‘Business? Dirty business,’ muttered Jason, but he took a tumbler and perched on the arm of a chair, looking guardedly at his company. ‘What do you want with me?’
‘You’ve heard my piece,’ said Deano, knocking back the whiskey.
‘Yeah, and I told you. Jenna’s not interested. She’ll do the film and then you can fuck off back to Hollywood.’
‘Manners,’ said Lawrence mildly. ‘Let’s all be gentlemen, shall we?’
Jason stood up again.
‘What sort of gentleman behaves like you?’ he thundered. ‘You’re no more than a crook, Harville. You tried to attack Jenna. Yeah.’ He turned to Deano. ‘He never told you that, did he? Came back to the Hall after I was put away and thought he could do what he liked with her. If Kayley hadn’t been there …’
‘Kayley,’ said Deano, staring. ‘I like her.’ He put down his tumbler. ‘Is that true, Lawrence? What he just said?’
‘Rubbish,’ said Lawrence, but one of his eyelids twitched as he spoke. ‘Surely Jenna would have pressed charges, don’t you think?’
‘She didn’t want the extra publicity. She had enough on her plate. Besides, she thought the drugs stuff would be enough to send you down without her name being dragged into it even further. Pity the CPS didn’t come through on that one.’
‘Let’s not drag up the past,’ said Lawrence, struggling to maintain a level tone of voice. ‘We aren’t here to talk about me. We’re here for you and Deano to talk things through.’
‘Are we?’ said Deano. ‘You’re the one who wanted to bring him here.’
‘What are you thinking, Harville?’ asked Jason. ‘What’s the plan? Want to put the frighteners on me, do you, with your wood-cutting friends?’
‘Ah, yes, my friends,’ said Harville. ‘Do you know, I think I’ll go and look for them? It’s clear that my presence here isn’t helping at all. I’ll leave you two gents to it.’
He left the room.
For a moment, both Deano and Jason could do no more than look after him in bemusement.
‘I’m not sure I like that guy,’ said Deano contemplatively, once they heard a back door bang shut.
‘Well, I can’t criticise your taste,’ said Jason, calming a little now that Harville was off the scene. ‘He’s a prick.’ He took a draught of the whiskey and allowed himself a roguish half-smile. ‘And your taste in women ain’t bad either.’
‘Thanks. It used to be all right, anyway.’ Deano sighed. ‘To be honest, I don’t know what I’m doing here any more than you do. I only agreed to go out for drinks with Harville to get away from my new agent. She’s driving me mad. And she’s made it pretty clear she wants the kind of relationship Jenna had with me. The A-list star couple. She wants that but she doesn’t really want me.’
‘Diddums,’ said Jason, walking over to the window and staring out. It had started to rain. ‘Still, you won’t be short of skirt, I suppose? Star-struck girls following your every move.’
‘Is she really serious about you?’ Deano sounded incredulous. ‘Jenna, I mean.’
‘Yeah, she is.’ Jason turned to face him. ‘I know. Doesn’t seem likely, does it? I’m just some loser from Bledburn and she’s … she’s what she is. But she’s the only person who’s ever … ah, forget it. You wouldn’t understand, and it’s none of your business anyway.’
‘She’s discovered you,’ said Deano. ‘And that’s Jenna’s thing – discovering people. So I can understand what she sees in you. That look in her eye that she gets when she’s really excited about a new talent – that’s what she has with you. She had it with me once.’
‘There’s more to it than that, though,’ said Jason after a pause. ‘After all, she spots a lot of talent. She doesn’t sleep with it all.’
‘She loved my talent and she loved the life it gave us,’ said Deano. ‘But once she saw that there was stardom of her own to be had, she lost interest in me. She stopped coming on tour with me – too many of her own commitments. She was chasing that LA dream every bit as hard as I was. Don’t let her tell you otherwise. And you’re a part of all that. The amazing new undiscovered talent. You’re fucking textbook, mate. Just don’t expect it to last forever.’
‘What the fuck are you talking about?’ Jason slammed down his tumbler and bent towards the seated figure of Deano, his stance radiating menace.
Deano held up his hands.
‘Hey, don’t shoot the messenger,’ he said. ‘But I’ve been there, remember. In the end, you last as long as your effect on her ego. When your success reaches a level where you can do without her – that’s when she loses interest. Watch and see.’
‘Fuck off.’
Jason couldn’t look at him. He went back to the window, brooding; the insecurity that lay always just beneath his surface fully reawakened.
‘That’s not the way she sees it,’ he said eventually. ‘She told me you started shagging around because you couldn’t stand her making a go of her own career. You did it to get her attention. Sad.’