Page 18 of Always: A Legacy Novel

Mostly.

“With one ear, and only what you want to hear.”

“I follow the rules.”

Mostly.

Calisto pursed his lips, hiding a scowl. “What scant rules you have, son.”

“I don’t know what else you want me to do,” Cross said.

“Stop worrying your mother,” Calisto replied. “That would be a great start.”

“Hugh deserved to get punched in the mouth. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“The school felt differently. So much so that you’re suspended for three days, and benched for your first two games.”

Cross made a dismissive noise. “He still deserved it.”

“Why did he deserve it, then? Tell me that.”

“He was bothering a girl. He didn’t listen when she told him to back off. She said no, and he kept on. There’s a half a dozen girls at school that got way worse than this girl got, so I did her a favor by stopping it when I did. Seriously, his surgeon father will pay to have his broken teeth fixed before the second week of school even starts. It’s not a big deal.”

Calisto chuckled under his breath. “Well, then …”

“I don’t randomly go around breaking faces just to break faces.”

“That you don’t.”

“So why is this an issue?” Cross asked.

“Because your mother and I didn’t know the rest of the story,” Calisto replied, “though to be fair, I don’t think you told the school the other bit, either.”

“Doesn’t matter. The girl didn’t do anything wrong except be a girl that Hugh noticed.”

“Make these next few years easier on us, Cross. I’m not asking for a miracle here, just that you be … more careful. I’m not prepared, nor do I have the patience, for a battle of the wills with you until you turn eighteen. I let you have your freedom. I let you do what you want to save me a headache, but you have to give me something back.”

“Like what?”

“Like being careful,” Calisto repeated. “I don’t know, but get smarter or something about your shit. Your mother frets, and you know how she gets. Stop worrying her, I can’t take the state she gets in about your nonsense.”

“Again, it’s—”

“Yeah, yeah. Not nonsense. Just do what I said. Got it?”

Cross meh’ed under his breath.

“I mean,” Calisto continued, “unless you want to have a feud with your mother. It won’t be me the next time, it’ll be her. So either clean your shit up, get smarter about it all, or deal with whatever it is she will do.”

He stiffened on the bench.

Calisto laughed. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound fun at all, does it?”

Cross didn’t reply.

His step-father didn’t need him to, apparently.

“Also, your mother is in the library. Make an effort to apologize for today and mean it, Cross.”