The Saints of the Cross Read Online Free PDF Page A

this,” she says in a sing-song voice.
    “Cora, just keep your voice down, okay?”
    “Fine.” She folds her arms across her chest.
    I pull my sweatpants down on my right hip and carefully remove the white bandage from my painfully swollen skin, grimacing with each tug at the tape. Cora gasps, eyes wide, and smacks her right hand over her mouth. Her gaze flicks from my hip, to my face, then back to my hip. After a few moments of silence, she lowers her hand from her mouth.
    “Cora, I—”
    “Holy Mary Mother of God! What on e arth were you thinking?” Her voice is three octaves above a scream, and her eyes are wide with disbelief.
    “Sssh!” I plead, putting a finger to her mouth. “Cora, please, let me explain.”
    “Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod! Your dad is gonna kill you!” she says, panicking. “Then when my dad finds out, he’s gonna kill me for having such a skank for a friend!”
    “Cora!” I shake her by the shoulders, rather roughly, because I’m beyond exasperated with her. “You’re going to hyperventilate.”
    She has passed out from anxiety attacks twice before, once in the middle of a Spanish oral exam—not a pretty sight. She had a goose egg on her forehead for a month from smacking her head on the desk when she face-planted. Plus, she had to go to the hospital for a head CT scan, because she was knocked out for a few minutes and they feared a concussion.
    “Oh, sorry, no offense, Evie, but I’m just sayin’,” she stammers, calming down for a moment. “I mean, are you insane ? You do realize it’s permanent, right?”
    I turn and look in the mirror hanging over her dresser. The strawberry-sized, red heart encircling the black Old English letter J stands out against my pale skin like a knotted-up bruise, halfway between my hip and my belly button. I’m definitely not going to be able to wear a bikini around my family for the rest of the summer. I turn and sit down on the bed, a flash of pain shooting up my side as the waistband of my pants rubs against the still-raw tattoo.
    “Where did you even get that tat done? You’re not eighteen yet.”
    “There’s no minimum age law here,” I shrug. “Besides, we went to Javier’s friend’s parlor. He had a matching one done.”
    “He got a tattoo of a J on a heart?” By the dumbfounded look on her face, I realize she’s serious.
    “Um, no. An E , Cora.” I sigh, with a roll of my eyes. “You know, E for Evie. And it’s over his heart, on his chest.”
    “Well, how should I know?” She throws her hands up in the air. They land back down on her hips as she takes her familiar authoritative stance—weight on the right hip, left foot extended out. “How are you gonna explain that to Nash?”
    “I’m not going to explain anything to him,” I say and give her a warning look. “And neither are you, Coralea.”
    “Please, Evie, like I would ever rat you out to your dad,” she says with an offended frown.
    “I would hope not.”
    “What did you do when you went to his condo? Something must’ve happened to make you think getting his initial stamped permanently on your body was a good idea.”
    “Something happened before we went to the condo.” I reach into my pants pocket and pull out the diamond ring I’ve been hiding from my family. I place it back on my right ring finger and hold it up to Cora’s face. Her round jaw drops immediately, eyes bugging out of her tiny face.
    “Oh my God! You’re engaged!” She slaps her hand over her mouth as disbelief crosses her face. She drops her hand and a curious expression takes over her mocha colored features. “Wait, you’re engaged? You’re too young!”
    “No, it’s not an engagement ring. It’s a promise ring.”
    “I’ve never seen a two-carat promise ring before,” she says, tugging my hand up for a closer inspection. “Yep, that’s an engagement ring.”
    “Cora, he did not ask me to marry him.” I jerk my hand away from her.
    “Okay, whatever.” She plops down