Page 135 of Bound in Ashes

Bridget grabbed my hand, patted it.

“You don’t have to pretend,” she repeated. “The world being what it is, we both know Jack is as good as dead.”

“You don’t seem too broken up about it,” I responded.

“What can I do?” she said, shrugging, before turning back to the table in the shed.

“You? What does that mean?”

“We’ve all lost so much, but we just have to keep going on,” she said.

“Have you?”

“I try. Every day. And I’ll help you do the same,” she said, smiling.

She sighed, then shook her head.

“It’ll be better now,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Now we can focus on staying alive, and not worry about that ridiculous lovey-dovey crap, or even worse, have to deal with scary men barking orders. We can be safe. Quiet. Together,” she said.

She didn’t sound like Bridget at all.

“Bridget, you love love. Not that I would call what Jack and I had that.”

“You wouldn’t, would you?” she said, her voice low, seething.

“What do you mean, Bridget?” I asked.

“I mean, you wouldn’t call it love, because you’re ungrateful!” She inhaled sharply, then shook her head. “I’m sorry, Asia.”

“Don’t be sorry, Bridget. Say what you mean,” I said.

“You think it was easy for me to watch, you two, all happy and together with each other while my Irv was…one of those things!” she said, spit flying out of her mouth.

“Bridget, you know I loved Irv,” I said.

“You did, and you’ll miss him. He was a nice guy, right? A wonderful man. And it’s a tragedy that he died so horribly. That he had to come back as one of those…things. It broke your heart, right? But that didn’t stop you from fucking Jack every time you got a chance. You think that was easy for me to watch? Or what about the fact that you were so busy screwing when lives were on the line.”

“Bridget, what’s going on?” I asked, evenly.

I try to shake the sense of threat that rose over me, burning hotter than Uncle Levi’s fever. But I couldn’t.

Couldn’t ignore what was staring me in the face.

“Bridget, tell me,” I whispered.

But I didn’t want her to tell me anything. Wasn’t sure I could handle it.

Knew I had no choice.

She looked at me.

Smiled.

My stomach twisted, unease gripping me.