Chapter 6
Bridger told Meyer everything.
Well, not everything.
He left out the part about the kiss but filled him in on all the other details that didn’t show how torn Bridger was about the ex he should have long since been over. He’d gone through multiple stages of grief and anger over losing the girl he’d once loved.
Was Bridger ready to face those again if this didn’t go the way everyone wanted?
Tossing the thought out of his mind’s window and slamming it shut, Bridger laid out the plan he’d fed Marlena and then spent more time answering every single question Meyer had than Bridger on the entirety of his story.
“Do you believe Marlena can actually make a portal?”
“If she can’t, no one else can.”
“How do you plan on finding Vega when you get there?”
“I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”
“What if Vega doesn’t have her memories?”
“Then I guess it’ll be easier to make her trust me.”
“And all of this is to what… stop dreaming?” The way Meyer asked the question made Bridger feel like he wouldn’t believe him even if it were the whole truth.
Whether Meyer believed Bridger or not wasn’t of any concern to him currently. He had to rid himself of the dreams.
I’ll do anything to stop the fucking dreams. Bridger wasn’t above begging at this point.
“Is that so hard to believe?” Bridger replied with a question of his own.
The thought had crossed his mind while he held Vega’s lifeless body this last time, that maybe if she reset, his dreams would go with her.
It had been clear from his first night’s sleep his dreams weren’t going to stop—if anything, they’d gotten worse.
Moving into a part of his life Bridger never wanted to revisit.
The time he’d been not only Marlena’s prisoner, but a prisoner of his own mind.
Marlena hadn’t needed to do much to torture Bridger for two years—she knew if he was left alone long enough, he’d do it himself.
Maybe it was the curse causing the dreams, somehow reaching through Vega to him down their bonded connection. Hell, maybe it was their bond doing it! Bridger couldn’t be certain about anything—none of this had ever been definite.
They’d been speculating what had happened to them since the first night. At this point, he was starting to question every little thing he knew.
I can’t keep living this way. Afraid to go to sleep because it always led to the memories he’d voluntarily forgotten.
Here Vega was, fighting to get hers back, to keep them, and Bridger had thrown his away like they never mattered.
Words from the night Bridger visited Vega in her last life, locked in the rickety Aeris dungeon after being tortured for hours by Marlena, rang in Bridger’s head like an alarm: “And how did you escape? By lying to yourself that what we had wasn’t real?
You left me! You left me, and you stand here like none of it mattered to you! ”
“Are you sure that lightning strike you took on the battlefield didn’t cause brain damage?” Meyer cocked his head so hard it almost touched his shoulder.
Bridger glared, shoving only the essentials into a small backpack. He had to leave tonight. He was already a month behind. “We’ve tried everything else.”
Meyer didn’t reply right away, and a sinking feeling settled into Bridger’s stomach at his pause.
“You let her go, Bridger.” It sounded like Meyer screamed the words, even though it was actually the guilt inside his brain amplifying the truth.
Bridger whipped around, scowling. “Yes, I did, and then she tried to kill me, so good thing I can’t die!” His room inside Vincere was locked tighter than all the others combined, so he didn’t mind speaking freely with Meyer.
“Do you really think this is a good idea?” Meyer sipped on a glass of gold liquor, smoked, no ice, room temperature. His signature choice.
Bridger swung his bag over his shoulder and slipped his bonded dagger from the sheath on his leg.
He flipped it around, catching it by the hilt with the blade pointing towards him, and handed it to Meyer.
“I don’t know if I have much of a choice.
” Bridger knew if he still had a half-mortal soul, his bones would ache from the lack of sleep.
It wasn’t his body he had to worry about anymore—it was his mind.
He could still lose himself. These dreams, these memories coming back to haunt him still had what it would take to break Bridger. “Vega might be the answer, she might not be. All I know is the bond wants me to go to her, or it would have been Khort who had the dream instead.”
Meyer eyed the dagger.
Bridger nodded for him to take it. “I don’t trust this with Marlena. My sword’s in the safe.”
Meyer sighed, grabbing the bonded weapon from him. “You said if she dies, you die. What changed?”
“Nothing,” he said. Me, Bridger thought and had to swallow the word to stop it from coming out.
He ran a hand over his face. “I don’t know, Meyer.
I have no idea what I’m doing, but what I do know is I can’t live like this.
I can’t let Vega di—” He cleared his throat, letting the word die on his tongue.
“I’ve already crossed every line there is to cross. What’s one more?”
Another long pause filled the room with silence. It pulled taut with unspoken words and white lies.
Meyer stood up abruptly, taking Bridger by surprise, and wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug.
A hug.
Bridger couldn’t remember the last time someone hugged him.
“I hope you find what you’re looking for on Earth.” Bridger waited until Meyer pulled away from the embrace, watching as he grabbed his drink off the side table before turning for the door.
“You’re in charge while I’m gone. Don’t fuck anything up.” Bridger ordered. “And watch after Halo, will you?”
Meyer groaned and reached for the handle. “What is it with you and that kid?” He didn’t wait for Bridger to answer before making his exit.
Bridger answered out loud anyway. “He reminds me of me.”
A bowl of warm stew perked Arlet up as soon as the scent hit her.
Bridger joined Arlet inside her cell, pasting on a smile. “Hungry?” He wiggled the bowl over her head, dropping a spoon into her lap.
In Arlet fashion, she threw it at his head.
Bridger caught it midair and sighed. “Arlet, please act civilized. I know you’re used to acting feral after all this time in the wild, but you could at least try,” he sneered.
She kicked at his feet, but Bridger took a step back, careful not to spill the stew amidst her tantrum. “I hate you.”
“You don’t mean that.” He faked a pout. “I’m just trying to bring you some dinner and let you know I’m leaving.” Bridger extended the spoon to her. “I came to ask you for advice.”
Arlet snatched it out of his grasp, and it didn’t come flying back at his head, which was a good sign, but Arlet did start snickering like he’d told a really funny joke. “Get fucked, Dimico,” she said, but her eyes kept jumping back to the delicious smelling beef and vegetable stew.
Bridger offered the bowl to Arlet with a raised brow. “It’s not poisoned, and even if it were, it wouldn’t kill you.” He shrugged. “The portal is ready. I’m going to Earth. I’d love to make this as easy as possible for myself and Vega’s sake.”
Arlet took the stew and scooted until her back met the wall. She balanced the bowl between her knees and wasted no time scooping the first bite into her mouth.
Bridger knew she fought with everything she had not to hum a contented moan.
Hunger would win every time.
“How do I know how to find Vega when I get there?” Bridger asked Arlet for probably the twentieth time this week.
Through a mouthful of still-hot stew, Arlet surprised him and said, “Wherever you saw Vega in your dream, that’s where she’ll be.”
Pinned against the wall about to be fucked by another man? I sure hope not.
“And how will I know I’m on the right track?” he bit out.
Arlet shrugged, scarfing down another bite. “Took me a long time to figure out all the details. Guess you’ll have to figure it out too.”
Bridger groaned. “Will you just help me out here?”
“No,” Arlet deadpanned. “I’ve told you all I’m willing to. I am not on your side. So what, you showed weakness and let her go a couple times? That doesn’t erase everything else. If you’re meant to find her, you will. Simple as that.”
Bridger ground his teeth together, every muscle in his body tensing with frustration.
“If Vega was right, if she has her memories, there is nothing, not even you, that’s going to get in the way of her breaking her curse. If this worked, Vega is going to be fucking unstoppable.”
“Who said I wanted to stop her from breaking the curse?” Bridger asked, retreating from the cell.
“We’re bonded. Her curse is ours, right?
” He locked the door, leaving Arlet alone inside again.
“Have you ever thought about how much stronger we might be if Vega weren’t cursed?
” His brow rose. “If we’re this connected now, if we’ve got all these new powers and abilities, what might happen if there’s nothing weighing one of us down anymore? ”
The look on Arlet’s sullen face told him she’d thought about it—they all had.
“You’re not wearing that to Earth, are you?” Arlet asked, taking her last bite.
Bridger looked down at his basic training suit. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”
A soft, almost genuine smile tugged at the corners of Arlet’s lips. “They’re going to think you’re dressed up as an Avenger.”