Protect me

The meeting

    Asher silenced his phone and stuffed it in his pocket. He gazed down at Taylor and sighed. He had no other choice but to take her with him. It won't be easy but he has to make it to the meeting.

   The clock sitting on the side table said it was 11:00 am, meaning he had thirty minutes with Lucas before he had to leave. He turned to the broken boy and spoke. "Okay, so I have about thirty minutes until I have to leave for my meeting. Do you think you will be okay to stay home alone?"

  "I'll be fine don't worry" he dismissed in a emotionless voice.

"If you need anything please call me. I won't be gone too long. Maybe about 2 hours."Asher explained, running his fingers through his wavey brown hair.

  Lucas nodded, leaning forward into his arms resting on his kneecaps.

Asher and Lucas preceded to talk for the whole 30mins. Mostly about the death of Lucas's girlfriend. Asher helped Lucas make of list of things he needed to do just to help him stay on track while dealing with all these harsh emotions. Including talking to his girlfriend's parents, and his own parents.

Asher planned to do this with Lucas again tomorrow, hoping to talk more about his raw emotions during this whole ordeal.

Asher then dismissed Lucas and went to pick up Taylor from the floor. She has moved from the beige carpet to behind a chair, sitting in a submissive position still sucking her pacifier. Asher couldn't tell if she was awake or not, so he got down to her level and rubbed her knee.

"Princess you awake?"

Taylor lifted her teary-eyed face from her knees, not making eye contact with Asher.

"Honey, what's wrong??" He gently confronted standing up and setting her on his hip.

She remained silent, just buried her face into the dark gray material of Asher's hoodie. The cushiony fabric and the strong masculine smell from his cologne made her feel secure.

Asher decided not to pry further, already planning on having some private therapy time with her today as well.

He walked into Taylor's nursery and set her on the rocking chair where he packed her diaper bag with her ducky, diapers, wipes, extra pacifier, snack, a sippy cup of juice, a blanket, and anything he could think of that Taylor would need.

"Wha dat?" Taylor asked with the obvious lisp of her 'wubby'.

"Just packing a bag for when we're gone."

"We're we gwo?"

"I have a meeting with our high school's principal, and your gonna come with me."

  Taylor's eyes widened and the pacifier dropped out of her mouth. "NWO!"

  Asher slung the black diaper bag over his shoulder and made eye contact with the terrified girl. "Yes, sweetheart your gonna have to come with me. Don't worry it won't be too long. I just need to discuss some things as well as pick up some makeup homework."

  "Nwo wan" She growled, squirming out of the cushioned rocking chair and making a run for it. 

  Asher jumped into action quickly grabbing Taylor from under the armpits and setting her on his hip. She continued to fight, squirming and whining while Asher retrieved her pacifier from the floor. He made his way into the kitchen where he grabbed his keys and washed Taylos paci, and with his last goodbyes to Lucas, he left the apartment.

  He managed to make it to the car with a limited fight, but getting Taylor into the car seat was a whole other story.

  Asher lowered Taylor into the car seat but she instantly stiffened and clung to Asher's neck.