Page 14 of Always: A Legacy Novel

“This is ridiculous,” Emma said, glaring at her husband. “He behaves this way at school because you let him do too much—get away with too much—outside of it.”

“That’s not true,” Calisto argued.

Cross leaned back on his heels and glanced down the hallway while his parents continued on with their argument. He could see the light from the backdoor from his spot just beyond the large staircase that led to the upper floors, and the library and office.

Ten seconds, maybe less, and he’d be gone.

He looked back to his parents.

“Look at his hands,” Emma said, “they’re bruised up and—”

“No worse than how they look after he beats the hell out of his punching bag without wrapping them up.”

“Cal, you’re justifying it again.”

“I am not. I’m just saying.”

“And he’s got a bruise on his mouth, too. How the hell is he supposed to show up to church on Sunday with a bruised mouth?”

“With a smile,” Cross said, “makes it stand out more, Ma.”

Both Calisto and Emma shot him warning looks without saying a word.

Cross just shrugged.

He did what he did.

It was over.

He wasn’t going to actually get grounded. He never got grounded. It did little to no good when he would just scale out of his bedroom window, down to the ground level, get on his quad, and head out onto the trails before his parents knew what was happening. Calisto threatened to take the bike keys away; Cross stole and hid them himself. His step-father threatened to have one of the enforcers lock the bike up; Cross filled the garage locks with insulation foam.

Cross was pretty sure Cal was three seconds away from laying a beating down on his ass for those stunts, but …

Worth it.

He got what he wanted.

Calisto stopped using grounding as a method of punishment for Cross after that. Cross didn’t want to be caged in. He talked more. He was better, when he was allowed to do what he wanted, with boundaries and rules on those things.

“Do you want another spell like last time?” Calisto asked, bringing Cross from his thoughts. “Because the last time I had this fight with the kid, he cost me eight grand to fix my garage, Emma. The fucking bastard who came here to fix it is probably still laughing at me.”

Still arguing.

“This is boring now,” Cross said, “and I’ve got things to do, so …”

Neither of them seemed to be paying attention.

Good enough for me.

Cross backed out of the kitchen entryway, and headed for the back of the house. He was outside, sliding on his leather jacket, and tugging his quad helmet down over his head just as he heard Calisto shout out for him. His quad was already parked at the backdoor where he had left it the night before. The Yamaha YFZ450R could get him from his property, to a friend’s four acres away, in less than a minute and a half.

“One hour, Cross, and you’re to be back here! Got it?”

A wave of his hand over his shoulder was the only answer he gave back.

He’d deal with it later.

Later always came.