XLI.   Bridger Fitzgerald, comedic king

Bridger held Kiara's tiny ukulele in his hand and the Pogues listened to him play it terribly. "This is a shit show. Where did we go wrong? John B's in the slammer." He sang off key.

"Beautiful, Bridge. That's really great." Kiara said sarcastically and she nodded.

"The next American Idol right there." Said JJ while he was waxing his surfboard.

"Thanks guys." Bridger passed her back the ukulele. "Here, you play prettier than me."

Kiara chuckled and started strumming the strings. "That's a lot of wax on your board, man. Put too much wax on there, it's gonna be slippery." Pope said to JJ.

JJ paused. "Are you telling me how to wax my board, Pope?" He grew defensive.

Bridger rolled his eyes. "Don't be dramatic."

"No, I'm just saying that's a lot of wax."

"No, no, you're telling me how to wax my board! Are you kidding me?"

Kiara and Bridger looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"That's a colossal waste of wax." Pope shrugged.

"You're, really?"

As Bridger opened his mouth to talk, he heard a familiar car horn pull into the lawn of the home. He titled his head. "Is that—"

"Is that what I think it is?" JJ read his mind.

The honking got louder and then the engine sputtered. It was. The Twinkie came zooming into the yard and John B was in thr driver's seat. "No fucking way." Bridger practically yelled with a dropped jaw.

"Are you serious?" Kiara gasped.

"No!"

"Am I dreaming?"

John B hopped out of the van. "Guess who's out of the flunk, boy!" He thrilled.

"No freaking way, man!" Pope exclaimed as Kiara screamed.

The group ran to hug him and they formed a circle. "You're like a cat with nine fucking lives, dude." Bridger laughed and rubbed the top of his cap.

"My boy's out of the can!" JJ laughed excitedly.

"We missed you."

"I missed you guys, too."

"You gotta tell us how jail was so I can make sure never to go there."

They all laughed and pulled out of the hug. "The worst experience of my life." John B answered him.

Bridger nodded. "Noted."

"How'd you do it? You bust out?"

"Uh, they dropped the chargers." He informed them.

"They dropped the charges." Pope repeated with wide eyes.

Kiara smiled. "Dude, that phenomenal!"

"So you're telling me Bridge and I did all that work for nothing?" JJ asked incredulously.

Bridger pulled a face. "More like you dragged me into it."

"You agreed to help!"

"Oh, the most elaborate escape plan of all time?" Pope butted in sarcastically.

"'Foolproof'." Kiara air-quoted.

"Yeah, it was, actually."

"No, it wasn't." Bridger scoffed and slapped the back of his head. "Shut up."

"Wait, where's Sarah?" John B asked when he didn't see Sarah anywhere, and their chatter was cut short.

All of their faces fell. Bridger rubbed the back of his neck.

"No, no, no. Where. . .where. . .where's Sarah?"

"She went to go meet Wheezie last night. She didn't come back." Kiara elaborated.

John B then looked dejected. "Hey, hey, it's okay. Let's not think anything bad yet." Bridger spoke up, trying to give him some hope. "Sarah's probably still with Wheezie making sure she's okay. She'll be back, I promise."

None of them said anything but John B gave him a small smile in thanks.

"So Sarah just dips and doesn't call?" John B panicked, disregarding Bridger's attempt to make the situation better.

"Yeah, man. Left her bag. Didn't tell anyone." Pope explained from inside boat.

"Okay, dude, I-I-I really think Ward got to her." He stuttered. "I mean the dude tried having me killed in jail."

Bridger, who was lying on his back on the dock, immediately sat up at the information. "What?" He said and lowered his sunglasses.

"Yeah, he sent somebody to the prison who yoked me up and almost killed me."

"You serious?" Kiara asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

"Jesus, that family's insane." Bridger exhaled and put his sunglasses back on.

"Do we know who this dude was?" JJ asked him.

John B shook his head. "No, I have no idea." He hopped into the boat. "Dude, I swear to God, one day I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch."

"I'm there with ya, buddy." Bridger concurred and laid back on the dock.

"It's okay."

"No, Kie, it's not okay. We gotta find Sarah."

"No, literally, it's okay. She's right there."

Bridger's ears perked up and he sat up again. Turning his body around, he lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head and saw Sarah with Topper in his boat. "Oh, now that I wasn't expecting." He winced.

Judging by John B's shift in mood, he wasn't either.

"John B!" Sarah yelled when she saw him but John B only looked away.

"What the hell is she doing with Topper?" Kiara spoke all of their thoughts.

JJ looked over at Bridger and they locked eyes. This is gonna end bad, they both thought.

Topper floated his boat close to theirs and Sarah stood at the bow with a big smile on her face. When they were close enough, John B helped her in and she hugged him tightly. "Oh, my god. I'm so glad you're okay. Hi." He said into her shoulder.

"I didn't know if I'd ever see you again."

Bridger got up from the dock and stepped into the boat. He sat down on the edge beside JJ.

"What happened?" Sarah quickly asked when she pulled away.

"Uh, they dropped all the charges." He told her and her smile widened.

"What?"

"Yeah, no, yeah. I'm a free man. Yeah."

Sarah took his face again and laughed. "That's amazing." She hugged him again.

Bridger wanted to burst out into cackles at the look on Topper's face.

"I know, yeah, it's great, but. . ." John B pulled away to look at her. "But listen, Sarah, they're coming after Rafe."

"Good. He's completely unhinged. He jumped me last night."

Bridger swiped his sunglasses off of his face. "What?" He bursted out.

"That's why I didn't come back." Sarah explained herself.

"Yeah, man. Rafe had lost his mind. Literally almost drowned his own sister." Topper invaded the conversation. "Thankfully I got there. . .got there just in time." He praised himself.

"How heroic of you." Bridger quipped with a fake smile, and Pope and JJ turned their heads away to keep from laughing.

"Uh, well, I guess I owe you one, Topper, don't I?" John B said to him biliously.

"It's all good. I mean, somebody had to rescue your girlfriend, right?" Topper took a shot at him.

"What, do you want a medal?"

"Bridger," Sarah scoffed in shock.

JJ let out a snort that time. Bridger shrugged like he did nothing wrong. "What?"

"Hey, Bridge. How've you been?"

His fake compassion made Bridger nearly roll his eyes. "Me? I'm great. Livin' my best life." He answered monotonously.

Topper only nodded. "Good. That's good."

"Uh, that's funny because she's not actually my girlfriend, right?" John B brought up, looking at Sarah.

"Uh. . ." Topper chuckled. "Well, what is she then?"

All eyes fell on Sarah. She hesitated, looking back and forth between them. "I'm-I'm with him." She explained.

All of them cringed. All Bridger thought was how cold the water would be if he jumped into it.

John B's face fell, and Topper laughed again. "Gotcha. You're with him. Okay, yeah. I just, like, needed a little clarity there." He reveled. He looked at the guys. "You guys clear on that?"

"I don't know. Are you?" Bridger shot back, wanting nothing more than to shove him back into the water.

"I think it's clear you gotta go now." Said JJ.

"Yeah, I think I'll head out. It's about that time."

"Topper," Sarah stopped him and hugged his neck, which made Topper's smugness increase. "Thank you."

"Yeah, of course. I'm just glad you're okay."

Bridger rolled his eyes that time, and he made a gagging sound.

Sarah looked down at him. "Okay, can you stop being a jerk and give me a hug?"

"No and yes," he replied and stood up. He held out his arms. "C'mon, being a jerk is part of my charm." Bridger smirked.

She walked into his arms and hugged his neck. "Yeah, well, I just need my best friend at the moment."

His smirk turned into a small and Bridger held her tightly. "I'm here, Sare. Don't worry."

Bridger had a lot of respect for Bobby Heyward. He was always kind to him and his family even when they didn't deserve it. He was good to the whole island. Bridger had grown to love Pope as a friend, which made him feel guilty for always being an asshole towards them in the past. When he found out that Heyward was attacked, his blood began to boil.

"Let me know if I'm hurting you." Sarah's soft voice rang as she put a bandage on Heyward's head.

"Oh, you're doing just fine." He told her while wincing in pain. "Thank you, darlin'."

"Pop, what happened?" Pope, who had been freaking out since JJ told them the news, asked his father.

"Oh, I should've known better. He came in just as I was about to lock up. Caught me by surprise." Heyward explained to them. "Once he had me down, he put his knee in my chest, and he asked me about that. . .that. . . that hey from that. . .that drawing you showed me."

The Pogues all looked at each other.

"And in case you're wondering. I ain't tell him nothing."

"Want me to kill him? I'll absolutely kill him." Bridger offered from where he was sitting on the bench with John B.

Heyward shook his head. "Nah, nah, there ain't no need for that, Bridger. Now did you track it down?" He asked Pope.

Silently, his son reached into his pocket and pulled out the key. "I found it in Mee-maw's old apartment above the pharmacy just like you said it was."

"Shit, boy, you should've gave this to me. I would have had to take a beating. What's the big deal? It ain't worth anything. Why they want it so bad?"

"I don't know." Pope shook his head. "First, I get this letter telling me that I need to go to Charleston. And then I meet a rich lady who wants me to give her a key that so didn't even know was in my family."

Bridger scratched his chin. "Jesus, we'd make a real good tv show with all of this." He thought out loud.

"Bridge." Said JJ, and he muttered a small sorry.

"None of it makes any sense." Uttered Kiara.

"Well, don't talk just sit here whining about it. Figure it out!" Heyward urged them.

"No. I'm just gonna give the key to that lady. It's not worth it—"

"No, no, no. Did I raise you to back down from a fight, boy?" He interrupted his son and Pope shook his head. "Well, alright. Now, I-I didn't think about it before. I admit that. But now. . ." Heyward pointed to his bandaged head. "Now? I'm interested."

Bridger chuckled through his nose and looked down at his shoes.

"Well, did they say why they wanted it?" Heyward asked again.

"Something about an old cross. I think it might be some kind of lost treasure." Pope explained.

His dad thought to himself. "You know who you should talk to?" He said and held up the key. "Your great-grandmother, Mee-maw."