Plié (Lost Birds Book 2)

Part 8 Grounded.

My everything hurt. Taking yesterday off was meant to help with how awful I felt but today I felt even worse. The throbbing pain in my shoulder was reaching all the way up to my head and down across my back.

I sank into my chair for class. 

For the first time ever, I was actually here before Aydan. 

I put my head down on top of my arm to wait but within minutes I had fallen back asleep.

Warmth wrapped around me along with an earthy scent of vanilla and cedar. It pulled me out of my light sleep and I blinked to clear my vision.

"Hi baby." Aydan said setting something on my desk.

I blinked again and sat up quickly in my chair. The sudden movement made me cringe. Aydan raised an eye brow at me.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

I nodded quickly. Glancing down I realized that he had set a cup and a small paper bag onto my desk.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Tea and a scone." He said, "Unless you'd prefer coffee?"

He tapped at the cup sitting on his desk. I shook my head. I'd never gotten into coffee. Tea sounded infinitely better.

"Thank you." I said and took a sip of the tea. It was warm and cinnamon-ie with just a hint of sweetness after. I licked my lips as I considered the flavor.

"Do you like it?" Aydan asked taking a drink of his coffee.

"It's delicious." I decided.

I took another sip.

The corner of Aydan's mouth lifted but he didn't comment on my surprised tone. I peeked into the bag at the scone he had mentioned. It looked like it had a cinnamon glaze and would go perfectly with my tea. I glanced over at Aydan. 

He nodded. 

I was supposed to eat the scone too. 

I broke off a piece of the scone and took another sip of my tea to wash it down. It was delicious as well. The more I ate of the scone and the more of tea I sipped the better I seemed to feel.

Once I was half way finished with my scone Aydan held his hand out to me. I looked over unsure what exactly he wanted me to hand to him and then I saw the little white pill in his palm. 

My medication. 

The piece of scone I had in my mouth didn't want to slide down my throat nearly as easily as the other pieces had but I managed. Once I'd finally swallowed I looked up meeting Aydan's eyes as I accepted the pill. I popped it in my mouth and took another sip of my tea washing it down.

"You don't have your sling today." He acknowledged.

I glanced down at the desk where I had my arm resting. I didn't want to tell Aydan that my mother had taken it but it didn't seem important enough to lie about. It also didn't seem fair for him to ask me to be honest and open when they were not doing the same with me.

"You still haven't told me if you have any leads on the bomb-thing." I said meeting his eyes again.

Aydan's eyes flickered back and forth between mine as he considered his answer. He seemed to decide on something and shook his head. He leaned close so that his face was only a couple inches away from mine.

"We don't want to keep information from you but this location is not secure." He spoke very quietly. He pulled back enough to catch my eye and I nodded to show that I'd heard and understood him.

"We do trust you Tori. We just haven't had time alone since the hospital to explain what's been going on." Aydan said sitting back in his seat again. 

By alone he meant outside of school where there were no potential threats. I understood that. Maybe I had over reacted the other day in the break room when they wouldn't tell me what was going on. If Aydan thought people were listening in on us it made total sense not to talk about what they might, or might not, know.

I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth and focused on my cup of tea as I weighed my options. Technically taking away my sling and my medication wasn't necessarily a major threat, it was just mean. I didn't really care if the guys knew that my mother was mean so long as they didn't try to intervene in unnecessary ways.

"My mother took my sling and my medication because she doesn't think that I need them." I said quietly.

Aydan's fingers tapped on the top of his coffee as he considered my words. After a couple moments of silence I was beginning to wonder if he had heard me at all. I turned to look at him just as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He typed something into it and set it down next to his drink.

The phone vibrated. Aydan glanced down at the screen and nodded.

"If Theo brings you an extra bottle of your prescription do you think you would be able to hide it from your mother?" Aydan asked.

I bit my lip again. It was possible that I could hide it but I wasn't sure it was worth the risk. I shook my head.

"I'd rather not risk it." I admitted out loud.

"Ok..." Aydan nodded. "Theo is going to bring you an extra sling. Cameron can hold onto it after classes the same way he's been doing with your books. And for your medication we can keep doing it this way." Aydan gestured to my tea to indicate he meant the same way we had done this morning and Monday.

"Are you doing alright at night with the pain?" He asked.

I nodded. A partial lie. If i didn't take pain medication at night I could take my sleeping medication. No nightmares was better than no pain.

"Alright. Let us know if anything changes. We already have someone outside your place at night so if you need anything they're right there." He said.

"You guys don't have to keep doing that." I said. "Stephan's not really the type to sneak in at night."

"It's not up for negotiation baby. It's family protocol. If any of us had been injured they would be grounded as well." Aydan said.

"Grounded?" I asked. "Is that an Academy thing?"

Before Aydan could answer a group of students entered the class and began taking their seats. I sighed and slumped back in my chair, sinking lower into Aydan's jacket. I was never going to get answers.