Wanna Bet? (39 page)

“
I’m sorry for getting rid
of Adam” he says playing with my hair.

“
That’s okay, I don’t think
I would have been able to go through with it anyway” I tell him
through a yawn.

“
You sure did drink a lot,
what was you thinking?”

“
I wasn’t, that was the
point, to not have to think anymore”

“
Want me to stay the
night?” he asks lowering us both so we are led down on the bed over
the covers me curled into him.

“
I have nightmares, if you
don’t mind that then I’d like you to stay please”

“
No problem” he pulls the
cover up in front of me so I’m covered “Goodnight Brooke” he kisses
my forehead.

“
N’night” I yawn and let
the sleep take me.

“
I’m worried about you
Brooke”

I turn my attention back
to Andrew, I hadn’t realized I’d drifted off somewhere there. He
looks concerned. We’ve had a lovely day together today which is
what I needed after last night. He spent the whole night with me,
every time I woke up from a nightmare he would start talking to me
about one of our nights at the club, replacing the bad memories
with happier ones. We went out for breakfast and then walked around
town, through the park and now we are having some food before my
shift at the club.

“
Sorry, what did you say? I
zoned out there for a minute” I admit added sugar to my
cappuccino.

“
This is what I mean … I’m
worried about you Brooke. It’s none of my business and you can tell
me to butt out but … for the last few months you have been all over
the place. I’ve seen you go from depressed to wanting to kill
someone in less than two minutes. I’ve seen you cry then laugh, you
have been through so many emotions I’m surprised you’re not worn
out. You can’t keep doing it. You’ll end up having a
breakdown”

“
Trust me I know” I run my
hands down my face and rub my eyes. I know what he’s talking about
and I know it’s only happened since Tucker moved back I also know
that he knows that too but is kind enough to not say it. We are so
up and down it’s hard to keep up, but we have always been like
that. He makes me happy but he brings back a lot of bad emotions
and memories. When we are apart and I don’t know where he is I’m
fine, but when we’re apart and I know he is not that far away my
body craves him so much that I loose sleep and only he can stop it.
I knew this is how it would be when I first saw him again at the
club and that’s why I ignored him as best I could and treated him
like any of the other men that I’m friends with, a bit of harmless
flirting, some banter, I even took sleeping pills that worked. The
problem is I no longer know if being with him is worth all this
effort. I seem to be the only one on this rollercoaster, he jumped
off a while back and I’m not sure if I want him to get back on it
with me. “I think I know what I need to do, you’re right. I can’t
keep going like this” I stand up from the table and collect my bags
“meet me at the club; I’ll be a few hours late tonight. Please can
you make sure everyone’s there.” I tell him as I search through my
purse for my phone.

“
It’s going to be a good
night?” he asks watching me curiously.

“
It’s going to be one I
remember for a while, let’s make it an excellent one” I smile
grabbing my phone and then head home.

I walk into the club
through the back entrance and go straight into the office to see
Will. As soon as he sees me his expression goes from happy to
surprise to concern as his takes in my casual outfit of jeans,
converse and a plain black tee.

“
Everything okay Brooke?”
he asks concerned.

“
Everything’s fine, I just
wanted a word before I go out there” I explain and then tell him my
plans.

He takes the news rather
well, he doesn’t like what I’m doing but isn’t that surprised which
makes me think that maybe I have been more unstable than I
thought.

“
Give me a knock before you
do it okay, I’m assuming you’re going to wait until the end of the
night?” he asks hopefully.

“
No I’m only staying for an
hour or so but yeah I’ll knock the door for you” I say over my
shoulder as I leave the office.

Lucy’s behind the bar
training the new girl Will hired to help out in the
week.

“
Hey Luce” I greet and pull
her into a hug.

“
Brooke, this is Chloe,
Chloe this is the owner, Brooke”

“
Nice to meet you, you’ll
fit in well. It will be fine” I assure her with a smile because she
looks nervous. She’s very pretty with blonde hair and bright blue
eyes, slim, taller than me a about five foot eight and looks as if
she will be a lot of fun when she gets over her first day nerves.
“Lucy will look after you, you’re in great hands”

“
Everything okay?” Lucy
asks noticing my clothes.

“
I’m not staying long
tonight. I have some stuff I have to take care of but I wanted to
pop in to see everyone” I reassure her with a smile when she starts
looking concerned. I notice Andrew has done as I asked and called
in Jess, Mel, Dan, Zack, Tucker and the rest of the band. I head to
the end of the bar where they are all sat.

I get them all their
drinks, not needing to ask what they want and add a shot each for
everyone. Andrew joins me on my side of the bar and helps with the
drinks.

“
All sorted?” he asks me
quietly, I rang him before I came in to tell him what was happening
but asking him to keep it to himself. I nod and grin up at him
making him smile and hug me kindly. “You’re going to be fine” he
kisses my cheek.

“
Here you guys, you know,
one or two of you could change you’re choice of drink once in a
while, mix it up a bit. You’re all very predictable” I tease the
group as I hand out their drinks.

“
We don’t need to add any
excitement to your night, you do that all by yourself” Derek teases
back making me chuckle.

“
Speaking of excitement,
are you two going to be putting on a show tonight?” Cam asks
excitedly. He always gets excited when Andrew and I do bets and
challenges; he enjoys my loosing and embarrassments way too
much.

I look to Andrew who is
grinning.

“
Definitely” I answer with
a wink and laugh when he rubs his hands together in
anticipation.

“
Everything okay Brooke?”
Mel asks me turning from her conversation with Tucker
smiling.

“
Never better” I assure
her, noticing they are linking arms.

“
You’re not staying long”
Tucker notes, looking at me for the first time since I walked over,
making my decision easier.

“
Nope, only for an hour or
two” I answer still smiling to let him know all is okay but he
frowns at me when Will walks out of the office and hands me a
coffee. I never drink anything other than alcohol at the club. I
don’t always get drunk, five out of six nights a week I only have
one or two beers but I never drink anything else and he knows
that.

The conversation quickly
turns to a group discussion on club events that are coming up, I
make comments when necessary but generally take a backseat from the
conversation not making any commitments but not declining any
either. I watch as Lucy and Chloe struggle with the amount of
customers so I give them a hand until the line clears a bit and
introduce Chloe to the group. I notice Tucker looking her over, I
don’t know if it’s because I’m watching for it but I’m not all that
surprised by it I think it’s something he always does I just
haven’t paid that much attention to it before now.

After about two hours
since I came here the music lowers and I look up to Andrew standing
on the bar, microphone in hand.

“
Guess where I stayed last
night” he asks the club.

I laugh and climb up on
tot the bar with him taking the mic Lucy holds up for me. “Let me
guess, with the girl of your dreams and it was the best night
ever?” I tease making the crowd cheer.

“
I would ask how you know
that, but you were there” the cheers get even louder.

“
Did you have a good
night?” I ask laughing.

“
Of course, didn’t get much
sleep though” he winks at the crowd.

“
I’m worth it though” I
smirk back at him.

“
Did
you
enjoy it?” he asks and the crowd
goes quiet waiting for me to answer.

I pretend to think about
it for a minute “Well you did snore but it was bearable” I wink to
the crowd and turn to Lucy. “Can you knock the office door for me
please?” I ask away from my mic, she frowns but does it.

“
We shouldn’t have waited
so long to do it” he teases.

“
If I knew you liked to
cuddle I would have asked you over last winter” I tease back
laughing at how our innocent night together is proving to be such
entertainment.

As soon as Will walks out
of the office into the bar I nod at Andrew to let him know it’s
time.

“
Okay ladies and gentlemen,
I know you’re all waiting for me to challenge Brooke to do
something but that’s not going to be happening tonight” a loud
groan goes up around the club and Andrew shushes them. “Tonight
however we say goodbye” he turns around ignoring the confused
mumblings and faces of the club and gestures towards something to
Lucy. I can’t help but grin and chuckle as she hands him a massive
bunch of pink and red roses.

“
Tonight we say goodbye and
good luck to Brooke because she is leaving us” he announces, I hear
a glass smash and turn to see Lucy has dropped a bottle of vodka
after hearing of my departure she looks up at me confused and with
tears in her eyes I smile at her sadly.

“
We will be sad to see you
go and miss all the entertainment you provide. We’ll miss hearing
you laugh, argue and that sexy little growl you do. We’ll miss
seeing smile, pout and that stubborn thing you do when you’re so
sure you’ll win a bet you have no chance of winning” he smirks at
me. ”But most of all we will just miss you being here” He hands me
the flowers and kisses me on the side of my mouth.

“
Thank you Andrew I’ll miss
you too” I hug him and then turn to the crowd. “I’ll miss all of
you as well and I’ll miss being here six nights a week” I say into
my mic.

“
How long you’ll be gone,
are you coming back?”

“
I don’t know yet” I answer
without answering; this is something I haven’t figured out
yet.

“
I won’t be taking my phone
with me so I will only be contactable by email. I want you all to
take care of my friends and be nice to them, they mean a lot to me”
I tell the crowd. “I know you’ll have just as much fun here with me
gone. I’ll try not to get into any trouble while I’m gone, and I
hope you’ll all do the same” I tease them. “I really will miss
every single one of you” I hold back the tears that are threatening
to spill over. “Now if you’ll all excuse me, I have a few people I
need to say goodbye to before I leave” I turn to get down of the
bar but Andrew stops me.

“
If you would all join me
I’d like to make a toast” he hands me a shot but I shake my head at
him reaching down for my coffee.

“
If you could all raise
you’re glasses … This is for you Brooke, good luck and I hope
you’re not gone too long. To Brooke!” He shouts and the crowd all
echo ‘To Brooke’ I smile and raise my coffee at them
all.

Lucy pulls me in a hug
crying softly.

“
I don’t want you to leave”
she sniffs into my ear.

“
It’ll be fine, I promise.
I don’t want to either but I have to” I squeeze her
back.

“
You promise to come
back”

“
I’ll try” is all I reply
without promising “Take care of everyone for me okay?” I ask to
distract her she nods at me and lets me go.

I head to the customer
side of the bar to make my goodbyes to everyone else.

Everyone hugs and kisses
me goodbye all asking me to promise that I don’t stay away too
long, a few ask me why I’m leaving but I don’t answer directly.
Tucker doesn’t say goodbye to me in front of the group he leads me
to the office. Will looks up at our entrance and stands to hug and
wish me luck and walks out with a ‘have fun’ and a kiss on the
cheek leaving me alone with Tucker. This is the hardest goodbye but
at the same time the easiest.

“
Is this about what I did?
Because I’m sorry for that” he asks looking at me but avoiding my
eyes.

“
It’s not about that,
although that helped” I admit.

“
Don’t leave because of
what I did. We wasn’t together then Brooke” he pleads making me
frown.

“
It’s not about what
happened Tucker, I’m not upset about that, I’m more upset about the
lie” he starts to talk but I cut him off “You may not have lied to
me directly but you asked two of my best friends not to talk to me
about something you told them you had already talked to me about.
You lied to them to keep something from me. That’s what I had a
problem with. If I had known about Mel I wouldn’t have let what
happened in here the night after my birthday happen. If I had known
about you and Lucy straight after what me and you did then nothing
further would have ever happened between us”