Bet Me (Finding My Way) Read online

  We both catch our breath as the TV screen goes blank.

  “Shit…” Tucker sighs as he pulls out of me making me wince slightly “I think I’m going to keep that tape” he grins at me doing up his trousers.

  I try my best to look angry and offended whilst pulling up my underwear and dress at the same time but I don’t think it has the desired effect.

  “Are you not bothered at all that someone videoed that and then tried to show it to the whole club?” I demand.

  “Well shit Brooke of course I am but … what can I do about it?”

  I stare at him speechless. I know there is nothing he can do about it and we don’t have cameras in the office so I can’t check to see who’s been in there but surely he should be a bit more affected by this. I take the disk out of the player and hand it him.

  “You’re welcome to it but what are you going to do with it?” I ask him curiously.

  He raises an eyebrow at my question. “I’m sure you can use your imagination”

  “Yeah that’s what I thought. You do realize this probably isn’t the only copy and whoever took the video probably uses it for the same thing. It could end up on the internet. It could already be on the internet”

  “Christ and I didn’t even last that long” he complains making me roll my eyes.

  “Sorry to break it to you but you didn’t even last that long just now and there’s a camera in here so you can have that video too, if you put them both together you might actually last longer than ten minutes stud” I smirk at him as I walk out of the storeroom leaving him muttering to himself.

  seven

  “You did not take that bet again” Lucy laughs noticing my lack of a shirt as she joins me behind the bar.

  “Don’t ask” I grumble pouring another shot, these seem to be a favourite tonight, I must have poured about eighty so far and I’ve only been here two hours.

  “Hey Andrew” I glare at her as she calls Andrew over; he of course is looking smug. “What did she bet?”

  “She didn’t make a bet with me, Tucker bet her that if she asked ten guys for a condom she would get at least seven. She didn’t believe him and so took the bet. She collected nine all together” he laughs.

  I glare over at Tucker who is on the stage with the band and as he catches sight of my expression he laughs through a few lyrics so I flip him the bird.

  “I’ll get it back” I declare to myself more than anyone else.

  I spot a group of girls arguing so I throw my shirt back on before I head into the crowd to calm them down and split it up if necessary. I’m halfway across the dance floor when someone grabs my arm and is dragging me into a corner. I look back but all I can see is the back of whoever is pulling me so I look for a familiar face, I lock eyes with Cam and watch as he takes in the situation and walks up to Tucker and discreetly gestures to me, Tuckers eyes are immediately on me then he looks to the bar alerting Andrew or someone I hope.

  Once we have reached the dark corner of the club my captor turns to me, still gripping my arm.

  As soon as I recognize him I try to remove his hand from my arm but he doesn’t budge.

  “We meet again Brooke” he sneers down at me.

  “Let me go George” I stare pointedly at my arm but he just tightens his grip. “Someone is going to come and see where I am any minute now” I try to force my tone to stay firm but it wavers.

  “Then we better make it hard for them to find you because we need to talk” he says pushing the fire exit behind him open and pulling me outside. I can only hope either Cam or Tucker saw us leave.

  “What do you want?” I ask trying to get this over with.

  “Why don’t you ever talk to me anymore Brooke?”

  Because you’re a psycho, I say in my mind but keep that to myself. “I do talk to you George I just haven’t seen you much lately and when I have seen you I’ve been rushed off my feet”

  “No you’re more interested in your boyfriend” he shouts the last word making me jump.

  “I don … I don’t have a boyfriend” I say hating that I’m stuttering.

  “Have you had sex with him too?” he demands

  “Who are you talking about?” I ask nervously.

  “That boy you are always laughing with on the bar”

  “Umm .. no we’re just friends … please let my arm go George you’re hurting me” I plead.

  “No, you hurt me every time I see you and you ignore me. Why Brooke?”

  “Why what?” I have no idea how I am still talking to him as if this is a normal situation, My mind is more focused on why someone hasn’t come out here yet.

  “I’ve seen them you know. It’s OKAY. You can talk to me. I have some too” he says the sympathy in his voice makes me turn all my attention back to him.

  “You’ve seen what?” I ask confused, all the worry gone now.

  “Your scars, I saw them when you were in the store room with that singer” I am in shock, or at least I think I am, that’s why I don’t move when he rips my shirt open with one hand sending buttons flying everywhere and that’s the reason I don’t move when he lets my arm go to rip open my bikini top to look at my scars. “Mine” he reads aloud running his finger over my scars.

  His gentle touch brings me out of my stupor and I push his hand away “I’m nobody’s!” I yell and run past him to the entrance of the club holding my shirt closed as best I can.

  “She’s here” someone shouts I ignore it and push my way through to the bar.

  “Don’t let anyone in but Tucker” I call to Lucy and Zack as I walk into the office.

  I crawl onto the floor behind the desk and try to control my breathing to calm down so I won’t cry. A few minutes later the door opens.

  “Brooke?” Tucker calls

  “Are you alone?” I ask my voice shaking.

  “No Andrew and Cam are here is it okay if they come in too, they want to make sure you’re okay” he asks softly.

  “Umm ... I love them for that but I have no top on at all” I call back quietly. I hear him say something too low for me to hear and then the door closes.

  “Are you okay?” Tucker asks cautiously still from the other side of the room. He knows from experience that after something bad happens to me I can freak out at any moment if someone comes to close. That has never been the case for him though.

  “I think so?” I say but it comes out as a question

  “Brooke, I’m going to have to make sure he didn’t hurt you” his voice is pleading and I struggle to hold back the tears over his concern.

  “It’s fine, come on over, he didn’t hurt me” As I say it I look down at my arm and wince at the redness of it, that’s going to bruise but I can deal with that. He might not though.

  Anger flashes through his eyes as he takes in my ripped clothing and I watch the muscles ticking in his jaw letting me know he’s clenching his teeth. He’s definitely pissed. “What did he do” he asks tightly.

  “Nothing, well he was watching us in the storeroom and saw my scars, he touched them” I explain avoiding his eyes because I have never shown him the scars and every time I thought he might come close to touching them I have moved his hand. I have no idea how I have kept them from him for so long but I have.

  “What scars?” he asks confused but I know that won’t last long, anger will be back.

  “If I said it doesn’t Matter, would you listen to me and forget I ever mentioned them?” I ask hopefully making my voice playful. He doesn’t fall for it just stares at me expectantly. “It’s not a big deal OKAY” I say as I move my top and ruined bikini top out of the way so the side of my right breast is visible. The scars are small so he has to move close to be able to see them, and read them.

  “How don’t I know about these? Why don’t I remember them?” he asks not taking his eyes from them.

  “Because since you’ve been back I’ve distracted you every time you’ve come close to finding them and well, I didn’t have them when I saw you befo
re I left”

  “I don’t understand” he admits looking at me now.

  “When I left that day, after I packed my bags I went to my moms house to say goodbye to Phin … Sam was there and it was the first time I’d seen him since the graveyard and he thought you were my boyfriend … he held me down with one of his friends and ... branded me. They didn’t do anything. This is all” I say pointing to the small circular burns that spell out Mine.

  “This is my fault?” he asks horrified.

  “No!” I grab his hand and squeeze it “It’s not your fault. If it wasn’t for you he would have killed me that night and if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have gone there before that and attacked him and he would have raped me. That’s what he told me he was going to do. Remember that night in JD’s when he came and you pulled me away from him to dance, well that night he drugged me, that’s how I got drunk so fast, he was going to rape me. You saved me more than once from him. This is not your fault” I tell him firmly.

  “I’m so sorry” he murmurs as he leans down and kisses every one of the burns then pulls me into his chest in a bear hug.

  “Don’t ... I can’t …” I struggle to get out of his hold because I know it could be what breaks my control.

  “I know, but I need to … I need to know you’re okay” His voice shakes so I pull back and as I look into his eyes that are now glistening my heart breaks.

  “Hey” I say gently as his hold loosens and I move my hands up to cup his cheeks then place my lips on his and kiss him tenderly “I’m okay, because of you” I kiss him again.

  “We should get back out there before they come in here looking for you” he declares unhappily.

  “Ummm” I look down at my top.

  “Here, let me” he ties a haphazard knot in my bikini top and removed his shirt, he’s wearing a tight black tee under it and it distracts me for a moment but I’m brought back when he shrugs his shirt over my shoulders I stand and do a few buttons up then tie the bottom into a knot over my stomach.

  “I’m ready” I nod at him and we make our way to the door. “Can you not tell anyone about the …” I trail off as we reach the door.

  “Of course. I would never” he promises with a chaste kiss and tucks me under his shoulder.

  He doesn’t leave my side for the rest of the night, he answers questions for me when anyone asks what happened by playing it off as someone who had drank too much and got a bit grabby. He pours drinks with me when I get multiple orders and laughs with me as I teach him how to make cocktails. He helps me clean up when the club has closed and everyone has gone home. He locks up for me and follows me home in his car. We don’t talk as we make our way straight up to the bedroom and climb into bed together.

  “Trust me?” He asks as he climbs over me, I nod my acceptance and he undresses us both slowly, I watch amazed, as he trails soft slow kisses over my body as he removes my clothing once piece at a time. Every time we have been together it has always been frantic, filled with passion and a ferocious need to be connected on a more physical basis. He takes his time with me kissing and licking his way up from my legs to my face. He kisses my eyelids last before moving onto my mouth. The kiss is powerful and I immediately know this is his way of apologizing for what I won’t let him apologize for aloud. It’s his way of saying sorry for what happened to me as a result of his actions. Sorry for making me go back there, sorry for hurting me enough to go back there and sorry for not being there to stop him from hurting me.

  For the first time ever I let him spend the time he needs on my body, I relax into and get sucked into the pleasure as he caresses my breast, teases my nipples, kisses and licks every scar, as he sucks and licks my swollen clit and then slowly but passionately makes love to me. Deep down I know that no matter how rough and wild we normally are with each other when we are together it is never meaningless or cheap it is always more.

  He tucks me under his arm so my head is on his chest and I’m reminded of the first time we spent the night together a few years ago after we admitted we had feelingsfor each other. I snuggle closer as he runs his fingers through my hair softly.

  “I will never let anyone hurt you ever again, and I want you to know that you can talk to me, no matter what. Even the bad stuff okay?” he asks nudging me gently with his shoulder.

  “Okay” I whisper and squeeze him tightly in answer.

  “I love you Brooke, I think I have since the moment you woke up and found me in your room looking for coffee” he chuckles at the memory “you looked so cute rumpled from sleep and confused yet amused at seeing me first thing in the morning.”

  “I never stopped loving you. I knew when you told me how you’d worked out my disguise; it got me thinking and I just knew. That’s why there hasn’t been anyone else; I couldn’t if it wasn’t you”

  “I’m still the only person you’ve been with?” he asks surprised.

  “Well there was one person when I first moved here, I thought it would help me forget you, when it didn’t I never tried again” I tell him honestly.

  eight

  “I know this is awkward and Tucker did promise me but …” Lucy trails off but the mention of Tucker promising her something immediately grabs my attention, she’s struggling to say something to me and I know it’s not something I want to hear but I have to know.

  “Go on” I smile encouragingly at her.

  “Well I know he promised me that you were fine with it and just didn’t want to talk about it, but I have to tell you that if I knew anything was ever going to happen between you two I would never have slept with him” she finishes looking both horrified and embarrassed.

  “You slept with him?” I ask not sure if I should believe her or not.

  “He didn’t tell you?” It’s clear she doesn’t know if she should believe me now. I shake my head at her. “He took me home the night Morgan left you for that woman”

  “No way, I went back to his on her birthday” Mel puts in.

  “Wait … You’ve both had sex with him?” I ask not sure I’m hearing this right. I had sex with him the day after my birthday, in the office for god’s sake.

  They both nod at me.

  I feel sick, like someone has just kicked me in the stomach after I’ve eaten a massive meal sick.

  “Okay, I can deal with this, just do me a favour and don’t tell Tucker that I know”.

  ***

  I stumble into the club dragging my new friend along with me, the band are playing and everyone is having a good time, I think. I probably should have stopped drinking hours ago, but well we all make mistakes.

  “This is your place?” he asks looking around.

  I nod up at him grinning and pull him through to the bar.

  “Lucaaaaayyy” I call to get my best friends attention. She does a double take and walks over to me frowning.

  “This is my new best friend Adam” I announce proudly.

  “Are you drunk?” she asks watching me not looking happy. I’m not going to let her spoil my mood when she’s a third of the reason I’m drunk in the first place. “Yupp, and don’t pull faces at me. Everyone else gets drunk and no one pulls faces at them” I pout at her. “Me and Adam would like some drinks please. I’m going to show him my bar dance” I smile up at Adam and look around while we wait for our drinks. I spot Andrew making his way to us.

  “Where have you been? We have all been trying to ring you” he says pulling me into a hug but I trip so he ends up stopping me from hitting the floor with my face.

  “I went out. I have other friends you know. Look here’s one, his name is Adam and he’s my best friend” I laugh as he stands me up right again.

  “How much has she had?” he asks Adam

  “Not enough” I shout as an answer “We’re waiting for my bar dance time and then we’re going on a train” I tell him proudly.

  “Brooke you’re not doing a bar dance tonight, you can just about walk on the floor let alone dance on a bar that’s only a metre wi
de” he says sternly sounding like a father.

  I throw my arms around him “I didn’t have a daddy for lots of years, will you be my new one?” I step back and look him over, yes definitely daddy material “Yesss you’re my new daddy from now on. You’re not allowed to ground me though, although maybe you should. I’ve never been grounded before it could be fun” I giggle and grab my beer from the bar and hand Adam his. Lucy joins us on the other side of the bar and wraps one of my arms around her shoulders and hold me across my middle.

  “Oooh Lucy can be my new mom cos my real one’s a bitch and doesn’t like me …. No cos then you two would have to be married … let me think about this … Lucy is my big sister, I’ve always wanted one of them and Andrew can be my big brother, Tucker can be my dad and Mel can be my mom” I nod as I decide my new family. “And you” I turn to Adam “Can be the reason I get grounded” I giggle at him. “Come on, there’s someone I want you to meet”

  I lead Adam across the bar by the hand and we stop a few times so he can twirl me under his arm a few people make a tunnel out of their arms for us to duck under, stood at the end of it is Jess who is grinning and holding her arms out for me.

  “Hey Jessie!” I greet laughing at her giggling.

  “I love fun drunk Brooke?” she squeals laughing, I love Jess she can tell my mood just from looking at me.

  “Me too! Want to be fun drunk with us? This is Adam” I introduce.

  “Hey, I’m Jess” she smiles at him and pulls him into a hug too “What are we doing?” She asks me excited.