WTAW Deleted Scene: Will’s First Night on the Job

Today marks four years since I published my debut, Where There's A Will. I spent the day deep in final edits of my 6th full-length novel, Sweet Wicked Thing. And now, finally, it's time for my favorite part: the final read-through, where I load it up on Kindle, all formatted and ready to be devoured, instead of picked apart to death.

After a year and a half, it's such a fucking relief to finally be at this point. I'm nervous, but excited too. And there's no other way I'd rather be celebrating my publiversary.

Originally, today I had planned to kick off the WAIL Annotated Playlist series. I mean, how perfect would that be, revisiting this book starting the day it released. But unfortunately, it's going to have to wait until next Wednesday. SWT edits took longer than I anticipated (Satan help me in the next couple weeks as I enter goblin mode to finish Vicious Fate 🥲) and I didn't get to finish all that I had planned for it.

As you'll soon see, I had a difficult time shutting up. Yes, the annotations are centered on the music...but there's a whole lot of other BTS commentary you can expect to go along with it. 👀

To make up for it, and give Wail their time to shine a bit, I ransacked through an old USB drive for some deleted content I could share instead. There's A LOT, and I didn't want to veer too far away from "canon" for this (that's something I'll save for a future Secretum, perhaps)...but I did find something some of you might appreciate.

For context, this is the original version of Chapter 10 in WTAW. I.E. Will's first night on the job at O'Leary's, meeting Phoebe, Waylon being Waylon, etc. This scene a bit of an extension of what you read that was cut out and reworked.

Basically, in this version, Phoebe wasn't kicked out before the bar opened. She hung around a bit, hiding in the shadows her Ghostface costume (👀 Yeah, yeah, I know, just add it to the list of things to always expect from a Jessie Walker novel: angsty bathroom scenes, bridges, and cosplaying Ghostface).

Oh, AND it's in Waylon's POV instead of Will. So you're also kind of getting HIS perspective on a certain argument they have that you did get in the "published" version of Chapter 10, just reworded a bit.

Why exactly it was cut out/reworked? It was written as if the stakes were higher than they were. Phoebe being down there wasn't THAT big of a deal, realistically. At least not in the way I conveyed it tone-wise. I also wanted the focus to stay on Will and Way...rather than some breadcrumbs I left for a certain other future couple. (Heavy on the future.) I was also trying to cut down on wordcount, because this was before I split it into a duet.

Enjoy!

*this is unedited

Will’s a fucking dead man.

I’m almost bummed to realize it’s not going to me who gets to have the kill shot.

Because after five minutes gave way to ten, and as ten now give way to twenty with Phoebe still hiding out in the corner, bopping out in her Ghost Face get-up to the music blaring from the nearby speaker, Will’s chances of surviving Shawn’s wrath are getting slimmer and slimmer.

Hell, even Mason might join in on the action. He might be the easier-going of the two, but it’s still his baby sister. He won’t come down hard on her—never her, even when she probably deserves it—but he will come down on his newly appointed security. I’m pretty sure there’s a rule about allowing minors to hang out in a bar well after opening. But then again, what do I know? I just work here.

Time seems to blur as I lose myself to the mundane task of whipping up cocktails and filling beers. Every so often I catch Phoebe out of the corner of my eye fist pumping when a new song comes on. She’s hard to ignore. Even some of the customers have started to pick up on Ghost Face jamming out by the coat rack, and I can’t decide if I’m more disturbed or impressed by their lack of surprise. 

I spot Mason approaching Will by the door, and wonder if he finally picked up on the fact that his baby sister’s not where she should be. Upstairs. Then again, knowing Phoebe, she probably told her mom she’d tell him herself, and instead chose to make it a surprise. There’s no way in hell Shawn wouldn’t have triple checked her whereabouts before getting to work had he known Phoebe was anywhere near the vicinity.

Will and Mason knock fists as they switch places. Will wastes no time cutting his way through the crowd toward me. His eyes are wide and so, so blue as he darts a panicked look in Phoebe’s direction.

Smirking to myself, I shake my head at him. I lift a finger, drawing a line across my throat.

His jaw tightens. “You could have kicked her out yourself,” he grits out when he’s within ear shot. He squeezes between Jimmy, one of our regulars, and the back of some lady who pays him no notice, leaning over the bar. “Or texted me. Smoke signals. Something.”

I lift my brows. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He scoffs, “Right.”

I smile blithely. “Did you need something?”

He works his jaw and glances away. “How the fuck am I gonna sneak her out of here now without them seeing?”

I roll my eyes and fetch him the beer he likes, this time from the tap. We’re running low on bottles. I drop it down in front of him with more force than necessary. “You fucked up.”

He huffs and won’t meet my gaze. “Yeah. No shit.” A beat. “I got sidetracked.”

I flash a tight smile. “No shit.”

He gives me an unimpressed look and grabs the glass from me. Our fingers brush and I suck in a sharp breath, jerking them back.

His thick, tawny brows lower dangerously over his eyes as he studies me.

I run a hand through my hair, looking around at the surrounding customers. No one seems to be paying us any attention.

“Here.”

I drop my gaze to the wrinkled five dollar bill he’s trying to slide my way, and give a little shake of my head.

“For earlier too.”

“No, man. You’re working. It’s on the house.”

“I’m not gonna loaf off you guys. I don’t need your charity,” he says dryly. 

I scrunch up my face. “It’s not charity.”

“Well, then what else would you call it?”

I spread my hands. “I don’t fucking know, a nice gesture?”

“You don’t owe me any favors,” he tells me slowly, suspiciously.

“Seriously? Who the fuck said anything about favors?” 

He shrugs, and I watch as he fights a grin, skin pinching around his tightly pressed lips. My jaw ticks, and I kind of want to reach over and throttle him by the neck. His eyes drift around my face, cataloguing every little detail like a fucking asshole.

“You done?”

“Well then, why’s it free?” he asks, ignoring me. He scratches his cheek with his free hand before blowing on the foam skimming the surface of his glass, and dumbass that I am, I can’t help but notice he shaved recently.

Shutting my eyes, I mumble a “Jesus fucking Christ,” before grabbing the bills from him in one swift move, nearly ripping the fragile paper. Glaring at him, I say, “There. Happy?”

He gives me an exaggerated, tight-lipped smile and says “yup” with a loud pop. 

Nose flaring, I open my mouth to tell him where he can shove it—

“Dude, what the hell?” Mason says as he nears our little stand-off.

And it’s only then that I realize how close we are. We’re both leaning forward, meeting halfway over the bar, mere inches away from each other.

Chest heaving, I take a step back and straighten. Will’s slower to withdraw.

“I told you not to charge him.”

I feel my jaw slacken as Will chokes down a laugh. Looking heavenwards, I grit out, “Are you fucking kidding me?” I level a look at Will. Flatly I tell him, “I hate you.”

He purses his lips to hold in his laughter, but he fails. Epically. Asshole. 

“Okay,” Mason says slowly, eyes darting between us. “I feel like I’m missing something.”

I’m too busy staring daggers into Will as he starts cracking up to even acknowledge Mason. Finally, Will clears his throat and seems to force his attention to Mason. He shrugs, “He tried, man. I wouldn’t budge.”

“Of course you didn’t,” he mutters, sighing. He glances over at me with a small, guilty smile, “Sorry, man. Just throw whatever he gives in the jar under the register. I’ll just put it with his check.”

Will mutters something under his breath.

Mason shrugs, and to Will he says, “I’m not accepting your money. So you can either stop trying to force it upon us, or I’ll just add it to your check.”

Will just stares at him dumbstruck.

Mason lifts his palms as he starts walking backwards. “I don’t want your money. Deal with it.”

“I don’t know whether to be impressed,” Will says slowly after a moment, “or annoyed.”

“Try living with him,” I grumble under my breath.

Mason just sing-songs a “you’re welcome” and strolls off to the other side of the bar.

A beat passes, then, “Is he always that…?”

“Yep.” I turn away to go stuff his money in whatever jar Mason was talking about. It doesn’t take me long to find it. Shoving the lid back on, I squeeze the edge of the counter and order myself to stay quiet. Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t—

“Are you always this fucking annoying?” I say, whirling around. Jimmy, one of our regulars, scowls at me and I roll my eyes. “Not you.” I stomp back over to Will who’s coughing around a mouthful of beer. “You,” I say sharply, more quietly. 

He rubs the back of his hand across his mouth. “Nah,” he rasps. Grinning from behind the rim of his glass, he adds more clearly, “You just seem to bring out the best in me.”

I clench my jaw. Then, “You know I’m not gay right?”

His eyes widen and I slam my mouth shut.

Fuccckkkkk. Where the hell did that come from? 

I dart a worried look around, but other than Jimmy, who’s too buzzed and focused on his phone, no one seems to have heard me over the music playing and loud chatter.

I can’t make out the look in Will’s eye as he once again lifts his beer to his mouth. He takes a small, casual sip, inspecting me like one would a bug under a microscope.

I feel my neck heat. “I mean— I just—”

Damn it to all Hell, get a grip.

He gently sets the glass down, lowering his gaze to the thumb he has trailing around the rim. “Well, sure, you made that clear the other night,” he says.

I flash back to the girl he saw me with when I ran into him in the bathroom and some of the tension releases from my shoulders. It doesn’t last long, not when shame is nipping right at its heels. But in this moment it’s enough. It’s enough.

“But I don’t know why you’d assume I’d think you’re straight.”

Okay, so it’s not enough.

Deep breaths… 

He flicks his eyes up and I don’t know what it is he sees, but he’s suddenly frowning. He straightens, eyes tracking across my face like he’s suddenly realizing something for the first time.

“You said we could start over.” My voice sounds choked even to my own ears.

He opens his mouth. “Way, I didn’t—”

“PHOEBE!”

Oh shit. 

My eyes lock with Will’s, his widening as Shawn appears behind him, shoving his way through the crowd like a damn missile.

I’d feel bad for Phoebe if I didn’t know he’d kick a puppy before laying a hand on her.

Slinking out of the shadows, Phoebe rips off her mask with a grimace. Her face is flushed with sweat, and static clings to her hair, lifting the fine, long strands up from her head. She blows a raspberry into the air. “Busted.”

“How the hell did she get in?” Shawn demands once he’s in ear shot.

Will pinches his nose and starts to turn toward him. “Look—”

“I let her stay.”

Several heads turn my way.

I shrug, meeting Shawn’s burning gaze. “It was supposed to be a joke. She was going to jump out and scare you…But then you didn’t come over here, so…”

Ignoring the eyes drilling into the side of my head, I stare Shawn down challengingly.

Jaw working, he shakes his head, mutters something under his breath before turning his attention on Phoebe instead. “Upstairs.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going,” she says, waving him off. He follows after her. No doubt to ensure she actually leaves.

Lowering my gaze, I grab a rag, and start wiping down the bar top.

“Why’d you do that?”

“Do what?” I mutter.

“You know what,” he says softly.

He draws near, and my fingers twitch, my muscles pulling tight.

“Way…”

Lifting my gaze to his, I glare and say, “Don’t.”

His mouth thins, eyes darting between mine.

My pulse races, and I feel a little queasy all of a sudden.

Behind him, movement catches my eye, and I send a silent thanks to the universe for the interruption. I jerk my chin over his shoulder. “Mason’s waving you over.”

He nods shortly and goes to turn away, but at the last second, cuts me an unreadable look. “Thanks.”

I just nod in return, not meeting his eye.