Inferno Part 2

~30~ Lots of Spankins'

Taylor's POV

Luke rushes out of here and runs to the bathroom. I just look at Ellie. I'm not mad at her; I could hear it in her voice. She couldn't watch anymore. She couldn't see him going through it any longer.

"You ok?" I ask her softly.

She glares at me. "You will never do that to him again" she spits.

"I doubt I'll have to. He's almost 18"

"I mean it, Taylor"

"I heard you. I won't do it again."

We wait silently for him to come back. When he does, he looks a little green.

"Tell your mom that you're ok" I say simply.

He looks at Ellie. "I'm fine, momma" he says, still sounding sick.

Ellie rolls her eyes, but says nothing. He's still miserable and we both know it.

"Ok. You're up here the rest of the night. I'm not grounding you. I want you up here studying all night. Emma will be up in a bit to help you for awhile." I say as I kiss his head and squeeze his shoulders.

We leave and go back downstairs. Mason is arguing with Dylan when we get down.

"I'm sick of this. Sit your ass down now and get it done" he spits.

Dylan sees me and he immediately does what Mason says.

Dylan is a freaking peach.

Ellie gets started on dinner and I go over to Mason.

"Any chance at all he will actually pass this?"

Mason sighs. "I was nervous about it before Kelly quit."

I feel sick. Mason doesn't even think he will pass. My kid might not walk at graduation. I should have been harder on him about homework. Ellie and I always refused to hold our kids' hands with this stuff. Maybe we should have.

He's up in his room all night. I go and check on him before bed, and he's still studying.

"Put it away, kid. You need to balance it out some. If you study too hard, it won't be good either."

He just shuts his book and sighs. He squeezes his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to do better, dad. I'm not going to wait until I'm 25 to be a better person."

I smile big and pull him into a hug. "That's what I want to hear, kiddo."

"M'sorry I'm always disappointing you guys" he sniffs.

"Lucas Reed Preston, that isn't true at all. You only disappoint us once in a while...And it never lasts long. You always fix it. Truth is, I'm dreading the day you move out. You're just the coolest kid."

"I love you dad. Thanks for never giving up on me."

I don't say anything. I can't, actually, I'm going to start crying. I just kiss his head and squeeze his arm.

"Get to bed, Lukie Boy. Tomorrow is a new day."

"Yeah, a new day for a spanking" he grumbles.

I chuckle out loud. He's not as goofy as Liam, but he's still funny once in a while. He says these one-liners with a straight face, and they're hysterical.