Bet Me (Finding My Way) (17 page)

“I almost left you all again today” I say into the mic.

I feel all the attention of the club turn to me, Andrew joins me on the bar with his own mic.

“I did, I was going to sign the club over to Will, sell my house and leave. Never to return”

“Why?” Andrew asks cautiously.

“Jess wouldn’t let me though” I turn to him.

All eyes swing to Jess and I watch as she shifts nervously but keeping her concerned eyes on me.

“Why did you want to go?” Andrew asks coming closer to me slowly.

“I still want to, I just have to figure out how to do it without Jess finding out and stopping me. Besides, she threatened to come find me and drag me back”

A few laughs go up around us but they sound nervous, even to my ears. I turn when I hear low voices behind me and find Will talking to a concerned looking Lucy.

“Everything can go wrong,” I say into my mic, Will looks up at me “And when it concerns me and my life, everything
always
go wrong”

“Brooke, I thought you were sorted now” Andrew asks and I can see the confusion on his face.

Will jumps up on the bar with us, apparently I feel more comfortable talking into a mic, in front of a hundred people. Then I realize, I do, because up here, we have to filter what we say, to a certain extent. I look down at Lucy and Chloe. “We need shots” I tell them.

They hand us each a shot “Keep them coming” I tell Lucy, she sends me a look but does it anyway. I turn back to Will and Andrew, Andrew is looking down at his shot but Will has his eyes on the shot in my hand. I catch Jess’s eye and motion for her to join me, when she does I hand her my shot.

“Stability, that’s your first one” I gesture for them all to take the shot and Lucy and Chloe hand out another one “Everyone needs stability in their lives”

“Brooke?” Andrew asks again.

I ignore him “Stability can come in a number of forms. It can be a place, somewhere to go. It can be a person, someone to rely on. Someone who no matter what, they’ll be there. Beauty, that’s your next shot”

The club is silent now as everyone watches Will, Andrew and Jess take their shots and then all eyes return to me. I turn my eyes to Will “You don’t know this about me,” I turn my back to him and lift my hair so he can see the tattoo on the back of my neck “Do you know why I got that?” he shakes his head at me “It covers a scar, I don’t have many scars. I never talk about them either, no one knows about them,” my eyes fly to Tucker in the crows and he’s frowning at me “Do you think I need another one?” I ask him.

I don’t look to see if he answers me or not “One more shot Luce” Lucy hands them all another shot and once again all attention is on me.

“Strength” I shrug and gesture for them to do the shots “We all need some strength in our lives”

I walk up to Will and lower my mic, speaking to him directly now but it’s so quiet that I’m sure even people on the other side of the club can hear me.

“I can go on all night but just those three things. I don’t have any of them. So yeah, everything
can
go wrong.  Do you know what the first thought I had earlier was? I wanted to speak to my mom” I laugh, it probably sounds insane “I wanted to talk to her! I hate her and I wanted, no I needed to talk to her. Do you have any idea how fucked up that is?”

“Brooke, maybe we should go into the office” Will says quietly, I can see that he’s confused. He doesn’t understand. No one does.

I lower my self so I’m sitting on the bar and lift the mic to my mouth as I look up at Andrew. I smile up at him “Wanna sleep over tonight?”

“Uh .. last time I spent the night with you Brooke, you left town the next day” He smirks at me.

“You were just that good. I needed to be a few towns away so I wouldn’t jump you.” I laugh.

Everyone visibly relaxes and the atmosphere in the club lifts as the banter returns to normal.

“Well ... I don’t normally do repeats but ... your bed sure is comfy”

I laugh “We won’t get much sleep though”

“I’m counting on that” he winks at me.

“Come down here,” I smile freely. A warm feeling takes over me as Andrew lowers himself down to the bar. I throw my arms around him and pull him closer to me, squeezing him. Will was right; I do have people in my life that will help me. Maybe I
can
do this. “You know I love you, right?” I whisper to him, a tear rolling down my cheek.

He pulls away from me and his eyes scan my face as he wipes my tears away but more keep falling “Hey” he calls quietly.

Jess starts laughing so we both look up at her, Andrew frowns at her but she just sends me a knowing look.

When we get to my house, we head straight upstairs and while I change into something to wear to bed, Andrew strips down to his boxers.

I crawl under the covers and wait until he joins me once he’s turned the light off.

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly “I’m pregnant”

“What?”

“I’m four months pregnant, I found out the other day. It’s Tucker’s and I’m scared and I haven’t told him. The only people who know are Jess and Will, and now you. What am I going to do?”

Andrew gathers me in his arms “You’re going to be fine Brooke”

“How do you know?”

“Because you love hard. Your baby is going to be loved so much, by so many people” He runs his hand through my hair “You have to tell him though. He deserves to know Brooke”

“I know,” I sigh “I just . . . I don’t know how he’s going to take it and I don’t, I just don’t know”

“I won’t say anything and I’ll help you however I can but promise you’ll tell him soon”

“I will” I promise him.

“I can’t believe I’m going to be an uncle” I can tell he’s grinning.

I groan “My kids going to be hell bent on gambling, you’re going to make sure of it aren’t you?”

“You can bet on it” he teases.

Andrew is carrying me through the bar bridal style. He’s laughing, I’m fuming.

He places me on the bar before we even get a chance to greet anyone a mic is being pushed into my hand.

“Brooke has a little problem” he tells the crowd.

I glower at him “Andrew, I swear to god!” I shout at him through my mic.

“Why don’t you tell people what happened last night” he laughs and steps back to avoid my slap.

“You slept on the sofa!” I scream.

“And why is that?” he smirks at me.

“Because you’re .... incompetent” I smirk at the laughs that go up around us and jump off the bar, heading straight for Jess.

“You gotta help me” I beg.

“What’s wrong?” she runs her eyes over and her expression turns to panic “Is everything okay?”

“
I’m so horny!” I hiss at her.

She opens her mouth a few times then closes it again before she bursts out laughing.

I stomp away from her and find Tucker sat at a table with a woman. They both look up at me when I reach them.

“Everything okay Brooke?” Tucker asks.

“Nope” I answer instantly and flop down in the chair next to him, looking longingly at his beer. Maybe one won’t hurt ... after all I‘d been drinking for the first fifteen weeks of this.

“Brooke?” Tuckers voice pulls me away from my thoughts and I drag my eyes away from his bottle, it occurs to me that he’s waiting for me to answer something, I didn’t hear the question so I mutter a quick “nothing” and rush to the bar.

I spend a couple of hours serving drinks but my mind isn’t completely on it. I know this when Lucy has to call my name to get my attention when I’ve been staring at space, or practically drooling over a bottle of beer. When I look around the bar I spot Cam and Jamie sitting alone, I wonder down the bar to them and smile mischievously at them, they both groan. 

“Cam, can I borrow you for a while?” I ask sweetly.

“What are you going to do to me?” he asks cautiously.

“I’m going to get you wasted”

“Well okay then” he grins at me. I motion for him to join me on my side of the bar and pull him towards the office, a few cheers go up as I push him into the office, Will looks up at us.

“I need the office for an hour... or two”

His eyebrows jump up into his hairline causing me to giggle and Cam clears his throat looking rather uncomfortable “Or you can join us” I offer.

Both men turn to me with matching incredulous expressions. I laugh and shaking my head, I go back to the bar. When I return to the office with two glasses and a bottle of Jack Daniels they both fall silent.

“All you have to do is sit with me and drink this” I hold up the bottle. They both exchange a look but nod at me.

No one talks as I sit pouring the Jack Daniels and watch them drink them. When the bottle is finally empty I’m holding back a laugh and silently trying to work out which one of them will pass out first.

“Thank you” I manage to say without my voice cracking but the humour in it is obvious. They both scowl at me.

Cam stands and stumbles slightly but after a few minutes I get my laughter under control and wrap his arm around my shoulder, hooking my arm around his waist I let him lean most of his weight on me and help him back out to the bar.

As we make our way back around to the customer side, cheering, laughing and shouted comments greet us. I laugh more when Cam trips but stop when I come face to face with Andrew, Tucker and Jess. They are all frowning at me but Jess and Andrew both look concerned as they take in me holding most of Cams weight.

***

“I take it you had a good night last night?”

Lucy asks me smirking.

“What are you talking about?” I turn my attention from the group of students in front of me to frown at her in confusion.

“I’m talking about the matching grins that you and Tucker have been wearing all night”

I turn my head and follow her eyes to the table the band are sitting around and sure enough Tucker is grinning to himself, as if he can feel my eyes on him he turns and throws me a wink making Lucy giggle and me roll my eyes.

“It was alright” I wink at her.

The DJ starts playing
Footloose
and I grab Lucy’s hand and start dancing with her behind the bar much to the customer’s amusement.

We laugh our way through it doing some really cheesy dancing and the people at the bar start clapping along with the beat as Lucy and I sing to them. The DJ notices what we are doing and gestures for us to get on the bar so with help from Will we both climb up and continue our dancing/laughing/singing as the music changes from show tune to show tune. The whole club is caught up in our laughter and some people are copying our moves and others signing along with us once the music shuts down ready for the band to go up, we jump down to catch our breath.

“I’m getting too old for this” I complain draining a glass of water.

“You love it really” Lucy shakes her head at me still laughing. “Oooh just in time”

“What?” I ask following her gaze and the stag party has just arrived I hold back a sigh and wince inwardly. The best man booked the stag do but I didn’t realize who the stag was. “Please tell me that isn’t who I think it is” I beg to Lucy turning my pleading eyes on her.

“Afraid so ... that would be Jason the lip ring stud” she sighs dramatically. Looks like you lost your chance with him. “I hope they behave, they look like they’ve drunk a truck load already” she notes watching them stumble and being excessively loud.

“I’ll go welcome them and check it out”

I jump over the bar and shake my head laughing at Tucker and his female fan group, standing at the bottom of the stage chanting for him to take his top off again. I catch his eye and send him a mock glare he smirks at me and shrugs his shoulders but then frowns and sends me a very real glare, I soon realize why when I’m lifted off my feet from behind and carried to the stag table. I’m put down on Jason’s lap. I don’t make any attempt to move deciding how best to deal with these guys. Lucy was right they have had a hell of a lot to drink already and I don’t want to upset them or cause any problems.

“You guys doing okay?” I ask plastering on my biggest smile.

“We are now” Jason grins at me bouncing me on his knee.

“Are you going to drink with us?” One of his friends asks excitedly.

“Only one” I agree and gesture for Lucy to bring me over a round for the table.

“It’s my last night of freedom tonight” Jason says in my ear while wrapping an arm around my middle.

“And what are you going to do with it?” I smile at him trying to hide how uncomfortable I feel.

“I think you’re what he’s going to do with it darling” One of the boys announces and the whole table laughs appreciatively. Jason leans in and kisses my cheek pulling me tighter against him. I look around for a friendly face and meet Lucy’s eyes as she makes her way to us carrying a tray of drinks. I try to send her a message of help with just my eyes but I don’t think she understands as she only smiles back.

“Here you go,” she says to us all as she hands out the bottles of beer. “Who’s the lucky lady then?” she asks Jason moving her head to look behind me.

“For tonight, Brooke is” He tells her making her frown.

“I don’t understand” she admits making me roll my eyes.

“Well I’ve heard good things about how this one is in the bedroom and I refused to get married without trying her out” he says matter-of-factly and  feel my jaw fall open.

“Who told you that?” I demand twisting in his lap.

“I did” comes from beside me and I turn to look at the voice I recognize from the phone booking for this party, I look him over from his brown eyes, shaggy dark brown/ almost black hair, his nose that looks like it may have been broken once before and he has a small scar on the left side of his jaw, he looks like the ultimate bad boy in his black jeans, black boots and black tee, it’s then I notice the tattoo on his right arm and recognition hits me. Memories from that drunken night a few years ago all come back. “Do you still do that thing with your …” he starts but Lucy cuts him off grabbing my arm.

“Umm, I need you to help me a second at the bar, there’s a problem” she pulls me up from the Jason’s lap and with promises to return I follow her to the bar.

“Who is that guy and what was he talking about?” she demands clearly shocked because no one has ever met anyone I have ever slept with before apart from Tucker. Because there is no one else, apart from that guy.

“I’ve had sex with him” I say quietly so we can’t be over heard.

“I gathered that but who is he and when?” she says gesturing with her arms impatiently.

“When I first moved up here, you know after everything that happened with Tucker back at uni, I needed a rebound and well, you just met him”

“He’s hot, maybe even more so than Tucker”

“Who’s hotter than me?”

We both spin around at the sound of Tuckers voice, he’s stood on the other side of the bar watching us curiously.

“Uh … me?” I say not wanting to tell him what we are actually talking about and flipping through the planner under the bar.

“What are you looking for?” Lucy asks, I glare at her and she snort “You can’t remember his name?” she asks incredulously.

We are joined by Jason and his best man just as I find what I was looking for. I look up smiling.

“Jason, Nick. What can I do for you?” I ask and immediately regret it when they both smirk at me.

“Do you have any more tattoos?” Lucy asks Nick eyeing the one his arm.

“Yes“ I answer for him before he has a chance to speak.

“So you do remember, for a second there I thought you had forgotten” he grins at me “So tell me Brooke, how many do I have?”

I can feel Tuckers eyes on me but ignore it “Six” I say watching Lucy not Nick or Tucker.

“Six?” Lucy asks impressed “Where?” she asks me.

I kick her ankle behind the bar where no one can see the action only her wincing.

“I have this one on my arm, one across the back of my shoulders, one behind my ear, one across my side, and one on my chest” Nick answers her for me.

“That’s only five” Lucy says making me turn red.

“Why don’t you tell her about your favourite one Brooke?” Nick says, I can hear the amusement in his voice and want nothing more than for the ground to swallow me up in this moment.

“He has a small inscription running from hip to hip … I think I traced every letter with my tongue or something. I made a really big deal about it” I whisper in her ear mortified.

I step back from her and watch as she throws her hand over her mouth, at first I think it’s in shock but then a small laugh escapes through her fingers.

“Now do you understand why I want to ...” Jason starts grinning but I cut him off. I seriously need to get Tucker away from this conversation.

“Shouldn’t you be on stage singing or something?” I ask him but cringe at how harsh it sounded.

“The guys are taking a break a minute and I wanted a word … alone” he snaps back at me.

“Sure, come into the office” I gesture for him to come around the bar.

“Good luck” Lucy whispers as I walk past her following him into the office.

“What the hell is that all about out there?” he demands as soon as the door is shut.

“Uh… “ Will says weakly from the desk “I’ll just give you two a minute”

“Thanks” I call to the door as he shuts it behind him.

“Who are those men?” Tucker asks watching me closely “I remember the one, didn’t you date him?”

“Uh no, I didn’t date Jason that’s the one with the lip ring”

“And the other one?”

“Nick … well remember when I told you that apart from one other person you were the only one I’ve ever had sex with … he’s the other one”

“He’s the one you used to try and forget me?” he asks carefully.

“Yes” I answer nervously, not sure where he’s going with this.

“How long were you sleeping with him?”

“Just one night”

“Really, because he seems to remember it well for just night one”

“I was drunk … and quite enthusiastic” Why am I telling him this?.

“I don’t like that he’s here, can’t you kick him out or something? I don’t like you talking to him, knowing that you two have been with each other”

I check his expression looking for any signs of a joke but all I see is complete honesty, a little anger and seriousness. “You cannot be serious” I shake my head at him and walk back into the bar.

“Whoa, what’s with the look?” Lucy asks grabbing my arm and pulling me aside.

“What look?” I snap at her.

“Forget I asked” she lifts her hands in a defensive gesture and steps aside. I carry on past her and head over to Jess’s table. I grab a glass of water.