Trust Me (Finding my way) (20 page)

“
You can’t leave yet. Do you want to stay in my room?”

I pull out of his embrace
“I don’t want to stay on campus. Everyone saw…I’ve had enough rumours to last me a life time.”

“
Of course,” he runs his hands through his hair, frustrated. “What about Kate’s? I can ask if you can room with her for a few days.”

“
YES!” I shout; I forgot about Kate’s apartment. “Sorry, I didn’t think of that. Would you ask her for me please?”

“
Sure, let’s start putting all this in the cars,” he gestures at all the boxes. “You’ll be out of here before you know it.”

***

I manage to finish my last days at uni, without seeing or hearing from Tucker. I have gone out of my way to avoid him, but if he wanted to bump into me, I have no doubt that he would have.

Kate agreed to let me move in with her; we haven’t told anyone, only Sophie, who visits as often as she can but only after we’ve made her swear not to tell Matt where I am.

Everyone on campus is talking about what happened between Tucker and me that lunchtime in the cafe. Some think that I really did cheat on him; others think that we never stood a chance from the beginning. A lot of people blame Beth, for all the interfering she did in our relationship; this is what surprised me most. I didn’t know that anyone would believe me and take my side; but apparently, the majority have.

According to Sophie, Tucker hasn’t mentioned what happened to anyone and has thrown himself into practicing with his band. He even stopped going to parties and hanging out with Matt. That’s all she has mentioned though, and I only know this because I overheard her talking to Luke. No one talks about him around me.

I try to keep up a brave façade, but the people closest to me know that’s all it is. The nights are the hardest, the sleepless nights.

With Tucker no longer around, the nightmares have returned. If I thought I hated Tucker before though; it’s nothing compared to how I feel about him at night. I don’t have the normal nightmares, the ones about my step-dad hitting me. No, now I have dreams; only to me they’re nightmares. At night, I dream of my dad; of all the happy memories, the tender moments between us and all the times we laughed. They all end the same way though, with him walking away, never to return.

My decision to leave, came to me late one night when I was up talking to Kate. Some nights when we were alone, we would stay up as late as possible with the hope that if I were tired enough, exhaustion would take over and I’d sleep peacefully. We started talking about how happy I am and when the last time I was truly happy. Then we were talking about the trip we took down to see my dad’s best friend.

Knowing that if I stayed here, I would spend all my time avoiding both Tucker and my step dad. We agreed that the move up there would be for the best: a fresh start and a way for me to be closer to my dad.

After phoning Andrew and asking his opinion, he agreed to help me move and sorted out a place for me live.

All I have left to do now is to make sure Phin will be okay without me. I know I shouldn’t go back there, not even for one last time; but I won’t be able to rest easy, unless I know that he’s going to be safe. If that means seeing my step dad for one last time then so be it.

After all, what’s the worst he can do?

**
Brooke’s journey continues in Book two of the Finding My Way series is coming soon.

Check my Blog/Facebook page for teasers.
**

Acknowledgements

I have to say
a great big thank you to Dave for putting up with me as I slaved away for days, evening and even full nights while writing this book. I did not always make it to bed and had the most bizarre sleeping pattern ever, but I think it was worth it.

Also to my mum for constantly saying she
’s proud of me – even though she hasn’t read the book – Thank you for loving books so much, I get it from you.

My most heartfelt thanks goes to Kim
– You read the book in the very rough stages, but didn’t let it bother you and sent me emails that made me laugh, cry and groan with the thought of all the changes I was going to have to make but I loved every single one of them!

I
’m cringing as I write my thanks to Jen, proofreading this book must have been a complete nightmare but you did it and now it’s free from all my horrendous grammar mistakes and actually reads well, all thanks to you... I owe you!

Buuuutttt ... the biggest ever thank you I send to you, the reader. Thanks to you for taking the time to read this book and in doing so, joining
me on this wonderful journey of writing.

About Me

I don
’t really know what to say here .... I’m in my mid twenties – I can pass for about 17 though, so I do tend to tell the little white lie about my age now and again, although most of the time I forget how old I am – but I’d love to go back to 21 and stay there.

I
’m British. I’m full of random quirks that make up my completely bizarre personality, I might be a touch crazy, but I accept it. I embrace it.

I love to read and can spend a whole day working my way through two or three books in one sitting, only stopping for coffee. I love to read mostly N/A, some Romance Suspense and a little Erotic
Romance. I hate series’ but I love reading them and I love a book that can make me cry and or laugh.

If you have any questions or just want to say
‘Hey’ you can email me
[email protected]
. Follow me on Twitter @RSBurnett1
and Goodreads, or like my facebook page which is just R.S.Burnett.

You can also find teasers and some of my random musing over at my blog that is listed on all of the above.

I look forward to hearing from you but in the meantime, I have another book to write.

62