Free No Matter What by Michelle Betham Page B

idea where India is?” Michael asked, leaning back against the bar and looking towards the elevators.   He seemed agitated.
    Reece shook his head.   “I’m assuming she’s still getting ready.   Do you want me to call upstairs and see if she’s done yet?”
    “No.”   He looked at Reece.   “Where’s Kenny?”
    “I’m guessing he’s with India .”
    Michael felt his stomach lurch.  
    “She’ll be ok you know.”   Reece sensed Michael’s nerves.   He’d never seen him so on edge.   “She won’t let us down.”
    Michael looked towards the elevators again, as if willing her to appear.   “It’s not her I’m worried about.”
    Reece caught the bar man’s attention and ordered another couple of bourbons, sliding one towards Michael.
    “Come on.   One more for the road.   It’s gonna be a long night.”
     
    ***
     
    Charley blew on her nails, waiting for the cerise polish to dry so she could finally pull on the dress of her dreams.   It was a very tight, quite short little pink number that left little to the imagination and showed off everything she had, including her fantastic new breasts.   She loved them.   They were something she’d always wanted and now they were also her most valuable assets.  
    Charley Miles was pursuing a new career.   She’d put the drudgery of ‘Wheatman & Rogers’ behind her after that trip to Merseyside to see Terry.   All it had taken was one night of clubbing and a morning of making him realise that he couldn’t live without her and she’d had him hooked.   India ’s footballer brother was now her boyfriend.   One small step on the ladder to recognition and she felt very, very pleased with herself.
    When she’d handed in her resignation at ‘Wheatman & Rogers’ it had been the happiest day of her life.   She’d almost skipped out of the building with a head full of dreams and the determination that she was going to make something happen, and she had.   She’d bagged a first division footballer and now she was well on the way to becoming a glamour model.   She just needed to speed things up a bit, get her face known more.   Well, not just her face, really.
    She smiled to herself as she remembered seeing her first set of photographs.   Now it wasn’t just India on the front of magazines, Charley could be a cover girl too, even if it was a completely different kind of cover girl.   But she had to start somewhere.   Not everybody could have the lucky break that India had had but Charley would get there.   She’d make it as big as India ; she’d have everything India had.
    Blowing on her nails one last time she thought about Kenny Ross.   Like she’d said - everything India had.
     
    ***
     
    Terry was as nervous as hell.   This was a huge night for his sister and he just wanted everything to go right, which included Charley behaving herself.   A bit of Dutch courage she’d said when she’d opened the bottle of wine she’d ordered from room service ten minutes ago.   What did she need Dutch courage for?   It wasn’t her night; it wasn’t her who would have the eyes of Hollywood watching them.   She was supposed to be there to support India .   And he wasn’t sure about the dress she’d chosen either.   It seemed a little too obvious to him.   He’d preferred her before the breast implants and this obsession she had about becoming a glamour model, it was almost too predictable for the girlfriend of a footballer but he was trying to be as supportive as he possibly could.   She was making it hard, though, and he was trying to concentrate what little energy he had left on India .
    But Charley was good for him in some respects.   She brought out the wilder side of him, a side he never really let out that often.   She was showing him what it was like to have a bit of fun now and again, although it was tough keeping up with her sometimes.   And he couldn’t ignore the stick he was getting from the other lads on the football