Cocktails, Rock Tales & Betrayals

by Archer, Julie

  Caro scribbled a note on Amy's CV and passed it over to Nic. He read the message and nodded imperceptibly. “What's your notice period, Amy?”

  “I'm pretty much available now. My current boss is on maternity leave and there isn't really anything else for me to do where I am, so I'm sure they'd be flexible.”

  “You don't want to stay until your manager comes back?”

  “In all honesty, I don't think she will come back. She's been trying for a baby for such a long time and had to go for IVF in the end, it was all she ever wanted.”

  “Do you have any other offers or interviews in the pipeline?” asked Nic.

  Amy shook her head. “Nothing concrete in any case. I've had a few interviews that I'm waiting for feedback on.”

  Caro and Nic nodded.

  “Okay, thanks for coming in today, we'll get back to the agency in a couple of days as we have other applicants to see,” said Caro. “It's been good to meet you.”

  “And good to meet you too.” Amy stood up and Caro and Nic followed suit. They all shook hands and Nic escorted Amy back downstairs before rejoining Caro a few minutes later.

  “What do you think?” He asked.

  Caro looked up. “She's perfect, if a little too well-groomed. But we can soon knock that out of her!”

  “Want me to make an offer?”

  Caro nodded. “If she can start by the end of this week, that would be great. And I can go and deal with Poppy's insecurities for a couple of days.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Poppy met Caro at Westbourne station a few hours later, bringing back memories of Caro's visit to Gramercy Lodge. And dinner at Gallacher's. She hoped that this visit would be slightly less fraught than her previous stay.

  “Oh, God, I'm so glad you're here!” Poppy threw her arms around Caro.

  They took a taxi back to Newcomen Farm and Caro recognised some of the roads as they went through Westbourne Deane and out into the countryside. She hadn't seen or heard from Alik since the Wilde Park Festival and felt somewhat apprehensive about seeing him again, particularly after how the events had unfolded. Olivia had told her that she'd had to do some fire-fighting in the wake of the alleged assault incident, but everything had finally died down.

  “Wow, are you sure they can fit me in here?” said Caro as they pulled into the driveway, observing the farmhouse and outbuildings.

  Poppy laughed. “Wait until you see inside, you'll see there's plenty of space.”

  She wasn't wrong. Mary ushered Caro inside and took her upstairs to the top of the house where there was an impressive room kitted out with a slipper bath, a king-size bed, a cute window seat, and a tiny en suite. It was decorated in fresh greens and whites and had a calming feel to it, which was exactly what Caro needed. She quickly unpacked her overnight bag and made her way down to the kitchen, lured by cooking smells.

  Caro entered the room and the first person she saw was Alik. He was deep in conversation with Josh and snacking on some delicious-looking homemade soup.

  “Caro, can I get you something to eat?” Mary asked, as both Josh and Alik looked directly at her.

  She nodded, taking the seat closest to Josh. “That would be great, thank you.”

  “What are you doing here?” Josh asked, giving her a hug.

  “Ah, I heard you were shooting another one of your videos and wondered if you might need an assistant again.” The shoot at The Indigo Lounge made an uninvited appearance in her head, Alik half naked, tied to a cross... Quickly, she dismissed those thoughts from her head as Edie walked into the room.

  “Oh, hey, Caro,” she said, eying her. “What are you doing here?”

  “Poppy wanted some help with wedding stuff and suggested I come down. Well, demanded, more like. I think she's getting stressed about how close the date is now and...” Caro stopped herself and looked around the room. “Where is Poppy anyway?”

  Mary set a bowl down in front of Caro. “She and Nate have gone out for the evening, something about a romantic meal together? I'm not sure whether to take that as a slight on my cooking.”

  “Nonsense, Mary, they probably just wanted some alone time. Your cooking is amazing.” Billy entered the kitchen, throwing his arms around the housekeeper and giving her a big squeeze. Caro thought she saw him glance towards Edie as he did so, but dismissed it from her thoughts. “You guys ready to go yet?”

  Josh checked the clock and looked out of the window. “We should probably go soon, I'm keen to make the most of the weather.”

  “Caro? Will you come along to watch?” Alik asked, his tone light as he looked towards her and Edie settled down next to him, dipping some bread into his soup.

  Caro hesitated. She was here for Poppy's benefit, but having been abandoned as soon as she arrived, what choice did she have? Sure, she could go back to her room and hole up with a book or social media. Or she could go and spend some time with Alik.

  “Sure, why not?”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  There were still a few people left on the beach as Alik, Josh, Billy, Edie, and Caro made their way down to the shore less than three quarters of an hour later. Josh had insisted on shooting the scene himself on a small, handheld camera to get a more raw and moody feel to the footage. The sun was setting, creating a beautiful blood red and orange sky, the perfect backdrop for that part of the video, although the temperature was starting to drop.

  “We're definitely going to get some good shots here,” said Josh, checking his watch again and looking up at the sky.

  Alik and Edie were getting ready, Alik gently stroking Edie's arm and whispering into her ear. He was conscious of Caro being there, watching them, and there was part of him that wanted to run over to her, throw her onto the sand, and screw her brains out. But he couldn’t think about that now.

  “Oi, lover boy, snap to it, we're starting to lose the light,” said Josh, making his way back up from down by the water.

  Alik extricated himself from Edie's grasp and stripped off his shirt, boots, and socks. Bare-chested and bare-footed, he offered up his wrists to Josh to be bound, in keeping with the theme of the previous part of the video. He knew that a certain amount of subversity would assist in promoting the band, plus by appearing half-naked throughout the video, it would certainly help to increase the female fan base.

  “Not too tight, I hope.” Josh secured the rope.

  The singer shook his head. “You're okay, Josh, you're no dominatrix.”

  Edie, dressed in a peasant dress, shivered slightly. “It's cold out here, are we going to be long?”

  “If you get it right first time we can be back at the house in less than an hour and out for dinner,” said Josh. “There's no music playback or miming to do here, just you and Alik interacting.”

  He briefed the pair once again on what he wanted from the scene and pointed out the particular shots he needed. Alik and Edie went down to the edge of the water and Josh tried a couple of test shots before finding the background he wanted.

  “Okay, go!”

  On cue, Edie began walking along the shoreline, the breeze making her dress and long blonde hair ripple out behind her. Next, Alik dropped to his knees, crawling in her wake, his hands held up in supplication. The sea lapped around his legs, soaking his jeans, causing him to shudder involuntarily, raising goose bumps on his skin. His mind went back to scene they'd filmed in The Indigo Lounge when he'd been lashed to the cross, and the feel of Caro's touch; he remembered the feel of her fingertips caressing his skin and the smell of her perfume and a bolt of electricity shot down his spine.

  At that moment, Edie turned.

  The look that she and Alik shared was overwhelming, full of a mixture of lust and longing.

  But he wasn't thinking about her. He was thinking about Caro.

  Josh panned the camera from one to the other. “And cut!”

  Alik fixed his eyes on the sand, willing himself not to look up at Caro. Edie helped him to his feet.

  “Hey,” s
he said, touching his cheek. “You okay?” She slipped an arm around his cold body.

  He flexed his shoulders, shaking her off. “Sure, I'm fine.”

  Billy wrapped a blanket around Edie's shoulders. “Getting a bit chilly down here now, you want me to walk you back to the house? I think Josh wants to shoot one more scene.”

  Knowing the scene that they were about to shoot, Alik and Josh positively encouraged them to go - the less people around the better. Billy took Edie's hand and led her away, leaving Caro as the sole viewer.

  Josh went up to the singer, starting him straight in the eye. “Do you want to do this now?”

  “What? And miss out on this sky?” replied Alik. “I'm not looking forward to it, but the sooner it's done...”

  * * *

  They moved down to the edge of the water again and Caro turned to Josh.

  “What's he going to do?”

  “We wrote a scene where he's walking into the sea. It's the last scene where he realises he can't go on and he thinks it's the best way to go; ‘you can bleed like cyanide, but I won't drown in your poison.’” Josh said, quoting the lyrics.

  “But he's still tied up, he could drown!”

  Josh shook his head. “He knows what he's doing, Caro.”

  Caro looked around the beach, looking for any lifeguards in case he got into difficulty. But apart from a few men kicking a ball around, there was no-one. She felt sick.

  * * *

  Alik was psyching himself up for the scene, staring out over the water, his mind whirling over a million thoughts at once. The temperature of the water had dipped suddenly towards arctic and his body was starting to shake. In the background, he heard Josh's cue and slowly began to walk into the sea. The icy water rose, covering his thighs, then his hips. A small current knocked him off balance, but he was determined to continue. The water reached up to his neck. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and immersed himself in the water. Everything went black around him. He counted to ten in his head and then broke the surface of the water, gasping for air. He struggled to the shore, collapsing on the sand.

  Josh was by his side immediately, closely followed by Caro. Josh cut him loose from the rope. “What the fuck happened there? Are you okay?”

  Alik looked beyond him, fixing Caro with the same look he had shown Edie earlier. The intensity consumed him. He needed to know how she felt, that she wanted the same as he did. In Greece, she had made it clear that it should just be a friendship; he wanted to know if things had changed.

  Josh went to fetch a towel and Alik pulled Caro close to him, so the director couldn't overhear. “I need to see you. Have dinner with me tonight.”

  “I can't.”

  “Please, Caro,” he said. “I need to explain.”

  Caro shook her head. “Alik, I'm so sorry, I just can't.”

  She pulled out of his grasp and walked back up the beach, away from him. He was vaguely aware of Josh wrapping the towel around him as he stared after her.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  As it turned out, they ended up going out for dinner after all. With Nate and Poppy already eating out, Mary had recommended the Dog & Duck on the outskirts of the village. Alik, Edie, Caro, Billy, Dev, and Josh found themselves in there amongst a group of locals who were clearly regulars, and who were almost hostile towards the strangers in their midst.

  Particularly strangers who were dressed in denim and leather and had scary-looking tattoos.

  Edie and Billy approached the bar together. Edie was trying to act casual around the bassist. Since the previous evening when they had been messing around in the pool, she found her mind wandering back to the festival and how he had made her feel: Hot, sexy and just a little bit dirty. She liked that feeling.

  The barmaid began serving them, with a bright, nervous smile plastered across her face. “Hi Edie, what are you doing here?” She bit her lip, blushing furiously. “I mean, what can I get you to drink?”

  Edie looked her up and down with some disdain. She wasn’t used to being addressed like that, particularly by people who were serving her. She guessed that the girl recognised her from Pretty Rich Things and various magazine articles, although she looked highly unlikely to be able to afford anything that was stocked in The Magpie.

  Billy laughed. “It's not often you get a personal welcome like that when you go into a bar you've never been to before, love. I don't even get that kind of welcome in my local. I'm Billy, by the way, and I think Edie's after your wine list, if you've got one.”

  The barmaid smiled. “Do you want to see the food menu as well? We've got some specials this evening.” She turned around to pick some menus up from the bar behind her and Edie caught a glimpse of her bright pink g-string peeking out from the top of her cheap black polyester trousers.

  “I'll just go and find the wine list,” the barmaid said.

  “Thanks, love, that would be great. We're starving and I bet you do a good pie in here,” said Billy, flashing a cheeky smile. The same smile he had given Edie when he had been flirting with her. An unexpected sting of jealousy ran through her and she mentally shook herself to rid the feeling. Where had that come from? Why was she jealous of a slightly plump, plain barmaid?

  Edie was still studying the wine menu when Poppy and Nate arrived, holding hands and giggling, both clearly a little worse for wear. She was surprised to see them; she’d expected them to head home after their romantic dinner.

  They went straight to the bar and ordered. “Bottle of red please, something Spanish if you've got it, ideally a Tempranillo, thanks. We're with those guys over there.” Poppy pointed to the table in the corner that housed the band.

  “Hallelujah! That's the way to order wine!” said Alik.

  Edie pouted. In defiance, she decided that she would have white wine and immediately ordered the most expensive bottle on the menu.

  “I'll have to find it in the cellar,” the barmaid told her, “so I might be a while.”

  In the time it took for her bottle to arrive, the rest of the band had downed two pints and Poppy was about to order a second Tempranillo. They agreed on what to order and it was pretty much pies all round - it seemed that the Dog & Duck was renowned for its pie-making, and with fillings to suit all tastes, there was something for everyone. Except for Edie, who had decided to have the fresh sea bass with salad.

  “How are things coming along with the wedding arrangements?” Edie asked Nate. Poppy was looking at her with daggers.

  “All good my side,” said Nate. “Got my best man sorted, got ideas for the stag, so I'm done.” He gestured to Poppy with his glass. “This one, on the other hand, is in total chaos.”

  “Well, it's not my fault that Annie decided to leave me in the lurch. Thank God for Caro stepping in, otherwise I'd be getting married naked!”

  “Yet another way to make the day memorable,” said Nate.

  Poppy punched him on the arm.

  “We will find the most amazing dress, Poppy, I promise.” Caro drained her glass. “More wine?”

  Edie glanced between the pair. She suspected that the dress would probably be trashy or cheap, but refrained from saying anything. She put the last forkful of the overcooked fish into her mouth and swallowed it.

  The plump barmaid who had seemingly allocated herself as their waitress as well - Bren, according to the badge pinned over her left breast - came to clear the table.

  “Do you get many bands coming in?” Billy asked her as she carefully piled up the plates to take back to the kitchen.

  She nodded. “We get a lot more... indie type groups though,” she replied. “I think Bastille were here a couple of weeks ago.”

  “Must make your job more interesting, right? And I bet you get better tips as well.”

  Bren giggled. “Yes, sometimes.”

  They continued bantering for a few minutes, until Edie excused herself from the table and stalked off in the direction of the ladies. She couldn’t believe the gall of Billy, to be flirting wi
th such a non-threat in front of her. Again. She had also watched Alik and Caro carefully throughout the meal. They had barely spoken directly and when they did speak, Josh or someone else had also been involved. Not for the first time, she wondered what Caro was actually doing there. She checked her make-up and straightened the scarf she was wearing over her woollen dress, so it emphasised her cleavage. Applying another coat of lip gloss, she took a deep breath and headed back out into the bar. She wasn't watching where she was going, and barrelled straight into someone in the narrow corridor between the facilities and the main bar.

  “Something tells me there's a bit of jealousy out there.”

  Billy had hold of her upper arms, steadying her. His firm touch sent a shiver down her spine.

  She drew herself up and pulled out of his grasp. “And why would I be jealous of some nineteen-year-old barmaid? It's not as if you're going to sleep with her, is it?”

  “I've got nothing else to do tonight...” he trailed off. “There's talk of going on somewhere after this. I'm going to head back to the farm, I think, maybe lay down a couple of things in the studio. How about you?” He ran a hand over her buttocks.

  “I should spend some time with Alik.”

  Billy laughed. “Of course you should.” He pushed her gently in the direction of the others. “I need a piss.” And then he was gone.

  Edie went back to the table, her mind whirling at what Billy had just suggested.

  Nate was holding up his phone, struggling to get a decent 3G signal to look up the club that had been recommended. “Right, it's called The Pit, who's in?”

  Poppy and Caro agreed immediately, while Josh and Dev declined. Edie glanced at Alik.

  “I'm up for being out a bit longer, how about you?” he asked.

  She pretended to think about it for a moment, as Billy returned to the table. He sat down and drained the last of his beer.

  “Um, I'm a bit tired actually,” she said. “I think I might head back too.”