The Market
Catherine POV
Catherine’s gaze shifted between her father’s Mercedes waiting to leave from the drop-off line, and Cross sitting on his friend’s car. Dante would expect his daughter to go right into the school’s entrance considering the bell was about to signal the start of classes. She had other plans for the day that didn’t include sitting in classroom after classroom.
Plans her dad definitely wouldn’t like.
Finally, her father’s Mercedes got an opening to leave the growing line up of cars. Soon, her father was out of sight entirely. Catherine checked across the lot to see where her older brother, Michel, had gone to. She caught sight of Michel’s back just as he headed through the entrance doors of the upper Academy.
All safe, she thought.
Michel probably wouldn’t have ratted her out, though. He was good like that—she just wasn’t interested in hearing one of his lectures. Like he was a freaking angel or something that never did anything wrong.
Catherine ignored the call of one of her friends, and her cousin, as she headed across the parking lot. At the sight of her coming his way, Cross pushed off the hood of Zeke’s car, and landed to his feet with wide smile. He was already reaching for her outstretched hand to take by the time she got to him.
She still wasn’t sure what they were. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Dating or not. Just friends. Something. Nothing.
It had only been a month since that day at the beach when she kissed him, so for now, Catherine figured it didn’t really matter. She liked Cross, and hanging out with him. He kept the idiots away from her, and made the transition into the new school easier. She didn’t care what he and she were at the moment.
They could get that all sorted later.
Right?
“Ready to have some fun?” Cross asked.
“Still didn’t say what we were doing.”
Zeke’s head popped out of the driver’s window. “How does a movie and food in Hell’s Kitchen sound?”
Catherine looked to Cross. “The city?”
He shrugged. “We’ll be back in lots of time. Don’t worry about that. No one will even know you skipped out on classes.”
Oh, she didn’t doubt that for a minute. It was just that Catherine was not supposed to go into the city without an enforcer to watch her. Not to mention, she had never even gone to the city without being accompanied by someone in her family.
Cross must have seen the hesitance warring in Catherine’s eyes. “We don’t have to go, Catherine.”
Don’t be stupid. People skip school all the damn time. It’s the city. What’s going to happen to you in a freaking city?
“We’re going,” she told him.
Cross took her bag with a laugh, and tossed it into the back of Zeke’s car. Cross climbed into the front while Catherine slid into the backseat alone. They had just pulled out of the school’s parking lot when the bell finally rang behind them.
“Are we going to pick up—what’s her name … Amanda?” Catherine asked.
Zeke grunted something Catherine couldn’t understand, and then grumbled more under his breath. The sound alone made her cock an eyebrow. Apparently, something had happened there, and she missed out on it.
“They’re broken up again,” Cross said when Catherine looked to him for an explanation. “No Amanda today, but maybe next time.”
“Not gonna be a fucking next time, either,” Zeke said sharply. “I am done with her shit. Drives me crazy.”
Cross nodded, and scoffed. “Right, man. Like you two don’t do this shit every other week, then? We’re playing games now, I guess.”
Catherine managed to hide her giggle by slapping a palm over her mouth. Cross always did that kind of stuff to people—all people. Teachers, friends, and whoever else stepped into his path. He liked to call them out when they gave him the chance. She thought people might learn their lesson after the first couple of times.
Zeke was proof they did not learn.
“You know what,” Zeke said to Cross, “how about you just shut up.”
Cross flipped Zeke the middle finger, but didn’t say a word otherwise.
Zeke glanced in the rearview mirror at Catherine. “Do you have any place that you want to visit in the Kitchen since that’s where we’re heading?”
“Me?”
“I’m looking at you, aren’t I?”
“Be nice,” Cross warned.
He added a punch to Zeke’s shoulder to make his point. Zeke barely reacted at all to the hit.
“Yeah, you,” Zeke said, still looking at Catherine. “Anywhere you want to go, or what?”
Catherine had to think about it. She had only been to Hell’s Kitchen a couple of times before. Usually, her time in the city—when she went—was spent in upper Manhattan, on Fifth Avenue, or inside one of her family’s upscale restaurants. She had gotten to spend the day in Hell’s Kitchen once with her aunt, Kim. One place stood out the most in her memory.
“Could we go to The Annex?”
Cross looked back at her. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, the market, you know. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Maybe because he might think it’s a little low-key for your tastes,” Zeke suggested.
Catherine frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean? Like I’m too spoiled or something?”
“Yeah—”
Cross punched Zeke again. A lot harder the second time, and it shut his friend up instantly.
Zeke glared. “Do that again, Cross.”
Cross ignored his friend, and turned back to Catherine. “Yeah, we can go to The Annex.”
She settled into the backseat. “Okay.”
“Where’s he going?” Catherine asked when Zeke left the table.
The older teenager headed out of the diner without a look back. His phone had chimed with a call or something, but he hadn’t even checked it before leaving the table.
“Amanda,” Cross said before taking a bite of pizza.
“He didn’t even look at his phone. How do you know that?”
“The ringtone—he uses that one for her calls.”
“Oh.”
“You gonna eat, or …?”
Catherine laughed, and reached for the fork next to her plate. Just the strange look on Cross’s face was enough to make her hesitate.
“What?” she asked.
“You’re not seriously going to use that, are you?”
“The fork?”
“Yeah,” he said.
Catherine was so confused that it wasn’t even funny. Yet, there Cross sat looking at her like she was some kind of strange creature, and serious as could be.
“Well, I was going to use it,” she said, “but not if you keep staring at me like that.”
He continued chewing on his bite of pizza, and looking at her all the while. Catherine looked away, and then back at him. Still staring.
“Stop it, Cross.”
With a laugh, he set his pizza down, and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Sorry. It’s just … nobody eats pizza with a fork, Catherine.”
“Liar. Lots of people do.”
“Name two.”
“Me,” she said. “My mom.”
“Name two more.”
“My brother and dad.”
Cross’s brow furrowed. “Really?”
Catherine shrugged. “Ma’s weird about people making a mess.”
“Huh.”
“Yep.”
Cross nodded at her plate. “Well, your mom isn’t here now, so no forks.”
“Don’t tell me how to eat my food, Cross.”
“Jesus, Catherine, why don’t you just pick up that slice of pizza and enjoy it with your hands and mouth like God intended for it to be enjoyed?”
“What, like you don’t think I can or something?”
He shrugged, but said nothing.
Catherine took that as a challenge. She picked up the slice of pizza on her plate, and bit into it with a sly smile. Grease and cheese spread over her fingertips, and made a damn mess of her hands. She did her best to ignore it, though.
All the while, Cross’s smirk grew to almost smug proportions. Catherine finished her bite, set the rest of the slice down on the plate, and grabbed a napkin. A napkin Cross already had waiting for her, and handed over with a laugh. She cleaned all the grease from her fingers and mouth that she could before he gave her a second napkin.
“I know what you did—tricking me into eating with my hands, I mean.”
Cross winked. “Had to mess with you. Use the fork, Catherine. My mom does, too.”
Catherine rolled her eyes, and grabbed the fork. “Jerk.”
“Am not.”
“Kind of,” she replied, doing her best to ignore his gaze.
Catherine heard Cross’s pizza hit the plate. Then, he caught her wrist, and tugged gently. She just turned in the seat to face him, and he kissed her.
Soft and sweet, and never more than she was willing to give. He always left the option of more up to her. It was both thrilling and new, yet familiar and comforting at the same time. A mixture of too many things that made her heart clench, and her stomach do flips.
All too soon, Cross was pulling away. Catherine had the strongest urge to pull him back in for another kiss almost instantly. She didn’t, but that was only because Zeke was finally making his way back to the table.
Zeke dropped into the chair with a grin. “Ready to go?”
Catherine weaved through the crowd at The Annex. Tables and tents had been set up for the many vendors.
Crafts and spices.
Jewelry and more.
Some of it was garbage, but some of it was interesting. Which was exactly why Catherine had wanted to come.
The first and only time she had been to The Annex, Catherine had found some of the coolest and most interesting pieces of jewelry. Some of them homemade, and others, just old and different. Strange and curious pieces that were a perfect fit for Catherine’s odd styles and tastes. Like the conch shell bracelet Cross had made for her that she still wore every single day.
She was hoping to find something cool again today.
Catherine didn’t know where Zeke had gone to. The guy disappeared shortly after they arrived. He did tell them what time they would have to leave, and where to meet him when they were ready to go.
Cross stayed close to Catherine as they navigated the growing crowd. Their fingers stayed woven together while the melting pot of people and vendors practically swallowed them whole. People watching was just as interesting to Catherine as finding one of her treasures.
“Do you know what you’re looking for?” Cross asked.
Catherine eyed a table full of jarred jams. The bright red ones looked sweet. The dark-eyed woman sitting behind the jams smiled at her.
“Not until I find it,” Catherine said.
Cross laughed. “This could take a while, then.”
“Yep.”
“Let me guess … that’s the fun part.”
Catherine grinned widely. “Yep.”
“I mean, as long as you’re having fun, Catherine.”
She squeezed his fingers woven with her own. “I always have fun with you, Cross.”
He smirked, and pulled her in closer to his side. For a while, the two simply stayed like that and watched the crowd of people moving around The Annex.
“All right,” Cross finally said, tugging Catherine into the crowd, “let’s find you something amazing, babe.”
He already had found something amazing for her.
Him.
He just didn’t know it.