Page 84 of Always: A Legacy Novel

“Dial back the smartass,” Wolf said with a heavy sigh, “and do it fast, Cross.”

“Whatever.” Cross set his empty plate on the side table, and dropped down onto the leather couch. Both men stared at him as though he had grown a second head. “What?”

“Where were you last night?” Wolf asked.

“A party.”

“Where?”

“In the city.”

“How did you get there, Cross?”

Ah.

Well, shit.

“Took the Rover,” Cross admitted.

“You don’t have your license!” Calisto snarled.

Cross lifted a single shoulder. “It was there, I can drive, and I wanted to do something. I’ve been in this damn house all week.”

“That is not a justification for you to steal—”

“Can’t steal something that’s already mine,” Cross interrupted.

Calisto blew out a hard breath, and glared at the far wall. “You could have called any enforcer in the Donati family, and they would have driven you anywhere. Instead, just because your mother and I were out last night, and you could, you took the Rover. Tell me how right I am, Cross, I dare you.”

“Well, do you want me to or not?”

Because that kind of sounded like he shouldn’t.

“Sincere question,” Calisto mumbled against the palm of his hand, “do you even hear how fucking rude you are when you speak?”

“Sometimes,” Cross said. “Mostly, I’m just being honest, and I can’t help how that sounds.”

Calisto nodded. “All right, Cross, the Rover is gone.”

“Gone how?”

“Locked away in storage.” Then, Calisto barked out a laugh. “And, no, not in the damn garage. So don’t go breaking into there or causing some kind of destruction to get it out. It’s across the city somewhere you don’t need to be. And you won’t find a single person in this family who will tell you where it is. So keep your keys because you’ll only get it back when you finish your goddamn driving hours with your instructor, and not a day before. Is that understood?”

Apparently, he was going to have to do the stupid hours whether he wanted to or not.

“Why would you do that, Cross?” Calisto asked.

“I told you why.”

“Just because you wanted something to do.”

“Well, yeah.”

His step-father rolled his eyes skyward. “You’re killing me, Cross. You’re literally going to kill me someday. You’re going to give me a stroke or something, I know it.”

“That seems a bit dramatic.”

“No, no it’s really not.” Calisto scrubbed his hand over his three-day stubble. “You only went to the party and back?”