Plié (Lost Birds Book 2)

Part 31 Stephan's Back.

"Tori, come on. Don't do this. Please don't do this. I'm so sorry dulzura. Please. Please. Please." Tao was whisper yelling at me.

I blinked several times to clear the black spots from my vision.

I glanced around trying to figure out what had happened. Tao, Cameron, and I were all on our knees in the kitchen. Tao was cupping my face and his hands were shaking. Cameron was kneeling next to us. He had his arms out as if terrified that I would collapse any second.

"Gracias a dios." Tao whispered when my eyes focused on him. He leaned forward and kissed my lips, cheeks, and forehead.

"I'm so sorry dulzura. I'm a fucking idiot and I'm so sorry." He said quickly.

"Are you ok?" Cameron asked.

I shook my head. Tears burned my eyes as all the pieces began to click into place in my head. Stephan had been there. I had been taken to Stephan. My father's words about Stephan being their main choice and him knowing about the incident with Sab all made perfect sense now.

I clinched my hand in Tao's shirt. I wanted to be back in the safety of his arms. I didn't care how reckless he was being a moment ago. He was doing it because he cared and even if it wasn't the best way at least he was trying.

I sank into Tao. He inhaled sharply but didn't hesitate to catch me or engulf me in his arms.

"Tor?" Cam whispered. His voice full of concern.

"She's shaking like crazy." Tao said.

"Tell us what's wrong. You have to tell us where you are hurt so that we can fix it." Cam said.

"Maybe we should call Theo." Tao said.

"I don't know he's at the hospital with Aydan. They're dealing with..." Cam cut himself off. "Tor please..." He groaned.

"Stephan's back." I said into Tao's chest.

Tao tensed.

"What?" Cam asked.

"Call Aydan." Tao said.

I nodded in to his shirt. I needed Aydan. He would know what to do.

"Pinnacle. Tori was locked in a closet. We got her out and started talking and Tao lost his cool. He tried to drag her out of here and she panicked and blacked out on us and she wanted to call you." Cameron explained quickly.

I sat up a little so that I could take the phone and wiped at my face. Instead of handing me the phone Cameron put it on speaker and held it out between the three of us.

"What's going on baby?" Aydan asked quietly.

"I'm sorry I hung up on you. I didn't mean to make you worry and-" I said trying to keep my voice low.

"Baby never mind that. We can talk about it later. Tell me what's going on." Aydan said.

"I remembered some of what happened." I said shakily. "Stephan was there. The bruises are from him and my father knows about what happened with Sab. I don't know what Stephan told him exactly but my father thinks that he's still... He said that Stephan is still their first choice."

"Ok. Slow down and breathe. We will take care of it. For right now you need to make sure you keep Theo's watch on at all times and if you see Stephan, even if you have no direct contact, redline us right away." Aydan said.

"Ok." I said quietly.

"What happened with your parents, besides the part about Stephan?" Aydan asked.

"My father just talked and then my mother... put me in the cellar." I said.

"Locked you in the cellar. As in an actual lock." Tao clarified.

"I understand your distress Tao but if Tori is not ready to leave with us then you cannot force her." Aydan said.

"But-" Tao started and Aydan cut him off.

"My decision is final. Unless her life or physical well being is in danger then we will not make decisions for her. She is getting forced into enough and you cannot expect her to trade one controlling family for another." Aydan said. "Need I remind you that family is a choice?"

"No." Tao said.

"Then need I remind you that you have to trust your family?" Aydan asked.

"No." Tao said again.

"Do you want Tori to be a part of our family?" Aydan asked.

"You know I do." Tao said.

"Then you need to trust her. If she feels that staying in a closet is the safest alternative for tonight then so be it." Aydan said.

"Tori..." Aydan directed the conversation back to me before Tao could reply. "I expect you to understand that while we are trusting you that trust needs to go both ways. Honest and open communication is the only way that this level of trust can be achieved and that includes not ignoring phone calls unnecessarily and telling us what is going on no matter how you think we might react. Had I known earlier where you were, why, and how you felt about it then I wouldn't have sent Tao and Cameron to find you. This entire situation could have gone very differently if at all."

"I'm sorry. I won't do that again." I said honestly.

"Alright. You may discuss among yourselves how to proceed. I'll be expecting an update when you've reached a decision." Aydan said.

"Ok." Tao said.

"Will do." Cam said.

"Goodnight Aydan." I said biting my lip.

"Goodnight baby." Aydan said.

Cameron tucked his phone back into his pocket and sat back on the cold tile. Tao and I followed his example and sank back as well.

"So what do you want to do crazy girl?" Cam asked with a sigh.

"And don't you dare say you want to sleep in that fucking closet." Tao said.

"Tao..." I said. "I have to. My mother's gong to come down first thing in the morning and if I'm not in there when she checks on me..." I shook my head.

"What?" Tao asked. "She'll put you in the freezer?"

"No... I just... If I give my parents a reason to think that I'm not 'cleaning up my act' they are going to pull me from college." I explained. "I don't want to drop out and I don't want to make any more problems for any of us."

"So what if you just go back into the closet first thing in the morning?" Cam asked.

"Yeah." Tao agreed sitting up straight. "Your parents are chemically unconscious, remember?"

"But we don't even know when they went to bed." I said shaking my head.

Tao looked over at Cam.

Cam looked down at his watch.

"Seventy-three minutes ago." Cam said.

"How do you know that?" I asked surprised.

"We had to wait for them to knock out before we came in." Tao said.

"And we know they are out of it because we checked their closet first." Cam agreed.

"You checked their closet?" I gasped.

"Dulzura, we checked all the closets." Tao said.

"We were really worried." Cam said nodding.

"I'm sorry..." I said again. I was still kicking myself for the way I had acted. I hadn't meant to worry them so much. My intentions had been the total opposite in fact. Now I knew what not to do next time.