I take out my mobile and snap a couple of photos of myself to show Mom and Leah. There is a small black purse amongst the accessories. I drop the lip gloss, my credit card and my mobile into it and snap it shut. Picking up the black wrap that goes with the dress, I leave the room.
Cash is already in the living room. He’s wearing a cream dinner jacket with shawl lapels, a white dress shirt, a black silk bowtie, and slim cut black trousers. Everything is perfectly cut and gives him a rakish, devil-may-care appearance. At the sound of my arrival he turns, the bottle of beer on its way to his mouth stays suspended in the air. He doesn’t smile. Just stares at me as if even he can’t believe his eyes.
I feel myself start to flush.
He puts the beer bottle down on a counter and walks towards me. ‘Christ,’ he whispers.
I can see myself reflected in his eyes, an odd shaped pixie. I touch my hair self-consciously. ‘Am I overdressed or something?’
He smiles. A strange smile. ‘You’re not overdressed. You, Tori Diamond, are heartbreakingly beautiful.’
Time stands still. The world stops spinning. I even stop breathing. Cash Hunter thinks I’m heartbreakingly beautiful. Then I reach out a hand and pretend to straighten his already straight bowtie.
He holds out his elbow. ‘Shall we?’
I slip my hand through it.
‘I can’t get over your transformation, Wildcat,’ he murmurs, his eyes raking me from head to foot.
A stretch Mercedes with blacked out windows is waiting for us outside. As soon as we appear at the doorway, Cash’s security men — four enormous military types with sharp cold eyes — nod at him and snap into action. They rush towards the Mercedes and hold open the passenger doors. Cash settles me into the car, then goes around to the other side. As he slides in beside me, two black SUVs screech to a stop in front and at the back of the Mercedes.
I watch the burly men quickly pile into the two SUVs. They give the all clear signal and the Mercedes starts moving. We travel sandwiched between the two SUVs.
It is not a long journey to Brewer Street, right in the heart of Soho.
Chapter Twenty-five
Tori
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ItHLz5WEA
If not for the long queue of people waiting to go in and the remarkably large bouncers gathered outside the wooden doors, I would never have imagined that those bland doors are the entrance to London’s ultimate in naughty burlesque and fantasy cabaret. A place that is supposed to give one of the strangest nightclub experiences in all of London’s night life.
Even before the Mercedes comes to a halt, Cash’s security detail jump out of their vehicles and head quickly towards our car. All eyes immediately turn curiously in our direction with the knowledge that a celebrity is about to emerge from it.
Both Cash’s door and mine get opened at the same time. I take a deep breath and slide out nervously. So many eyes are on me. Then Cash steps out on the other side and instantly there are shouts, whistles and wild screams. People start calling out his name. Cameras start flashing.
Surrounded by his menacing team of guards, Cash looks to me, smiles and thank God, takes my hand in his. Then we are quickly escorted towards the entrance doors.
Suddenly a bunch of girls leave the queue and rush forward squealing Cash’s name and stretching out their hands to touch him. I immediately feel intimidated by the surge, but Cash seems to take it all in his stride. He lets go of my hand and stops. He even shakes some hands. A girl begs for his autograph and suddenly thrusts her arm to him. Immediately Cash’s security team form a wall to block her.
‘Hey, it’s cool,’ Cash says, and taking a pen from one of the security team proceeds to sign her arm.
‘I love you,’ she screams as the red ropes are lifted and we are ushered quickly into what looks like a large theatre with two stages and meters upon meters of luxurious red velvet, exquisite gold embellishment and candles everywhere.
Oiled-up naked beauties hang from the ceilings and dance on top of bathtubs. I know, weird, but wonderful. A woman named Ashleigh, one of the hostesses, comes to show us to a cordoned off private party area. There is red banquette seating and it is already crowded with people. The only people I recognize are Octavia and Gavin and two other members of Alkaline. Octavia smiles tightly at me, and Gavin gives me a slow smile.
Cash starts introducing me to them. There are too many for me to remember, but the thing I notice straight away is how quickly the other women eye me up and down, then immediately set out to completely ignore me. As we mingle I even find myself being deliberately elbowed out of the way. Disgusted, I let go of Cash’s hand and almost instantly other people push me out of the way, like water closing on something. I turn away to go back to the table and a pair of strong arms catches me by the forearms.