Page 102 of Twisted Redemption

“So he didn’t get caught! The less people who knew, the better.”

“Right. Which is why he told you. And Dominic? I’m assuming Felix is in on it, too? Who else?”

“Daisy...”

“Who else?”

Blaze scrubs a hand over his face. “No one. It was just us. Trust me, Daisy, we—”

“Trust you?” I shout. “After you lied to me? After you treated me like shit, then apologized, then promised to do better, and then continued lying to me?”

“It was safer to not tell you.”

I know he’s probably right, but I can’t find it in me to care. There’s something so off about this. So wrong. But I can’t quite put a finger on what it is.

Why is this bothering me so much?

“We didn’t want you to go down with us if we got caught.”

Ah. And there it is. Because I don’t quite believe those words.

“No.” I shake my head. “I know you all too well. I know Alex. I know Dominic. And I know you, Blaze. You guys planned this. You re-planned it. You each went over it in your heads a million times. Tweaked the plan, tweaked it again. You all have too much to lose. There’s no way you guys would do this unless you knew you could get away with it.”

Blaze swallows hard.

Fuck. I was really hoping I was wrong.

“You guys didn’t tell me,” I say slowly, “because you didn’t trust me to keep quiet.”

“We weren’t sure if you’d be able to cope without telling someone.”

“Just say what you mean, Blaze.”

“What?”

“Just say you didn’t trust me. Even then. Hell, even now, considering none of you told me the truth until tonight.”

His eyes slide closed as a pained expression morphs onto his face. The same pain I feel burrowing its way through my chest.

I was afraid this would happen. To be honest, my therapist even warned me. For the past couple weeks, Blaze and I have been living a fairytale, falling back into familiar patterns of our friendship and ignoring the hurt we’ve caused to each other.

But now, it’s all bubbling to the surface.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I promise it was the only thing I was keeping from you.”

I want it to be enough. I wish it was. But it’s not.

“Right now. It’s the only lie right now. You didn’t trust me with this. You didn’t trust me with Charlie’s secret. You made me think that you cheated on her with me. And now you want me to trust you.” I shake my head. “How? How am I supposed to trust you, when I can’t even trust that you trust me?”

He reaches out to me, his fingers brushing against my cheek, but I lean away from his touch.

Was this all a mistake? Was trying to fix things with Blaze always an impossible task that we both committed to because we were delusional and too naive?

The past couple weeks have been so nice. It’s like we’ve been back to who we were before David. Before I ruined everything. Except it’s been more. So much more.

But maybe we haven’t been living a fairytale. Maybe it’s been a tragedy all along.

I shove him back, stepping away from the couch and crossing the living room. Space. I need space.

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