Soundtrack:

Breathe Again by Sara Bareilles - the conversation with Will and Candice

Watchmen, What Is Left Of The Night? by GREYCOATS - the conversation between Will, Candi, Ava, Jamie and Chance

He pulled back, frowning as he watched my face carefully. "No, I'm Lachlan. Remember?"

                  I pushed him back and struggled to my feet. "No. I mean Will. He's here."

                  Lachlan swore and spun around to face Will, whose blue eyes were large and so incredibly heartbroken it took my breath away. He wore the same green sweater he'd left in, and his hair was tousled and wet from rain.

                  Remorse was quickly replaced with anger, and he stormed over to us. He grabbed Lachlan's collar and punched him hard in the jaw, sending Lachlan reeling off the stool and crashing onto the ground.

                  "You son of a bitch!" Will yelled. "You just couldn't wait until you thought I was out of the picture to make your move on her, could you?"

                  "It's not like that!" I told him. "Will!"

                  "She came to me because you let her down," Lochie replied, struggling to his feet. He swiped the back of his hand across his mouth where blood was leaching out of a cut on his lip. He shook his head at the bartender who had stood to attention. "I didn't force her here, Will. You're the one who ruined things."

                  "No, but I bet you couldn't wait to have your chance, could you?" Will said. "You've always wanted everything I've ever had. Even if that includes my fiancée."

                  "Because she deserves better than you," Lachlan replied. "I mean, really, Will? I know you like the fancy cars, but how could you choose the money over your own fiancée?"

                  "I didn't," he ground out through clenched teeth. "And I came here to explain that. But it looks like you two are a little busy. I guess I'll leave you to it, then."

                  Will pivoted on his heel and stormed out. I turned to Lachlan and assessed his injuries worriedly. "Are you okay?" I asked.

                  "I just need some ice and I'll be fine," he replied, and the bartender immediately started loaded some ice cubes into a dishtowel.

                  "I have to go," I told him, glancing out at the door where Will had left.

He nodded. "Go."

                  I turned around and started for the door, slipping through warm, gyrating bodies and girls in tiny lace bodices. The music was loud and pounding, and I emerged into the cold air of the alleyway, which was like a completely different world to the speakeasy.

                  He was leaning against the brick wall, his forearms resting on the bricks and his head resting against his clasped hands. His eyes were closed, and his head was bowed low.

                  "Will," I said quietly, toying with the hem of my shirt.

                  He pulled back and turned to me, and his voice was low and emotionless when he spoke. "I didn't choose the money over you," he said quietly. "I could never."

                  "But you walked out when they gave you the ultimatum. You apologized to me for it."

                  "I apologized to you because I was sorry you had to witness that. And I chased after them to try to convince them not to take the money away. We need that to live, Candice. Without it, we don't have a home and we can't have a wedding. I was trying to convince them not to abandon their son. I wasn't leaving you. Do you really think I could do that to you?"

                  "I thought..." I whispered, though I realized that in the heat of the moment it would have been so easy to get our wires crossed. And it made total sense.

                  He shook his head. "I can't believe you could ever think even for a second I'd choose money over the love of my life. Is that what you think of me?"

                  "No!" I said. "I don't. But what the hell else was I supposed to think? You left me."

                  "I did it for us," he said. "So we could live comfortably."

                  "And what did they say?" I whispered.

                  He shook his head. "They won't budge. They're convinced if they can freeze my accounts and shut me out, I'll come crawling back."

                  "And will you?" I replied.

                  "Do you even have to ask?" he replied.

                  "Will, we don't need your parents' money," I told him slowly. "We both have well-paying jobs. We can make it through this. We just have to think more carefully."

                  "Don't you get it?" he yelled. "Without my inheritance we have nothing! We're getting evicted from our home. And we don't have a hope in hell of getting good credit from the apartment block. Nowhere will take us. We have nothing!"

                  "We have each other," I argued. "And I thought that was enough for you."

                  He leaned against the brick and slid down to hit the ground. He put his head in his hands, and I slowly walked to sit next to him. "You don't get it, Candice. And you never will."

                  "Then make me get it," I whispered.

                  He looked up at me, and I saw his lashes were dusted with light tears. "I wanted to give you everything," he whispered. "I wanted to know I could buy you a diamond necklace or perfume or a bouquet of roses when I wanted to."

                  "I don't want those things," I argued. "I'm just as happy with a DVD and mac and cheese on the couch."

                  "You deserve better than what I can give you now," he said. "You deserve better than some low-budget rom-com and pasta. You deserve expensive champagne and anything you could ever want. And without my parents I can't give you a place to live, much less something like that."

                  "We'll figure something out, just like we always do," I told him. "This isn't the end. And if we let it, then your parents win. And you and I can't let that happen."

                  "What are we supposed to do?" he whispered. "We have nothing, Candice. Us winning against our parents won't give us a place to live. Either way, we both lose."

                  "I don't know what you want me to say," I whispered, feeling my eyes well with tears. "I'm willing to fight for us, but if you're not, then maybe you'd be happier with your trust fund than you are with me."

                  I stood up and started walking off. I knew having everything taken away from him was the furthest thing from easy for Will, but I knew if we loved each other enough we could make it through the worst storm. But if he didn't have the same faith in us, what was the point of trying to make it work?

"Candice, wait," he whispered.

                  I felt his hand enclose my wrist, and as I spun, suddenly I felt his lips on mine. They were desperate and warm and as familiar to me as my own heartbeat.

                  He pulled back and rested his forehead against mine. "You're all I have," he whispered. "And I can't watch you walk away from me. I need you."

                  "Then you have to decide," I whispered, my fingers trailing down his cheekbone. "It's me or the money."

                  "For a long time, I had all the money in the world and no one to share it with," he whispered. "No one who meant anything to me. And I wanted to share it with you, but if I have to choose, I will live in a cardboard box if it means I get to be with you. I love you, Candice. And I choose you. The question is, do you choose me, too?"

                  "What do you mean?" I whispered. "Of course I choose you. Why would you even ask me that?"

                  "You and Lachlan," Will whispered. "If you hadn't seen me, would you have kissed him?"

                  I shook my head. "No," I told him. "I would never do that. You're all I want, Will. And I would forsake diamond earrings and an extravagant wedding if it means spending my life with you."

                  "Let's go home," he whispered. "At least while we can still call it home."

                  I nodded and slipped my hand into his, and we started towards the apartment. Maybe we had a week, but we could think of something, I was sure of it.

                  As long as we had each other, we didn't need anything else.

                  ~      *      ~

                  Will slid the key into the lock as I leaned against him, feeling exhausted from the previous day. Part of me wanted to call Lachlan and make sure he was okay, but I knew it would have to wait until tomorrow. Everyone just needed time to cool off.

                  The door opened, and immediately I heard running footsteps. "Candice, is that you?" Ava called, skidding into the foyer flanked by Jamie and Chance.

                  "And... Will," Chance muttered, his eyes immediately turning stormy. "What the hell are you doing here?"

                  "Guys, it's okay," I said tiredly. "He wasn't leaving me today. He was trying to convince his parents not to take everything away from us. He's on our side."

                  Ava crossed her arms over his chest and watched him speculatively. "How do I know we can trust you?" she asked Will.

                  "Because I did it for all of us," Will replied. He did not seem fazed when facing the proverbial firing squad. "If they take everything away from us, all of us are being thrown into the street like yesterday's garbage. And I didn't want to strand you guys like that."

                  "I hate how logical you sound," Ava said, pouting and slipping onto a breakfast stool. "What are we going to do?"

                  "I don't know," Will replied, running a hand through his hair as he threw his scarf on the coatrack. "I won't get good recommendations from my parents now, so I don't see how we're going to find someone who will rent us an apartment."

                  "Isn't there an apartment above your restaurant?" Ava asked. "Why not just use that?"

                  "Because we already rented it out to someone who needs it far more than we do," I said, thinking of Charlie and his many siblings. I would rather live on the streets than evict them.

                  I sat down next to Ava, and everyone else leaned against the benches as they thought. It wasn't just Will and I whose home was at risk now. I had three best friends here, and we needed to find shelter for all of us.

                  "What are we going to do?" I asked hopelessly, dropping my head into my hands. "I've got no idea what the hell we're supposed to do!"

                  "I might," Jamie piped up, and we all turned to him with varying degrees of hope and desperation. "You said that you can't get good credit, right? I mean, there is no way in hell the Winchesters are going to leave a nice recommendation at the front desk..."

                  I nodded. "Yeah. But thanks for rubbing the salt into the wound."

                  "Hear me out," Jamie said with a reassuring smile. "You can't get the credit. But we can."

                  "Brother, I love you, but if you keep speaking in riddles I will be forced to throw you out of the window," Ava said. "Get to the point."

                  "We have recommendations from Hamilton when we kept our dorms in check after we moved out of the college campus, right?" he said, his eyes widening and his face livening as the plan took shape in his head. "What I'm saying is... what if we purchase the apartment under our name with our credentials? Then we could divvy up rent and live together. It's not ideal, but it could work temporarily until we figure out a better plan."

                  "Jamie, that's a brilliant idea," I told him, and I meant it. "But they normally only give out leases on a six-month to yearly basis. Even if we did that, you'd be tied to a plan that would keep you in England way past summer."

                  "Candice, I am a twenty-three year-old college graduate with a degree and no job," Jamie said tiredly. "What the hell do I have to go back for?"

                  "Same here," Chance said quietly.

                  "And I just graduated," Ava replied. "We can find jobs."

                  "We can't ask you to do that," Will argued, shaking his head vigorously. "I got us into this mess and I'll get us back out. I don't expect you to stay here and share the load."

                  "Will's right," I said quietly, as much as I hated to admit it. "We can't ask you to stay in England indefinitely for us. You have a life. And you can't just put it on hold because your friend asked you to."

                  "But you didn't ask," Ava replied confidently, flicking her hair back. "We're telling you."

                  "What about America?" I argued. "What about your family and Hamilton and your lives?"

                  "It's only for a few months," Ava replied. "It's not like we're signing up to spend the rest of our lives here. We can help you stay afloat. You just have to let us."

                  "You have no idea how much this means to us," I whispered, feeling my eyes well with tears at their overwhelming kindness. "Thank you, guys."

                  "There is nothing we wouldn't do for you, Candice," she replied. "And you're going to have that wedding at the end of this summer no matter what, understand? The invitations are already sent, and I am not calling to cancel. Even if the event is in some hoedown bar with hog appetizers, you two are sealing the deal in September. Are we clear?"

Will and I laughed, and I knew better than to argue with her over something like this. Once Ava had her mind set to something, there was no turning back. "Thank you," I told her.

                  She smiled serenely. "Of course. Now, we'll look at apartments in the morning. For now, let's just sleep."

                  I nodded. "Sounds good."

                  I kissed Will goodnight, and he left to return to his apartment. I could already tell we were in for some big changes, but I felt better knowing I was surrounded by a whole bunch of people who were willing to do anything to help me and make me happy.

Chance and Jamie stumbled off to their room, but my mind was caught up in the future and what was going to happen next. Everything was uncertain, but I knew we'd make it through this. Because if something like this couldn't tear us apart, nothing could. I just couldn't believe my friends were so willing to sacrifice something like this for me.

"Coming to bed?" Ava asked gently, resting a hand on my shoulder.

                  I nodded. "Yeah," I replied. "Soon."

                  "Okay," she said, and started for the hallway. Just before she disappeared, she turned around. "Oh, and Candice?"

                  I looked up. "Yeah?"

                  "Shower before you come to bed. You smell like the inside of a strip club."

                  I smiled. "Will do. And actually, I prefer the term speakeasy."

~ * ~

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

If you haven't already, please check out my new book Kiss The Cook, which tells the story of how Candice and Will met and fell in love!

Thanks for reading!

Much love xx