Bet Me (Finding My Way) (4 page)

“He never meant to hurt you Brooke” Sophie says softly to me.

“No so what about humiliating me, accusing me of cheating on him, using my past against me in an argument and calling me a whore. In front of everyone we knew? Because to me that isn’t something you do to someone you care about”

“He was hurt Brooke” Matt insists.

I snort “Yeah, so was I” I feel a stubborn tear roll down my cheek and quickly wipe it away. I remembered the look on his face when we were arguing. The hurtful things he said to me all come back at once as it if was happening now.

I’m not even all that surprised…

I should have known from the beginning…

Play the abused quiet girl …

Making me care for you and then what, what is this? Some sort of twisted lesson you are attempting to teach me? …

Getting me back for all the girls that I slept with and never bothered with again? ...

Is that it …

Do you want to know why I did it? …

I had never been with a virgin before, you were just something to cross off a list…

Because you’re a whore?...

I squeeze my eyes closed and breathe through the pain of my heart breaking all over again. The tears won’t stop coming. I shake my head to try and clear it as I push the memories back.

“He loved you Brooke” Sophie whispers adamantly.

“No!” I shout at her, not caring who’s watching us anymore. “Two years Soph!” I practically scream at her as I push my chair back roughly and stand up. “Two fucking years, that’s how long it’s been and do you know how I got through it? By not thinking about it!”

“Brooke, sorry, just pretend I never said anything” She says starting to stand.

“Forget it” I shake my head “I know exactly how to end this”

I clean myself up in the bathroom and take the time to calm down.

I just need to take my mind off it and the pain will fade away just like always.

Running a few ideas through in my head, I take my place behind the bar.

“Everything okay Brooke? You look pissed and not the type you should be, considering it’s your birthday” Will asks putting a protective arm around my shoulders.

“I’ll be fine” I assure him patting his arm.

“What you doing behind the bar on your birthday anyway, don’t even attempt to try and work tonight” he scolds making me giggle.

“I was thinking about providing some entertainment actually” I wink up at him.

“Just be careful” he says as he walks back into his office leaving me stood behind the bar watching the crowd.

I mess about behind the bar and flirt with a few customers. I smile reassuringly at the curious glances from Lucy and Jess. I completely ignore Mel not able to get the picture of her and Tucker out of my mind, and I shake my head at Sophie every time she gets up to come over to me when she’s not watching me worriedly.

I straddle the bar and laugh while a group of drunken students slur through singing ‘happy birthday’ to me.

“I’ll buy you a tray of shots if you can impress me in less than two minutes” one of the students grins up at me.

“Are you sure?” I ask as I jump down from the bar and pour out the six shots that make up the trays we sell.

“Yeah, I don’t think you can do it” He says smugly.

I smirk at him and reach my hand under the bar next to me to grab a cherry, pulling the stem out I hold it up for him to see them slip it in my mouth. Ten seconds later I pull it out with a perfect knot in it.

“Okay you win” he stutters amazed. I laugh and shake my head at him.

“Want me to do it again?” I ask laughing when as soon as I’ve said it he calls a group of men over to watch. I stand on the bar and grab the microphone.

“Hey Andrew!” I call into the mic trying to spot him through the crowd. I finally spot him dancing with Jess. “Get your sexy ass over and up here, I need ya. Don’t worry Jess you’ll get him back in one piece” I laugh.

Zack our weekend bartender pokes me in the leg and I look down to see he is holding out a handful of cherry stems to me. I take them and one at a time put them in my mouth and tie them in knots them handing them down the guys stood at my feet.

“What are you doing?” Andrews voice full of laughter comes over the speakers as he walks across the top of the bar watching me curiously.

“Showing these very handsome men what I can do with my tongue” I reply grinning at him. “Wanna see?” I wiggle my eyebrows at him.

“Always” is all he replies and watches as I repeat the process and pass him the knotted stem. “Wow no wonder you’re so good at ...” I cut him off by smacking the top of his head making him grin and the crowd laugh.

“Anytime baby” I sing into the mic at him.

“So what did you call me up here for?” He asks cocking his head at me.

“Well” I start as I turn to face the crowd. “As you all know it is my birthday” The crowd cheers and says happy birthday and I curtsey to them making them laugh “Anyway I thought what better way to celebrate than with … a little … bet?” I whisper the last word into the mic and turn to Andrew.

“I’m up for that, what were you thinking?” he asks.

I walk over and lower my mic as I whisper in his ear. “Well as it’s my birthday and I should celebrate, I was thinking you should pick the man I’m going to celebrate with, the bet being on if he is still with me in the morning”

The crowd starts chanting “what’s the bet” so I lift my mic back up to tell them but when I open my mouth Andrew cuts me off straight away.

“Are you fucking crazy?” he yells into his mic making me wince from the sheer volume of it.

“Why the hell not?” I demand swinging around to face him.

“I can think of about a hundred reasons why, the first one being, it’s dangerous. The second one being, have you lost your god damn mind?” he snaps.

“It’s not dangerous if I use a…” he cuts me off again by grabbing my arm and pulling me into him.

“HEY!” I hear Matt shout from the table. We both ignore him.

“You’re not doing it” Andrew says into my ear so only I can hear.

“I can do what the god damn hell I want” I snap back.

“What’s this about Brooke?” he asks as he pushes me away but only far away enough so he can search my eyes.

“I just want to forget” I whisper to him sadly remembering the last photo I looked at last night of me and Tucker hugging at a house party covered in paint from a paintball fight that’s broke out.

He must have seen the pain in them because he pulls me into a hug. “I won’t let you do it, I’ll follow you around all night if I have to” he says stubbornly letting me know I don’t have a choice.

It’s then that I notice the club is deathly silent and even Will has come out to see what’s happening, my eyes travel around the club as I look at all the people that now make up my life.

Sophie is now stood in front of the bar directly below me, back at the table Matt and Tucker are in a deep hushed discussion but keeping one eye on me and Andrew. Matt looks panicked, Tucker’s frowning. It’s then I notice Matt has his hand wrapped around Tuckers arm. I turn back to the crowd and raise my mic again.

“Sorry guys, I’m not allowed to do the bet I want to do” I pout into the mic causing a few groans and protests even though they don’t know what the bet was.

“I’m sure we can think of something else” Andrew assures everyone.

“Nothing as fun as mine though” I mutter trying not to look back at Matt and Tucker.

My foot hits something and I look down to find the tray of shots I won, I bend down to pick them up and Andrew holds it for me as I take the shots in sync with the crowd yelling numbers. I hear my name and turn to see Andrew bending down talking to Sophie. He’s no doubt telling her about my bet. The traitor.

All I want is to forget, with the hope that being with someone will finally erase the physical memory finally that has kept me up too many nights to count, even though it never worked before, maybe it has to be with someone I already know.

“Hey Luce?” I call in to the mic “Those questions I got asked earlier I don’t have to stick to them do I?” I ask but all I get is a confused look from her. “If I answered no to a question or two of them actually… I can change my mind right?” I explain, she nods at me.

I quickly chance a look down at Sophie and Andrew to see if they are watching me but they are still deep in conversation, so I pull out my phone and dial my last chance at forgetting.

“Hello” the familiar husky voice greets my ear making me smile.

“Hey, where are you?”

“At home, why where are you?”

“At the club, what are you doing later?”

“Are you drunk?” he asks. I didn’t realize I was slurring. Turning and gesturing for Zack to get me a glass of water. I turn my attention back to my phone

“No, not really anyway” I laugh into the phone

“Am I missing a good night out?” He laughs with me

“You are, we’re celebrating my birthday but Andrew wont let me have any fun” I whine

“It’s your birthday?” he asks sounding surprised.

“It is” I confirm

“I would have given you something if I knew”

“I can think of a thing or two that I want” I purr into the phone. I had no idea I was so good at being slutty, I frown as I realize that.

“Where are you staying tonight?” he asks lowering his voice.

“Umm not sure, hold on” I pull the phone away from my ear and lift the mic “Matt, are you and Sophie staying over mine tonight?” I ask

“Umm I think so” he calls back.

“Shit” I say forgetting the mic is in my hands and making a few people chuckle but Matt and Tucker just frown at me.

“I have people staying at mine tonight” I reply into the phone forgetting the mic again until I hear the cheers from the crowd, I quickly put the mic down and turn around to collect my glass of water.

“You can come over mine, do you want me to pick you up from the club?” he asks but before I get a chance to reply the phone is taken out of my hand, I look around and see Andrew holding it to his ear talking to his brother glaring at me.

I drain my glass and glare back at him for ruining my plans.

“What’s going on Brooke? I’ve never seen you like this before. What’s happened?” Andrew says in my ear and pockets my phone.

“A lot of shit has happened Andrew, now give me my phone back” I snap at him fed up of everyone trying to control what I do.

“You can have it back in the morning” he promises kissing my cheek. “So we thought of a bet yet?” he asks the crowd and passes me my mic. A few people shout random things out at us making Andrew laugh and me scowl. “You’ll be thanking me tomorrow morning” Andrew laughs into his mic at my expression.

“Not considering what I would be doing tomorrow morning if you would have let me have my bet” I snap back. Taking no notice of the “oooohhhs” from the crowd and watch as Sophie, Matt and Tucker all snaps their heads towards me when they hear that.

“Trust me” Andrew sighs

“Yeah, and you’ll be thanking me when I’ll be cock blocking you for the next three months. Have you ever gone three months without sex?” I say sweetly into the mic. “You’ll hate me for it and I’ll even move in with you if I have to” I insist.

“Honey, if you’re going to make me go without sex for three months you do not want to be in my house alone with me unless you want to end up in my bed, that is” he says knowingly making me laugh at last.

“Take me there now and we’ll call it quits” I smirk at him feeling myself relax again and the atmosphere in the club lifts as Andrew and I go back to our usual banter.

“You couldn’t handle me sweetie” he grins at me.

“I got five guys stood at your feet that can tell you that you couldn’t handle my mouth let alone anything else” I tease and blow a kiss to the students I was doing the cherry stem trick for.

“Okay, okay if you could have one thing for your birthday right now. What would it be?” he asks me but faces the crowd.

“Don’t ask me that. You already know what I want”

“Okay. If I could give you something what would it be?” he asks facing me now.

I snort “Don’t ask me that either”

“It’s hard to find a bet to get around your current intentions Brooke” he sighs.

“Well if you’d give me my phone back I could sort it out” I say but then an idea hits me. Not one that I want to stick around and watch but one that will save me the regret that I know will come in the morning and it will make me forget all the same. “Okay, I promise that I won’t do what I said, but I need my phone please” I promise.

“What are you going to do?” he asks away from his mic.

“I promise I won’t do that, you’re right it was a stupid idea and I’d only regret it tomorrow. But I do need my phone back. Please there’s something else that will make me feel better” I say into his ear so only he can hear. “You can even listen in to the call” I beg now getting desperate.

I watch as he hands over my phone and go through the numbers finding the one I want and holding it up in between our ears.