking security!’

‘The key is another matter. I think we can sue the hotel. The manager has already dumped the night clerk. Have you seen the papers?’

‘The papers? Is the fact that my wife caught me with a couple of hookers in the papers?’

‘No. But it’s not too good. Some joker got a picture of you at the party feeling up that blonde from the cake – the bastards ran it on the front page next to a kid all bashed up from the riot.’

‘Oh, that’s fucking marvellous, isn’t it?’

‘I’ve been on to Bernie. He’s working on killing it already. It’s the kind of spread can go world-wide.’

‘Just what I need.’

‘On the good side “Bad Black Alice” made number one today.’

Al felt the depression lift for a moment. He was number one again. Top single selling record in America.

They had all thought he was past it: They had all labelled him a has-been. But he had shown them – Christ! Had he shown them! The tour was a smash. Now the single was at number one. What the hell had he been worried about anyway?

‘I think,’ Paul was saying, ‘before we leave today you should visit some of the kids in the hospital with Edna. We’ll have photographers there, get it out on the news agencies. Fortunately there were no serious injuries – the worst is a broken arm. The rest seem to be bruises and shock and the aftermath of hysteria.’

‘Arrange it.’

‘I think it’s a good idea.’

‘Don’t give me speeches. I said arrange it.’

‘I thought you’d say yes. Bernie’s already got it in hand.’ Paul paused. ‘Was everything all right with Edna?’