Bully // l.h. // Book 1 of Bully Series

10. You're Not Sorry

“It’s about time you got back! Want to explain why you—“ Calum stopped himself short when Ashton and I entered just behind Luke. His eyes widened as he took in my appearance, something I had yet to do myself.

“I’m going to take her to the bathroom.” Ashton declared. Calum nodded, glancing at Luke, then behind him at Michael, who was watching from the couch. As Ashton led me up the stairs and down the hallway, I heard Calum whisper to Luke.

“What happened?” He sounded shocked.

As soon as I saw my appearance, I understood why the boys had reacted like they did. To put it very simply, I looked horrible. My hair, which had been neatly brushed earlier, was now tangled a bit from both my slumber and my struggle with my dad. I had a red mark on my face that was turning a bit purple at the edges, most likely from when my dad slapped me. Though, he did hit me there with his knee when I fell to the floor as well. My loose tee shirt was torn at the shoulder slightly, and there were a few small spots of dark red that I suspected were blood. I must have scraped my shoulder when I fell down the stairs. I had several sets of bruises on my arms. There were definite fingerprints on my upper arms, but my forearms were far worse. Any fingerprints that may have been there were covered up by large welts from defending myself against my father’s kicks. There was a trickle of blood going down one arm, and further inspection showed a small scratch near my elbow. My hands looked pretty battered as well. There were a few scrapes that were red, but not bleeding, and four of my nails were broken, though luckily only one was bleeding.

After my inspection, I lifted my gaze to meet Ashton’s through the mirror. He was frowning, and I knew he wanted to ask questions. Instead, however, he sat me down on the edge of the counter and began helping me clean up. He started with my face, pressing a cold, damp cloth to the forming bruise as well as wiping away my smudged makeup. Next, he wiped off my elbow, swiping a bit of antiseptic on it before covering the cut with a small bandage. My nails were the easiest to fix. I did them myself, using a pair of clippers to even them out, then running the bleeding one under water before drying it off and letting Ashton bandage it too. When all of that was done, his gaze flickered to my shoulder.

“Do you want to do that one on your own?” He asked. I nodded silently. He stood up and helped me off the counter before exiting the bathroom and closing the door quietly. I took a moment to just stand in the bathroom before looking around. There wasn’t much in it, though it looked like it was used regularly. There was only one towel and one toothbrush. I realized that this was probably Luke’s bathroom. Shaking the thought from my head I turned back to the mirror. I grabbed the hem of my shirt and tugged it over my head, wincing slightly as a few of my bruises decided this would be a good time to make their presence known. A quiet whimper escaped my lips when my eyes landed on the left side of my ribcage. Though they hadn’t yet turned the tell-tale purple of a bruise, my side was riddled with marks of all shapes and sizes. There was one large imprint just below the band of my bra that looked suspiciously like a shoe mark.

It wasn’t until after I bandaged the small cut on my shoulder that I realized I had nothing to change into. I didn’t want to put the stained shirt back on, so I grabbed the towel from the bar on the wall and wrapped it around my torso. Twisting the door handle gently, I opened the door a crack and peeked out. Nobody was in the hall. I opened the door wider, frowning.

“Ashton?” I called quietly. A head popped out of one of the rooms down the hall, but it wasn’t Ashton. It was Luke. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of me wrapped in the towel, and I felt my cheeks flush a deep red. “Uh, sorry. I thought Ash would be up here.” I stammered, backing into the bathroom and hiding myself behind the door. I hated the fact that I was in Luke’s house, knowing that he was the one who made sure not only my home life sucked, but my educational one did as well.