Page 216 of Always: A Legacy Novel

Cross tipped his head to the side on the pillow, seeing clearer, green eyes watching him in that way of hers. Her color was better, her voice was stronger, and she had smiled that morning. She still wasn’t eating, though.

“For what, babe?” he asked.

“This.”

Cross reached out and pulled her into him, tucking her into his embrace, hiding her face into his neck, and keeping her safe.

He was always keeping her safe.

From day one.

“I didn’t want you to leave, I was getting bad, and I knew it was going to get worse,” he heard her say. “I should have told you not to leave.”

“Would it have helped?”

“Yes.”

“For how long, though?” he asked.

Catherine exhaled shakily. “I don’t know.”

That was the problem.

“I love you, Catherine.”

“I don’t know why.”

“Because I’m yours.”

“I’ll get her to call you when she gets in from classes,” Cross said into the phone.

“Why the hell didn’t she call last night?” Dante demanded.

“We went out.”

Lies.

“You both missed church, too.”

“Work,” Cross said.

Lies.

“Jesus. Just get her to call me or her mother,” Dante said, sighing.

“I will.”

More lies.

He lied to everyone. So did she. He lied to protect her. She lied because she could.

It was all bad.

Cross hung up the phone.

Catherine stared at him from her perch on the edge of the pool table, bathed in morning sunlight from the windows. She was sober. She was eating. She was alive.

She still wouldn’t call.