Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Vesper
Present Day
Bellamy should have told her the truth back then, instead of lying her ass off.
Vesper didn’t know what to believe anymore.
She’d promised herself she wouldn’t get angry, told herself that whatever the reason was, they could work through it.
They’d be okay. And that wasn’t wrong, they would be—eventually.
At least Vesper knew everything now—well, she hoped so.
Bellamy claimed it was to protect her. In a fucked up way, it was sweet.
Vesper should believe her. She’d seen the proof enough: Cedar admitting that Bellamy was following her orders, Cedar trying to kill Bellamy.
But Vesper had six years of distrust in Bellamy. It was hard to move past that.
They could have handled Cedar together if she’d told her back then, like she fucking should have. Instead, Bellamy had made Vesper doubt her, had sown that little seed. Vesper couldn’t shake it. Even now. What’s worse, Vesper fell for it—so fucking easily.
She might have been equally mad at herself at this point.
They sat in silence while Vesper absorbed everything. She remembered it all—the witness, the explosion, the images she’d been given by a stranger, the fallout, the lies. So many lies. Bellamy had nestled herself into a ball against Vesper’s side, pulling Vesper’s arm over her.
Vesper could feel Bellamy’s insecurity in the way Bel clung to her.
The fear. She refused to look at Vesper.
She didn’t think Vesper would believe or forgive her.
Part of Vesper didn’t want to. Part of her wanted to hold onto the truth she’d held onto the last six years—that Bellamy was a lying, selfish piece of shit.
But had she ever really believed that?
It felt so much better to believe Bellamy was telling her the truth now.
The knot in her stomach eased, and she could breathe fully again as she stared at the blank trolley wall, thinking over everything and keeping Bellamy wrapped in her arms. It was something she’d deserved to know—that Bellamy had done it all to keep her safe. At the expense of their happiness.
“Can you learn to trust me again?” Bellamy asked when she finished telling the story. Vesper didn’t answer. She didn’t think Bellamy expected an answer, and Bellamy didn’t push.
Could she trust her again? It would take time.
Lots of time. They had a lot to discuss.
But that could wait. Vesper needed sleep, needed to ruminate on everything.
There would be tomorrow, still stuck in this trolley.
She’d give them the morning to work out the lies.
To figure out what the fuck they were doing about them, and then they needed a plan for when the trolley arrived.
A plan for escape.