Brisé (Lost Birds Book 1)

Ch 12 Confidant

The drive back to my house was mostly silent. Cameron would glance over at me every few minutes but I couldn't think of anything to say. He didn't say anything until we pulled down the driveway toward my house.

"You don't have to go in if somethings wrong, Tor." Cameron said.

"It'll be fine." I shrugged but I kept my eyes on the trees outside of my window.

"You don't sound convinced." Cameron said.

I sighed.

"I'm not convinced." I agreed. "But that doesn't mean I can hide at Theo's for forever. I have to go home and part of that is dealing with... things..."

"What kind of things?" Cameron asked quietly.

I shrugged.

Cameron slowed the car to a stop in the middle of the small road that lead to my house. My eyes widened and I turned to look at him.

"Honey, you're scaring me." Cameron said.

I opened my mouth to tell him again that I'd be fine but he held up a hand.

"Look Tor, we have no idea what your home life is like because you won't tell us. You don't trust us yet and we get that. We do. But we know the statistics, we know the signs, and even more importantly we know that anyone with a decent or good home life doesn't avoid talking about it the way the rest of us do." Cameron said.

"There's just nothing to talk about..." I shook my head. "My parents are almost always away on business or vacations. All I do is ballet and school and they take up all of my time usually."

"Tori..." Cameron sighed. He shook his head. "I know what it looks like when someone is afraid to go home because I used to feel the same way. Our situations were different, definitely, my father would beat the hell out of me and my mother but that look you have right now, that fear in your eyes... It feels the same."

My mouth parted slightly as I listened to Cameron's words. I didn't want to picture a tiny version of him feeling anywhere near the way I did right now.

"I don't... I can't..." I shook my head. I couldn't even form the right sentence to tell him that I didn't know how to respond to what he'd just said. Cameron reached over and laced his fingers with mine but he didn't speak. He waited patiently for me to gather my thoughts.

"I don't want to lie to you but I also don't want to talk about it." I said finally. "It doesn't seem important right now and talking about it doesn't change anything."

"That is a common misconception. Sometimes talking about, even without the chain reaction of events afterwards, changes the situation." Cameron said. "If nothing else, it keeps you form feeling isolated and alone."

"But it complicates things... It... if  I... I can't handle being responsible for someone else when I can barely keep my head above water on  my own and if I start talking to someone else then they get it in their head that they can help and they can't. They'll just ruin my plans and get hurt in the process." I said. My voice was starting to crack. I held my breath to help push back the urge to cry.

"Crazy girl, if you are willing to trust me and tell me what is going on then that is enough for me for now. Please." Cameron said.

"I don't even know what he's going to do." I said. "My mother said he's looking for me and I know he has a temper so I'm scared but it's probably for nothing."

"He who?" Cameron asked. 

"It's just some guy my parents want me to marry." I said.

"Like an arranged marriage?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Do you know him or is he a complete stranger?" Cameron asked.

"I know enough to know that he's a terrible person." I said quietly.

"...ok..." Cameron sighed. He was staring out the front windshield and tapping his finger on the steering wheel.

"And your mother wants you to do what right now exactly?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"I don't know, talk to him I guess. I'm pretty sure he is waiting for me at the house." I said looking out the windshield as well.

"... Ok..." Cameron nodded. "Alright... Let's do this."

He put the car back into gear and began driving again.

"What are you doing?" I asked surprised. I had just told him I didn't want him to get hurt trying to help me.

"I'm taking you home." He said. "I'm going to drop you off and circle around back so I can come in through the back door."

"Cameron! You can't do that!" I said.

"No one will see me. I'm only coming in in case you need me. That way if he tries to hurt you, you can just yell for me, or scream, and I'll hear you and stop him." Cameron shrugged.

"I don't know..." I said shaking my head. What if someone saw him sneaking around? What if my parents found out?

"I don't like this plan one bit so if you'd rather we turned around and didn't even bother going in I am good with that but Tor if you're going in then so am I." Cameron said.

I looked over at Cameron. The way he was grasping the steering wheel made the muscles in his arms bulge beneath his Breath of the Wild t-shirt. The corners of his mouth were dipped down into disapproving scowl and his eyes were already taking in the sleek black car parked in the drive way with distaste. There was no way I was going to be able to talk him out of this.

"Just... be careful please." I said.

"You too, Tor." He said.

Authors Note: Happy Saturday! I hope you're enjoying the story.