Wanna Bet? (45 page)

“
You okay honey?” she asks
softly watching me chug the water.

“
Tucker has issues with me
being in the same room as
one
person that I have had sex with
one!
That’s how many
other men I’ve been with apart from him and he doesn’t like it yet
I have to speak to and see, forget the fact that I am best friends
with
two
of the
people he’s slept with an god knows how ever many more there are in
here just tonight. I had people come up to me in university and
tell me all about it in details after they spent a night with him
and he has a problem because of one fucking guy”

“
What are you going to
do?”

I think over all the times
in university when Tucker showed his possessive side and come to
one conclusion. “Distract him” I grin at her and go into the staff
toilet with adjoining locker room.

I keep a few spare dresses
and things in my locker just in case I ever find myself missing
clothing because of a bet again and I select the dress that I know
will work best to my advantage.

As I walk into the bar
again ignore the stares I’m getting and head back over to Jess,
there is nothing revealing about my dress only the fact that it is
fire engine red, fits me like a second skin and is only transparent
lace in certain parts.

“
Come be a groupie with me”
I tug on her arm and pull her towards the front of the stage where
Tucker and the rest of the band are in mid song.

We start dancing along to
the music and I hear Tucker stutter a few lyrics when I look up he
is staring at me with unadulterated heat in his eyes, I do a little
twirl for him and he shakes his head chuckling at me. I ignore him
for the rest of the set and dance with Jess, screaming his name
when everyone else does and even joining in with the pleas for him
to take his top off much to his amusement. Jason and Nick join us
and start dancing with us both, but Jess pulls me into her when
Jason puts his hands on my hips, he pulls me away from
her.

“
Are you coming home with
me tonight?” he asks in my ear rather loudly getting straight to
the point.

I shake my head at him, he
pouts.

“
Are you with someone?” he
asks me not put off.

I nod at him against his
cheek because he doesn’t move back from my ear this
time.

“
Who?” he leans back after
he asks this time I point up to Tucker who’s watching us. “He can
come too” he offers making me hold back my smirk but I don’t think
I do it well enough, just the thought of suggesting that to Tucker
makes me want to snort unbelievably.

I shake my head at him
furiously letting him know that isn’t an option.

“
Why not” he
persists

“
I love him” I shrug and
shout up at him. He looks back at Tucker and then to me then shakes
his head smiling sweetly.

“
He’s a lucky guy, you’re a
very amazing woman Brooke. One of a kind” he says into my ear and
kisses my cheek. I reach up and hug him quickly.

“
Thank you, but I’m the
lucky one” he laughs softly and walks off taking Nick with
him.

I watch Jess watch Nick
making his way through the crowd and shake my head at her laughing
at the disappointment on her face.

“
Who
was
that?” she demands.

“
Jason is the one who was
talking to me, he is getting married tomorrow I think ... and the
other one was Nick”

“
Please tell me that Jason
is the guy you were referring to earlier that Tucker didn’t want
you speaking to” She says hopefully. This is one of the reason I
love Jess, she is a firm believer of the never sleep with a guy one
of you’re girlfriends has and she obviously fancies
Nick.

“
No, it was Nick” I laugh
as her face falls.

“
Then what the hell are you
doing with him?” she points up at Tucker.

“
I only slept with Nick to
try and forget about Tucker … it didn’t work” I shrug at her and
wink at Tucker as the song ends and club cheers asking for
more.

He turns to the band and
says something to them then turn back to the crowd and holds up his
mic.

The crowd goes
quiet.

“
I believe you and I have a
bet we need to finish” he says into the mic looking directly at me.
I climb up on to the stage as the band start playing my bar dance
theme song ‘bad girlfriend’ I start dancing as soon as Tucker
starts singing. Once the chorus starts I dance with Tucker, doing
the same dance I used to do on the bar but change it so it includes
him, he puts his free hand on my hips as I shake against his groin
and put my hands above my head around his neck, he notices how some
of the dancing is going with the words of the song so when he sings
the lyrics ‘
I like to strip her down,
she’s naughty ‘till the end’
he runs his
hands up my leg lifting the bottom of my dress up teasingly then
grabs my arm and spins me out and back into him as his sings how
there’s no doubt I’m a bad, bad girlfriend. The crowd eat it up and
go wild, screaming and whistling. As the song comes to an end we
both take a bow. The crowd applause but over it I hear Jess
shouting “I hate you Tucker Lloyd!” I burst out laughing and Tucker
just looks back and for us looking confused. I shake my head at
him, not able to talk through laughing; he wraps both arms around
me pulling my back into his chest and kisses my cheek.

“
Have I told you today that
I love you?” he smiles against my ear.

I shrug “I could hear it
again”

“
I love you”

“
Uh … good because I have
something I need to tell you”

Tuckers whole body tenses
behind me. “What is it?” he asks slowly.

I turn my head to look up
at him and take a deep breath preparing myself.

“
I’m pregnant”

His eyes roam my face for
a few seconds and I hear the mic drop our of his hands and hit the
floor. “How? Isn’t it a bit soon for you to know that..” he asks
quietly.

“
I … ah … it wasn’t …
Tucker, I’m four months pregnant. I didn’t find out until a few
days ago. I got pregnant way before I left, we didn’t … we weren’t
safe the first two times ...” I trail off helplessly.

“
You’re .. we’re … shit” he
spins me around and crushes me against him.

“
I need to breathe” I
manage to get out, his hold on me loosens slightly.

“
I need you” I says quietly
in my ear and then picks me up and takes me home.

The next few weeks pass in
a blur. Tucker and I have been near inseparable, we spend almost
every night together, usually at my house – I still haven’t stepped
foot in his. I’m not going to say that we have just fallen into the
relationship and everything is easy and going good because we do
have our moments and we clash on a lot of things. Tucker broke the
news to the band and with a little pushing from Jess, I finally
told Mel and Lucy. The only person we have left to tell is Andrew,
Matt and Sophie. Andrew is the one person I’m most nervous about
telling, it’s not that I think he won’t take the news well, it’s
just that Andrew’s a bit protective of me and since I’m now twenty
two weeks pregnant and we have found out that I’m having a girl, I
have a feeling he will be treating me as if I’m made of
glass.

“
Uh … Brooke, what are you
doing?”

I look up at Jess’s amused
expression.

“
What? I frown at
her.

We’re in the coffee shop
and I’m drinking tea. Yes, I Brooke Daniels, the woman who
literally salivates at the smell of coffee brewing is drinking
tea.

“
You’re dipping a muffin in
your drink” her voice is full of humor but her expression is one of
disbelief.

“
It’s good” I shrug at her
and dip my blackberry muffin into my tea and wave it in her face
before pushing it into my mouth. “You should try it”

“
I’m okay thanks” she
smirks “So what’s with the outfit?”

I look down at my self,
I’m wearing my old university hoodie that swallows me and a pair of
sweats. Basically, I look like a homeless person. I screw my face
up “You know, I used to dress like this to pretend I was
overweight, now I’m dressing like this to hide the fact that I’m no
longer in good shape”

“
What are you talking
about? You have a great body” she laughs at me.

I stand from the table and
shake my head “I woke up this morning and I had this” I lift my
hoodie up showing her my tight tee that hugs my small
bump.

“
Awww” she cries and rubs
her hand over it “Why are you hiding this? It’s so
cute!”

“
It is not!” I cover myself
back up and sit down with a huff “I swear it was like someone
inflated me while I was sleeping last night. I woke up this morning
and it was just there. I’m hiding it from Tucker”

“
No offense honey, but you
go into the club dressed like that and he’s likely to strip you
down to see what you’re hiding” her voice is once again full of
humor.

Jess spends a lot of her
time teasing Tucker on how he is around me since finding out I’m
with child. It’s sweet but annoying as hell.

“
I’m not going to the club
like this” I sigh, collecting my bags “I’m going to wear a loose
fitting dress and just hope he thinks it’s cute enough not to
question”

“
Good luck with that” She
smirks at me.

We say our goodbyes and
both head in separate directions to get ready for the night ahead
of us.

Unfortunately, by the time
I get to work that night, I’m a mess. I push my way through the
crowds with my head down and avoid contact with everyone, making my
way towards the bar. A few people call out my name but I don’t
acknowledge any of them. As soon as I reach the bar, I’m lifted off
my feet and placed on top of it with a mic thrust into my
hand.

“
I got a bet for you
Brooke” Andrew calls into his mic but when he turns to me and see’s
the tears silently running down my cheeks he lowers the mic and
looks at me with concern. I loose it. I drop my mic, throw my arms
around him and burying my head into his chest I cry, great big
howling sobs.

“
Hey, what’s wrong?” he
asks rubbing a soothing arms up and down my back.

I shake my head, still
crying and not able to talk, even if I could I’m not sure what I
would say.

Some part of me knows that
I’m completely overreacting and being irrational but a bigger part
of me just doesn’t care.

By the time Tucker has
joined us on the bar and Andrew has passed me over to him I’m
hyperventilating.

“
Brooke, what’s wrong?”
Tucker’s concern just makes me cry harder.

I lift my head and he
moves the hair out of my face, searching my eyes for the answers
that I can speak aloud.

“
Can we get her a glass of
water?” he asks someone over my shoulder.

I do a face plant into his
chest and my crying starts all over again as I cling to his shirt
as if my life depends on it. He doesn’t question my tight grip, he
just rubs his hands up and down my arms and lets me hold onto him,
absorbing some of his strength.

Someone passes him a glass
of water and he holds it to my mouth while I drink as much of it as
I can.

I look around and notice
that everyone is watching me silently all with the same expression,
bafflement.

“
Brooke, what’s wrong?”
Tucker asks again.

I shake my head “Nothing”
I offer a weak smile but I know it won’t fool him.

He pulls his head down so
his forehead is resting on mine while he holds me close.

“
I’m fat and I’m hungry, so
hungry but I want spicy chicken and I can’t find any” I whisper
against his mouth, knowing that due to the complete silence of the
club he can hear me.

“
You’re not fat and we’ll
find you some chicken, now tell me what’s really bothering you” he
whispers back.

I step out of his arms and
pull my dress behind my back so it’s tight on the front, his eyes
drop down to my stomach and then back up to mine before they drop
down again and the biggest grin known to man spreads across his
face.

“
Uh …Brooke?” Andrews
confused voice comes from behind me.

I look around and a few
people are staring opened mouthed at me, I feel the blood rush to
my face and I’m sure I’m the color of a tomato. “Oh … umm … yeah ..
I’m pregnant and having a little girl” I mutter, more embarrassed
that people have seen my bump than them seeing me cry over
chicken.

Andrews eyes sweep over me
slowly “Who …” he trails off.

“
Me” Tucker announces
proudly, wrapping an arm around me just below my
breasts.

“
I’d congratulate you both
but … I don’t want you to start crying again” he looks so lost that
I can’t help but smile and giggle a little.