Diamond (Diamond Trilogy 1)

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘But we were going through a rocky patch. We were this close to calling it a day. She changed a lot over this past year. Keeping secrets from me. Going out all night and saying she’d passed out on a mate’s couch. But I know she didn’t.’

‘Are you sure she wasn’t involved with this drug thing?’

‘She wouldn’t stoop that low. I know her, Jen, she wouldn’t.’

He looked down at his hands for a moment, and Jenna watched his expression travel through stages from dark to light until he met her eye with a cheeky glint and said, ‘Anyway, as the smooth bastards in the flicks always say, enough about me. Let’s talk about you.’

Jenna was still processing the fact that he’d called her Jen, something nobody had done in a long time. For years now it had been Jenna or Ms Diamond or Ma’am. Deano’s pet name for her had been Dyno, short for Dynamo Diamond. It had pleased him – Deano and Dyno: the dream team. But lately it had been Jenna. Or ‘you hard-faced bitch’.

‘There’s nothing to say about me,’ she said nervously. ‘It’s all in the tabloids anyway.’

‘I don’t read that shit. And how can you say that? Fuck me. You and Deano Diamond are the only interesting people to come out of Bledburn, ever. You were held up to us at school as examples – the reasons why we should work hard and get our exams.’

‘Deano dropped out at fifteen,’ said Jenna, with a laugh. ‘How ironic.’

‘Ah, see, they never told us that. Propaganda.’ Leonardo shook his head in disgust.

‘Was Psycho Sanderson still teaching there when you went?’

Leonardo clapped his hands, accompanying the gesture with a long, low chuckle.

‘Bullying knob that he is, yeah.’

‘He was the reason Deano walked out. Called him a shirtlifter for coming into school with an earring.’

‘Once a wanker,’ said Leonardo, philosophically. ‘He’s part of the reason I left, too. Just couldn’t stand the thought of looking at his face for one more day. But you did your GCSEs, yeah?’

‘Yes, I stayed on. Went into the sixth form too, but left when Deano’s band started getting attention in the music press. Became their agent slash manager. The rest is history, yadda yadda.’

‘So you were a kid, really. You must’ve been tough as nails, going into that business at that age.’

‘I don’t know. I had so much faith in Deano, I’d have fought lions to get him the recognition he deserved. I didn’t really think about needing to be strong. I just did what I had to do.’

Leonardo nodded, looking impressed. ‘You’re a good person to have in a bloke’s corner,’ he said, then his smile took on a devilish hint. ‘Are you in my corner? Nice and tight.’

It was the second time he’d given Jenna a frisson of excitement that came from low down between her thighs. Dirty boy, you’re trying it on with me.

‘I’m more than willing to represent you,’ she said, trying to sound prim, but her mouth wouldn’t harden enough and she knew she was breathing too fast. What the hell was wrong with her? This was worse than the time she’d met Madonna and her mind had gone a giddy blank.

‘You can’t exactly put my name in lights,’ he pointed out. ‘There’s a warrant out for me. Hey, perhaps I can be like Banksy. Faceless ninja artist, putting my stamp on the world. I reckon I’d be good at that.’

‘I reckon you would, too. Actually, that’s a really good idea. I mean, a bit derivative, but I don’t think Banksy has a copyright on anonymity. We’ll have to give it some thought.’

‘What I don’t get,’ he said, putting down his wine glass after a long swallow, ‘is why you’ve come back here at all. I mean, you got out. Last I heard, you were on TV, every Saturday night, making pots of dough. Who the fuck comes back to Bledburn? And why?’

‘You know I’m divorcing Deano?’

Leonardo shook his head.

‘Like I said, I’m not up with that kind of thing. And I’ve spent the last six weeks holed up here. So, what, broken heart? You’re going to let some bloke ruin everything you’ve worked for?’

Jenna laughed sharply to hear Deano Diamond, the triple Grammy winner, described as ‘some bloke’, then she sobered.

‘It isn’t like that. I don’t have a broken heart. Me and Deano – it hadn’t been working for a while.’

Leonardo gave her a long look.

‘Someone else?’ he asked gently.