Cinders

~27~ Intervene

We get in the car, and it's eerily silent—Taylor doesn't even turn the radio on.

Mom stares out the window, and Taylor is leaned back in his seat. He has one hand on the steering wheel, and holding mom's hand with the other.

I think he's feeling bad that he didn't know to stop me before I pushed her. How could he? I never had ANY intentions of hurting her.

Taylor is driving fast. He normally drives pretty fast, but this time he's driving even faster. He's weaving in and out of cars, barely even looking before he goes in front of the next car—He's fuming. If it were anybody other than Taylor, I'd be afraid to be in this car right now.

Thankfully Taylor is an amazing driver.

"You need to slow down," mom finally says quietly. I check the speedometer, and he's pushing 90.

"Sorry," he says as he slows down. "Didn't realize I was going so fast."

The rest of the way to dad's is quiet. Too quiet—I can hear their breathing it's so quiet. That's so NOT a good sign for me.

We get to dad's, and we get out of the car. Taylor walks around the car and comes over to me, grabbing my arm roughly.

I'm in so much trouble.

I have long legs, but even I have to walk fast to keep up with Taylor, so I don't get dragged—Mom basically had to run.

We get to his apartment and Taylor knocks roughly. Dad opens it after just a minute, alarmed by the intensity of the knock.

When he sees us, his face immediately sobers—He knows something bad just happened. He looks from me, to Taylor, to mom.

"What happened?"

Taylor answers before mom can. "Can we come in?" He asks, barely keeping his voice under control.

Dad says nothing, but moves out of the way. Taylor continues to pull me inside, and doesn't let me go until I'm in the living room. I see Kara sitting on the couch—Wonderful. As if this day couldn't possibly get any worse.

"What's going on?" Dad asks again, losing his patience this time.

"Short version? Ok—here it goes," Taylor begins. "We walk into the apartment to see Liam, seconds away from having sex with his girlfriend on the couch. Ellie freaked out, they got in a fight, and he shoved her so hard that she hit her head against a wall."

Dad says nothing for a minute. Then he just rolls his eyes and looks over at mom. "You ok, El?"

Mom just silently nods.

Silence

Total silence

Dad hasn't said another word

"That's it?!?! That's all you're gonna say?!?!"

Taylor is about to lose his mind, which makes this situation even suckier for me.

"What do you want me to say?" Dad asks, sounding defeated.

"Are you serious?" Taylor chuckles in a VERY humorless tone.

"Look at her," Taylor says as he points to mom.

"He just shoved her with all of his strength against a wall. Her head hit the wall so hard, I could hear it. She has a massive bump on the back of her head. She weighs 110 pounds, and your son just body checked her. I WANT YOU TO SAY SOMETHING ELSE!!!!"

Dad still stands there, silently.

Taylor sighs, loudly.

"Ok," he says as he looks down at the ground and scratches his head. "Here's what's gonna happen—You're gonna spank your son. If you won't, then I will; But either way, he's getting spanked by one of us before we leave. Who will it be?"