Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Brandy:
Do you ever have those days where time just goes so slowly and then you blink and now you are running very late for your shift? Yeah, that’s what happened to me this morning. I had started the day on time, early even. Woke up at six and got ready for the day. Proceeded to leave my shoe box of an apartment that I share with three other people, and walked to my first job: dog walking. I picked up all the dogs from their houses and started my hour long dog walk as I do every morning. My mistake was to stop and sit on a bench to take cute pictures of the dogs to update my social pages for my dog walking and then before I know it it’s 8.45am and I have all but 15 minutes before I have to start my shift at the sugarplum. I ran the dogs back to their respective homes, having to carry the smaller ones whose little legs could not keep up with the bigger dogs I had today (thankfully I only had three dogs this morning, two of them are from the same house which was a god-sent).
I ran back home, trying not to run into people on my way there. I glance down at my watch: 8.55am. Shit. I quickly text the chef, Weller, that I’m running a little behind as I hopped into my car and headed to the cafe. I change into all black work clothes, not caring that I might smell but a shower will just have to wait until I get home this evening.
“I’m outside the back door.” I spoke on the phone after calling Weller to let me in.
Not even five seconds later the back door opens revealing a slightly annoyed Weller. When you first look at him you only see his intimidating exterior, he’s twice my size in every sense of the term but he’s really a big softy.
“You’re late. Again.” He huffed, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I know but I got distracted by the dogs and lost track of time.” I tried to argue to no avail.
He let out another little huff and shook his head before peering down at me. His blue eyes twinkled with mischief behind his wrinkles. He stepped out of the way lightly to let me in. I grinned and got on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
“Thank you! I owe you one” I yelled over my shoulder while rushing to the lockers to put my apron on, the reverberation of his laughter bouncing off the walls.
I slipped on my apron and slid behind the counter as if nothing had happened, poured coffee for one of the regulars and started with the breakfast service, though my favourite job of the day is cutting up and putting our famous brownies out. The day had gone by with no major hicks, though the new manager, Solene, is a bitch. There I said it, she’s a class A bitch. And she can’t even get my name right! How hard is it to say “Brandy”? She’s been calling me Betty all day which never fails to make Weller chuckle under his breath.
Soon enough it was time for me to close up shop with Amy, the other waitress. Weller had long gone and it was up to us to close up and show Solene how to do it.
“So once all of this is done all you have to do is set the alarm on and turn the lights off. Make sure you have all your things ready to leave as you’ll have about 3 minutes to lock the door before the alarm will sound.” I finished explaining to Solene.
Amy was sitting on one of the tables by the door. Her coat in hand and bag over her shoulder with my stuff next to her. We both worked in the Exodus as bar staff, she had only joined a couple months ago and since then had become close friends. I could tell that Amy liked Solene just as much as I did, which was not very much at all.
I set the alarm and gave a nod to Amy who scooped all of our stuff and headed for the door holding it out for Solene and myself. I locked the door being the last one to leave and let out a puff of air knowing that my day was nowhere near finished.
“And that’s that. I’ll run you through it again tomorrow and let you have a try.” I turned to Solene waiting for her to respond as I have showed her how to lock up for the past two weeks and she had still refused to give it a try.
“Okay Betty.” she yawned.
“It’s Brandy.” I corrected what felt like the millionth time today. I shook it off and waited for Solene to be out of ear shot before turning and letting out the biggest sigh.
“I hate that woman. How hard is it to say my name correctly?” I moaned, putting my coat on and rummaging through my bag to find my car keys.
“I know! She was the worst to me and when Barry was bitching about how climate change was fake news and that the world has gone mad she actually agreed with him! Like full blown had a conversation with him and she added even more nonsense than what he usually spews.” Amy exclaimed.
We continued to chat about our day and the various customers we had as we walked the short walk to my car. I was so glad that summer was on its way and the days were getting longer. I absolutely hated having to drive to the bar in the dark and was more than ready for the hot weather to hit in the next few weeks.
I parked in the staff car park at the side of the Exodus, Amy and I quickly got out and walked in alongside one of the other bar staff, Luke, who worked on our side of the bar. How the exodus was set up was quite particular. There was a jazz bar side, the club side where we worked and which was the biggest bar and then a more ‘classic’ bar setting that was more of a day time setting than an evening one even though it was open at night but Mr Mortimer usually kept the smaller bar as a private bar. I had worked on very few occasions there in the five years I had worked here but it was mostly day shifts before I got my job at the Sugar plum two years ago. Luke, Amy and I all got ready and set up the bar in the club for the night shift ahead of us while we waited for the two other staff on this evening to complete the club team. Not before long the doors had opened and it was time to get the night started. It wasn’t a particularly busy night for us considering it was a Thursday night but nevertheless there were more than enough people to keep us on our toes. I was halfway through an order when Mr Mortimer came to the edge of the bar and called me to him.
I handed my customer over to Luke before I stepped away to the back to see what my boss wanted.
“Is there anything I can do for you Mr Mortimer?” I asked, a little nervous as I’ve never really been called away half way through and order during peak time before.
“Brandy, we’ve been over this you can call me Wolf. You’ve been here long enough to have that privilege.” he rolled his eyes but I knew he was teasing because his smirk that he shared with his father was all the confirmation that I needed.
“But that is not why I called you aside.” he started.
“I need you to run the private bar. Megan broke a glass and sliced her hand and looks like she needs stitches so I’ve sent her off to the hospital to get looked at and now have no one behind the bar and no one with experience of that bar aside from you.” I could tell he was a little stressed which was unusual behavior coming from Wolf.
“Okay no probs. Let me just let the others know and then I’ll head over there.” I confirmed knowing that Amy would want a full run down on our way home this evening in the car.
I let Amy and Luke know and to inform the other two that I will be headed to the private bar. I walked down the long corridor and passed the few security guards that I had come to know very well before I was the the side door that would lead me to the back room that led to the bar.
I stepped behind the bar and started unloading the glass washer, making myself familiar with the bar again.
“Brandy!” I heard a familiar voice yell from behind me. I was faced with the bright smile of Wolf’s wife Freyah.
“Hey Frey!” I called out just as excitedly and quickly came out of the bar to give her a quick hug.
“When Ollie said he was getting another member of staff he never said it was you!” she smiled happily.
I really like Freyah even when we don’t see each other much as she spends a lot of her time in Ireland and has all the little kiddos to take care of. We have gotten quite close. Well as close you can be with your boss’ wife.
It suddenly dawned on me that we were not the only people in the private bar. I scanned the room, recognising Wolf’s youngest brother Alex who was going to be taking over the Exodus soon and their parents.
“Hello Mr and Mrs Mortimer.” I was greeted with a small wave.
“Please darling, call us Asher and Everleigh. Mrs Mortimer makes me feel old.” Everleigh
I smiled shily, I know the power this family holds and have heard a lot of terrifying stories whispered around town and I absolutely do not want to be in their bad books.
I gave one last smile and wave before turning on my heels to head back to the bar door. I just about spun around before I crashed into what I can only describe as being a brick wall or a very sturdy wooden door.
I was steadied by a pair of hands on either side of my arms. I slowly looked up to e meet with the deepest blue eyes I have come across. Nothing like my dull hazel eyes, well that’s just a nice way of saying that they are brown.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to crash into a wall- you- I mean you.” I all but stuttered.
To say he was tall was putting it mildly. Everyone was taller than me, it wasn’t a hard thing to achieve considering I was only five foot three to begin with. But this beast of a man was Tall, with a capital ‘T’, at least a foot, if not more over me. His hair was a deep chocolate brown and that single dimple kissing his cheek as he smirked at my wall comment.
“It’s perfectly alright. I’m at fault. Wall’s shouldn’t get in people’s way, especially not who’s about to pour me a glass of wine.”
Damn.
His voice went from my ears to the tip of my toes then all the way back up again. His hands are still firmly on either side of my arms.
“Would help if you let go of me.” I bit my lip trying not to laugh at how quickly his hands flew off my arms as if I were a hot stove he had accidentally touched.
I didn’t waste a moment making a mad dash to the door and scurried to pour his glass of red wine. Judging by the tab the other barmaid had started I knew exactly what he was drinking for which I was thankful for because I do not think I could handle hearing the sound of his voice again and see how it further affects my body.
I had never seen him before today in the Exodus, at least not on the side I usually work on. I could only assume he was a Mortimer because despite not being blonde like Wolf or Alex he definitely shared the same features, the dimple was a dead giveaway. Although I heard him call Asher ‘dad’ so that helped me come to my conclusion that he was in fact a Mortimer son.
Through the rest of my shift I kept feeling him steal glances my way. Though, that also could just be a figment of my imagination because everytime I felt eyes on me, I never actually caught him looking at me.
Before I knew it my shift was coming to an end. I was polishing glasses, the rest of the bar was cleaned and all stocked up ready for tomorrow. Wolf came up to the bar dropping off the last few glasses after everyone else had already left.
“Thanks again for covering this evening.” he started.
“No worries! I like being on this side, it’s much calmer.” I joked, knowing that working on the club side or jazz bar was always a lot more chaotic and loud. He smiled followed by a small frown drawing wrinkles on his forehead.
“Sorry about my brother.” he sighed.
“Who? Alex? I know he’s only joking when he -” I started putting the wine glass I had finished polishing back on the shelf alongside its friends.
“No. Not Alex. we all know he’s a lost cause.” he started, cutting me off mid sentence.
The confusion on my face must have been crystal clear, urging Wolf to explain what he meant.
“ My brother Carter. The one that kept staring at you like some creep all night. He’s never done that before, so again sorry about that. I will talk to him about it, I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable working here.”
“ Oh don’t worry about that. I barely noticed.” I lied, brushing it off. It did not want to upset anyone, especially not my boss, I decided to just roll with the punches and think realistically. What were the odds of me bumping into Carter again? I worked here for years and have never interacted with him, heck I didn’t even know is name was Carter.
Though, judging by the look that Wolf gave me, I could tell he was not convinced by my lie.
“Honest. I’m fine.” I rushed out before he had time to question me more and to break through my lie.
“He’s not usually like this. I think he was just being protective and making sure you didn’t get injured like Yasmin did. Well at least that’s what I’ve concluded. He is quite the protective type.”
I nodded slowly. His words are sinking into my mind. Was Carter really concerned about my safety behind the bar? I couldn’t see what else that would make him stare in my direction for as much as he did this evening. I’m not much to look at, not nearly as pretty or interesting as the women he must frequent, so it couldn’t be because he found me somewhat good looking, could he?
I shook my head as a way to try and shake those silly thoughts out of my brain. Wolf knows his brother far better than I do. He’s right, he was just being nice and making sure I didn’t get hurt like Yasmin did.
“There’s no worries. Like I said, I didn’t even notice him staring.” I forced a smile past my lips, hoping I was convincing enough and to leave this awkward conversation.
You are such a Liar, Brandy.
My brain screamed at me as I held the smile.
You noticed each and everyone of those stares. It argued again.
“Anyways. I won’t keep you. Clock off in the other bar. Hope you enjoy the rest of your night. Again, thank you for stepping in.” he thanked.
Wolf left with those words. As instructed, once I had finished here I made my way down the long corridors into the main bar to clock off, leaving a note in the system writting down which bar I had worked in that night, before heading off to collect my things from my locker.
