Plié (Lost Birds Book 2)

Part 23 Backlash.

A light knock on the bathroom door reminded me that I was taking forever to get showered and changed. It took a lot of work not being able to use one of my arms and I did everything extra slow so that I didn't jar my shoulder.

"Sorry, one more second!" I called out and tried to towel off my hair quickly.

"Everything alright in there, crazy girl?" Cam asked.

I gave up on the drying, grabbed my hair brush, and opened the door.

"Sorry." I said again. "Just takes longer with one arm."

"That's ok." Cam smiled down at me. Now that he was facing the light I could see the dark bruise just under his eye. It stretched all the way up to his temple and down to the edge of his jaw.

"Aw Cam..." I said horrified.

"I know, elbows are not face friendly." Cam laughed nervously and rubbed at his cheek.

"I'm so sorry..." I said shaking my head. This was all my fault. If I hadn't pushed for us to go or told them about Todd at all this would never have happened.

"Stooop. Right now." Cam said. "I am a grown ass man and if I decide to start a fight at a party with a gorilla that's my own fault."

"But you didn't..." I shook my head. Cam hadn't even started the fight and it was my fault because the fight started over something that was said about me.

"I would have. If Theo hadn't. He deserved it and this..." Cam pointed to his bruise "...wasn't even Todd. It was one of the other guys that jumped in after he went for Theo."

Someone behind Cam cleared their throat and grabbed both of our attention.

"Guys I'm going to pee in the sink if you don't get out of the bathroom." Tao grumbled.

"Sorry!" I said pushing past Cam to get out of Tao's way.

"Careful!" Cam said trying to maneuver so that I didn't bump into him with my bad shoulder.

"Sorry!" I said again backing away from both of them. I made it out of the hallway without bumping into or halting anyone else.

Someone had tucked the pullout bed back into the couch. Aydan and Sab were sitting on it and they both looked up as I came out of the hallway.

"Sorry." I muttered. They looked like they were waiting on something and I knew that I had been a factor in that.

Aydan raised an eye brow at me and Sab scowled.

"Why?" Sab asked.

"She's just feeling self-conscious for talking so long in the shower." Cam said walking past me into the kitchen.

I nodded and tried to work the brush through my wet hair. Starting at the ends I managed to ease it through a couple of times.

"She's a girl." Sab shrugged.

I knew what he was implying and I hated it. I wasn't one of those girls that need a ridiculous amount of time to get ready. I didn't even wear make up and that was usually what took girls so long.

"I'm not-" I tried to tell Sab I wasn't one of those girls but my brush caught on a knot and I hissed instead.

"Tori, come here." Aydan directed.

I walked over to him as I tried to get the brush out of my hair. The harder I pulled the worse the knot felt. I tried to shake the brush out of my hair but that just created new knots.