The Saints of the Cross Read Online Free PDF

on the bed next to me.
    “Getting the tattoo done was the only way I could show him how much I love him.” I add with a sigh, “I realize it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do now, but it was all I had. He wouldn’t let me, you know, give myself to him, so—”
    “Hold it right there! You offered to do the dirty deed, and he didn’t want to?” She sounds skeptical. “He is straight, right? I mean, what guy says no to a hot chick? That’s just weird .”
    I shrug. “He’s just that way, Cora. He’s a gentleman.”
    “Yeah, right. He’s probably one of those guys who will only marry a virgin.” Her eyes widen. “That’s what it is! He wants to keep you pure so he can marry a virgin!”
    “Okay,” I respond, summoning all the patience I have left in my sleep-deprived body, “first of all, stop talking about marriage. That was not discussed.”
    Really, I just want her to shut up about marriage, so I can deny to myself that it’s what I want for us. I need to banish that thought from my mind completely—for now anyway.
    “Second of all,” I say, “I’m underage, so—”
    “Oh right, that makes more sense.” She slowly nods her head, as if it’s all finally coming together for her. “What are you going to do about Javier now that you have to move back to the States?”
    “What do you mean, what am I going to do with him?”
    “Well, let me spell it out for you: six-foot tall, black hair, black eyes, eight-pack abs, sharp cheekbones, and a killer smile. You must know that other girls are gonna be all over him.” She shrugs nonchalantly. “You don’t really think that a tattoo of some girl’s initial is going to keep them off him, do you?”
    I can’t say anything for a few minutes. Instead, I sit facing her, jaw slacked, eyes wide. She’s knocked the wind out of me with that question. No, I hadn’t thought about that. What am I going to do?
    “I don’t know what to say to that, Cora,” I finally answer with a little more bite in my voice than what I wanted to convey. I want her to think I’m completely confident in Javier; but the truth is, she’s right. Girls can’t help but find him irresistible, and with me out of the picture, two thousand miles away and probably out of mind, why couldn’t something, or someone , come between us? “I guess I’m just going to have to trust him,” I conclude, as if saying the words aloud would somehow make him trustworthy.
    “Wow,” she says, shaking her head and giving me a “you’re pathetic” face. She’s infamous for making people feel two-feet tall with that face.
    “That’s the best I can do.” I shrug, but I’m not feeling convinced —at all. “We’re going to talk often, and he said he’ll come visit me in DC as much as he can.”
    “You know what I think, Evie?”
    “Well, no; and I don’t think I really care what you think, Cora. But I’m pretty sure I’m going to hear it anyway.”
    “Well, you’re right about that. I think you should just break up with him. Just make a clean break.” She makes a ridiculous karate-chop motion with her hands for emphasis.
    “What? Why?” I am stunned. Where is she going with this absurdity?
    “So you don’t get hurt, Evie. I don’t want you to get hurt. I have a really bad feeling about all this, and you know we Filipinos are psychic, for the most part.”
    “I know you Filipinos are superstitious!” I say. Cora nods and shrugs with a you got me there expression. “Jesus Christ, Cora, you’re not making me feel any better about moving, and I am not breaking up with Javier. Nothing you say could ever make me think that breaking up is the answer to what is happening to us.” My voice cracks with the emotion I’m failing to hide. Dammit .
    “Okay, okay!” she sighs, swiping her hands over her face in a display of exasperation that I often see from her mother after she receives Cora’s grades. “Sorry. I guess I’ll just have to be your eyes and ears here in