Page 174 of Always: A Legacy Novel

“You’re not going to be dealing at school, right?”

Catherine rolled her eyes upward. “Cross—”

“It’s dangerous, Catty. It’s stupid, too. You get caught, and you’re fucked.”

“I’m aware.”

He did not like the fact she was still working with her cousins, or the places she went to or the things she sometimes did to supply the demand that was all around her. She still liked it, though, and it still gave her that sense of empowerment and control like nothing else.

“I’m not going to be dealing at school,” Catherine said. “I wasn’t doing it last year, remember?”

“No, you dealt after school, and off the property. Problem is, you also had your locker searched twice because you’ve got a flock of jealous cunts that don’t like the attention you get, Catherine, and rat on you every chance they get.”

He had a point.

“Which is why I’m not doing that at all this year,” she explained.

“Who is going to be dealing for the school, then?”

Catherine didn’t know. “I mean, they know where to find me, and when I will show up with whatever for them. If they want something in between, they’re probably catching a habit that I don’t need to feed anyway, right?”

“Just be careful.”

“I am, Cross.”

The rest of the forty-five minute drive to the Academy was mostly silent. Catherine fiddled with the radio for a while, and then looked over the gold-tinted gun Cross kept stashed in his dashboard. Cross kept one eye on her, and one on the road.

It was only when he pulled into the drop-off for the school that he finally gave her all of his attention. She liked having all of him a lot better.

“One year left,” he told her.

Catherine grinned. “That’s a little surreal, isn’t it?”

“Shit, my last year was over before I knew what happened.”

She hoped hers was the same.

“Cross?”

Dark eyes fell on her, making her smile. “Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

Catherine climbed over the middle section, and kissed Cross hard enough to make her lips go numb. She pulled away, only to have him follow just so that he could kiss her again. Her laughter filled the car, while he just flashed a sinful smile at her.

“Thank you for the summer,” she said.

Cross didn’t ask what she meant.

She supposed he didn’t need to.

Beaches. Conch shells. Leather. Abandoned roads.

Him. Her. Them.

Over and over and over again.