Trust Me (Finding my way) (11 page)

He throws the hammer to the ground next to me and gets up. I watch confused as he pulls Sam up off the ground and pushes him away.

“Get out of here and stay the hell away from her! Next time, I won’t stop,” he growls at him. He stands watching as Sam stumbles his way out of the graveyard.

I crawl over to my dad
’s grave, crying out in pain as my ribs protest against any movement I make. I wrap my arms around the headstone and cry, unable to stop. I can hear the deep howling cries that tear through my mouth, but don’t care or even attempt to stop them. Tucker comes and sits next to me and I turn on him.

“
What are you doing here?” I yell at him, still crying.

“
I followed you, just like I have for the last three nights. I usually just sit in my car and watch you, to make sure you’re safe,” he says quietly.

“
That’s not for you to do! You shouldn’t be here, this is where I come. This is supposed to be
our
place! Just for us!” I shout at him. Before I realise what I’m doing my fists go flying and I’m punching his shoulders. “I don’t want you here. I don’t want you anywhere near me.”

“
I’m sorry Brooke,” he makes no attempt to stop my attack.

“
I hate you!” I yell, trying to put more force behind my punches, but not finding the strength.

“
I know, I’m sorry!” Still not trying to stop my attack takes my anger up another notch.

“
I trusted you!” I scream at him as a painful sob breaks through. “I trusted you!” I cry softly and give up on my attempt to hurt him because it obviously isn’t working.

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his chest. I sob into his chest as he rocks us both back and forth letting me cry.

“I’m so sorry Brooke, so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was drunk; she was bitching about you and, it doesn’t matter, I’m so, so sorry...” he says, quietly stroking my hair.

“
I hate her,” is all I can say; he doesn’t reply, just picks me up and carries me to his car.

I drift in and out of sleep in the car and he carries me up to the dorm knocking softly on the door. I pull my eyes open as the door opens and Sophie and Matt stand in the doorway staring at us. Sophie
’s mouth drops open at the sight of me and I groan. She takes a step towards us, but Tucker shakes his head at her and says something I don’t hear. It makes her take a few steps back. He puts me down on the sofa and climbs on next to me and wraps his arms around me, holding me close. Waiting for me to break down again, I suspect. Sophie and Matt join us and start asking questions; all of which Tucker answer thankfully.

“
Are you okay Brooke?” Matt asks. I look across and see Sophie crying softly.

“
Yeah, step dad, hammer, hit my dad’s grave, then hit me, was going to kill me. Tucker stopped him and hit him. Step dad went. So I hit Tucker. Tucker said he’s sorry and I’m still alive,” I mumble sleepily. I can’t hear the rest of what’s said.

I feel a blanket being pulled over us and snuggle down.

“It’s over now, Brooke,” he reassures me, stroking my hair.

“
It’s never over, not for me,” I mumble and let the sleep take me.

When I finally wake, I attempt to stretch out a little but groan as my body resists the small movement.

“
Brooke?” Sophie calls softly.

I turn my head and see she
’s at the table with Matt and Tucker; I close my eyes again and groan as flashes of last night come back to me. “I’m here” I call back, knowing how worried she must be about me.

“
Here.”

I open my eyes again and she
’s crouched in front of me holding a glass of water and two aspirin; Matt is next to her offering me a cup of coffee.

“
Thanks,” I say weakly accepting the water and pills first.

“
How bad is it?” Matt asks as I take the coffee from him.

“
I’m mostly sore and I have a killer headache. I’m glad I don’t have to go in today. I don’t think I could manage it,” I admit.

I look over to where Tucker is sat at our table; he has he back to us and his head resting in his hands. I frown when I realise he hasn
’t said a word since I’ve woken up. Noticing my frown, Sophie squeezes my hand. I turn my attention back to her and she shakes her head sadly at me.

“
I’m going to have a bath,” I smile reassuringly at her and she helps me up and to the bathroom.

“
He’s struggling with what he saw last night. He thinks he should have gotten to you sooner. When he realised what was happening, you were already on the floor,” Sophie says quietly, while I run my bath.

“
It’s not his fault,” I sigh, stripping out of my clothes.

“
I don’t think anyone will change what he thinks,” she whispers before she leaves me to wash away the night before.

I stay in the bathtub while the water drains away and watch horrified as my bruises are revealed one by one.

The tears run down my face and I give in to the soft quiet sobs knowing no one can hear me.

When I climb out of the bath, my vision is blurred from the tears and I slip on the tiles. I cry out in pain as I land on my side. Leaning up against the bath, I hang my head in between my legs and continue to cry.

“Brooke?” Tucker shouts, sounding frantic as he bursts through the bathroom door.

“
I fell,” I tell him between sobs, lifting my face to look at him.

“
You should have called, I would have helped you. Sophie and Matt went out to grab something for dinner.” He takes a few cautious steps towards me, grabbing a towel on his way. He lays the towel on my shoulders.

“
Need a hand?” he asks, keeping his eyes on my face instead of my naked body. I nod up at him and wrap the towel around myself. He helps me out of the bathroom. When I turn to sit down on my bed, my towel slips. I make a grab for it but I’m not quick enough, I watch as it falls revealing my red and blue angry looking body.

I hear a strange noise and look up at Tucker as I sit on the bed.

“Brooke…” he chokes out.

“
It’s okay,” I shake my head at him, the tears falling freely once again.

“
It’s not. I should have been there sooner; I could have prevented this,” he sits next to me on the bed

“
I told you before, no one can stop what happens to me,” I nudge his shoulder with mine. “You saved me though, you stopped him when he was about to…” I trail off on a sob, thinking about what could have happened had he not been there.

“
When I saw him with that hammer…” he shakes his head not able to carry on; the light catches on a tear rolling down his cheek.

“
I’ve missed you,” I whisper, resting my head on his shoulder hating that I’ve caused him pain.

“
I’ve missed you too.”

I turn my head to his as his arms wrap around me. I
’m looking into his eyes hoping he can see the pure appreciation in them. “Thank you for saving me,” I whisper.

“
Always,” he whispers back, laying us down and pulling the side of the blanket up so it’s covering my naked body. Surprisingly, I’d forgotten that I’m naked in his arms, my front pressed against his. He places a soft kiss on the side of my mouth. “He won’t hurt you again, I’ll make sure of it.”

“
I owe you everything.”

“
You owe me nothing,” he shakes his head.

“
I do. What do you want? I’ll do anything,” I insist.

“
I just want you back; I want
my
Brooke back, the smart, funny and sarcastic Brooke, not the sad, empty girl you’ve been lately.”

If there was ever a right answer to that question, that was i
t.

I lean up to place a soft ki
ss on his lips. This is first time we’ve ever crossed the friend’s line, and even though it was just supposed to be a friendly, thank you kiss, we both linger for longer than we should.

When we finally pull apart, Tucker sighs loudly and pulls me closer to him as if he
’s never going to let me go.

I
’m not sure how long we lay like this, wrapped in each other’s arms in silence, apart from sniffing back sobs until the tears finally fade from both of us.

“Right, you’re not staying in bed all day, Brooke. Tucker, help her over to the table; we bought her favourite,” Sophie announces, walking into the room followed by Matt. None of them blink an eye at our position; they are so used to us sleeping together.

“
Uhh…” Tucker looks down at me frowning. I look back up at him, but he turns his attention back to Sophie and Matt. “Matt, could I have a word outside with you a minute?” I watch as he waits for Matt to leave the room before he turns back to me. Sophie is watching us just as confused as me. “Will you help Brooke get dressed? She fell in the bathroom,” he says quietly to her.

I blush as I remember my nakedness and Sophie
’s eyes fall to the floor; her eyebrows shoot up and I assume she’s noticing my dropped towel for the first time.

“
Sure,” she says blinking at how close we are and how Tucker’s arms are still wrapped around me. 

“
You didn’t…” she starts once Tucker has left the room.

“
No!” I say horrified.

She doesn
’t say anything further; she just throws me some underwear and yoga pants that I manage to put on myself. I shake my head when she holds up a bra. I put the T-shirt over my head and pull it down while she helps put my bad arm through the hole.

By the time the guys return back to the room, we are sat at the table waiting for the food to cook. Tucker takes a seat next me and I smile my appreciation at him for getting Matt out of the room while I got dressed without drawing the attention to the fact that I had no clothes on. He grins and winks at me.

Through dinner we talk about parties and upcoming exams. My mood lifts along with everyone else’s as we move on to the sofas and watch a couple of comedies.

Tuckers phone beeps but he ignores it. I then realize that Matt and Sophie have been ignoring their phones all day too.  I don
’t say anything straight away because I know that I have something I should have done by now, too.

As if he can read my mind my phone rings, everyone watches me as I answer.

“Hey,” I say into the phone, ignoring them.

“
Hey, yourself. You okay?”

“
Yeah, what are you doing later? I’d like to do it tonight please, if we could.”

“
Are you sure Brooke? You’ve had a hard week.”

“
I’m sure, trust me. It’s time; I’ve put it of for too long.”

“
Fine, I’ll be out front in an hour.”

“
Could you come up to my room instead?” I ask, biting my lip nervously.

“
I’m not going to like what I see, am I?” he asks, sighing.

“
No, I’ll see you in a bit.” I hang up and turn to the others who are still watching me.

“
Is something happening tonight?” Sophie is the first to speak.

“
I know you lot have been fielding messages all day and night and you all have somewhere to be. I really do appreciate you all being here and taking care of me, but I have something I need to do tonight. Something I should have done last weekend.”

“
With all due respect Brooke, the last time you said that to us you went a little crazy,” Matt says softly. Sophie glares at him, but I smirk.

“
It’s nothing like that. In fact, this is what I should have been doing when I said I had something to do last weekend instead of what I did. I’m not in any danger. I’m going to be fine.”

“
Can you tell me what you’re doing?” Sophie asks me pleadingly.

“
Luke’s going to help me do something, that’s all. It’s nothing to worry about and I’ll only be gone a few hours, it’s something we’ve done every year since we were sixteen.”

“
You’ve known Luke that long?” Tucker asks surprised, then I remember when he first spoke to me, he thought Luke and I were together.

“
Yeah, I’ve known him about ten years all together, why?”

“
I thought you met him through Sophie,” he frowns at me.

“
No, I met him when I met Brooke, he helped her move here,” Sophie tells him frowning. “Well, I suppose we could go out for a few hours. I like knowing your’re with Luke; he wouldn’t let anything happen to you.” Sophie smiles kindly at me, but I notice Tucker wince.