If I lowered this menu right now and punched him in the face, he probably wouldn't blink. He'd have me arrested and hauled away. Knowing him, he'd do it all without looking like I got to him.
I won't lie, I was tempted to test that theory out. I decided it wasn't worth it. I wouldn't hurt my hand on this prick.
"I was surprised you responded to my message," he said.
I was surprised he'd admit that. Pride might as well have been his middle name.
Judge Forrest Pride Cross. Personally, Judge ForrestAssholeCross sounded more appropriate to me, but whatever. He could have two nicknames. I didn't give a shit about that either.
I lowered my menu and put it aside.
"You offered to pay for lunch. I figured I'd take you up on it." I leaned over to pour myself a glass of water from the jug on the side of the table. "How often does someone get a free lunch?"
He looked at me like he thought I was naive.
Yeah, we all knew the expression 'there's no such thing as a free lunch', even if that lunch came from Forrest Cross.
Especiallyif it came from him.
"That wasn't why I asked you to come here," he said.
"That's unfortunate. That's why I'm here," I replied.
Two could play the unruffled game. Whatever he wanted from me, he wasn't going to get it.
"Julius," he sighed. "You know I never wanted things to end up this way."
I paused with my glass halfway to my lips. "Do I?" I raised an eyebrow and took a sip.
"I know things have been difficult over the years," he said evenly. He could have been talking about the recent fluctuations in the stock market. Yeah, I keep up with shit like that. Surprising, I know.
"We haven't always seen eye to eye." His hand was firm around his glass, while it sounded like he was blaming me. As if he hadn't created the living hell situation to begin with. If he was good at anything, it was placing blame on others. It usually worked too. He walked off smelling like roses, and everyone else smelled like dog shit.
"We've never seen eye to eye," I reminded him.
"Things weren't that bad," he said, effectively trying to erase years of him being a controlling prick.
"Things were that bad, and then some,Forrest," I said, emphasizing his first name.
I wanted to see him flinch. Of course, he didn't.
He sighed like he was having a conversation with a toddler, lacking the basic skills for logic.
"You're over-exaggerating, Julius," he said coolly. "It's easy to look back and think they were bad times. There were good times too. You remember those, don't you?"
"You were the one who brought up the bad times." I was the one who was about to throw the rest of my water in his face and walk out.
He sighed. "I know I haven't always been there for you."
I slammed my glass down on the table hard enough for some of it to splash out onto my hand.
"You wereneverthere for me. Not when I needed you. You were barely around when Augustus…" I sat back and shook my head. "He deserved better. So did Cassius."
“Son…” he started.
"You don't get to call me that," I snapped. "You walked out and left Mom, remember?"
She was better off without him. She hadn't seen that when he left. She was devastated. Cass, Auggie and I, we'd changed our names to her maiden name. None of us wanted anything to do with the sperm donor who called himself our father. The man whose whole life centered around judging other people.
