Chapter 34
Bridger
I woke up to the feeling of warm, comforting sun on my skin. My eyes snapped open, and I realized where I was, what happened last night, who I was with. Juliette was tucked into my chest, her eyes shut and her lips slightly parted to let out little soft breaths.
We were close to the finish line. My parents were pissed, but I had been in their position not too long ago.
If I could move on, so could they. After dinner last night—dinner that Juliette loved every second of—Mom had brought us into the guest room.
It was small, tucked away in the corner of the house, but Juliette seemed happy about that.
I had never seen someone so quick to give up a mansion.
Soon, me and Juliette would be in our own home, far away from the long list of restraints that held her back.
She deserved happiness, freedom, life. She deserved to paint all her dreams. It had been ripped away from her, but that gilded cage had been destroyed, and now brightness was right around the corner.
My eyes were glued to her. Couldn’t get them off that face if I tried, but to be fair, she was pretty damn perfect, and how was I supposed to look away from perfection when it was right there in front of me?
There was a pretty pink glow on her cheeks as she kept breathing softly and slowly.
Her brown hair was in waves around her and I brushed a couple of stray strands out of her eyes.
This was the start of something new and perfect. The start of the forever that was ripped away from me when I was nothing but an eighteen year old boy who was desperately in love with a girl he was never meant to cross paths with.
Reaching up slowly, I let my thumb stroke across her cheek, slow and careful.
God, this felt too good. How the hell had I gone so long without her?
It was a wonder I even survived that. Where was my fucking medal?
Because years without the love of my life had left a permanent knot in my chest that had only just come undone.
A little whine left Juliette’s lips as she fidgeted. Her eyes fluttered open, and there she was: the most beautiful girl in the world was looking at me, and how fucking lucky was I?
“Good morning, my Bridger,” she whispered.
“Good morning, my Juliette,” I muttered, my voice low and gruff with sleep. “Wherefore art thou, Juliette?”
Giggling softly, she stared at me, eyes half-lidded. “Right here. Always right here.”
“Mm, yeah,” I said, my thumb still stroking at her cheek. “That’s exactly where I want you. Right here, with me forever.”
She hummed and nuzzled her face into my neck, and we stayed like that for a good while, just her in my arms as I lifted a hand up to brush at her locks. The sound of her breathing let me know that she had fallen back asleep, the rhythm soft and steady.
I kissed her forehead and slid out of bed, moving as quietly as I could so she could keep sleeping. When I got done brushing my teeth and washing my face, Juliette was still fast asleep. She needed the rest more than I did.
The soft sound of murmurs hit my ears as I moved out of the guest room and down the hallway, that noise coming to a halt as I stepped into the kitchen, the early morning sun filling up the room.
Mom spotted me first, sitting at the dining table with Dad.
As soon as she got quiet, Dad looked at me over his shoulder in his chair.
“There’s the man of the hour,” he said, nodding to the table. “Sit with us.”
“Where’s…” Mom cleared her throat. “You know who…”
I sighed, pushing my hands through my hair that already felt messy from sleeping. “You can say her name, Mom.”
“I’d rather not.”
“She’s in my life now. Again. And I know it’s weird and not what you expected to see when you opened up the door, but…” I said, taking in a long breath. “She’s pregnant now, and we’re finally gonna have the life we should have had years ago. The one that was taken away from us…”
“You mean when you got sent to prison and all you got was a measly letter?” Dad asked. “The one telling you that she didn’t love you and want you? That said you were never good enough?”
“It wasn’t from her,” I said, watching as Dad poured me a cup of coffee, and his confused eyes flickered up to mine. “She never got the letter I sent her. The real one. She got one with my name on it and I got one with her name on it—our handwriting and all—but it wasn’t really from either of us.”
“Wait, what?” Mom frowned. “What do you mean?”
My hands moved to the back of my neck. “I always knew her dad had something to do with me being sent to prison. He made sure there was enough fake evidence to make it look like it was me. Prints, hair, that bracelet Juliette made me…”
The real one sat there on my skin, warm and solid despite all the wear and tear it had.
I could remember it all. Cops telling me I had made another one after I realized it was missing or that I bought that one or that I found something to look like the real one that had been stuck on some broken window I had supposedly broken into or some shit. Lie after lie.
“That plus the letter in my handwriting sealed the deal,” I explained. “They made the perfect crime scene, and then those letters were the cherry on top. I got sent to prison, and then she…”
“She what?” Dad asked.
“She got married. They made her get married,” I said, anger snapping back into my body.
Like that cunt was still alive, like he was still walking the earth.
I wanted to bring him back to life just so I could kill him all over again.
“She was forced into it. Some old guy. Rich as hell. Not just rich, a fuckin’ billionaire.
Of course her parents liked him for her.
He’s the kinda guy girls like Juliette end up with.
She wanted nothing to do with him, but they weren’t giving her much of a chance.
They were gonna kick her out without even a cent to her name.
No clothes, no money, no place to stay. She was eighteen.
She was scared. Had no idea what she was getting into…
” I took in an uncomfortable breath, a vision of a scared, panicked Juliette filling my mind.
Him with his hands on her throat, him yanking at her hair, him smacking her across the face. “He wasn’t a good guy.”
“Wasn’t?” Dad asked. “They’re divorced?”
Eyes flickering up to meet his, I thought about his question. “They’re not together anymore.”
“They made her marry him?” Mom placed a hand to her chest. “She was only eighteen. She was a kid.”
“They didn’t care about that. They had been waiting to sell her off to a rich guy the second they got the chance,” I explained. “And you guys know they weren’t exactly fans of me. He was her punishment for wanting me.”
“What a mess,” Dad muttered.
“Her parents made sure we hated each other. It was the easiest way to keep us apart,” I said. “I thought the worst of her and she thought the worst of me, and then we both went our separate ways.”
“How could they do that?” Mom snapped. “You were both so in love. I had never seen you so happy and we could barely get that girl out of our house. All she wanted was to be with you.”
I smiled at that, but it quickly faded. “They wanted her to be with a guy with money. Mansion, country club, private jet.”
Mom laughed, all dry and humorless. “Juliette always seemed perfectly happy at our little old shack.”
“Yeah, and that pissed both her parents off. They couldn’t get her to stay away from me and they couldn’t get me to stay away from her. So…” I sucked in a sharp breath. “Since they needed me out of the picture, prison was the perfect option.”
“Two years.” Dad grinded his teeth. “You were taken away from us for two years. Kept in that place when we all knew you didn’t do a thing wrong. Her parents are insane.”
“They got to marry her off with me gone, though. That was the plan. For her to marry that rich asshole just because it looked good.”
“Who is he?” Mom asked.
“Lawyer. Old money like her. She was stuck with him, and he…” I hissed, pushing a heavy hand through my hair.
“He hurt her in more ways than one. From the day they were married. She was eighteen, scared, alone.” And so was I, there in that cell, an ache in my chest that wouldn’t go away.
Juliette had been stuck in her own cage, though.
“With no one to help her. No one to give her an option. She had no money. He barely let her leave the house. Stopped her from painting and doing what she loved. No freedom. No life.”
“That poor girl,” Mom said. “If I had known… Bridger, if we knew…”
“We would have helped her,” Dad said, voice low. “If she had just reached out… I mean, we were mad at her, but still… We would have helped, Bridger. I wish she had come to us.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I know. You guys are good like that.”
“How did you two meet again? What, did you bump into each other on the street or something?” Dad asked.
“Something like that,” was my answer. “Just kinda… found each other again. I feel like we were always meant to be back in each other’s lives.”
“And now she’s pregnant,” he said. “Have you been to the doctor?”
“Not yet,” I explained. “Things were a bit crazy in Chicago, but I was planning on driving us down to Avon today when we’re done here. I’m taking her to the house after this.”
“The house?” Mom asked. “Wait, are you moving to Avon? That’s only a couple hours away from here! You’re moving? The both of you?”
I nodded. “Already found us a place. Near the beach, like she’s always wanted. Guess we’re all gonna be neighbors—somewhat long distance neighbors.”
Mom pressed her hands to her mouth. “Bridger, that’s—” But she suddenly came to a halt, eyes stuck on something behind me as she rushed out of the chair.