The Advice
Cross POV
Fuck Zeke and his doctor’s appointment.
Cross checked his watch, and then the row of cars in the pick-up line of the Academy. He preferred driving home with Zeke, but that wasn’t going to happen today. Rick—the enforcer who regularly worked Cross’s last nerve—was nowhere to be found.
Dick.
Given all the shit Rick pulled on Cross just to make his life a living hell, he didn’t doubt that making him wait today was a purposeful move. Something else for Cross to add to the growing pile of why he hated that man.
It might have made the wait easier if Catherine was with Cross, but even she was doing something else today. With one of her friends, likely. Usually she had to wait a little while after school, too. He considered pulling out his phone and texting her. Maybe she would come and keep him company.
Instead, Michel Marcello sat down beside Cross on the rock wall. Catherine’s older brother looked over at him.
“Do you ever wear the school jacket?” he asked.
Cross scoffed. “No.”
“Why?”
“It’s fucking ugly.”
“It’s a blazer, man. It looks like a blazer.”
“Listen, if they wanted me to wear the jacket, they’d make it in leather. Black, preferably. With no school emblem on it.”
Michel nodded. “So, basically what you’re wearing right now.”
“Yep.”
“Is that the kind of bullshit you’re feeding my sister, too?”
Cross leaned back, and used his hands to support his weight. Eyeing the older teenager from the side, Cross considered how he wanted to answer that.
“Is this supposed to be one of those chats where you try to scare the hell out of me, or something?”
Michel smirked. “Would it work?”
The guy was a couple of years older than Cross. Maybe two inches taller—for now. Still, size had never mattered much to him, or made a difference when it came to breaking somebody’s face. They all went down the same.
“Nope,” Cross finally replied.
“Didn’t think so.”
“Why’s that?”
Michel shrugged. “That attitude of yours is pretty well known, is all.”
“Good.”
The more his reputation made the rounds, the less problems he would have. Cross considered that a win, really.
“Thought you might come see me, though,” Michel said.
“Why? I’m not interested in anything you’re selling, Michel.”
It was pretty well known around the Academy that Catherine’s brother could get anybody anything they needed by way of drugs. Before Michel, it had been the guy’s cousin, John.
“No, I guess you get all your shit supplied by Zeke, huh?”
Cross cocked a brow. “The only thing Zeke supplies me is the occasional phone, thanks. Assuming makes an ass out of you and me. Or haven’t you heard that before?”
Michel rolled his eyes. “Come on, Donati. I know the crowd you run with, and the things they do. I’ve seen you at the Academy parties. We all know what I’m there to do, and why everybody else shows up.”
Okay, now Cross was starting to get pissed off. He certainly wasn’t a saint, considering some of the stunts he pulled, but he didn’t like what Michel was implying, either.
“Listen, Michel,” Cross said, “I’ve got no need to hide or lie about the shit I do. So, if I say I didn’t do something, then I didn’t fucking do it. Got it?”
Michel stayed quiet for a long while. Cross took the chance to once again check the long line of cars in the pick-up lane. Rick was still nowhere to be seen.
“As long as you keep my little sister away from that kind of shit, too,” Michel said.
“You know, that kind of sounded threatening.”
Michel chuckled, and pushed off the wall to land to his feet. “Well, that’s because I meant for it to, Cross.”
“I look out for Catherine.”
“You better.”
“You do realize that I’m not at all scared of you, right?”
Michel turned to face Cross again, and all his seriousness was back in a blink. “It’s not really me that you’ve got to be afraid of, man. Remember that.”
“There a point to this?”
“Like I said, I know who you are, the shit you’ve been known to do, and the crowd you like to run with. I just want to make sure it’s clear that you know Catherine can’t get mixed up in any of that kind of stuff.”
“Right, because she’s such an angel.”
The halo was only held up by devil’s horns.
“Didn’t say she was, no,” Michel replied easily.
Cross waved a hand to brush this whole conversation off. “Thanks for the chat and all, but I’m not really interested in talking more to you now.”
Michel shook his head. “That attitude will get you nowhere with my father.”
“He anything like you?”
“Worse.”
Huh.
Cross had yet to meet Catherine’s father face-to-face, but he heard and knew enough about Dante Marcello to know the man was all business. He apparently didn’t have a lot of patience, either. Something that didn’t bode well for Cross, given his nature.
Michel looked to Cross. “You got any questions for me?”
“What, like advice?”
“I guess.”
“Not really.”
“Suit yourself,” Michel said.
Then, Cross had a thought.
“Wait,” he said.
Michel slowly turned back around, and lifted a single brow. “Yeah?”
“When is Catherine’s birthday, and what does she like?”