Page 13 of Always: A Legacy Novel

Bloody mouth.

All the while, he smiled at her.

And she smiled back.

That was when she fell in love with Cross Donati.

Even if she hadn’t known it then.

“He got suspended on the first day, Cal. The first day!”

Cross dumped his football gear in the corner of the hall, grabbed his leather jacket, and headed down the hallway. He was hoping to bypass the kitchen where his mother was ranting about his three-day suspension from school, but he should have known better.

Fuck all got past Emma Donati.

Especially when she was in a fit.

“Cross Nazio Donati, you get in here right now!”

“Ooooh,” his eleven year old sister, Camilla, taunted on her way past him in the hallway, “someone’s in trouble. Again.”

“Shut up, Cam.”

“You shut up.”

“Good comeback,” he muttered.

Camilla smiled sweetly over her shoulder. “I’m not the one in trouble.”

True.

Cross stood in the kitchen entryway, and refused to go in further. He folded his arms over his chest. “What, Ma?”

“Cross,” his step-father warned, “tamper down the attitude.”

Just the tone of Calisto’s voice was enough for Cross to know he was walking on some seriously thin lines. He readjusted his attitude, or tried.

“It’s not that big of a deal, Ma,” Cross said. “It’s three days—the first week is all for introductions anyway. Don’t have a fit.”

Calisto cringed, glanced up at the ceiling, and shook his head.

Like he knew what was coming next.

His mother’s gaze narrowed in on him from across the room, and Cross figured out his mistake. It was too late to fix it.

“Don’t have a fit?” Emma asked, strangely calm.

“It’s not like the asshole didn’t—”

“Language, Cross.”

“He is an asshole. That’s why I broke his stupid mouth.”

That, and because the pretty girl with the green eyes told Hugh no. Hugh should have listened. Cross only thought to go over and drag Hugh’s stupid ass back onto the field because he was wasting Cross’s valuable practice time, but then he happened to hear the last bit of the conversation. Next thing he knew, he broke Hugh’s mouth.

And the pretty girl smiled.

Cross figured that made his bloody, bruised knuckles worth it.