Where There's a Will... Read online

  The vision of Sam sobbing his heart out as his two friends held him stayed with me for the couple of days that led up to the video shoot. I didn’t do well with people crying, but when it was a grown man... I was a goner. What made it worse was speaking to him, knowing why he was so upset and broken and not being able to do anything about it.

  When the three of them emerged from the room a while later, Sam had looked a little better, and Abraham was tapping away on his phone like a demon. I only hoped he was giving Preston a right dressing down. I may have been a Preston fan, then and now, but I was under no illusion that he needed to remember where it all began, and who he climbed the ladder with. Hope had surged through me at the thought of their friendships getting sorted soon.

  The brewery had contacted me giving the full go ahead as the licence had been granted in record time. As long as the pub didn’t get trashed, and drinks weren’t served too late, everything was given the okay. The phone call had lifted a weight off my mind as I’d started to worry that I’d have to inform Will and the band that we’d have to either postpone or cancel completely.

  The pub was its usual steady self throughout the rest of the week, as I waited for Sunday to creep up on me with both anticipation and trepidation. On the Friday, friends from around the country started to arrive for their weekend revolving around Cosmic Tush and each other. A few friends had even flown in from Continental Europe for the weekend, and as I had been roped into laying on a buffet the day before video shoot by Casey, I had to organise and prepare for that. Not that I minded, it was a great excuse for a bit of a party before the main event.

  Gwen hovered around the pub like a bad smell whenever she wasn’t working. She had spoken to Mary a couple of times, and had managed to wangle her way in to being official photographer for the day. This was great news, but she was driving me mad flitting around the room like an overgrown bumblebee; she even had the stripy tights. I tried to ignore her while I got on with my everyday work, but it was hard when all I heard was ‘Sam this...’ and ‘Sam that.’ It was worse when Casey was working, the pair of them would extol his virtues until my ears were threatening to bleed. Yeah, I liked the guy, but Jesus, those two took it to extremes.

  When they sensed I was fed up with all things Sam Hollis, the pair of them would gang up on me and start teasing me about Will. I spent a lot of time those few days rolling my eyes. What made it worse, was them telling my friends about him ‘wanting me’ as they arrived for the weekend. By the time Saturday evening rolled around, I had about nine people telling me they couldn’t wait to see how Will acted around me the next day.

  It was... to say the least, quite embarrassing. As there wasn’t much I could do about it, I ignored the main offenders - namely Gwen and Casey - who were watching me more than carefully, and kept my eyes on my business as the boys stepped through the door. Fuck. My. Life! There were catcalls as Will came straight over to me, beaming. I kicked Casey as she elbowed me in the back to shut her up. She limped off to take her place behind the bar, pouting. She called out to Gwen to help out and get some ice from downstairs; I distinctly heard a ‘no, I’m watching the show’ as Casey limped behind the bar alone.

  “Hey Zoe.” Will sat himself on the barstool next to mine. I glanced over his shoulder at Sam, who looked much better as he flashed me a bright smile as he sat with the rest of the guys.

  “How’s it going?” I walked behind the bar to pour a round of drinks for the guys as Casey gossiped with the other fans in the pub at the other end of the bar with Gwen. I could feel every set of eyes watching us and it made me feel like a sideshow freak.

  “Awkwardly.” He smirked, “Why the hell is everybody staring at us?”

  “Gossip mongers one and two over there can’t keep their mouths shut.” He turned to look at Gwen and Casey, catching them making kissy lips at me as the others laughed. Both of them jumped at being caught, Casey almost spilling the drink she was pouring, which made me laugh a little.

  “Why are they doing that?” There was no way on earth that I was going to tell him.

  “No idea.” I passed over the tray of drinks and moved along the bar to the next customer. Once Casey and I had finished serving everyone waiting, I settled back in my seat to get some paperwork done. I had written about three words when Sam joined me.

  “Can I have a word?” His voice was quiet in my ear.

  “Sure.” I led him through to the back room for privacy. “What’s wrong?” My words were swallowed up by him enveloping me into a hug. “What was that for?” I asked when he finally let me go.

  “Thank you.” I smiled at the embarrassment in his voice. “For the other night. I wanted to apologise for breaking down on you, a complete stranger.”

  “Well, I’m not a complete stranger now, am I?” I smiled again as he wrinkled his nose and grinned even brighter, his face reddening.

  “Well, that’s kinda the other thing that I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Well, you and Will-”

  “Oh, shut up and leave the room.” I tried to push him towards the door leading back out into to the lounge. “Seriously, if anyone else even suggests that either Will or I have a thing for each other I might have to gouge their eyes out with a rusty spoon like they do in horror films.” I got even more pissed off at him laughing at me.

  “Let me just say something, he -” I cut him off.

  “I mean it Samuel Michael Hollis. I am not above actual bodily harm.” He flinched when I used his full name, but the grin never left his face.

  “He’s right, you’re adorable when you’re embarrassed.” I glared at him. “and pissed, but that’s beside the point. Why are you fighting what is obvious to everyone else?”

  “I’m not fighting anything; there’s nothing to fight. Now let me go do my job.” He grabbed hold of my wrist to stop me storming away.

  “You are, but I haven’t finished thanking you anyway. Because of you, Abraham called Preston and he’s promised to meet up to talk through all of this… whatever it is.”

  “I’m pleased. I hope you can get the air clear between you. No doubt he was hurting as much as you were, even with his new responsibilities.” I was referring to the fact that he’d had a baby after a one-night stand with someone he’d met at a show. He’d left Cosmic Tush to make their impromptu family work.

  “Well, he’s going to come and see me, so we can talk. It’s time it was done face to face rather than via text message.” I couldn’t help but smile at the excitement in his eyes and voice; Sam was the ‘perpetually happy’ one, and it was clear this whole split with the band had really hurt him. The fact that Preston was willing to try and sort it out had brought back the twinkle to Sam’s eye and the spring in his step.

  We walked back to the other room. “And give Will a chance, he’s a good guy.” he managed to get in one last comment, smirking as he dodged the beer mats I propelled in his direction.

  Saturday nights in the pub were usually quiet as many of the offices surrounding it were closed at the weekends, but tonight the place was full of voices and music. The band were at ease with the amount of fans that had turned up, mingling amongst them chatting and joking. There was an air of discomfort at the absence of Johnny and Preston. Although it had been long enough that the fans were pretty settled with the new members. Martin and Bryan were sitting with a small group of girls who had travelled from Scotland together chatting away with wide smiles on their faces. Seeing all of the guys, and Mary, interacting with fans, it was obvious that the band dynamic had changed a lot. There was a spark missing, that the missing two guys had provided that no one could imitate.

  “You looked shattered.” Gwen sidled up to me, yet another empty glass in her hand.

  “Thanks, love you too.” I was worn out and beginning to see double from the paperwork. Usually I was able to get it all done in a couple of hours sitting in a quiet corner, but tonight was different. People constantly came to sit with me for
a quick chat before moving on.

  “You know what I mean. Go get yourself up to bed, there’s only an hour left, Casey can lock up; I’ll help her out, then come up with the rest of the house guests – show them which rooms they can use and all that.” I gave her a hug before standing up and gathering the paperwork into my arms.

  “I knew there was a reason I kept you around.”

  I went down to my office, dumped everything on my desk, grabbed my phone and cigarettes before going back up into the lounge. I poured myself a large glass of wine to carry up to the flat above the pub. Giving Casey my key card to run it through the card machine to cash up at the end of the night, I remembered my iPad was behind the bar so, without thinking, I leaned over to grab it. Gwen pierced the air with an ear-splitting wolf whistle that caused everyone to look at me. “Gwen, do you want to sleep in the cellar?” She simply winked at me before looking at Will who was watching the both of us with small smile on his face.

  “You’d never do that to me and you know it.” I hated my best friend sometimes. Especially when she was right.

  “Whatever. I’m going to bed. Night everyone.” A chorus followed me out of the door where I made my way up to my flat.

  One of the main plus sides to running a pub is the accommodation. The flats above them were nearly always huge, with loads of bedrooms. I came from a huge family who were always getting rid of stuff, so all the rooms in my flat had at least a bed and somewhere to put clothes. Nothing matched as all my cousins had different tastes, but it was better than chucking someone into an empty room with a sleeping bag. I even had all sorts of mismatched bedding and blankets for everyone. Most of them were sharing rooms, so only three of the six were being used. I’d set aside one so that everyone could keep their bags in it if they wanted, the other two had been claimed a while ago by both Gwen and Casey if ever they needed somewhere to sleep off a drunken stupor, which happened more often than not. They even kept clothes in them and a toothbrush in my bathroom.

  Once I’d got home, I pottered around, flicking on lamps in the rooms so no one would have to stumble around in the dark once I’d gone to bed. Both Gwen and Casey had a spare key, so I didn’t have to keep the front door unlocked – something I hated to do considering I lived above a pub, where people got drunk. I stumbled into the bathroom to wash and change into my pyjamas, after I was ready for bed, I pulled on my huge fluffy men’s robe and went to sit in the living room to read while I drank my glass of wine and ate a sandwich the size of my head.

  Just as I was getting to the “who done it” bit of my thriller book, I heard the front door click shut.

  “That you Smell?” I called out, assuming Gwen had come upstairs. Groaning, I stood to go and put my empty glass in the kitchen.

  “I know I’ve not been near water since this morning, but I wouldn’t say I smell.” I nearly jumped a mile in the air at the sound of Will’s voice.

  “What the hell are you doing up here?” I didn’t mean to snap, but I was going to gut someone for giving out my key.

  “You left this downstairs.” He held out my phone. “I was the only one able to manage the stairs.” As soon as I took my phone of him, he began to back away, a touch of fear in his eyes. “I’ll... er... leave you to it. Sorry for the intrusion, but Casey thought you’d be asleep. I was just going to put it in the lounge, then go back down.” I instantly felt bad for practically biting his head off.

  “I’m sorry, and thanks for bringing it up. I just get wary because so many people, many I’ve never met before, know where I live already.” I actually shuddered at the fact. It was something I tried to not let get to me, but every now and then, I remembered and triple checked all the doors in the building before I went to bed.

  “I couldn’t imagine how that feels. Especially when alcohol’s involved.”

  If only he knew.

  “Yeah, it’s not great. So, talking of alcohol, how come you’re still sober?” I walked back into the living room, allowing him to follow me.

  “Unlike the band, I don’t work so well still drunk from the night before. Filming’s not like being on stage.” He grinned at me, hovering in the doorway. I indicated for him to sit down.

  “I guess I didn’t think of that. Must be pretty boring for you down there then.”

  “No, I love being the sober one, especially with a camera phone.” I burst out laughing at the smug sound to his voice.

  “I bet you have a fair few dodgy shots from the years.” I picked up my cigarettes for something to do to ease the nerves I was surprised to be feeling. All I could hear was Gwen’s voice whispering to me about Will and how he looked at me when I wasn’t looking at him. Shutting the sound out, I turned to Will to find that he was fast asleep in the armchair. Smiling, I covered him with a blanket and went off to bed myself. I was worried about the state I would find the pub in the morning, but was too tired to go down and check.

  You know that feeling when you wake up feeling like something momentous was going to happen that day? No, me either, but I did have a funny feeling when I got out of bed; I couldn’t shake it.

  As I got myself ready to go downstairs, I looked in on everyone to check they had made it up the stairs. Everyone was accounted for as sure as I could be. I couldn’t fully remember who had arrived and who hadn’t. I was walking along the corridor towards the bathroom when I heard a deep thud.

  I ran into the front room and found Will on his arse, rubbing his head. Stifling a laugh I carried on to the bathroom before I wet myself. I had a quick shower before pulling my robe back on and tying it tightly.

  "Any chance of a coffee?" Will appeared in the kitchen as I flicked the kettle on. Glancing at him, I could see he hadn’t slept very well. The bleary eyes were rimmed with red, making the deep blue stand out even more than usual, and rumpled clothes gave that away along with the fact that he was walking as if he were about ninety years old.

  “Sure, take a seat, I’ll bring it through.” I looked up at the clock to see that as usual, I was up before six a.m. The life of a pub landlady fucked up your body clock, getting you out of bed before needing to on a day off was common. I made two cups of coffee and carried them in the front room where Will was stretching out the kinks. I held out the coffee to him.

  “Oh, thanks.” I sat on the chair that he had slept on. He took a sip and murmured in appreciation before suddenly looking scared.

  “Hey, I make fucking amazing coffee.” He shook his head, causing his dark blond curly hair to hypnotise me as the curls bounced around. Over the years he’d grown it out, and he almost had a ‘fro’. I wondered what it felt like as I watched it move around.

  “It’s not that. The band were waiting for me to go back down before we headed back to the hotel to prep for today. Shit!”

  Shit indeed. I could just hear the teasing now. I just hoped that both Casey and Gwen saw Will sleeping in the chair when they came up after closing up.

  “Oh, fun times. I better go and get ready, I bet the bar is in a fucking state.” I drained my cup.

  “I’ll come and help you before heading out to grab my gear.” I left him in the sitting room while I went to get dressed. There was no time to dry my hair, so I just pulled it up into a messy knot on the top of my head. Jeans, Chucks, and a Cosmic Tush tank were all I needed today. I slicked on a bit of mascara and lip gloss, took a deep breath as I was suddenly feeling more than a little nervous and went to collect Will before going down to the pub.

  I nearly had a heart attack when I walked into the lounge. There were bodies everywhere. Thankfully, Gwen and Casey had cleared away the majority of the glasses and the bar was spotless. But, the band and a few of the girls from Europe were sprawled out asleep on chairs and the floor having not gone out to their hotel. I stopped Will from shaking Abraham awake and went to the stereo system behind the bar. I grabbed a cd, put it in, cranked the volume and hit play.

  “Never be the first to fall asleep…” Lyrics from the Cosmic Tush song, Drunken Fools r
everberated around the room causing every single person to jump.

  “What the fuck!” Martin shouted over the music. I stopped it and even my ears were ringing in the silence. “Seriously, why would you do that at this ungodly hour?” I burst out laughing, I just couldn’t help it.

  “Dude. You are in my pub, drooling over the upholstery as you snore like a damn train. I can wake you up any way I want. Besides, you have a busy day today.”

  “You could have just shaken us awake.” Sam grumbled, pulling himself to his feet, towering over me, finally awake fully to join Martin in his indignation.

  “Yeah, I could have, but this way was more fun.” I grinned at him before gathering the few empties on the table.

  “Admit it, you’d do the same.” Will stuck up for me. “In fact, I think you did once back in college.” Sam had the good grace to look embarrassed, before grinning slyly.

  “Yeah, you got me there, but onto bigger and better things. Where did you get to last night? You were only supposed to deliver the phone.”

  Will began to rub the back of his head as if he were nervous. I hid behind the bar as much as I could in the hopes that Sam wouldn’t turn on me.

  “I took the phone up then crashed out in a chair.” If I hadn’t have been there, I wouldn’t have believed Will from the tone of his voice. He sounded shifty and as if he was hiding something.

  “Whatever dude. You look like you haven’t slept a wink... if you know what I mean.” Sam flashed his trademark grin at me and winked. “And you look fresh as a daisy. That’s suspicious.” Ignoring him, I turned my back on them, and went down to the office.

  I could hear their voices floating down the stairs as they all teased Will as he’d expected. I tuned them out and started to prep for the buffet in the kitchen. It had been decided to not have it yesterday, so I was making it for during and after the shoot. I hadn’t been downstairs long when I heard the doorbell ringing. I jogged up the stairs, grabbing my keys off the side of the bar; I pulled the long deadbolts down and found the right key, so I could unlock the heavy door.