Wanna Bet? (13 page)

It doesn’t
come; instead I hear a loud grunt. I gingerly open my eyes to see
Tucker on top of Sam throwing punches and from what I can make out
not missing one.

“
Stop!” I
shout not knowing how far Tucker will go. He stops and seems to be
trying to catch his breath. I shake my head at him wiping away the
tears from my face but they don’t stop falling “He’s not worth it …
stop” 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 at 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, th0is
is supposed to be my happy place!” 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 which takes my anger up
another notch.

“
I trusted you
and you told” 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. “You told” I cry 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 all just came out. I’m so sorry...”
he says quietly stroking my hair.

“
You told” 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 but 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 answers 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. Tucker told and I
hit him. 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.

W
hen 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, two aspirin and 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 shake 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
got 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 shouting 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 me. He helps me out of the
bathroom, turn to sit down on my bed and 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 seen
him with that hammer…” he shakes his head not able to carry on, the
light catches on a tear rolling down his cheek.

“
I 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 so 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 had 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’m not sure
how long we lay like this, wrapped in each others 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 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 to her quietly.

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 Tuckers arms that 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 which I manage to put on my self. I shake
my head when she holds up a bra and 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 get 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 sofa’s and watch a
couple of comedies.

Tuckers phone
beeps but he ignores it, I then remember 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.

“
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 for me
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.

“
Umm 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 with Luke, he wouldn’t let anything happen to you”
Sophie smiles kindly at me but I notice Tucker wince.

“
Sometimes it
can’t be helped” I tell her squeezing Tuckers thigh, he thinks last
night was his fault which is bad enough.

I watch as
Sophie and Matt sort themselves out before they head
out.

“
You’ll call
me if you need anything right?” She asks leaning over the sofa to
give me a quick hug.

“
Of course” I
assure her.

They let Luke
in as they leave. “He’s going to shout at me, just let him” I
quickly whisper to Tucker, knowing what Luke’s reaction will be
once he has seen me. He doesn’t have time to say anything back as
Luke walks towards us.

He doesn’t
have to say anything I already know the routine.