Vesper looked back at Bellamy helplessly. Bel rolled her eyes and mouthed “Vessie” with an accusatory glare, then stalked out of view.
“I think you two should have some alone time… to talk,” Vesper suggested gently, trying again to pry herself away.
“You said you’d never leave me.”
Vesper sighed. “Of course I wouldn’t,” she murmured, avoiding Cedar’s glare. She focused instead on a few wild strands of Cypress’s short, black hair.
“Promise?” Cypress asked, shuffling closer and clinging to Vesper’s arm.
“Always.”
Cypress nestled in further. “Love you,” she whispered, and Vesper definitely heard Cedar groan then. The kid had always been a bit emotional, and to be fair, Cypress had kind of thought Vesper had permanently left. Mazz would have told her as much, so it made sense she’d be a bit more insecure now. She’d probably been inconsolable that first day. Vesper felt horrible.
“Yeah, love you too,” she muttered back. Her gaze again darted to the hallway, but unsurprisingly, Bellamy hadn’t reappeared. She hoped Bel hadn’t heard that. No doubt she’d get in trouble for all this later. No need to add fuel to the fire.
Vesper resigned herself to being stuck in the middle of whatever was about to happen between the sisters. She never could say no when the kid looked at her like that. Especially not when she wore those oversized clothes that made her look so much younger than she was. Like she really was just a kid still. It broke her fucking heart.
“How’d you find her?” Cypress asked Vesper, moving on now that she knew Vesper wasn’t leaving. The question clearly pissed Cedar off and put Vesper right where she didn’t want to be. In the middle.
“She found me,” Vesper said, looking at Cedar. Cedar cleared her throat and tried to take another step inside, but she stopped short when Cypress hugged Vesper tighter then took a half step behind her.
“After our parents, um…” Cedar hesitated, but Vesper nodded. She’d already told Cypress what happened long ago. “Well, after that, I was allowed to come back. I tried to find you, Cy. Really, I promise. I have spent every second of my time for the last nine years looking for you. That’s how I found them.”
Cedar and Vesper both looked for Bellamy in the doorway, but she still hadn’t come back. Vesper tried not to think about where she’d gone. Hopefully, she was just lingering and hadn’tgotten into trouble. No doubt there would be an angry whore storming in any second if Bel were elsewhere.
Cypress furrowed her brows, still looking at the floor. “Them?” Cypress asked. Bel had stayed hidden from view behind Cedar. Vesper realized she’d never actually told Cypress about Bellamy. She wasn’t quite sure why.
“Me and Bel.”
“Who is Bel?” Cypress asked with venom, spitting out the name like it was a dirty taste in her mouth.
“She killed our parents, Cy.”
Cypress sniffed. “Good.”
“Well,” Cedar continued hesitantly, as if she hadn’t expected Cypress to be glad their parents were dead. Seriously, did Cedar not know what they’d put Cypress through? The abuse? “Anyway. I found them and tried to—” Again she hesitated, looking at Vesper.“—um, get information from V about the assignment. And, well I?—”
“Wait,” Cypress interrupted, pulling away from Vesper and looking between the two of them. “Why is she allowed to call you V? You told me only the whores…” Cypress trailed off, looking closely at Cedar, what she was wearing, her lips pursed in thought. “Are you a whore? How come you’ve never come to see me? They all visit me.” And then as if the implications finally caught up to her, she asked, “Are you two a couple?”
“No!” Vesper blurted out. She wasn’t going to break the poor kid’s heart. Vesper wasn’t oblivious, though she acted it with Cypress. She knew the kid had a crush on her. It was obvious, and the other girls teased her about it constantly. She certainly wasn’t about to admit she’d been fucking her sister.
“I just needed information,” Cedar assured her, following Vesper’s lead, for once. “I’m an herbalist for a different group—a competitor of V’s employers. That’s how I knew she had something to do with you disappearing. I just couldn’t find any files about what she’d done since she’s been lying toeveryone. My employers didn’t want me to make any questionable decisions while I tried to find out what she did with you.”
Vesper snorted, as if questionable decisions weren’t all Cedar had made for the past week.
Cypress looked briefly up at Vesper. “She saved me.”
“Yeah, and she stashed you with the whores! Seriously, V. She was a fucking child! What is wrong with you?”
Vesper shrugged and repeated her earlier argument. “She’s been safe and well cared for. What more do you want? Come on, Cedar. Mazz would never let anything happen to her.Iwould never let anything happen to her.”
“This isn’t a life!” Cedar argued, waving a hand around the room. “She’s stuck in this room, how long were you going to force her to live like this?”
Vesper glanced around the small room. The dresser and table were littered with little trinkets Cypress had collected over the years. There was art on the walls, books piled up in the corners. It certainly didn’t look like a shitty place to be stuck in. Cypress had all she needed. There was even a small, shared kitchen off the hallway.
She had all she needed, and if she ever wanted anything, Vesper or Mazz or one of the other girls made it happen. They all loved her. Sure, her only friends were Vesper and the whores, and she hadn’t had people her own age around until a year ago but, needs must and all that.
“Look,” Vesper sighed, “she gets free roam of the whole Downstairs when they’re closed. It’s not like she’s confined. I’m working on getting her out. I’ve been trying, at least, but your little stunts haven’t helped. Fucking up mine and Bel’s assignments made it a lot harder.”
