Killer Heels (46 page)

‘Hold that thought, okay?’ she managed to say, moistening
her lips with her tongue. ‘The girls will be here any second.’
‘You’ll come back to mine tonight,’ he said, still holding her
close. ‘No excuses. I want you in my bed all night.’
‘In your bed?’ she said. ‘Don’t you mean on your kitchen
counter?’
‘Ah, hell, woman.’ He kissed her briefly, a hard promise of
things to come, and pulled back from her with obvious reluctance.‘Let me calm myself down before the girls come flooding
in. Jesus, I’m in actual physical pain here . . .’
‘Coco! Here you are, love!’ Tiffany screeched across the
length of the bar, causing every patron’s head to turn as she
tumbled down it, her padded coat rustling as she moved. ‘It’s
fucking freezing out there! My tits are like bloody icicles!
Ooh-err, what’s all this then?’
Xavier and Jodie had pulled apart, but not quickly enough
to fool Tiff.
‘You were snogging!’ she yelled happily. ‘I saw you.’ She
came to a halt next to the table, unzipping her coat, her voluptuous bosoms, swathed in black jersey, emerging dramatically
as she did so. ‘Look at my new dress – fab, eh? And my bra!
Finally I got to go to Victoria’s Secret.’ She tweaked a strap out
from her neckline. ‘Ooh, and look at you,’ she added as she
took in Xavier. ‘Fit or what! Nice going, Coco! And this one’ll
keep it up all night, eh? Not like Old Mr Moneybags, I bet.’
Xavier, boggling under this onslaught of Luton franktalking, stared at Tiff in dumbstruck silence.
Jodie said weakly, ‘Did you not get anything else, Tiff? Just
the dress and, er, underwear?’
‘Are you joking? I got fucking
tons!
’ Tiff plopped down next
to her, making the padded seat whoosh as it took her weight.
‘Didn’t I, Em?’
Emily and Lucy, following more decorously behind Tiff,
nodded in unison.
‘She pretty much bought out Intermix,’ Lucy said. ‘We
dropped it all off at the office so we didn’t have to carry it
around.’
‘They got me brilliant discounts,’ Tiff shrilled happily. ‘I
love New York! And look at my hair.’ She tossed her head from
side to side to show off her glossy, straight blow-dry. ‘They call
it a blowout here,’ she said, giggling. ‘Are you fucking joking?
Sounds like what you’ll be getting from her later on, if you
play your cards right!’
She elbowed Xavier hard in the ribs, visibly winding him.
Jodie resolutely avoided meeting his eyes as a vivid memory of
doing exactly what Tiff was mentioning flooded back to her.
‘So look, I’m starving now,’ Tiff went on. ‘Shopping always
makes me hungry. And Lucy and Em say there’s a brilliant
diner round the corner.’
‘Tourists always love diners,’ Lucy said apologetically to
Jodie.‘But they do salads too, and you can get burgers in lettuce
instead of a bun.’
‘Nah,’ Jodie said firmly. ‘I’m having a cheeseburger. With a
bun. And lots of fries.’
‘And onion rings,’ Xavier contributed, getting into the spirit
of things.
‘And mayonnaise,’ Jodie said. ‘God, my mouth’s watering
just thinking about it!’
‘Aww, that’s my girl.’ Her sister enfolded her in a warm,
bosom-bouncing hug. ‘That’s more like it. About time you
started eating again!’
‘And everyone,’ Jodie went on, looking from face to face, all
of them full of friendship and, in Xavier’s case, even more than
that, ‘I’ve got an announcement. I’m changing my name back
to what it was originally. From now on, I’m not Coco any more.
This is official – we’ll change it on the masthead and everything.’ She took a deep breath. ‘My real name’s Jodie. Please
call me that in future.’
‘Oh, I say. How brave!’ Emily exclaimed.
‘Yay!’ Lucy said supportively. ‘Good for you!’
‘Hello, Jodie,’ Xavier said, and leaned over to drop a kiss on
her lips, formally announcing their dating status to everyone.
All the girls cooed happily. Lucy even went so far as to applaud.
‘
Finally
,’ she commented in heartfelt tones. ‘You kept us
waiting long enough.’
‘Thank fucking God,’ Tiff said. ‘Mum’ll be over the moon.
You’ve dropped that Coco nonsense, you’ve got a boyfriend
your own age, you’re eating again – oh my God, she’s going to
go
mental
when I tell her!’
Jodie was writhing with embarrassment, but Xavier’s hand
slid into hers, squeezing it tight when Tiff used the word
‘boyfriend’.
‘Your sister’s awesome,’ he whispered in her ear.
‘That’s one word for it,’ Jodie muttered dryly, but she couldn’t
help but feel warm with pleasure that Xavier liked Tiff.
‘Right, what are we doing here?’ Tiff jumped up and started
shrugging herself into her padded coat again. ‘Let’s go off and
stuff our faces to celebrate.’
Face bright with excitement, she reached down and grabbed
her sister, pulling her to her feet.
‘Come on, Jodie,’ she said, wrapping her arm around her
sister’s shoulders. ‘Let’s go and eat a burger.’