Cinders

~55~ Miracle~2

Monroe is so mad that he makes me sit in the hall to wait for mom. I've been in the hall for a while, and I'm honestly starting to get nervous. My adrenaline has plummeted, and I just keep thinking of ALL the different punishments mom will have for me.

Why do I do these things to myself? Sometimes I think being unpopular would be so much easier—Lower expectations.

Suddenly I see not just my mom, but Taylor barreling in—They're both on shift.

I never expected that Taylor would take time off too; I figured it would just be mom. Now I feel even sicker.

Taylor is so mad, I reflexively tense. They come up to me and he doesn't even stop walking.

"You and I are gonna be having a discussion in a bit, young man," Taylor threatens quietly. His voice is so low, it sounds menacing, and I may have just tinkled a tiny bit.

I simply put my head down. I hate when Taylor's mad at me.

The three of us head inside and sit down in the chairs in front of the principal's desk.

Principal Monroe is so mad, he's actually red. Taylor and mom just sit there, but their posture is telling me that I'm REALLY gonna be hurting in a bit.

Monroe starts going into his spiel about how disappointed he is, and how he cannot let such a horrible offense be taken lightly.

I apparently should be ashamed of myself.

Suddenly, both mom and Taylor's radios go off—It scares the crap outta me and Monroe.

They listen to it for just a moment before they both realize at the same exact time that it doesn't pertain to them. They both quickly silence them, and I force myself not to smirk. It would've been funny how they did it at the exact same time if this was a different situation.

"Sorry," Taylor says. "We're both still on call."

Monroe continues his rampage, throwing backhanded insults at mom and Taylor. They are NOT appreciating them. They're becoming even more mad the longer they sit here. Monroe needs to simmer himself down before I have a permanent belt mark on my butt.

"Fortunately for you, Mr. Clark, your dad has called and spoken to me. The school will not be pressing charges. You can thank your daddy cop for that."

I knew dad would pull through. He wouldn't let me have a criminal record over this.

"Sir, I can assure you that I will personally see to Liam's punishment. He won't be getting away with this," Taylor says darkly.

Crap. Taylor's dishing out the punishment. I'm screwed.

Taylor's had more than enough, and I think mom has too. He stands up, thanking Monroe for his time and apologizes to him once more. Then he grabs me by the arm and yanks me out of the office.

He doesn't say anything at all. We get to the trucks and Taylor just simply pushes me hard into squad and slams the door. I look around and see Diego and Mack sitting in their seats, with Happ driving.

Diego smiles at me a little and gives me a wink as Happ pulls out of the parking lot.

"How much trouble you in?" Diego asks quietly.

It wasn't quiet enough for Taylor's bionic hearing though. "Don't talk to him, Diego. And he's dead. Completely dead."

Diego lifts his eyebrows and gives me a sympathetic look, but doesn't say anything else. I just sit back in the seat and look out the window until we get back, apologizing to my butt. We've sure had good times, ass.

The second squad stops, Taylor wastes no time as he opens up my door and grabs me by the wrist, pulling me down. I think he pulls me down harder than he meant to, because I lose my balance and start to fall. He quickly steadies my waist, keeping my knees from hitting the concrete. That was some excellent reflexes on his part.

Once I'm steadied, he lets go of my waist and grabs my bicep, pulling me towards the offices. He's more mad than I thought he was gonna be.

Thankfully luck is on my side. Suddenly I hear...

DING
Engine 20, Truck 80, Squad 10, Ambulance 20, possible drowning, 1320 Adams Parkway

Taylor stops walking and instead, shoves me down roughly into a chair at the squad table.

He gets down to my level and points a finger in my face "You DO NOT move from this table, do you understand me?"

"Yes sir," I say without making eye contact. I hate when he's mad at me.

Without another word, Taylor turns and makes a mad-dash to the squad truck, making up the two seconds he wasted.

~*~

They're gone for about an hour—I literally don't move. I have to pee so bad it's stupid, but even I'm not dumb enough to risk it.

I don't think there's cameras here, but I can't be positive. I don't want to feel Taylor's wrath even more than I already will.

They all pull into the station, and I take a big breath. Normally mom and Megan are later than the men, but this time they arrive at the same time.

A pit forms in my stomach. I've had an entire hour to think about how much this is gonna suck, and I'm nervous. Why did I think this was a good idea?

I see mom and Taylor coming over to me. Taylor actually doesn't look as mad anymore. Mom does, though. Taylor reaches me first and before I can react, he wraps me up in a huge, warm hug. All trace of anger is gone. This must not have been a good call.

"At least this knucklehead is safe, yeah?" Taylor asks as he messes up my hair, talking to mom.

"Yeah," mom says gently.

I have no idea what happened on that call, but something tells me that I owe that person a thank you. Their whole demeanor has changed from being furious, to grateful.

I hear mom come over and Taylor opens his arm and wraps her up in our hug. We just stay there for a moment in comforting silence.

"Ok, bud—It's time," Taylor says as he breaks out of our embrace. I figured as much. I knew I wasn't getting out of a spanking, but it's nice to know that no matter how badly I screw up, I'm loved.

We all walk to the back offices, and the pit in my stomach returns.