Page 45

~ brIDGET ~

Driving home from the Courthouse an hour later—only after Jeremy made sure Sam had left the building and gotten on a bus, so he couldn’t be following—my head still looped and spun.

I felt limp, like a cooked noodle.

Throw me against the wall and see if I’ll stick.

And that thought immediately dredged up another memory.

“Bridget?!” his voice was frantic. “Babe, where are you?”

I rushed towards the stairs, I’d seen the car lights but hadn’t been able to move until I knew it was him. He sprinted up the stairs and took me off my feet the moment we collided on that landing.

A high-pitched grunt broke out of me when we collided, but I just buried my face in his neck as he swept me up.

“Sam…” I’d been so fucking relieved. “Sam, I’m so sor—”

He interrupted me before I could apologize.

“Are you hurt?”

“No. No. I’m fine.”

He didn’t challenge me. Wasn’t mad. Didn’t dominate… he held me tight and pinned me back against the wall, holding my weight with his body so he could lift his hands to my face. And the expression …

He was desperate. Frantic. Afraid.

But not angry.

Why wasn’t he angry that I’d run and not told him?

“Are. You. Hurt?” His eyes were piercing, intent, searching mine “In any way? Has something happened? Is anyone else here?”

Such a strange question under the circumstances.

But I hadn’t seen it.

“No, I’m alone, and… I was just scared. That’s all, Sam. I was just so scared being alone and… I needed you. I’m sorry I left. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you—”

I didn’t tell you.

Sorry, I left. And I didn’t tell you.

And he didn’t get mad. He didn’t rage. He didn’t do any of the things I thought he’d do.

Because he was lying and hiding too.

And suddenly I was livid.

But I didn’t let them see it. I couldn’t. It wasn’t hard to slump like I was exhausted, because I was. It wasn’t hard to act like I had no energy for anything except to go home and be alone—because I didn’t.

It wasn’t hard to lie.

Because I am a fantastic fucking liar when I want to be.

And that thought started a ticking time bomb in my head that I didn’t even want to look at.

So, I answered all of Gerald’s questions, and kept reassuring Jeremy. And I made them take me home.

I put my phone down on the nightstand in my room and left it on. Even plugged it in to charge. I took a shower because I needed to wash this shit day off, and I needed to wake up.

My hands were shaking.

I left my hair wet because I couldn’t be bothered with anything else, and I sat on my bed naked and waited for the inevitable phone call.

First from Gerald.

No, I hadn’t left. Yes I was in bed. No, I wasn’t hungry. Yes, I’d call him in the morning and go to the office in the afternoon.

Goodnight, Gerald.

Then Jeremy .

Jeremy surprised me. He showed up at the front door. I had to hurriedly pull on pajamas, but luckily they were already used and wrinkled, so I looked like I’d been laying around in them when I opened the door and glared at him.

He immediately relaxed and raised his hands, “I was just checking.”

“You can stop now.”

He wanted to talk more, but I was still reeling and made him leave. That left me shaking even harder, because I hadn’t anticipated him showing up in person.

But an hour after he left it was getting late and there were no more calls or knocks on the door. And I had a plan.

I had an old neighbor six blocks away. She was always in bed by nine, and up at like five in the morning. I knew this because I was awake and going to the gym at all hours of the day and night. And I had once helped her carry groceries into her house when it was a hot day and I was driving past.

Agnes.

Agnes’ life was regular as clockwork.

She had an old car that she parked on the roadside and only drove twice a week.

I hadn’t seen Agnes since before I met Cain. I should have checked in on her. I’d try to remember to do that. To thank her.

Because, she didn’t know it, but she would be my savior tonight.

I knew Jeremy would have placed another trace on my car while he was here. So I couldn’t even start the radio without him showing up. And he probably had a perimeter set a block or two out in case I could find it and remove it.

He knew I’d clock guys surveilling me from the street, so he’d have placed them around the neighborhood, probably not in cars. Watching my place. Watching for my car.

It was time for me to use the skills I’d developed as a rebellious teen and get the fuck out of Dodge.

My heart banged in my chest, but I was smiling when I got into my hunting clothes, zipped the burner phone and some cash into the inside pocket, then crawled out my own window and hopped the fence into the back-side neighbor’s yard.

Ten minutes later I successfully hotwired Agnes’s old car .

I stopped at the gas station on my way because I didn’t want Agnes paying for my joyride.

Then I got on the highway, put the pedal down and got the hell out of there.

~ SAM ~

When my doorbell rang at almost midnight, I knew.

I hadn’t been thinking she would come. I’d been expecting Jeremy, or maybe even some fucked up assassin shit. Maybe they’d remove me to solve the problem?

But they wouldn’t ring the doorbell.

Bridget.

I yanked on a pair of boxers and sprinted through the house for the door, reaching for the lock as she knocked. Hard.

I swung the door wide and my breath rushed out of me at the sight of her, openly on my doorstep in her hunting gear, her face pale and eyes huge.

“Bridget,” I rushed. “Thank God, I—”

“You fucking liar!” she hissed, stepping in and shoving me back with both hands. I was so startled, I stumbled back, one arm swinging wildly to catch my balance as she stormed right into my house, her face twisted into a snarl. “I can’t believe you played me! Just one more fucker in this world, just like my fucking father—one of his meathead thugs who—”

“Bridget, no!”

She shoved me again and when I didn’t step back this time, she hauled off and slapped me.

“You fucking cunt!” she screamed.

“Bridget, listen to me—”

Teeth bared and eyes shining with tears, my wife turned into a whirlwind—hands coming at me faster than I could see—and some of them landed. I was exhausted, taken by surprise, and one eye watered from that stinging slap. It took a few seconds and a bruised rib for me to understand I needed to defend myself before she clawed my eyes out .

“Bridget!”

“Liar. Cheat. Fucking manipulative asshole! There aren’t words bad enough for you—and you talk about god like he’s on your side, you fucking heathen!”

“Bridge—”

Smack, swing. I caught one of her hands before it connected with my face, but I had to turn my shoulder into the next blow, because she hadn’t slowed down.

Where the fuck did she learn to fight like that?

“Bridget, stop!”

“Fight me, Sam! Fucking fight me!”

“What?! No! I’m not—”

The heel of her hand came straight for my face and if I hadn’t already had a hand high enough, she would have broken my nose.

I swore and caught her wrist and held it , this time. Bridget hissed like a cat and turned, throwing an elbow into my unprotected ribs, but she was shaking.

“Bridget… babe—”

“Don’t fucking call me that!”

“What did he tell you? It was a lie! I’m not—”

“Bullshit! I saw the photo!”

I was struggling to keep her one hand held while trying to catch the other arm, and in the end I had no choice but to wrap an arm around her and pull her off her feet. It was clear she wasn’t going to stop fighting until I had completely overwhelmed her.

“I’m only doing this so we can talk,” I grunted in her ear as she tried to elbow my chest again. But I had her held too tightly this time.

She wriggled and twisted like a cat, and it became clear that during our hunts she’d never fully fought me. Never given everything she had.

She did now.

She hissed, and screamed, and bowed her back, kicked me with her heels and swore like a fucking prisoner.

But finally, finally, I had her curled up and locked in my arms, pinned over the back of the couch, and unable to free herself no matter how she struggled.

We were both panting .

“Bridget… please. You have to listen to me—”

“I’m not listening to a word that comes out of your mouth, you fucking lied to me!”

I went still, hating myself. That time with her over Christmas was such a blur. At first she’d seemed too fragile to hear it. Then so much time passed I was worried she’d be angry—again—because I hadn’t told her. Then the Court case…

“I’m sorry,” I breathed in her ear.

She struggled again, grunting and screeching, trying desperately to get out of my grip. I dropped my face into her crook of her neck and waited for her to tire. “Babe, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t call me that!”

“I panicked when you disappeared, and I thought he had eyes on you and could tell me where you were. But you were right, Bridget. He was only interested in manipulating me. Toying with me. I never went back. I swear.”

“Did you two plan this whole fucking thing?” she rasped, her voice growing tight because she was fighting tears. Shit.

“No.”

“They told me you were there with him when you were in prison. I’m such an idiot—”

“No, Bridget!” I growled. She had her back to me so I couldn’t make her meet my eyes, but I pressed my face to the side of hers and forced her to listen. “I didn’t know you were his daughter when we met. He wasn’t anyone to me except a well-known prisoner… I knew who he was, Bridge. We were never friends. I wasn’t working with him. He doesn’t share my faith. He’s just a sick old man.”

“Yeah, he’s sick—and you went to see him and didn’t tell me!”

“I didn’t know where you were!”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you fucking tell me, Sam!” she wailed, then all the tension went out of her body as she sobbed and collapsed over the back of the couch like a deadweight.

“Bridget…” I breathed.

But she shook her head and buried her face in the pillows. “I can’t trust you. I can’t trust anyone. You’re all the fucking same. ”

“No,” I said emphatically, my voice dark. “No, Bridget. I am not like them. I swear—”

“Then why didn’t you tell me? It wasn’t even two full days after I told you not to even ask other people questions about him!”

“Because you disappeared and I was terrified! No one else knew where you were—or if they did, they weren’t telling me.”

“I don’t care! I don’t care! You should have told me later! Why didn’t you tell me?!” She turned her head, craning, looking right at me from the corner of her eyes. “Why, Sam?”

With a curse and a prayer, I slowly let her go. Poised to catch her if she attacked me again, but she didn’t. I straightened and she found her feet and turned to face me, arms folded tightly and eyes shining with the tears trickling down her cheeks and she spat at me.

“Why?”

I sighed, because the only answer had to be the truth. “Because… because you’d already disappeared once, and I was terrified of losing you. I was terrified of this.”

Her eyes narrowed and her face screwed up. She snarled through her teeth.

“You should have been.”

Then she shoved me back one step and stormed out of my house.