Chapter 13
After his shower, Bridger returned to the room and waited for Vega to come back, but the longer she was gone, the more tense he became.
He was at Vega’s mercy. She had every right to abandon him, letting him rot away in a realm where he didn’t belong.
Just like I did to her…
Bridger distracted himself by pushing the buttons to a controller he found on the bedside table. It turned on a small wall monitor. The screen changed when he pressed the Up and Down arrows.
Nothing could stop him from spiraling about the deal he’d made with Marlena. At one point, when he was lost in the deepest part of his mind, when years passed in the blink of an eye, he would have made that deal without a second thought.
He wouldn’t have felt the guilt he did right now—the turmoil he’d been trying to keep at bay since Marlena had agreed to his demands.
Bridger should want this all to end. He did want this all to end.
He just wasn’t so sure he wanted it badly enough to trade Vega’s life for it.
The brand on his wrist started to burn, quickly becoming too hard to ignore. A jolt of pain shot through his arm, traveling down his leg. “What the…?” he gasped, the shock returning with more power on the other side this time.
Bridger jumped to his feet, tossing the controller on the bed.
Something’s not right.
The too familiar tug in his chest told him he was right. Bridger raced out of the room and down the stairwell at the end of the hall, following the distant hum of voices through an open door.
Heads turned as Bridger barreled in, panting not because he was out of breath, but because the pain in his arm had intensified the closer he’d gotten to the ground floor.
A bald man holding a long stick at a green table with colored balls spread around nodded at him.
A guy with a book in the corner looked over its edge.
Vega wasn’t in here, but Bridger scanned the faces staring at him to make sure he hadn’t somehow overlooked her.
I didn’t miss her. I’d never miss her.
The tug in his chest sent Bridger sprinting for the front door, ignoring the people who approached to ask if he was okay.
He expected to find Vega on the other side of the door with how hard the invisible string yanked, but instead, a man puffed on a narrow cylinder, releasing a plume of foul-smelling smoke in Bridger’s direction.
That cannot be good for you.
Bridger closed his eyes and took a quick breath, focusing on the feeling he knew would take him to Vega. His feet moved before he opened his eyes.
A voice he recognized echoed down the alley beside the hostel, followed by one he knew like his own heart beat.
“You’re not fucking cursed! You have a traumatic brain injury!”
“If you take another step towards me, I’ll—!”
He hadn’t realized he was sprinting until he skidded to a stop behind Chase, cornering Vega at the alley’s dead end. Bridger pulled out the dagger hidden in his waistband and pressed it against Chase’s jugular. “I’d listen to her if I were you,” he uttered in his ear.
Chase threw his hands up, tensing under Bridger’s touch. “Holy shit, holy shit,” he stammered.
“Bridger, don’t do anything stupid.” The warning was there, but he saw a gleam of pleasure in Vega watching this man fear for his life.
Bridger could feel the rapid beat of Chase’s pulse vibrating through his dagger’s hilt.
“If you can promise to keep your hands to yourself and be an adult about this, I’ll have him lower the knife,” Vega told Chase.
Chase managed to scoff with a dagger digging into his neck. “Be adults? It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?”
The tone he used towards Vega had Bridger digging the blade in deeper, breaking the skin. “Wrong answer, pal.” He couldn’t see it from his angle, but Bridger knew blood dripped down Chase’s neck by the way he whimpered.
“Okay, okay. I won’t touch you. I promise. I swear. We can talk. Let’s talk.” Chase’s hands stayed up at his sides, and Vega studied his face, apparently trusting whatever look he wore.
Vega nodded at Bridger, but before he obeyed her silent command, he leaned in close again and whispered, “If you make one wrong move, I’ll gut you for fun.
” He shoved Chase away, stepping between him and Vega.
Bridger spun the dagger through his fingers, ready to flick it straight through Chase’s eye socket if he didn’t obey his simple order.
The thought brought a smile to Bridger’s face.
Chase squeaked, backing further away. “Is this you rebelling or my payback for cheating?” he asked Vega.
“Because I understand what you’ve been through is tough, but this isn’t right, Vega.
Come home and we can talk about this. We can make things right.
” He took a step closer to her. Bridger tensed, ready to strike, but she didn’t budge.
“I’ll even let you keep the money you stole from my account.
” His words sounded disingenuous, like he’d been given a script to follow.
“This isn’t my home, Chase. It’s never been my home.” Vega’s words were weighted down with a sadness Bridger could feel in his bones.
“Not this shit again. Please, come on.” He held his hand out for her to take.
Bridger watched Chase’s hand until Vega’s voice drew his attention away.
She met Bridger’s eyes. “This is what it does… It controls the people in my life.” Vega turned back to Chase, who lowered his extended arm. “I’m sorry you got wrapped up in this. I hope you get a second chance at a normal life when I break my curse,” Vega said with a kindness he didn’t deserve.
Chase looked like he was ready to explode, his pale face turning red. “I’m not sure who you are or what she’s told you, but Vega’s not well. She woke from a coma only a month ago and hasn’t been right since.”
The back door flung open, and the girl from the front desk stepped out with a polished wooden bat, followed by the boy with the book.
“What’s going on out here?” she asked, holding the bat with familiar comfort.
Vega slinked closer to Bridger. “He was just leaving.”
Chase choked on a laugh. “I’m not leaving without my wife.”
My wife. Bridger never wanted to hear that title coming from another man’s mouth about Vega ever again…
If they were in Tolevarre, Chase would be nothing but a pile of remains from the deep, primal rage of a god burning through Bridger.
The building’s shadow hid most of Chase’s face, and when he stalked forward, the pit in Bridger’s stomach turned ice cold.
His eyes were black, and not onyx colored like his own. No, all black. No pupil. No iris.
Black.
Vega went rigid at his side, a shaky breath slipping through her parted lips.
Chase extended his hand to Vega, wiggling his fingers in a slow summon. “You belong with me. Come. Let’s fulfill your destiny.”
For the first time in what might have been the entire time Bridger had known her, Vega purposely stepped behind him, silently asking for protection.
A sudden lust for Chase’s blood coating the ground roared to life, but he never got the chance to gut him.
The loud clang of the hostel worker’s bat colliding with a metal drain made everyone jump. “Get out of here. Now! Before I call the police,” she yelled at Chase.
Chase’s black eyes stayed transfixed on Vega peeking around Bridger’s arm. “This isn’t over, Vega. It’ll never be over. There’s nowhere on Earth you can go where I won’t find you.” He fled and disappeared beyond the alley’s shadows.
Silence held until Vega was the one to break it. “I’m so sorry,” she told the employee. “I—”
“You two need to go,” she interrupted. “I don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into, but I can’t have it here.”
Vega shook her head slowly. “I have nowhere else to go. I’m trying to get back home, but he has control of all my documents.”
Bridger knew the tears welling in her eyes were real this time. Chase rattled her.
“That’s not my problem,” the girl responded and at least had the decency to sound remorseful. “I’ll go get your things from your room and bring them down to you.” She turned and headed back inside.
Bridger had forgotten the boy with the book was here until he spoke. “Are those bruises on your neck from him?” He paused, looking nervous. “I noticed them earlier when we were talking,” he admitted with a sad smile.
Vega nodded. “Yeah, they’re from him.”
An emotion Bridger knew all too well washed over the young man’s face. Grief. Something he saw in Vega brought an unwanted memory up. He inhaled sharply through his nose, swallowing hard enough to make his throat bob. “I think I might be able to help.”