Page 96 of Going Solo

“Why are you doing this to me?”

Felicity maintained her poise. “Have you been drinking again, Cole? Are you high? Why must you throw your life away like this?”

Cole stepped forward, fists at his side, and I was horrified by the thought that he might be violent. That wasn’t the Cole I knew, but this woman had been his captor and torturer for a decade—who knew what that might drive him to? Mitch stepped in, putting a hand on Cole’s chest. Felicity looked at him like she’d only now noticed him.

“Michelle?” she said. “Oh my God, I hardly recognised you. Those in?—”

“Don’t you dare use his dead name!” Cole yelled, arms flailing wildly.

I certainly hadn’t seen that coming.

“I suggest you calm down, Cole,” Felicity said. “You’re embarrassing yourself with this childish display.” She was looking around distractedly—possibly searching for that cab, maybe a police officer, perhaps even her own security detail. Why didn’t she have one?

“I know you’re behind Jasper’s book,” Cole spat.

Felicity shook her head. “Is that what this is about? If your ex wants to tell the world you’re a terrible shag, that’s up to him. Nothing to do with me.”

“Liar!”

“Be careful, Cole,” she said, looking dead at him. “A word like that has consequences.”

“You vindictive bitch.”

“Ah, name-calling. I think this conversation is done, don’t you?”

Felicity turned to look up the street, raising her arm again. A black cab flashed its lights. But Cole wasn’t finished.

“You’ve made your money off me, why can’t you leave me in peace?”

She swung around to face him. “I think you’ll find that you made your money offme. If it weren’t for me, you’d be up to your armpits in cow shit right now. A little gratitude wouldn’t go amiss.”

“Gratitude?” Cole’s arms were thrashing. “After everything you’ve put me through? After everything you put Toby through?” He swung an arm around and pointed to me sitting in the car. The gorgon’s eyes met mine, and my body turned to stone. The leaden weight started in my stomach and radiated out until I was frozen solid, unable to move. Felicity slowly turned her gaze back towards Cole, a smile cracking across her face.

“Marriage material?” She laughed, almost uncontrollably. “This is too much! You’re even more tragic than I thought.” She looked over at me again. “The pair of you.”

“Toby is the best thing that ever happened to me,” Cole said. “And you’ve tried to ruin it twice.”

“Twice?” Felicity said—and her smile grew even wider. The black cab rolled up to the kerb, blocking my view. When it was gone, so was she. Cole stood there, under the brightly lit awning of Maxime’s, looking shattered. Fiona was going to kill him—and she was the least of our worries.

Cocaine Cole caught in clandestine clinch with Marriage Material Toby!

It seems Cole Kennedy is such damaged goods, he’s finally caved in and given long-time stalker Toby Lyngstad the chance he’s been waiting for.

Still reeling from the shocking allegations made about his drug taking, alcoholism, and sexual excess in ex-squeeze Jasper Horner’s sensational tell-all memoir, a defiant Kennedy was photographed kissing the “marriage material boy” outside the pop star’s posh north London home this morning.

With Kennedy’s reputation in tatters, this newspaper can’t help but feel sorry for the radio DJ, who finally gets his man, only to discover he’s no longer worth the cost of the ink to print the wedding invitations. Marriage material? We wouldn’t clean our boots with it…

ChapterForty

It was Denzil who broke the news, in the most Denzil way possible. I was on air at the time.

Denzil:You proper came through for me, bruv! I knew you wouldn’t let the team down.

The small skittish ape that lives in the primitive part of my brain smashed its fist repeatedly against the big red button marked Panic Now.

Denzil:The board is thrilled. This is exactly the shot in the arm we needed.Get in, my son! I won’t forget this, you beautiful homosexual.

Now Iwasseriously frantic. I googled myself and found the photograph. It was Cole and me kissing on his back patio earlier that morning. He’d told me it was safe from the paparazzi, and I’d let my guard down. I threw my headphones off in disgust. They slid over the end of the desk and swung from the cord like a hanged man. Nick and Tarneesha stared back at me in astonishment through the glass.

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