Inferno Part 4

~93~ Binding Chains

Ellie's POV

I ignore how miserable my son is as he stands in the corner, and I decide to just order pizza for dinner. I've lost my mood to cook!

Alex comes in and kisses Gabby on the cheek, and then does the same to me. When he stares into my eyes, his get concerned.

"What's wrong, El?"

I silently point to the corner, and when Alex follows my gaze he simply nods. "Need anything from me?"

"Wanna order the pizza?" I grin as I hand him the debit card.

"Sure, but I'll pay," he says as he shoos my card away.

I wish he wouldn't do that. He's now paying for child support and after the divorce settlement, he lost most of his fortune because he wouldn't fight for it. He's living off of I'm sure a modest salary, but he still took a huge hit.

However, I also know my best friend better than anyone, and he needs to pay sometimes. He needs to feel like he's still a man in his family.

"Thanks," I simply say as he gets on his phone to call it in, and I look over at Nolan once more. All I want to do is hug him and let him get out of the corner, but I can't right now. I saw it on his face when I 'Bad Copped' the crap outta him....It was effective. Taylor needs to 'Good Cop' him tonight, I really think it's important for the both of them.

When Taylor comes home I think the drive helped some, but I also know that he's blaming himself...and I hate that. I hate that he's feeling parent guilt. It's the worst guilt there is.

"If you want to pull him out of the corner, you can," I whisper to him as I kiss him softly.

Taylor looks over at him and shakes his head. "Maybe let's have him eat with us...."

"Ok. Alex just ordered a pizza."

Taylor nods as he gets a water and heads to his place in the garage, staying there until the pizza arrives.

~*~

I see Taylor walking over to the corner, and Nolan turns his head to look at him.

"Come eat," he says simply.

"I thought mom said I couldn't...." He says, and I hear how strained his voice is.

I really really got to him

"Come eat," Taylor says again, squeezing his shoulder gently and leading him to the chair that already has a pillow on it. When Nolan sits down he avoids eye contact with everyone, obviously still completely humiliated.

As we eat, it's silent for a long moment until Alex starts talking to Ethan.

"Where's your sisters?" He asks.

"Raya is at a friends, and Zoe is with dad."

"You got her to Jake okay?" I ask Taylor.

Taylor nods. "Yeah"

Nolan keeps his eyes on his plate and I'm trying to decide what to do. A part of me thinks I need to force them to work on homework together so they can go to bed with this weight off of their shoulders.

As the dinner goes on, I'm even more convinced that Taylor needs to help him with homework. My man is sad, and Nolan is devastated that he made him so sad. Once we clear the dishes, I point for Nolan to sit down.

"Tay, I have a million things to do before bed. Would you please help him?"

"Sure," he nods as he sits down next to Nolan, and Nolan stiffens.