Besides, a sport like that wouldn't be masculine enough for the son of Forrest Fucking Cross.
Did I mention Judge Cross is a judgy prick? He wouldn't have allowed Cass to do musical theatre if he was around at the time. Lucky for Cass he wasn't. He would have stomped on his whole soul until it was nothing more than a shadow. Forrest would have broken Cass. And I would have broken Forrest.
Instead, I let myself be broken. Tried to be the wall between my younger brother and our father.
He must have seen that on my face because he said, "I'm only going to ask you to do one little thing. In return, I'll agree to stay away from Cassius."
I frowned. "Forever?"
"Forever," he agreed.
"You promise?" I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him, but I knew he didn't break a promise. If I could rid my brother of our father for the rest of his life, it'd be worth it for one little favor.
He held out his hand for me to shake. I looked at it like it was a poisonous snake about to rear up and bite me.
I met him halfway, clasping his hand for a quick shake.
"Fine, I'll do your little favor, if you agree to stay away from me as well."
"Fine," he said without argument.
Of course, that was an easy promise for him to make. Whatever he wanted, he wanted it more than he wanted a relationship with his sons.
On some level, that hurt. On another, if I never saw him again, it'd be too soon.
CHAPTER 6
HARLOW
Cass hadn't stopped pacing from one side of the apartment to the other. He glanced over at me.
"Are you sure that's what he said? Judge Forrest Cross is Zeus?"
"That was what he said." I hated the way he looked blindsided. Not by me withholding the information from him, but by the fact Hypnos claimed his father was Zeus.
I had to thank whatever deities existed that Cass stayed in the kitchen last night. If he saw Forrest sitting there, in my restaurant, everything would have gone to hell.
If Forrest saw him, he might be dead right now.
"There's still a chance Hypnos was lying," I pointed out. "He might have pointed fingers at him for some other reason. Petty vengeance, maybe?" People had done less to get back at someone for any number of reasons.
Cass stopped pacing and placed his hands on the back of a chair, leaning against it and exhaling slowly.
"It makes too much sense," he said slowly. "Why my father was always away. Why he wasn't interested in anything my brothers and I did. He was too busy preying on innocent peoplelike your sister." He wiped a tear off his cheek. "If I had any idea,"
I hopped up and went to place my hands on his shoulders, resting my head on the back of his neck.
"How could you have known? You were a kid. What happened to her wasn't your fault. It was his. His and all of his associates."
Cass swallowed audibly. "Granger Fairfield was one of his associates," he whispered. "He was friends with the man who abused his own son. How could he do that and not…" He shook his head, his hair flopping back and forth.
"I don't know," I said. "It's possible he didn't know."
Honestly, I hoped that was the case, because if anyone did that to my son, I'd rip them apart, starting with their balls. No one who let that fly should call themselves a father. If he had…
I tried to remember if Forrest had ever eaten my special meatballs. He could have. I didn't recall. He might have been eating one of his friends. If men like that had friends.
Mostly they surrounded themselves with other people as hideous as they were. People who also deserved to be turned into meatballs.
