Chapter 45 #3
Bridger took notes in the margins, not worried about marking the book up for others in the future. It would never leave his desk, and the information felt engraved inside his brain after the last two nights of reading.
Bridger had more than one plan brewing in the back of his mind.
A knock at his door stopped him from flipping the page. He’d left the training facility as soon as their session was done, moving throughout his day with Meyer and the soldiers from his side who would make the best leaders.
Unfortunately, Helena was one of those impeccable leaders… She’d already proven it through her years of service.
While they all were now fighting for the same outcome, it was silly to think there wouldn’t be division. They might technically all be rebels in the eyes of Marlena and her followers, but each side still had their trusted leaders.
Bridger and Khort were opposite sides of the same coin.
His empty dinner plate sat beside him on his desk, an untouched glass of his favorite dark liquor sitting on a coaster.
“Okay, I knocked because I was trying to be polite, but you were taking too long to answer.” Vega opened the door, waltzing in wearing a fresh set of sleep clothes free of her blood. “So. Hi.” She stopped in the middle of the room, looking more beautiful than the day he’d met her.
“Hey, baby,” Bridger responded, transfixed on the girl he’d fallen in love with fifty-seven years ago.
Seventeen-year-old Vega was a knockout. She was always dressed in the best clothes and styled like the eye of a storm.
The eighteen-year-old who’d finally given the dangerous warrior a chance beyond friendship would always be a personal favorite of his.
The twenty-year-old who’d led a summoning and bonded his soul to hers and two others had changed his life forever.
But the seventy-five-year-old goddess standing in the middle of his room in a pair of loose black pants and an oversized sweater with a scar proving the passage of time?
That was the woman Bridger found himself wanting to know.
Not the girl she’d been.
Bridger wanted to get his forever with her. He wanted to spend the rest of their eternal lives getting to know all the versions of themselves they were going to become.
Which only reminded him Vega still wasn’t his to keep. Her soul belonged to someone else…
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, pulling at the sleeves of her sweater nervously.
Bridger smiled lazily. “Like what?”
“Like you’re planning your goodbye.”
He stood, crossing the room. “There will not be another goodbye.” The words tasted like a lie coming out of his mouth.
“I was just thinking about how beautiful you are, how fucking incredible you are. About how lucky I am.” Bridger couldn’t help himself.
Vega was like a magnet, and he couldn’t fight the pull.
His hand slid up the shoulder exposed by her sweater and over the side of her neck until his hand held the back of her head.
She stared up at him. “Lucky?” she asked, batting her big blue eyes that always made him get a little lost.
“Because you’re giving me a second chance to love you the way I should have in the first.” He rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “And you’ve already forgiven me for not warning you about Helena,” he said, hoping it was actually true.
Vega chuckled. “Bridger, I don’t give two fucks about Helena or anyone else you’ve fucked over the last forty years, for that matter.
We weren’t together, and I, unfortunately, have been sleeping with others far longer than you, I’m afraid.
” Her hands wrapped around his torso, pulling their bodies together.
Heat built up in Bridger’s core, the need to remind her what she’d been missing tearing through him. It wasn’t Vega’s fault she’d been with other men while simultaneously still being in a relationship with him a realm away—but the reminder still hurt sometimes.
“A second chance…” she said softly. “That’s what you want?
Thankfully, Vega pulled him out of his spiral with her question. “If you’ll let me have it.” His eyes flicked back to hers, searching for the answer because the anticipation was going to eat him the fuck up if she didn’t hurry.
She puckered her cute lips and looked at the ceiling. Vega really made it seem she was thinking hard, but the playfulness in her eyes gave her away.
“I dunno.” She drew the answer out, sighing. “I promised Arlet I’d make you grovel, and you haven’t begged yet, so…” Vega shrugged sadly. “I’m gonna have to sleep on it.”
Then the brat stepped back, out of his hold and headed for the door. Vega took slow, calculated steps, giving Bridger enough time to figure out his next move.
He stayed planted, watching Vega stalk for the door. Her hand landed on the knob, and she looked back before twisting it. Apprehension settled in her gaze, but she pushed the door open anyway.
She’d leave out of principle. He knew it, but he didn’t plan on letting her leave his room tonight. Bridger was playing her game for the fun of it.
“Have a good night, Bridger.”
He let her take one step before he struck.
Bridger grabbed Vega by the wrist. “Oh, I plan to.”