Page 203 of Always: A Legacy Novel

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Catherine shook her head, and flicked her hand at him. “Just back off, all right? I need to breathe, Cross.”

She headed for the bathroom.

He let her go without a word.

It was only later, when he figured her buzz wore off, and she was tired of stewing in her own anger, that she finally reached for him again. In bed, soft and naked, lips on his skin, raking lines down his back, and apologizing all the while.

He knew that was bad.

He saw that spiral coming all over again.

Drink.

Rage.

Fight.

Fuck.

Bolt.

Jesus, he didn’t want to do that again.

Cross didn’t bother to think on it too hard, then, though. Not when he was fucking her in their bed, surrounded by them, and he had a hold of her. She couldn’t fall if he held her.

It was three in the morning when his phone rang, and he was still wide awake. Cross grabbed the phone, and put it to his ear, not even bothering to check the ID.

“Donati here,” he mumbled, rubbing a hand down his face.

“You got time for a run?” Theo asked.

Cross stared up at the bedroom ceiling. “What’s the details?”

“Shipment’s already here. It’s all boat for the most part this time, though. It’s heading to a shitty little port over to Kenya, then it’s driving until you hit the river again to take it into Congo. I need somebody good with routes on the boat making a plan for when it hits the shore. Thirty-k for you if you get it into port with no pickup, and another twenty when you hit the drop in Congo. You up for it, or what?”

“How many guns?”

“Four-hundred.”

Shit.

“You know that run is worth more than that, Theo.”

“Take it or leave it, Cross.”

Cross looked to the side, and found Catherine watching him. Apparently, she hadn’t been sleeping, either. She needed a break from him; he needed a break from her. He wanted to kill that spiral of them falling back into old habits before it even got started.

This could do that.

“I’ll be in Chicago tomorrow,” Cross said into the phone.

“See you, then.”

Cross hung up the phone.

Catherine pulled him into her again.