Bet Me (Finding My Way) Read online

  “So what can we expect from you , now that you’re back?” Derek asks. I get the feeling that he’s not the only one who wants to hear the answer to this.

  “How do you mean?”

  “Well you obviously went away for a reason, is all that sorted out now? Are you going to continue being the life of the party? Are you happy?” he clarifies.

  “I think I’ve sorted everything out. I’m definitely happier than I have ever been before. I won’t be dancing on the bar again that earlier when I came in was my last ever bar dance. I’m not going to take anymore bets that result in me losing any clothes. I’m not going to say that I won’t take any more bets at all because we all know I will” I shrug “I haven’t changed or anything, I’m still me. I missed you all”

  “Before you all leave, Brooke, come up here please” Will calls out from the stage after the DJ calls closing.

  I head over to the stage and take the mic Will hands me.

  “So your back?” he asks grinning.

  “I’m in tomorrow night but then I won’t be back until Monday” I confirm

  “What do you mean, Monday?” he asks as the crowd groans.

  “I’m not leaving town again, I have a few things that I need to sort out and it’s going to take up all my time” I confirm.

  “Anything you need help with?” he asks and then looks at his mic when he realizes he spoke through it but obviously didn’t mean to.

  “No I have a friend helping me, but thanks for the offer”

  “Well, welcome back anyway and if you ever think of leaving us again we will chain you to the stage” he calls through his mic ad then pulls me into yet another hug. “Now get out of here” he instructs me making me laugh.

  “Yes sir!” I answer and then waving to everyone and calling out ‘goodbye’ I leave the club and head back to my house.

  twelve

  “Thank you so much for helping me” I call to Luke who is packing boxes up with me in my bedroom.

  “It’s not a problem, you can stop saying thank you now” he grins at me laughing.

  “I can’t help it, you have helped me so much these last few months. I owe you big time”

  “Come on, lets go get some proper coffee now we’ve packed up your machine” he suggests

  “Yeah, that was a really bad idea we should have left that until last”

  He picks up his keys but I shake my head at him and insist we walk, it’ll do us good to get some fresh air after spending hours packing up dusting things.

  We walk to the nearest coffee shop and then take a detour around town. I grab his hand and twirl myself under it a few times.

  “You’re so happy” he laughs down at me as I do another twirl.

  “I’m glad to be home,” I grin “Nowhere has ever really felt like home before. I feel like I belong here”

  “I’m glad you’re happy Brooke, you out of all people deserve it,” he kisses my cheek and we bump into Tucker.

  “Hey Tuck. I didn’t know you live here too?” Luke asks him sending me a look that clearly says I shouldn’t have left that bit of information out.

  “Uh yeah … have done for a while now” he answers awkwardly. “Are you moving up here?” he asks him looking at our joined hands.

  “No, just helping Brooke move” Luke answers easily

  “You’re moving?” Tucker asks me surprised.

  “Yeah to a different house, new start” I shrug at him checking his expression. Regret? Disappointment? I can’t figure it out.

  “Oh, well if you need any extra help….” He trails off.

  “Umm actually if you could, I have to go back home tonight” Luke tells him and me for the first time. I swing my head to him and send him a questioning look. “I’ll be back tomorrow evening; I just have to pop in to see Katie,”

  “You’re still with Kate?” Tucker asks looking at our joined hands again.

  “Yeah, we’re married now and have a baby girl Olivia she’s six months tomorrow” Luke tells him proudly making me smile remembering how he is with her.

  “Oh, well congratulations mate” Tucker shakes his hand, making Luke drop mine.

  “When are you leaving?” I ask him not sure I want Tucker to be helping me. He hasn’t really spoken to me since I got back.

  “As soon as I can really” He tells me. “You’ll help her?” he asks turning to Tucker.

  “Of course. Now?” he answers.

  “Yeah okay then I’ll head back to the house to get my car, I got a spare sets of keys so I’ll let myself in and out” He leans in to kiss my cheek “I’ll see you tomorrow, be good”

  “Always am” I smile back at him and watch him leave.

  “You okay?” I ask turning to Tucker.

  “Sure, shall we?” he gestures for me to continue walking, we make our way back to the house still not really talking about anything of importance just simple things like the weather, the club and my new house.

  “You’re very quiet” I note as we head upstairs to finish packing what Luke and I left. “You haven’t really said much since I been back”

  “Haven’t I?”

  I frown at him still nowhere near understanding him and return my attention to packing my life up.

  “I went looking for you” Tucker says after a while after we have moved downstairs now that upstairs is completely packed.

  “You did? You could have emailed” I reply softly packing my photos from the front room.

  “I didn’t want to speak to you, I wouldn’t have spoken to you if I found you, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. That you were happy” he doesn’t look up from his box while he talks to me.

  “Oh … umm … I was fine. I was emailing Lucy every week for the last four or five weeks before I came back”

  “Mmm hmmm” he nods still not looking at me and continues packing.

  I collapse on the sofa when everything is boxed up.

  “Glad that’s over” I sigh “Ugh I have to unpack it all tomorrow” I grumble when reality settles in.

  “I don’t envy you, I hate moving” Tucker replies helpfully settling in next to me.

  “I probably won’t even bother unpacking most of this stuff, just put it in the attic” I sigh. “I’m starved, I’m going to order Chinese, are you hungry?”

  “Uh no .. actually .. if you don’t need me anymore I really should be going” he says getting up and putting on his jacket.

  “Oh .. okay well thanks for helping” I try for a smile but it comes out wonky I’m sure. He offers a small wave from the door before he closes it behind him.

  ***

  It’s really no surprise that I find myself entering the club via being thrown over Andrews shoulder so I don’t even attempt to fight him on it.

  “You know this is one of the reasons you and I have so much trouble dating, people think this is weird, they probably have a point” I point out as he lands a playful slap on my backside. People cheer as we make our way through the club and I wave at them knowing if I asked for help they’d only laugh at me. He turns me so that I’m facing a laughing Lucy and a tutting Tucker, also two men I have never met before.

  “I’d ask what happened but I’ll introduce you first. Brooke this is Jack, Jack, Brooke” I turn to look at Jack and am impressed, even upside down I can tell he is very good looking.

  “Hey” I grin at him and attempt to shake his hand but It doesn’t work.

  “Lucy’s told me a lot about you” he says giving up on the hand shake as well. “This is my friend Ben” Andrew turns so I’m facing Ben and I offer a weak hello. He is also good looking. “I’ll give any of you five hundred to kick this guy’s ass and get me down?” I beg.

  “What happened?” Lucy finally asks.

  “I lost a bet” I sigh

  “I thought you weren’t going to take anymore bets” Tucker notes.

  “He tricked me into it!” I turn my pout on Tucker “Would you help me down for five hundred?”

  “No I
’d pay five hundred to see whatever it is you have to do though” he laughs at my weak attempt to get out of it.

  “Fine, lets get it over with” I mutter grumpily

  Once Andrew has set me on the bar with my mic he finally whispers to me what I have got to do.

  “Nuh uh, I can’t do that” I insist.

  “Why not? It’s only a bit of fun Brooke; you don’t have to take it any further”

  “Just pick something else please, one that I have to do alone”

  “Have you got a secret boyfriend somewhere you’re not telling me about?”

  “Andrew please let’s just get on with it”

  “Who is it Brooke?” he asks curiously but offended at the same time. It’s then I notice that we have seen talking quietly to each other and the whole club has gone silent watching us.

  “How about a free round of drinks while Andrew thinks of something suitable for me to do huh?” I call through my mic smiling at everyone, they all cheer and head to the bar so I jump down behind it and watch as Lucy jumps over to help me and Chloe.

  “What was that about?” Lucy asks me between handing out drinks.

  “He wanted me to kiss someone from the crowd” I tell her distractedly.

  “Right, why didn’t you do it? You’ve done it before; you could have played it off as a kiss on the cheek or something”

  “I just didn’t feel comfortable doing it is all,” I shrug.

  “You know he will think of something even worse now for you to do because you forfeited it” she shakes her head at me.

  “I know” I grin over at her and gesture with my head to where Andrew is sat at the bottom of the bar deep in thought. I love making him have to think of something else. He must be running out of ideas by now. We both laugh as we watch him struggle to decide what to do.

  “What’s with the free drinks then? Normally you only do that if something bad is going on and you want to distract people?” she asks turning her attention back to the customers.

  “That was just to buy me some more time and because I’m in a good mood, I’ll put the money in for them all, you’re adding yours up right?” I check as I move from the now empty half of the bar and jump over to the customer side..

  “Yep, and Chloe knows the drill as well” she assures me “Where are you going?”

  “To dance” I grin and duck through the crowd.

  “Hello” I smile at the band as I reach their table. “What did you refuse to do?” Cam asks gesturing towards Andrew who’s still say in the same position that I left him in.

  “Nothing exciting” I assure him.

  “So what can we do for you?” Tucker asks.

  “I wanna dance” I pout at everyone sat at the table “Will one of you dance with me please?”

  “I will” Cam volunteers.

  “Uh .. I kind of only asked you lot because I want to dance with someone who won’t feel me up. I’d ask Andrew but he’s busy …. That means you’re out sorry Cam” I shrug apologetically as the rest of the guys laugh at him and he grins at me.

  “Come on” Tucker says standing.

  “You’re not serious. I said someone who won’t touch me” I raise an eye brow ay him.

  “You don’t think I can dance with you without touching you?” he asks disbelievingly.

  “No, I know you can’t”

  “Want to bet on that?”

  “Fine” I shrug knowing I’ll win this one hands down.

  “If I win you have to do whatever it was that Andrew asked you asked you to do earlier and if you win I will do whatever next challenge Andrew gives you”

  “I’ll accept that” I grin at him and we head off to the slowly filling dance floor.

  We mess around for while twirling each other around and under our arms, we do a weird clubbers version of the tango, we do the chicken, the running man and some other moves that were so strange I don’t even think they are worth having a name. We are both doing the moonwalk when a slow song comes on and we come to a mutual decision to dance to this one properly while catching our breath.

  Tucker is careful to keep his hands on my hips and not moving them an inch while my hands go behind his neck and I mindlessly play with his hair.

  “I’m glad you’re back, Brooke” Tucker smiles down softly at me.

  “Me too, this place really feels like home, you know”

  “Yeah, I know. You’re not going to leave like that again are you?”

  “No, I just needed to sort myself out, emotionally I was all over the place before I left and now I feel more grounded and level headed. I know what I want and what I need now not just what I think I want and need”

  “When you left a lot of things became clear for me too” he admits quietly.

  “Like…” I prompt

  “Before you left I think I took advantage of having you back in my life, I guess a part of me thought that being with you is what I wanted because it was familiar and I took advantage of that and hurt you in the process.. but now … but now after having spent three months away from you I know I don’t want you in my life I need you in it”

  “I guess we both came to the same conclusion then” I say quietly back to him.

  “So where does that leave us?” he asks watching my eyes intently.

  “Dancing a slow dance to a fast song in the middle of my club with about fifty people watching us curiously” I smirk at him glancing around at our audience.

  “Well we can’t have that” he mummers bringing his face down to mine and kissing me softly, the crowd cheers and the kiss deepens, when a few random shouts go up around us we pull apart. “Guess I lost the bet huh?”

  “Yes and no” I tell him laughing.

  “What do you mean?” he frowns at me

  “Well you lost our bet and now you have to do whatever challenge Andrew cooks up for me but I don’t think he’s going to have to anymore because the first one was that I had to kiss someone in the club”

  “I’m glad you refused it” he says softly against my lips.

  “Me too” I agree falling into a long kiss again until we hear someone clearing their throat over through the speakers. I look up to see Andrew standing on the bar.

  “Tucker doesn’t count so you still have to do something else and I say we throw your no more bar dancing rule and you do one for losing the bet earlier” Andrew says without preamble.

  I grin up at Tucker who now looks slightly nervous because he has to do my next challenge so technically he’s the one who has to dance on the bar but I take pity on him and grab his hand to get his attention.

  “Want some help? I have an idea” I nod over at Andrew and head to the stage and picking up a mic for myself I pass one to Tucker as well. “Can you guys do a cover of the song like the first night I had to do it?” I ask as he gestures for the rest of the band to join us.

  “I lost another bet guys” I call into my mic addressing the crowd “Are you ready for another dance?” the crowd all cheer.

  “I lost a bet too” Tucker sighs into his mic and all the women in the club start cheering and whistling “So I have to dance too” he pouts and the female cheers turn into screams. “I think I have more fans than you Brooke” he says into his mic grinning at me.

  “I’m not hearing it sorry” I shake my head as I call into the mic and the male cheers go up over the female ones making Tucker chuckle and then strip out of his shirt leaving him in just a tight white tee. I actually have to cover my ears to try and block out the ringing in them from the shrieks that are drowning out everything else in the club.

  I watch as Tucker turns to me smirking and raises an eyebrow at me in challenge, I smile sweetly at him and start unbuttoning my jeans. Both his eyebrows shoot up and Andrew’s voice comes over the speakers “Uhh … Brooke?” he tries for a warning tone but it comes out questioning and slightly, nervous? I ignore him and pull my jeans off leaving me in a black shirt and black hot pants with my stilettos.

  The male cheers
come out as a loud roar and I take a bow, I can hear the band laughing behind us making me giggle.

  I watch as Tucker’s eyes lazily travel down my legs and back up again and he swallows noticeably. Shaking his head and grinning at me he loses his tee. I don’t know if we are doing this tease the crowd or each other anymore as I can feel myself grow more and more turned on by his strip tease. I know why he’s grinning he knows the only thing I have available to take off now is my shirt, he also knows I’m not wearing a bikini top underneath because from below the top three buttons that are undone you can see lace. He also knows I wouldn’t ever leave myself in just a bra. What he doesn’t know however is that what I am wearing underneath my shirt is not a bra.

  I angle my body so only Tucker has a view of my front. “Are you sure you want to play this game with me?” I ask sweetly unbuttoning my shirt slowly to reveal the red with white lace corset top which laces up at the front that I’m wearing. Before I reach the bottom button of my shirt Tucker’s hands are moving mine out of the way and working the buttons back up so fast he misses one and has to start again. “What are you doing?” I ask laughing at his concentrated expression.