Exception // JJ Maybank

06 ; heartless

"Danny, I don't want you going to Charleston," Irene repeated for the third time.

He's been trying to convince her to let him go for the past thirty minutes.

She shook her head and continued to stir the pot on the stove. She turned around and wiped her hands on her apron.

"Please, Mom, Pope needs my help."

"Pope does not need your help," she insisted as she began to cut carrots on a cutting board. She lifted the knife and pointed it at him. "You can't even walk down a flight of stairs; I am not risking you leaving town doing God knows what. Pope is a big boy. He can fix his engine himself."

Danny slumped on the island chair and ran his hand down his face. Pope and JJ were waiting in the driveway to pick him up and then get Kie.

Ever since he told his mom falling down the stairs caused his further shoulder injury, she hasn't wanted him outside at all. She would surely wrap him in bubble wrap if she could.

The doctors told him if he didn't see improvement in a few weeks, they would need to have surgery to repair the damages. They outfitted him with a new sling. It had a foam immobilizer lodged between his torso and arm to keep it somewhat elevated. It was a fucking pain in the ass.

"Mom," he implored, "When have I asked for anything?"

She sighed and stopped cutting.

He hasn't been able to sway her when saying how he could help others, so maybe he needed to make it more personable. It was killing two birds with one stone: he would tell her how he felt and use it to help persuade her.

"Please. I want to feel normal again. I just need—" he cut himself off and looked out the sliding glass door onto the deck. "I hate feeling this way. I want everything to go back to how it was."

She set her knife down and rounded the island. Her arms wrapped around Danny and she pressed her lips to his temple. "All right, Sweetheart. If this will help you feel normal, then I suppose. . ."

"Really?" he asked.

She nodded and squeezed him tight. "Yes. But since I don't trust you to keep out of trouble, I'll be right back." She pinched his cheek before turning and walking down the hallway, the clicking of her heels echoing throughout the house. She opened the front door and stepped out of Danny's view.

He slid off the stool and followed after her with a confused frown. As he stepped onto the porch, he saw her leaning through the window of the truck speaking with JJ and Pope.

"Oh, boy," he muttered and hurried over to them. She leaned through the driver's side window, so he leaned through the passenger side.

These idiots were the ones supposed to keep him out of trouble?

He caught the tail end of her order, ". . . and no drugs, guns, or crime."

He groaned in annoyance. "Mom, seriously? We're not going to a drug deal."

She fixed him with a stern look. "Daniel Reed, there are plenty of mechanics in town. I'm willing to bet you could fix it right here if you wanted to. So if you're going to Charleston for mechanics, then there will be rules."

"No drugs, guns, or crime, ma'am," Pope assured. "Promise."

"Not even a little drugs, Irene?" JJ asked.

Danny slapped JJ's chest and leveled him with a stern look. JJ simply winked back.

She smiled pleasantly at JJ and replied with a frightening amount of cheer, "If I find out you two gave my boy drugs, I will institute a permanent ban and never let him see you again."