Heart and Soul

10. Didn't Make Sense (T)

Taylen's POV

Fifteen minutes. And barely at that. Stetson was screaming from my bedroom. The boys in the living room seemed like they were fighting in a war. Everett and Lauren were suspiciously quiet. I shut my book without bookmarking it and stomped into the living room. Lucas had Alex pinned to the ground and was beating the daylights out of him while Liam and Brayden were rolling around, trying to get on top of one another to do the same.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?!?!?!?!?" I shouted to get their attention.

Everything immediately stopped. The only sound was heavy breathing coming from everyone in the room. They were all staring at me with blank expressions, almost like they were in shock.

"What. Did. I. Just. Walk. Into. ?" I gritted out.

They all stayed silent. Stetson was still screaming and I needed to see what was wrong with him. I looked at Brayden.

"Get yourself and your brothers and cousin cleaned up and then everyone finds a corner!"

"Yes ma'am," he replied immediately.

Without another word, I turned around and went upstairs. When I went into my bedroom, I was met with a dangerous sight. Lauren and Everett were holding Stetson trying to shush him.

"Shh, it's ok. You're ok," Lauren was whispering to them.

I walked over to them and took Stetson from their arms. I began to rock him and try to shush him. It worked and he quickly began to fall back asleep.

"Do you guys know what made him scream like that?" I asked once I laid him down and we walked out the door quietly.

"No," Lauren replied quickly.

I looked at Everett with a hard look. He looked down and quietly said, "No ma'am."

"Everett, I want you to think long and hard about this, okay? Do you remember your paddling on Friday?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Do you remember that spanking you got on your sore bottom earlier this afternoon?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Do you really want to lie to me right now?"

"No ma'am."

"Do you know what happened to make Stetson cry like that?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Then tell me what happened."

"Lauren was watching YouTube videos the other day and they did one where you put makeup on somebody who was sleeping. Since everyone else was awake, we just decided to do Stetson," he replied quietly.

I sighed heavily. I was going to have to spank him again for the third time this weekend. Why does he keep getting himself into trouble?!?

"You knew you weren't supposed to do that, didn't you?" I asked him sternly.

Rhett nodded miserably.

I held back yet another sigh, "You two go find a corner to be in. Probably in the kitchen. The ones in the living room are pretty full."

Lauren started to open her mouth but Rhett clamped his hand over it and pulled her away. Out of the seven kids at my house, only the youngest wasn't in trouble. Great.

I knew that I should probably call somebody to come help me, but I didn't want to seem like I couldn't handle it myself. I decided to call Eliza. She was my best friend and I knew that she would help keep me calm.