55. Home of the Free
SOUNDTRACK: Go to Hell by Letdown
~ brIDGET ~
I was pacing my living room floor, back and forth, back and forth, well into the night. When it was almost midnight, I began to tremble.
Had he tricked me? Had he just been getting me out of there? Had I been right the first time, that Cain was actually a monster?
What was I going to do? I’d taken that video and—
“You’re really here alone?”
I gasped and whipped around to find him standing in the small entryway from the back door, staring at me.
It was such an intense moment, and such a mindfuck.
From the soles of his shoes, to his throat, he was Cain–dark, stretchy clothing that covered his arms, gloves, the bulk of his muscles hugged by stretch cotton and the smell of night. But his face…
He’d thrown his hood back and wasn’t wearing a mask. And he was Sam.
He was fucking Sam.
“God, you scared the shit out of me!” I breathed, rubbing my arms because I was goose bumped all over, every hair on my body standing tall.
I was alive.
But he didn’t move towards me. Just stood there, staring with a strange, feral intensity.
“Sam, what’s going on?”
His throat bobbed. “I had to… do some stuff. Preparations.”
“Preparations for what?”
He swallowed again and my breath got shorter.
“I love you too, Bridget. I do. It’s so crazy. I… I can’t quite explain how it happened—”
“Don’t worry, I get it.”
“—but I want you to know it’s real. And I think… I think I have a solution for us… if you’ll agree.”
I smiled and a strange warm feeling fizzed in my chest.
Happiness.
I swallowed hard. “What is it?”
He stepped forward, slowly positioning himself within arm’s reach, but still not touching me. “I did some research and…”
“And?”
He cleared his throat. “Bridget, no American citizen can be forced to testify against their spouse. If… if I’m your husband, they can’t make you do it.”
My eyes flew wide as he lowered himself to one knee and pulled a ring box out of his pocket, flipping it open in front of me.
“Bridget…” he murmured breathlessly. “Will… will you marry me…?”