Matt Casey's nieces and nephew

Chapter 30

Jake was up rather early the next morning. He could never sleep in on Saturday Game Days, especially when it was their home opener. He was pretty serious about basketball and really wanted a scholarship. He needed a scholarship since his grades weren't the best. He barely maintained the C average he needed to stay on the team so he had to make sure he always played his best.

He changed into shorts, a t-shirt and a zip up hoodie, grabbed his I-phone and thudded down the stairs in search of his shoes. He could hear the boys in the kitchen with his uncle making breakfast as he sat at the bottom of the stairs and pulled on his running shoes.

"Has anyone seen my head phones?" He called as he walked down the hallway and into the kitchen.

"We're still going to your game today right?" Griffin asked as he eyed Casey.

Casey frowned. "What's with the look?"

"Well they're in trouble right?" He said.

Casey raised a brow. "Was someone eavesdropping?"

"No someone was woken up in the middle of the night by phones ringing and people coming in and out of the house."

Jake couldn't help but smirk, Griffin had picked on Grace's attitude and it was a lot funnier coming from him. "Uh-huh." Casey nodded. "Yes we're still going to the game."

"He's not that cruel." Jake said as he ruffled his hair. "I need my head phones."

"Can I go running with you?" Griffin asked without moving.

"Not this time buddy, I need to clear my head."
"From whatever you did to get you in trouble last night?"

Jake grinned and nodded towards the room the boys shared. "Headphones now."

"Fine, but I will find out." Griffin sighed and went to get Jake's headphones out of his bag. "Here."

"Thanks." Jake nodded and headed for the door.

He opened it just as Severide was coming up the steps, also dressed in running clothes. He shook his head when he saw Jake. "Take the headphones out. We're going to talk as we run this morning.

Jake sighed and pulled the headphones out, leaving them on the table by the door before closing the door. They started the run in silence and the longer than ran the more the silence got to Jake. After about twenty minutes, when they had reached the track at the park, he couldn't take the silence any longer. "I already got the lecture from Matt. And I'd rather not get yelled at in public."

"I'm not going to lecture you or yell at you." Severide said calmly.

Jake frowned and stopped running. "Okay, what the hell?"

Severide turned and put his hands on his hips.
"What?"

"You didn't yell last night when you saw me at the bar, you didn't lecture on the way to the hospital or at the hospital, and you haven't said one word this morning." Jake threw his hands up. "What are you waiting for? Why aren't you screaming about how stupid I am? Aren't you mad?"

"Yeah." Severide nodded.

"Then why haven't you said something?" Jake almost yelled.

"What do you want me to say?" He asked.

"I don't know!" He said. "We lied and snuck out and used fake IDs and drank and then the bar caught on fire and Grace and Rachel got trapped. Say something."

Severide took a few steps towards the teenager. "One has nothing to do with the other. The lying, drinking and sneaking into the bar, that's on you and I am mad about that, but the fire was not your fault. You didn't cause it and you didn't get the girls trapped, it's just something that happened."