A week later, Nick opened his eyes and groaned loudly. A gust of wind had woken him up plus his foot was completely swollen. He tried getting out of bed but couldn’t. There was nothing left to do than wait for Brian and Leighanne to come. He sat back on his bed again and closed his eyes. Soon enough, Bridget came to his mind, a thing that seemed usual by now. He missed her. He couldn’t deny that to himself. Also, he had to tell her about what was going on with him and his life. He needed to tell someone, other than Brian, about his “death threatening” and Bridget seemed like the perfect person. Soon enough, he reached for the phone and dialed Bridget’s number.
“Come on Bridge” he mumbled softly as he closed his eyes. After he let it ring for a few times, her voice mail answered. “Shit” he said, turning his phone off and going back to sleep.
A couple of hours later, Brian came to the house and knocked on Nick’s door. Noticing that no one answered, he opened the door slowly and found Nick peacefully sleeping. Just as he was about to go out the door…
“Take me to Bridget, Brian”
Brian stopped dead on his tracks and turned around.
“What?” Brian asked, blinking his eyes in disbelief.
“Take me to Bridget” Nick repeated. “I want… I need to talk to her”
Brian sighed loudly.
“Nothing is going to change my mind” Nick answered stubbornly.
“I know” Brian answered rolling his eyes. “You know that she doesn’t want to talk to you”
“Fuck Brian, I need to tell her what’s going on. I need her here… I need her to be with me!” Nick answered glaring at Brian.
Brian rolled his eyes again.
“I need you to take me”
Brian raised his arms in defeat. “Fine, but if she ignores you, don’t come to me whining and complaining about it”
“Fine!” Nick hissed. “If I could only walk alone” he mumbled looking away from Brian.
“Are you ready?” Brian asked, looking at his watch.
“I have to change my clothes”
“Need any help”
“Hell no!” Nick snapped.
“Okay” Brian replied nonchalantly, going out of the room.
Nick sighed. He realized he shouldn’t have been so harsh to Brian. After all, he only wanted to help him. Fifteen minutes later, Nick called Brian upstairs, who helped him go downstairs and into the car. There was an uncomfortable silence around them.
“I’m sorry for snapping at you” Nick said out of nowhere.
Brian nodded slowly. “I understand”
“No, I’m really sorry” Nick responded honestly.
“It’s okay Nick…I do understand… The only thing I don’t want if for you to get hurt…again”
“I just need to talk to her” Nick said, his gaze dropping from the road to his lap.
“Okay Nick. Try one more time” Brian replied smiling warmly at him. Nick smiled back and waited patiently until they got to Bridget’s house. When they got there, Nick took a deep breath as he got out of the car with some difficulty. He directed his eyes up to the sky. “Please God, let her at least talk to me and listen to what I have to say”. Then he looked over at Brian. “Are you going to stay here?”
Brian nodded. “I’ll wait for you in the car” Nick nodded and walked slowly towards her house and knocked on the door.
“Coming!” Bridget shouted from inside. When she opened she gasped loudly and was about to close the door when Nick stopped her.
“Please, just listen to me” Nick pleaded.
“Can’t you understand that I don’t want to talk to you?” Bridget snapped.
“Bridget, for God’s sake, just listen to me… I miss you, yes, but I don’t intend for you to go back to me”
Bridget sighed loudly and moved from the entrance so that he could go in. When Nick entered the house, he realized that everything was just like he remembered. Picture frames were everywhere and he noticed that she still had one specific picture that he gave to her proudly displayed on one of the tables. As he entered with his crutches, he had to sit on the nearest chair since he was still losing some balance with them.
“What happened to you?” Bridget asked, looking at Nick closely.
He invited her to sit down and she slowly agreed.
“Brige, somebody is trying to kill me”
“What?” Bridget asked, looking at him strangely. “Are you out of your mind?”
“I’m not… didn’t you see the news? My boat exploded and if it wasn’t for Brian I wouldn’t be here. Then, somebody tried to run me off the road and I ended up with my foot broken and several of my ribs broken”
Bridget put her hand over her mouth, still in awe of what Nick just said to her.
“Bridget, I wanted to tell someone… that’s why I came to you… I’m afraid of going out, of doing things. I feel that somebody is watching me all the time. I feel completely helpless right now”
“Nick, I don’t know what to say… I mean, why did you come here? To me? I mean, I broke up with you… I have nothing to with your life anymore”
“But I still love you Brige… You were one of the most important people in my life and you still are”
“Then why did you cheat on me?” Bridget replied, still bitter about the breakup. She had forgiven him a long time ago, but she didn’t want to admit it at that moment in time.
“She was a fan, I never cheated on you. I never even bear the thought of cheating on you… I love you too much to hurt you, Brige” he said, taking her hand in his.
Bridget jerked her hand away from his. “Bullshit Nick, you and I both know it”
“Bridget, I love you! I need you with me”
Bridget sighed softly and looked into his deep blue eyes. “You hurt me”
“I didn’t do anything with her… why can’t you believe me?”
“Because I saw something completely different”
“It was not meant to be seen that way, Brige… I would never hurt you on purpose. Please, don’t close yourself. Just… just try to let me in again” he replied caressing her hand.
“You think it’s so easy”
“I know it’s not… we can start over… please?”
Bridget sighed and looked away. Then, she looked back at him and nodded. “Okay Nick… but one more change and one chance only… I’m not going to let you hurt me again”
"Baby, I would never hurt you on purpose… I already told you that”
Bridget stood silent. Nick leaned over, putting his hand behind her neck and kissed her lips softly.
“I love you” Nick whispered.
“I love you too” Bridget said as she smiled. “What are you going to do about this Nick? About what’s going on? Are you going to talk to the police?”
“No!” he responded loudly but then he realized the tone of his voice and calmed down. “No… I don’ think they should know anything yet”
“But Nick, you’re getting hurt”
“Brige, it’s not necessary for the police to know yet”
“Kay” she replied. “Do you want to stay here for a while, while everything straightens up? I mean, it’s not the best house of anything close to what you’re expected to live in, but it’s something” she said with the sheepish smile.
“Of course I would stay here” he grinned. “Let me call Brian who’s outside waiting for me”
A couple of minutes later, with the help of Bridget, Nick went to the living room and sat on the sofa. Bridget sat next to him.
“I missed you” Bridget said out of the blue, leaning over his chest.
“Me too, sweetie”
The couple took the next couple of hours to talk about anything and everything. Nick explained everything that was going on with him, but left part of his secret to himself. He hated lying to her, but then again, it wasn’t a complete life; he just didn’t talk to her or to anyone about it.
Chapter 5