Page 165 of Unruly

Zeke’s hand landed on Cross’s shoulder, and squeezed. Catherine could plainly see that Zeke was uncomfortable with the scene, and likely wanted to bolt as fast as he could out of the brownstone. He did not do well with angry children.

She figured life would settle that all out for him in time. Karma was good that way.

“You good?” Zeke asked quietly.

Catherine continued to try to soothe her daughter—failing miserably—while she listened to the men’s conversation down the hall.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Remember, you have to—”

“Stay low, keep my head down, don’t cause any problems, and make sure the attention stays away from us for a while. Don’t worry, I know.”

“Plus, sit down with Andino and explain you botched his gun run again.”

Cross scowled. “Yeah.”

“And Guzzi, too, because you know they probably had money already in the pot.”

“Yeah.”

Zeke nodded. “Should be fun.”

Right.

Fun.

“We’re good here,” Cross said.

Cross slapped his friend’s cheek gently, then cupped Zeke’s neck and drew him closer until the two were grinning at one another.

“Thanks for saving my ass again,” Cross told Zeke.

Zeke laughed. “I guess I owed you.”

The shouting picked up down the hall. Cece still hadn’t noticed her father was perfectly fine, and right there. Cross met Catherine’s gaze again, and she hoped he could see every little thing she was feeling in that moment. She wanted to both hug him and strangle him.

“All right, head out,” Cross told Zeke.

One last nod from Zeke, and he headed back out the front door without as much as a look over his shoulder.

“Daddy gones!”

Okay, that one damn near busted out her eardrums.

“Cecelia Catherine Donati. You stop that right now.”

Cross tried to keep his tone stern, but his words still came out raspy. Worry filled Catherine all over again as she looked her husband over. Wearing clothes that weren’t his, and exhaustion weighing heavily in his features, her heart plummeted. He had probably caught his ass some kind of pneumonia out in the woods.

He was home now, though.

They could deal with the rest.

Cece tensed up on the floor like someone had tossed a bucket of ice water over her. Catherine let out a loud sigh that felt loaded with relief as Cece rolled over. Her daughter’s face was a tear-stained mess. Fear and sadness stared back at Catherine as Cece looked between her mother and her father like she didn’t believe what she was seeing.

She blinked a couple times.

A few more tears fell.