Page 83 of Warrior's Cross

Blake frowned. “What were you going to say?”

Preston was silent as he met Blake’s eyes. “Mr. Cross has become quite reckless,” he finally said softly. “I believe sharing the news was the last of his concerns.”

Blake’s eyes went hard. “Reckless,” he stated. “Do you feel he’s... purposely endangering himself?”

Preston pursed his lips and shook his head. “No, sir,” he answered curtly. “Perhaps what I meant to say was he’s not exactly a master of his emotions like he once was. He tends to... throw cheeseburgers.”

“I see.” Blake relaxed a little, and he nodded. “All right. Thank you, Preston.”

“My pleasure, sir,” Preston offered with a little bow, and he turned on his heel and left the room.

Blake sat there thinking as he unwrapped his cheeseburger, and then got up to go find Julian. “Cross! Where’d you go?” he yelled out.

He found Julian sitting at the counter in the kitchen, shoulders slightly hunched as he ate his McNuggets. The man looked so odd eating out of a cardboard box that Blake had to stop and just stare at him for a moment.

When he forced himself to move again, Blake snagged two cold bottles of Coca-Cola out of a cooler and set one on thecounter in front of Julian. He waited several minutes, until it was clear Julian wasn’t going to say anything.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Jules?” he asked.

“What was there to tell?” Julian asked softly, looking up to meet Blake’s eyes.

“Well, how about, ‘Blake, I’m not seeing Cameron anymore, just so you know’,” Blake posed.

“I didn’t know the issue would become a problem,” Julian responded icily.

“It wasn’t.” Blake paused significantly. “Forme.”

Julian’s chin jerked slightly, and he moved almost explosively, slamming his hand down on the counter hard enough to rattle the boxes full of kitchen utensils sitting nearby. “What do you want me to say?” he demanded in a loud voice.

Blake was unperturbed by the rare outburst. “If you’d told me, I wouldn’t have asked him to help today,” he said flatly. “I didn’t even know anything was wrong until he told me. And who am I supposed to feel sorry for here, Jules? Did you finally give in and convince yourself he was better off without you?” he asked angrily.

The muscles of Julian’s jaw jumped as he gritted his teeth. “No. He did. Any other questions?”

Blake’s lips tightened, but he knew he’d pushed enough. Even Julian had his limit, and he’d obviously reached it very quickly. “No,” he responded quietly, shaking his head.

Julian continued to look at him unflinchingly, his eyes turning hard and as black as obsidian. It was obvious that he was getting angrier even as he tried to calm himself. “Today was hard for him?” he asked in a low voice.

“I believe so,” Blake answered, resting his elbows on the counter.

“He was... distressed. Wanted to ask about you, I could tell.”

Julian’s eyes unfocused slightly, and he looked away, tapping his finger against the granite countertop. “I thought I’d prefer hearing that answer,” he muttered. He stood and began moving toward a cooler where there were several beers waiting. “I was wrong,” he admitted without looking back at Blake.

Blake frowned. “You want him to be miserable? Or at least, as unhappy as you?”

Julian shook his head. “Iwantto want him to be miserable,” he clarified dejectedly. “I just can’t bring myself to do it.”

Blake would have laughed, but Julian was so obviously hurting he couldn’t find it in himself to see much humor in it. “What happened, Julian? You both seemed... happy.”

Julian fished a beer out of the cooler and let the lid fall shut, and then he straightened and turned to look at Blake, his eyes full of sadness. “I scared him,” he explained with a helpless shrug. “And he sent me away.”

Blake slumped a bit at the counter. “I’m sorry, Julian,” he said, knowing full well it wouldn’t help. “I really thought—”

“So did I,” Julian whispered as he popped the top off the beer and downed a long drink of it.

“You know, normal people use bottle openers,” Blake pointed out wryly as he looked at the bottle cap Julian had tossed on the counter.

“I have little use for normal people,” Julian responded coldly as he stared at the countertop, not seeing it.

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