Shafted Read online

  Looking up at him, Tania frowned. He was being absolutely horrible about this, and she really didn’t understand why. He’d been photographed with thousands of women, so why get so mad about two little shots with her? He certainly couldn’t be ashamed of her, because she was way better looking than half the women he’d been seen with. And none of them had been celebrities, either, so it couldn’t be that Tania didn’t match up in that department.

  ‘Was that the point of coming onto my show?’ Larry demanded now, his tone cold and accusing. ‘To get me drunk and manipulate me into taking you out, so that your friend could take pictures of us?’

  Stunned that he was trying to blame her for whatever was eating him, Tania gasped and said, ‘I didn’t get you drunk. You were already plastered. That’s why they sent you off.’

  ‘Convenient,’ Larry muttered, knowing full well that she was right – about that bit, anyway. But she’d definitely had a hand in setting him up, he was sure about that. Scowling at her now, he said, ‘For Christ’s sake, get dressed. I feel sick enough without having to look at that!’

  Humiliated by the contempt in his eyes, Tania scooped her dress up off the floor and pulled it over her head. It was badly creased, but that hardly seemed to matter in light of how disastrous this date was turning out to be. Slipping her panties on when Larry turned his back on her and marched across to the window, a surge of anger reared up through the emotional pain. All she’d ever wanted was to be with him, but he was being so nasty that she wasn’t sure she wanted to see him again – not until he apologised, anyway. He might get away with treating his other women like this, but not her. There was no way she was going to roll over and let him walk all over her just because he was a star.

  Hands on hips when she was dressed, Tania faced Larry’s rigid back and said, ‘Look, I’m sorry you’re so upset about having your picture taken with me, but I don’t see the problem. And I certainly don’t deserve to be shouted at for it.’

  ‘I thought you’d have been used to being shouted at,’ Larry retorted coldly. ‘You must get it all the time off your parents and teachers.’ Turning to face her now, he folded his arms. ‘Isn’t that what adults do to naughty children?’

  Cheeks flaming, Tania raised her chin. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Come off it!’ Larry snorted. ‘Did you really think you’d get away with it? I know every thing, you stupid little girl. Everybody knows.’

  ‘Everybody knows what?’ she demanded, trying to front it out, sure that whatever he thought he knew, she could still talk her way out of it.

  ‘That you’re sixteen,’ Larry told her slowly, making sure that she heard it loud and clear. ‘That your real name is Tania, and that you lied your way onto my show by pretending to be your sister Cindy – who is in Majorca as we speak. That enough for you?’

  The tears came now; a slow trickle which quickly became a torrent.‘I’m sorry,’Tania wailed, looking at him with pleading eyes.‘But does it really matter? I’m old enough to sleep with anyone I want to, so nobody can stop us if we want to be together.’

  ‘Are you mad?’ Larry gasped incredulously. ‘Do you really think I’d want anything to do with you after this?’ Laughing without humour now, he shook his head. ‘Christ, I didn’t even know who you were when I woke up – that’s how forgettable you are.’

  ‘Larry, please . . .’ Tania begged, the burst of righteous indignation gone now as she took a step towards him. ‘I know I could make you happy. Just let me show you.’

  ‘Stay right there,’ he ordered, amazed that she seemed to think she could make everything all right by getting him back into bed. The very thought that they had already done any thing sickened him to his stomach, and he was just thankful that he couldn’t remember a single thing about it. But whatever had happened, it most definitely would not be happening again.

  ‘Please don’t be like this,’ Tania persisted tearfully. ‘I didn’t do anything wrong. I know I lied about my age to get on the show, but I had to – to meet you. The first time I ever saw you I knew we were meant to be together. And you like me too, so I wasn’t wrong, was I?’

  Shaking his head with disbelief, Larry said, ‘Have you any idea how childish you sound? You’re like a twelve-year-old with a crush on a pop star.’

  ‘I’m old enough for sex,’ Tania reminded him desperately. ‘And I’m not at school any more, so my mum and dad can’t tell me what to do. We could even get married if we wanted to, and nobody could stop us.’

  ‘Behave yourself!’ Larry snapped, feeling more nauseous by the second. This had to stop – now. It was sick, and he could understand why the public would have a problem with it. If he heard about a man of his age sleeping with a sixteen-year-old, he’d call him all the perverts under the sun – even if the girl looked older, like this one did.

  Sidestepping her now, he snatched up her handbag and thrust it into her hands, telling her to go home and forget that any of this had ever happened.

  ‘I can’t forget it,’ Tania wailed, clutching at his hand. ‘You’re everything to me.’

  Wrenching himself free, Larry said, ‘Christ, you’ve already lost me my job. Don’t you get it? Your silly little crush and stupid lies have destroyed me. I don’t want you, and I never will. I just want you to disappear like you never existed!’

  ‘Stop it!’ Tania cried, throwing her hands over her ears. ‘Stop it, stop it, stop it!’

  Afraid that the neighbours would hear her and think that he was beating her up, Larry rushed towards her and gave her a gentle shake, hissing, ‘Pack it in, for God’s sake.’

  Sobbing loudly, Tania fell against him and buried her face in his shirt. Everything had been going so well before he’d found out about her age, but she genuinely didn’t think she’d done anything wrong. And she’d have told him the truth eventually – when she was sure that he was as deeply in love with her as she was with him.

  Pushing her away gently when the sobs began to subside at last, Larry looked down into her swollen eyes and sighed. She was just a child, and he couldn’t put her out of his apartment in this state. But he couldn’t let her stay, either. Now he’d seen the pictures and knew that Georgie had been telling the truth about the drugs, he was terrified that the police would come crashing in at any minute, and the last thing he needed was for her to still be here. Knowing his luck, he’d get done for drugging and date-raping her, or something ridiculous like that.

  Tempering his tone now, because Tania seemed to be calming down and he didn’t want to set her off again, he said, ‘Look, I’m sorry for shouting, but you’ve got to go before anybody realises you’re here and makes something out of it. I’m going to call you a cab, but we’ll have to sneak you out through the underground car park in case any photographers are hanging about. And I need you to promise that you’ll keep your head down. Okay?’

  Nodding, glad that he was being nice again, Tania said, ‘I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.’

  ‘Yeah, well, let’s try and avoid any more scandal, eh?’ Larry took another step back. ‘And can we agree to say that nothing happened if anyone does catch up with you?’

  ‘Nothing did happen,’ she admitted, with more than a tinge of regret in her voice.

  Peering down at her with a confused frown, Larry said, ‘Sorry?’

  ‘Nothing happened,’ she repeated, taking a tissue out of her bag and wiping her nose. ‘You were too drunk to do anything by the time we left the club, so I got your keys out of your pocket. It was just lucky the taxi driver knew you, so he already had your address, ’cos I don’t think my dad would have been too happy if I’d had to take you back to mine.’

  Heart racing as the clouds of gloom began to disperse, Larry said, ‘Is this for real? You’re not lying again?’

  ‘It’s the truth,’ Tania insisted, adding, ‘I would have if you’d wanted to, but you were practically unconscious. So, I . . .’Trailing off, she dipped her gaze as flames of embarrassment seared he
r cheeks. ‘I got you undressed. But I didn’t look at – you know. I just wanted you to be comfortable.’

  Exhaling loudly as the last of the tension floated away, Larry gazed at the ceiling and murmured, ‘Thank you, God!’ Then, moving towards Tania – but not too close – he inclined his head and kissed her on the cheek. ‘And thank you for telling me the truth. Now, let’s get you out of here before anyone realises you stayed the night.’

  ‘What should I tell my mum and dad?’ Tania asked, the fear in her eyes displaying exactly how young she really was. Her parents would have seen the papers by now, and they’d never believe that nothing had happened if they found out she’d slept in his bed with him. It wouldn’t have been such a problem if he’d been willing to stand by her, but she wasn’t brave enough to face that on her own. Her dad had a vicious temper when he was angry, and she was bound to get battered – and not just for this, but for stealing his precious Cindy’s ID, too.

  Larry hadn’t even considered how Tania’s parents might react to the news that their daughter had spent the night with him. But now that she had mentioned them, it struck him that they would probably be even more scandalised than the rest of the country about him supposedly corrupting their little girl. Worried that they might decide to take the matter further, he asked if she thought they were likely to go to the police.

  Shaking her head, Tania said,‘No chance. They wouldn’t want the neighbours gossiping. They’ll probably just put me on total lockdown till I’m thirty, or something.’

  ‘Oh well, that’s good.’

  ‘For you. But what about me? They’ll kill me if they find out I stayed here.’

  ‘Can’t you tell them you stayed with a mate?’

  Face lighting up, Tania said, ‘Yeah! I can say I kipped in Joanne’s garage – they’ll deffo believe that.’

  ‘They’d believe you slept in a garage?’ Larry gave her a doubtful look.

  Assuring him that she did it all the time, Tania said, ‘It’s more a sort of den than a garage, with beanbags and cushions, and that. Me and my mates always doss there when it gets too late to go home. And Joanne and her mum are at her nan’s in Scotland this week, so no one would know if I’d really been there or not. I’ll just say I got a taxi from Bone. And if they ask about you I’ll say you told me to get lost when you found out how old I was.’

  Smiling, grateful that she was willing to put herself on the line for him, Larry gave her a fatherly pat on the arm, and said, ‘Good girl. That’ll really help me out.’

  ‘It’s all right,’ Tania said, her own happy smile fading when Larry slipped his jacket on, because she knew that she would have to leave him now. Biting her lip nervously, she said, ‘Can I ask you something?’

  ‘Shoot,’ Larry said, looking around for his keys.

  Dreading a negative answer, Tania looked at her feet and said, ‘You do like me, don’t you?’

  ‘Course,’ he replied, magnanimous in the face of relief. ‘What’s not to like?’

  ‘I mean in that way,’ she persisted, blushing furiously, but determined to take this one last chance to salvage something from the disaster. ‘Only, I’ll be eighteen in two years, so, I just thought . . . well, maybe I could see you again – when nobody can say anything bad about it?’

  ‘Tell you what I’ll do,’ Larry said, herding her towards the door. ‘I’ll take you out to dinner on your eighteenth birthday. How about that?’

  ‘Really?’ Eyes glowing, Tania gazed up at him lovingly.

  ‘Really. Now, where did you put my keys?’

  Winking at her when she said she’d left them on the hall table, Larry reached for the phone and ordered two cabs, then led her out.

  ‘My cheque!’ Tania squealed when he picked up his keys and opened the front door. ‘I left it on the bed.’

  Reaching out to stop her as she made to go back for it, Larry said, ‘Forget it, sweetheart. They’ve probably already cancelled it. You won’t get a penny.’

  ‘But why?’ she gasped. ‘I won it fair and square.’

  ‘You lied about your age,’ he reminded her, pushing her gently but firmly into the communal corridor and stepping out after her.

  ‘It’s not fair,’ she complained, folding her arms as he locked the door and led her down the stairs to the car park. She might have lost him for the time being, but that money would have really helped to soften the blow.

  ‘Yeah, well, life ain’t fair,’ Larry said simply – blissfully unaware of just how true that statement would prove to be for him in the coming months.

  4

  Larry’s life fell apart. And not gradually, which he might have been able to work his way through, but swiftly and completely.

  True to her word, Tania had gone home that morning and done a fine job of convincing her parents that she’d spent the night in her friend’s garage – alone. Relieved that their daughter, who had already been branded a cheat for entering the show in her sister’s name, was at least absolved of the ‘slag tag’, they had immediately contacted the press, resulting in numerous interviews with the tearful girl, who doggedly stuck to her story throughout.

  That, coupled with the blood-test results which proved that there had been nothing but alcohol in Larry’s bloodstream, should have been enough to clear his name and win him back his job – especially after the police declared that he had no case to answer.

  But it didn’t.

  He might have been proved innocent, but Frank Woods had already made an appearance on the local evening news by then, naming Matty Kline as the new host of Star Struck, and citing Larry’s continuous drunken behaviour as the real cause of his dismissal. And, pre-empting Larry’s threat to sue him for slander, libel, defamation of character, unfair dismissal – or anything else he might choose to throw into the mix – he’d backed up his claims with out-takes from the Star Struck archives, showing Larry in the worst possible light: reeling drunkenly around the set, forgetting his lines, being abusive to the crew, and groping the female contestants.

  His professional reputation in tatters, Larry had to accept that there was no going back as far as Star Struck was concerned. But he consoled himself with the belief that something bigger and better would soon come along. He was a major star, after all, and his fans would demand that some body get him back on screen as soon as humanly possible, because everybody knew that there wasn’t another host in Britain who could hold a candle to him when it came to looks, charm, and personality.

  Wrong again.

  The rumoured alcoholism and teeny-bopper sex scandal lingered around Larry’s head like a toxic cloud. Producers wouldn’t touch him, and his showbiz so-called friends shunned him because they were afraid of being tainted by association. But if all that was humiliating enough, it was nothing to the knock his pride took when he discovered that he’d been left off the guest list for the annual TV awards ceremony.

  For five years solid, since exploding onto the screen and into the female population’s hearts with Star Struck, Larry had been invited to the awards and had always come away with a symbol of his success: Best Newcomer; Best Host; Most Popular Male Star;Most Downloaded Pin-up . . . Accolade after accolade, seemingly forgotten in the flash of a viciously penned news story. And he couldn’t even sue Sam Brady, because the bastard had worded the original story so carefully – and implication, according to Larry’s solicitor, was not the same as accusation, so he had no case.

  Battered and bruised, and tortured by the injustice of being barred from Oasis TV and overlooked by the awards’ organisers, Larry ventured out to the clubs in search of women, intent on fucking away the pain of rejection – only to find himself blacklisted from every VIP lounge in town as word got out that he was no longer considered a celebrity. And he wasn’t even afforded the respect of being informed about this via a quiet word in the managers’ offices, which was the least he’d have expected given how much money he’d spent in their establishments in the past. Oh, no . . . it was left to the doormen to inform h
im that he was no longer welcome – in full view of the everyday punters, who jeered him from the queues as his old still-celebrity friends sailed past him as if they didn’t even know him.

  Upset and frustrated that, despite being cleared, nobody wanted to give him a chance, Larry slid ever deeper into despair. Unable to show his face outside without some smart-arse picking a fight or calling him a pervert, he hid away by day, only venturing out at night to stock up on booze, cigarettes and takeaways. Holed up in his apartment, with the blinds closed to keep prying eyes at bay – and he was sure that he was being watched, despite being too high up for anybody to see in unless they used a helicopter – days rolled into nights into weeks into months, with no company except for the TV.

  It killed Larry to hear the Star Struck music every Wednesday evening, and he despised the sight of Matty Kline’s smug grinning face on screen. But, perversely, he couldn’t not watch it. It was an open wound which needed to be picked and scratched and poked and prodded – and that was exactly what he did, until the poison festered in his heart and soul. Star Struck was his show and always would be, and he spent that weekly thirty minutes of agony tearing Kline’s performance to pieces and wishing him a slow, painful death. And then he would ring his agent, Georgie, demanding to know why she hadn’t lined him up any new projects yet – and calling her every fat, useless bitch under the sun when she told him that there was nothing in the offing, even though she was the one and only person who had stood by him throughout that terrible time.

  Larry knew he should be grateful to her for that, and in his rare moments of lucidity between waking up and getting pissed again, he would berate himself for being such a bastard. But guilt didn’t sit too comfortably with self-pity, so every time he had an attack of remorse after abusing Georgie over the phone, he would drown it with even more alcohol.

  Which was precisely what he did when, after almost a year in the showbiz wastelands, she actually called him for a change.