Inferno Part 2

~165~ Breaking And Entering

Ellie's POV

We leave and Alex, Liam, and Mason follow us home. Mason and Liam pick up their kids, and then leave. Alex looks at Colton.

"Ready?"

"What were you talking about?" Colton asks.

"None of your business," Alex says simply.

"This isn't fair. I'm 17. I should be allowed to know."

"I get to decide what you know. I'm deciding that you don't need to know this. When you turn 18, I'll tell you."

"I'm so mad at you."

"I think I can live with that, Colton. Let's go."

Colton glares at him as he leaves. Alex starts to follow behind him, and I grab his hand.

He stops and looks at me hard.

"Please forgive me," I say softly.

His eyes narrow. "Ellie, I really don't think I've ever been so pissed at you before. After everything we've been through together, you seriously believed that I would tell a stranger something about you?"

"I knew something wasn't adding up, but in the moment, yeah. I believed it. I'm sorry."

"You should be," he snaps as he leaves and slams the door.

I close my eyes and shake my head.

Taylor comes over to me and pulls me into a hug. "He's tired, he's stressed, and he just found out there's a health issue with one of his grandkids. He's taking it out on you, baby girl."

I let the tears fall as I bury my head in his chest. "I should have known," I cry.

"Baby, you never would have known this. It sounded bad... He will get over it."

"And if he doesn't?"

Taylor looks at me hard. "Eleanor, this is you and Alex. Give him a day to sleep and get over the shock of all of this."

I just nod. Having Alex mad at me feels wrong.

We spend the rest of the weekend trying not to think about what has been going on. We're especially ignoring the continuous cops that have been in and out of Katie's house, taking more things out.

"Mom, what's going on?" Nolan asks as I'm tucking him in for bed.

I sigh as I pull the covers up.

"There's something going on, but we're not going to tell you. It's just one of those things where you just have to figure out how to be ok with not knowing."

"Mom, I've always felt like that growing up. Grandma always kept everything my mom was doing secret. I hated it."

I kiss his head and nod. "I know, buddy. I'm sorry. We won't tell you this. Not until you're older."

He sighs and simply nods as he closes his eyes.

"You mad?" I ask, wiping some hair off of his face.

"Little"

"Sorry," I say, kissing him again.

"I'll get over it," he says simply as he rolls over.

The next day Nolan is quiet in the morning, and quiet on the way home.

"Can I go to Colton's for a bit?" He asks once his homework is done.

"Sure buddy," I say with a smile. I love how close he's getting with Colton and Dylan. They're a lot older than him. They really have taken him under their wings, and I love them for it.