Page 204 of Always: A Legacy Novel

Don’t go.

Catherine didn’t move, despite the words her mind screamed silently.

Please don’t go.

She sat on the edge of the bed, while Cross strolled out of the walk-in closet with a pile of clothes in his arms. He dumped the items uncaringly into the duffle bag. His hand reached out to her, and his thumb stroked her cheekbone.

Stay with me.

Catherine turned her head into Cross’s palm, and kissed his skin.

“You good?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she lied.

She was dying.

Inside, she was blackening, rotting, and dead.

She hadn’t been good for a while.

She was better with Cross.

I need you here.

“This one is going to be a while,” he said, referring to his trip.

Catherine nodded, but stayed silent.

Cross headed for his side of the bed, and she felt the loss of his hand on her before it was even gone. He pulled out that gold-tinted Eagle he loved so much from under his pillow, checked the clip, and slid it back in with a snap, before putting it back.

“You know where that is and how to use it, if you need it, babe.”

“Thought you said it would break my wrist?”

“A broken wrist is worth a living Catherine,” he murmured, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.

Then, he was heading back into the walk-in closet again.

Don’t go.

It’s black in my mind without you.

I’m not okay.

Please don’t go …

Catherine didn’t—couldn’t—speak up. Her screaming thoughts echoed through a catacomb, but stuck to her tongue like tar. She couldn’t get them out.

Cross was checking his phone as he came out of the closet once more, saying, “Shit, my flight got rescheduled. It’s a half hour earlier, now. I’ve got to go.”

Don’t …

“You’re going to call me, right?” Catherine asked.

“As much as I can.”

You help me to breathe.