Chapter 26
Thomas
I won’t need my backstabbing bodyguard today. Enjoy the day off, Mr. Jeffries.
The text message I woke up to from Bridget cut me like a knife. I hadn’t gotten any sleep last night after I told my mother I would pick Lacey up and take her to school from her place. I needed the night to think through things and process what had just happened, and I didn’t want my daughter to see me like that.
How the hell could she possibly think I would’ve told anyone? I brought her around my daughter, for fuck’s sake. That was a massive thing for me, especially with how Lacey took to her, and I would never do anything to jeopardize that. Lacey thought the world of Bridget, and it would be hard enough trying to explain to her why Bridget’s name wasn’t actually Bridget. Did she actually think I’d make things any more complicated for my daughter?
Or her?
I immediately called her phone after reading that message, and it sent me directly to her voicemail. I hung up and called again, only for it to ring once and shoot to the same voicemail I’d heard seconds ago. She wasn’t going to pick up the phone for me, and I couldn't approach her home without making her angrier. But at this point, she was leaving me no choice. If someone knew her secret and knew enough about her to know where she lived in order to leave that note, then she was in danger.
And everything inside of me screamed to keep her out of harm’s way.
I took a long shower and got dressed before I headed to get Lacey. She was tired from staying up late with Nannie and Papa last night, which meant I’d be in for an easy night with her. She probably wouldn’t get through dinner before she would be ready to crash, and with everything that was happening with Bridget and I right now, that was probably for the best.
After all, Lacey was growing into a very perceptive individual, and I didn’t need her worrying about some woman that had come into our lives. Not after the perfect day she had with her only a few days earlier.
“I love you, Daddy,” she said.
“I love you, too, sweetheart. Have a wonderful day at school, okay?”
“Okay. Tell Bridget I said ‘hi’!”
“I will, sweetheart. I promise.”
I gave her a huge hug before I sent her off to school, and the only thought running through my head was how in the world I was going to fulfill this promise I’d just made my daughter. A part of me wanted to use that as an excuse to see if I could track down Bridget, but a part of me knew I already had an excuse.
Someone out there was threatening her, and I was her bodyguard.
When Lacey gave me one last wave, I decided to go against her wishes. I waved at my daughter before her teacher took her hand and led her around the corner. Then I hopped into my car and peeled out of the school parking lot. I needed to get to Bridget and explain to her the type of trouble she was in, whether or not she believed I didn’t tell anyone.
Which I didn’t.
I raced to her house, but when I got there, no one was home. Bernie’s car wasn’t there, and all the lights were off, but I ran up and banged on the door anyway before using my key to get in. I cleared every single room and every single corner before I raced to the movie set. I skidded around corners and ran through yellow lights, rehearsing exactly what I would tell her whenever I got there. I’d have to say what I wanted to say in a short time, because if she was this angry, she would surely shut down on me and not listen to a word I had to say.
I pulled up to the studio, and the security guy at the front door let me in without a second thought. I raced down the hallways with my suit coat flaring at my sides, and when I rounded the corner, the scene they were shooting had just wrapped up. Bridget was immediately isolating herself from her coworkers, going off into the corner for a drink of water before rounding the wall of the set to get to hair and makeup. I knew she was doing that because she was scared.
She knew the threat she was under would hinder more than just her career. I stood at the edge of the wall until she finally saw me in the shadows.
“Go the fuck away, Thomas,” she said.
“No. Bridget, whether or not you believe me, you’re in danger. You’ve hired me to protect you, and you need it more than ever right now.”
“Oh, was that your plan when you told someone? To make me more dependent on you than I already was?”
“What?” I asked.
“Did you not already see how much I needed you by my side? How much I trusted you and respected you and wanted the best for us? Could you not see past my fame for one fucking second to process the fact that there wasn’t a night I laid down alone where I didn’t want to cry out for you to be there?”
“Bridget, I didn’t tell anyone,” I said. “I swear, I would never do that to you. You know this.”
“Do I? Do I, really? I talked to my agent last night about it, and she thinks I should fucking get rid of you. She thinks I should slap you with a nondisclosure agreement, then take your ass to court when this all erupts in my face.”
“Bridget,” I said.
I reached out for her hand, but she recoiled from me in disgust. My heart sank to my toes in that very moment when the look of adoration she had for me twenty-four hours ago had been replaced with a look of utter disdain. The fire behind her eyes was directed toward me, and people on set were beginning to stare, obviously wondering if they should intervene and whisk the beautiful woman in distress away from the big, bad man trying to keep her in the shadows.
“Bridget, you aren’t safe,” I said.
“Thanks to you!” she exclaimed. “It’s because of you that I’m not safe!”
“Is there a problem?” the security guard came up and asked.
“I don’t want anyone like you around me anymore, Thomas. Go the fuck home. I’ll figure out what to do about your job later.”
The guard from the door slipped his arm around her before he escorted her back to the hair and makeup room. I felt sick to my stomach, like someone had nailed me in my gut with a dart full of poison. People on set were staring at me as I watched Bridget round the corner with that man who had his arm around her, and everything inside of me bristled. How the fuck could she actually think I’d tell someone after everything we had been through? After baring our bodies to one another and her assimilating into my home life, how the hell could she think I’d jeopardize that?
Did she not understand how I felt about her?
When she didn’t return, I turned on my heels and left. With a woman like Bridget, whose mind was made up until someone convinced her otherwise, I knew the best course of action was to simply give her what she wanted. I’d go back to my home, do some things around the house, wait to pick up Lacey from school, and try to get my mind off things.
And, in the meantime, I’d try to figure out how the fuck I’d win her back. Not because my job was at stake and not because she was in trouble, but because I cared about her.
I cared about Bridget Meyers, and I wasn’t ready to let her go.