Wanna Bet? (42 page)

“
I can’t” I croak before
accepting the glass of water that comes out of nowhere. “I’m too
tired” I groan.

Two hands land softly on
my cheeks and my face is turned. “Open your eyes Brooke” I obey and
find myself looking into a pair of concerned light blue eyes.
Tucker. “What’s wrong with you?” he asks softly.

“
I’m fine. I stayed up last
night watching TV and lost track of time going through some of my
old things, deciding what to keep and what to throw away, the next
thing I knew it was morning and I spent the day moving house and
unpacking everything, I was so busy I guess I forgot to eat. That’s
all there is to it. Honest” I lie and kick myself for being so
careless, I should have just gone to bed but I did promise I would
come in tonight. Maybe I should have just called in.

“
Come on” he picks me up
and carries me back through the bar into the office and lays me on
the sofa then sits at the top and lifts my head onto his legs so
they act as a pillow. For the next few hours I drift in and out of
sleep hearing different conversations, I can’t make out who’s
talking or what they are saying so I relax and fall back to
sleep.

“
Come Brooke, wake up, we
need to get you home” someone says shaking me softly.

“
I don’t wanna” I mumble
back sleepily.

“
I know, but you have to
and no one knows where you live anymore so you have to show
me”

“
Fine” I grumble and sit up
rubbing my eyes. Tucker is still in the same position and I turn to
the clock. “Oh my god … I’m so sorry, I was out for hours! You
shouldn’t have stayed so long, sorry” I blink a few times to clear
my vision a bit more and shakily stand up to test my
legs.

“
Don’t worry about it, I
wanted to stay” he says sincerity ringing clearly in his voice as
he throws an arm around my shoulders and leads me out to his car. I
give him the address and fall straight back to sleep as the car
starts moving.

I wake up in my bed, with
a huge smile on my face as I stretch out completely relaxed. I
frown down at myself when I realize I’m still fully dressed just
without my shoes on, then shrug it off as being too tired to get
undressed once Tucker dropped me off. I’m in such a good mood today
that I know it’s going to be an amazing day. Plugging my IPod into
the docking station I turn my music up to full volume and dance my
way into the shower and sing along. Still dancing and singing I
throw on a pair of jeans and a tank, I put my Ipod in my pocket and
plug in my earphones. I twirl my way down the stairs shaking my
head and flipping my hair, laughing through the lyrics.

“
Someone’s damn happy this
morning”

I spin at the sound of
Tuckers voice and come to a complete stop.

“
Jesus you scared the shit
out of me!” I complain clutching my chest.

“
Sorry, I didn’t mean to
interrupt” he says waving a hand for me to continue looking
amused.

“
I hope you made a pot” I
warn watching him drink his coffee.

“
Of course” he hands me a
mug that’s warm enough to drink without waiting for it to cool a
bit.

“
Umm … you stayed the
night?” I guess, not remembering much past getting in his car last
night, I just assumed he dropped me off.

“
Yeah, I stayed in the
spare room, which is like a time capsule for you’re life by the
way” he notes.

“
Oh … umm why did you
stay?” I ask not trying to be rude but just curious.

“
You asked me too” he
frowns at me.

“
Oh … I don’t really
remember anything past getting in your car after the club” I admit
“Anyway I don’t care, I’m in such a good mood today that nothing
else matters” I grin at him making him smile.

“
Can I ask why you are in
such a good mood?”

“
I don’t really know to be
honest, I just feel relaxed, happy, rested and sort of free” I
explain as best that I can.

“
Well I’m happy you’re
happy” he grins at me “What’s your plans for today?”

“
I have some paperwork to
do for the office that I’m going to do upstairs, then I’m having
dinner with Andrew and then I’ll be at the club tonight. What about
you?”

“
I have a few things I need
to do this morning but I’ll be at the club tonight”

“
Okay well I guess I’ll see
you later ten” I walk him to the door.

“
Be good” he kisses my
cheek and leaves.

My good mood doesn’t last
long when I remember my discovery last night, with a quick text to
Jess I leave my house praying for a miracle, what that miracle is
though, I don’t know.

***

Ten hours ago
I found out I’m pregnant.

I’m with
child.

I have a bun
in the oven.

There is a
baby growing inside me.

I’m knocked
up.

I took six
tests, then I sent Jess out for another ten.

They were all
positive. Then we went to the doctors, where I discovered I’m not
just pregnant, I’m
sixteen
weeks
pregnant.

I think I
could possibly be in shock.

Never the
less, Jess was relentless, she wouldn’t let me call in and sign the
club over to Will, she wouldn’t let me sell my house, she also
wouldn’t let me pack my bag and run away. Trust me. I
tired.

After
promising me she wouldn’t tell a soul, she helped me get ready for
work and now we’re walking through the club, her arm wrapped
tightly around my waist, this I think, is her way of stopping me
turning around and running away, not that I would. At least not
right away.

A few people
send us curious looks as we get closer to the bar and Jess squeezes
me tightly when we stop opposite it.

“
You’re going
to have to snap out of it Brooke. People will start asking
questions otherwise” she whispers.

I open my
mouth tell her I agree but no words come out, instead I swallow and
nod.

“
Uh .. maybe
we should go around the bar, you probably shouldn’t be climbing
over it” she frowns at the bar.

I glare at
her “I’m not disabled” I snap.

“
Jeeze” she
mutters but then a loud cheer further down the bar distracts us
both.

A few feet
down the bar a topless blonde is led down and Tucker is doing a
body shot off her. Anger washes over me. Not jealousy,
anger.

“
Great. I
can’t even drink anymore!” I throw my head back.

“
No coffee
either” Jess reminds me, unhelpfully.

“
So tell me oh
great one, what can I fucking do?” I demand, loosing the hold on my
emotions completely.

Jess backs up
a step and watches me wearily, guess a pissed off pregnant woman is
more than she can handle. I push past her and walk around the bar,
storming straight into Wills office.

“
Hey Brooke
...” he trails off and his smile fades when he see’s my
expression.

“
I’m pregnant.
I can’t drink. I can’t carry anything heavy. I can’t drink coffee.
I can’t do NOTHING!!!” I scream the last part.

“
You’re
pregnant?” he asks breaking out into a smile.

“
Don’t you
fucking dare!” I shout at him, pointing a finger and taking a step
back when he stands from his desk. “I only found out today,
I’m
four
months pregnant! What the fuck am I supposed to
do?!”

“
Uh ... calm
your language?” he smirks at me.

“
It’s not
funny!” I start pacing “I don’t want anyone to know, hell, I don’t
even want to know”

“
Brooke!”

I spin
around, stopping my pacing mid step at his shout.

“
Calm down.
Stress is no good for the baby. I can see why you’d freak out,
you’re young but... you have so many people to help you through
this that you can’t go wrong.”

“
It can go
wrong” I mutter and then leave the office.

I climb up
onto the bar and grab a mic, the DJ lowers the music when he
notices me. I take a few minutes to look at everyone in the crowd
and I’m struck with the memory of when I returned and how happy
everyone was to have me back.

“
I almost left
you all again today” I say into the mic.

I feel all
the attention of the club turn to me, Andrew joins me on the bar
with his own mic.

“
I did, I was
going to sign the club over to Will, sell my house and leave. Never
to return”

“
Why?” Andrew
asks cautiously.

“
Jess wouldn’t
let me though” I turn to him.

All eyes
swing to Jess and I watch as she shifts nervously but keeping her
concerned eyes on me.

“
Why did you
want to go?” Andrew asks coming closer to me slowly.

“
I still want
to, I just have to figure out how to do it without Jess finding out
and stopping me. Besides she threatened to come find me and drag me
back”

A few laughs
go up around us but they sound nervous, even to my ears. I turn
when I hear low voices behind me and find Will talking to a
concerned looking Lucy.

“
Everything
can go wrong” I say into my mic, Will looks up at me “And when it
concerns me and my life, everything
always
go
wrong”

“
Brooke, I
thought you we’re sorted now” Andrew asks and I can see the
confusion on his face.

Will jumps up
on the bar with us, apparently I feel more comfortable talking into
a mic, in front of a hundred people. Then I realize, I do, because
up here, we have to filter what we say, to a certain extent. I look
down at Lucy and Chloe. “We need shots” I tell them.

They hand us
each a shot “Keep them coming” I tell Lucy, she sends me a look but
does it anyway. I turn back to Will and Andrew, Andrew is looking
down at his shot but Will has his eyes on the shot in my hand. I
catch Jess’s eye and motion for her to join me, when she does I
hand her my shot.

“
Stability,
that’s you’re first one” I gesture for them all to take the shot
and Lucy and Chloe hand out another one “Everyone needs stability
in their lives”

“
Brooke?”
Andrew asks again.

I ignore him
“Stability can come in a number of forms. It can be a place,
somewhere to go. It can be a person, someone to rely on. Someone
who no matter what, they’ll be there. Beauty, that’s you’re next
shot”

The club is
silent now as everyone watches Will, Andrew and Jess take their
shots and then all eyes return to me. I turn my eyes to Will “You
don’t know this about me” I turn my back to him and lift my hair so
he can see the tattoo on the back of my neck “Do you know why I got
that?” he shakes his head at me “It cover a scar, I don’t have many
scars. I never talk about them either, no one knows about them” my
eyes fly to Tucker in the crows and he’s frowning at me “Do you
think I need another one?” I ask him.

I don’t look
to see if he answers me or not “One more shot Luce” Lucy hands them
all another shot and once again all attention is on me.

“
Strength” I
shrug and gesture for them to do the shots “We all need some
strength in our lives”

I walk up to
Will and lower my mic, speaking to him directly now but it’s so
quiet that I’m sure even people on the other side of the club can
hear me.

“
I can go on
all night but just those three things. I don’t have any of them. So
yeah, everything
can
go wrong. Do you know what the first
thought I had earlier was? I wanted to speak to my mom” I laugh, it
probably sounds insane “I wanted to talk to her! I hate her and I
wanted no I need to talk to her. Do you have any idea how fucked up
that is?”

“
Brooke, maybe
we should go into the office” Will says quietly, I can see that
he’s confused. He doesn’t understand. No one does.

I lower my
self so I’m sitting on the bar and lift the mic to my mouth as I
look up at Andrew. I smile up at him “Wanna sleep over tonight?” I
wink at him.

“
Uh .. last
time I spent the night with you Brooke, you left town the next day”
He smirks at me.

“
You were just
that good. I needed to be a few towns away so I wouldn’t jump you.”
I laugh.

Everyone
visibly relaxes and the atmosphere in the club lifts as the banter
returns to normal.

“
Well ... I
don’t normally do repeats but ... you’re bed sure is
comfy”

I laugh “We
won’t get much sleep though”

“
I’m counting
on that” he winks at me.

“
Come down
here” I smile freely. A warm feeling takes over me as Andrew lowers
himself down to the bar. I throw my arms around him and pull him
closer to me, squeezing him. Will was right, I do have people in my
life that will help me. Maybe I
can
do this. “You
know I love you, right?” I whisper to him, a tear rolling down my
cheek.