I managed to slip from the bed without waking anyone and stood on shaky legs for a moment as the room spun slightly. It took a few minutes but eventually I felt solid enough to move, so I crept as quietly as I could into the closet and grabbed some comfy clothes to change into, then slipped into the en-suite.
I worked quickly through my morning routine, brushing my teeth and showering. I was pretty bruised and banged up, especially my right side which was a hideous palette of bruises. I felt an egg on the back of my head as I washed and conditioned my wild hair, and moving my left arm at all was a definite no-no. Just getting it out of the sling had brought tears to my eyes.
By the time I managed to drag on leggings and one of Cal’s hooded sweaters over clean underwear, I was completely exhausted and my shoulder was more painful than anything I remembered experiencing before. I didn’t even try to put on socks, instead picking them up, along with the sling and heading out to my room.
Maybe showering and getting changed hadn’t been my best idea, but I just wanted to feel clean. My hair had been hard with myown vomit, and my clothes had felt filthy after being thrown down on the floor of that disgusting place the night before.
I tiptoed to the nightstand at Cal’s side in search of the pain meds that the doctor had left for me the night before, but tiptoeing was a bad idea apparently. Dizziness swept over me and I lost my footing, banging into the wall to try and remain upright, and I gasped in utter agony as my shoulder took the brunt of the hit.
I closed my eyes to try and stem the tears that started to fall right away, and moved my body so my back leant against the wall instead.
“Cara?” I opened my eyes at the low whisper and found Cal stood in front of me. “What happened? What are you doing?”
I opened my mouth to speak but all that came out was a shaky, gasped breath. It hurt too much to even concentrate on talking.
“Come,” he took a hold of my good hand and led me over to the bed, setting me down on the edge. As he crouched before me I tried hard to take some deep breaths and calm down. The initial burst of agony was calming, but it was leaving behind a lot more pain than I had been in before.
“That’s it. Deep breaths,” Cal coached, and I felt a little better when he placed his large, warm hands over my knees.
“Christ, that h-hurt,” I gasped. I opened my eyes and tried to force a smile for Cal. I was pretty sure it fell short though.
“What did you do?” he asked as he moved some hair from my face. “Have you been in the shower?”
“Yeah. I had to. I needed to f-feel clean. Can I…where are those pills, Cal. Please?” I rambled.
“I’ll get them. Just stay here and keep taking deep breaths,” he told me, then I watched, confused, as he went to Dante and nudged him awake.
Dante’s eyes shot open and searched me out instantly. I smiled a little for him too, but he didn’t look convinced by it. Cal was whispering to him, then Dante stood and pulled a box from one of the pockets of the cargo pants he was wearing, handing them off to Cal. They had hidden them, I realised, from me. Dante had kept the pills on him so there was no chance of me getting my hands on them and taking the lot. I didn’t even know how to feel about that realisation in that moment.
“Here, gorgeous. Take these,” Cal said as he held out two white pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
Desperate for some relief, I took them and swallowed them down fast.
“How bad is the pain?” Dante asked, and when I looked up again, he was standing opposite me, watching me in that inscrutable way only he could.
“Bad. I knocked my shoulder,” I admitted.
“Why didn’t you wake one of us to help you in the bathroom? I don’t even know how you managed, in as much pain as you had to have been, and with just one working arm,” Cal said as he looked to me disapprovingly.
“It was stupid. What if you fell and hurt yourself more? Could have fucking killed yourself in there!” Dante barked with clear annoyance.
“I could have killed myself having a shower?” I snorted. “Relax, Dante. I’m a big girl. I can handle showering alone.”
“Yeah? You sure about that?” he asked as he looked down at me with scorn, and I did kind of have to admit he had a point. I wasn’t exactly doing great at that exact moment.
“I’ll be fine as soon as those meds kick in,” I told him stubbornly.
“No over doing it. You got hurt. Badly. You need to rest and take things easy. Let people help you,” he told me flatly.
“I agree, Cara. Just for now, until your shoulder heals. Why struggle so much when you have us all here willing to help out?” Cal asked.
“I’ll try,” I agreed. “But no one is helping me in the shower, That’s a step too far.”
I felt pretty comfortable with the men I found myself living with now, maybe even more than that, but I had no idea how I would react to any of them being in the bathroom while I showered. I just had too many fears and hang ups when it came to that.
“We’ll see,” Dante grumbled.
“How about we get you back into bed so you can rest?” Callan suggested, changing the subject.
