Inferno Part 2

~47~ Safe Haven

Ellie's POV

I'm still furious. This kid is living in MY house. He gets to tear down my daughter? No. She was absolutely crushed. I couldn't care less about my floor or the time I wasted. I care about my daughter. I can fix a floor. How do you fix a person's shattered heart?

Emma is quiet at lunch, and when we get home she just goes upstairs. Once she does, Taylor and I just look at each other. He is just as devastated as I am.

"Dylan and I will be painting this, baby girl. Wes is on his way now to look at the floor." Taylor says, bringing me into him and kissing me softly.

I look at Dylan and his eyes are dark. He is not happy at all.

"I told you once that I would never let an abusive person in my home. You ever say something like that to her again and you and I are gonna dance." I say, glaring at him.

Taylor squeezes my hand gently but says nothing. Mason looks at me, but he doesn't say anything either.

Dylan's eyes tighten.

Wes comes in and looks around. "Damn" he says, once he senses the atmosphere. He goes over to the paint on my floor and shakes his head.

"Freeman, this is going to be an ordeal."

I sigh, frustrated. "Fantastic" I say, crossing my arms and pouting.

"You can't just re-stain it?" Taylor asks.

Wes shakes his head. "No. I'm going to have to strip it. I'll have to strip the entire thing. It will all need done, or it won't match."

Taylor let's out a disgusted noise.

"Let me know what it costs and I'll pay it" Mason says, sounding sick.

"Nah, you won't. Dylan will be helping Wes fix it." Taylor says, glaring at Dylan.

"No, I won't" he snaps before he realizes what he just said.

Taylor walks up to him and get in his face.

"Sorry, the paint fumes are getting to me. What was that?"

Dylan glares at him, but shakes his head. "Nothing"

Taylor nods and turns back to Wes.

"How long will this take?"

Wes looks hard at the mess and then at the rest of my wooden floor.

"Couple weeks, maybe a little longer.

I'm frustrated. I go outside and slam the door. All I wanted to do was paint my stupid foyer. Now I have a whole freaking remodel on my hands.

Taylor comes out a few minutes later and sits next to me on the swing.

"Where's your head?"

"It took all I had not to knock him out. We always preach about how we will never hit them. I was so close, Taylor."

He nods and kisses me head. "I'm glad Luke was here"

"I'm not. Then I actually would have had an excuse to knock him out"

Taylor laughs and shakes his head. "Man I love you" he says, kissing my cheek.

"Alright, we're going to get started. Are you going to critique everything we do?" He asks with a knowing grin.

"100 percent. I'll paint too" I say, standing up. I'm extremely anal about how I want my house painted. I honestly don't even want them helping at all.

Taylor laughs as we go back inside.

"Ok, Dylan. Grab a roller" he says, coming over and picking up one himself.