Free Crash by Vanessa Waltz Page A

parents and tell them where I’m going.”
    Will said nothing. My eyes kept wandering up and down his thick biceps and the powerful thighs pressing against his jeans. I could even make out the faint crease between his pecs—and then I looked up and saw him staring at me.
    I slammed the phone to the side of my face, hoping that it would hide my blush. The phone rang. Don’t pick up, don’t pick up, don’t pick up.
    “Hello?”
    “Hi, Mom.” I braced myself.
    “Natalie.”
    The stiffness in her voice meant that she was still very pissed off.
    “Mom,” I said, my voice wavering. “I’m just calling to tell you that I’ll be in Europe for the next few weeks.”
    “What? With who?”
    My mouth opened and closed. What should I say? I didn’t want to tell her the truth. My eyes watered as I thought of what she’d say. “I’m going with my boyfriend,” I blurted.
    Will whipped his head around. My face was probably melting off my skull at this point.
    “You have a boyfriend?”
    My mind was galloping ahead. “I’ve been dating him for a while. You’ve never met him. I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you both liked Ben so much—”
    “What’s his name? What does he do? Who—”
    I grimaced. “His name is William. He’s Luke’s cousin.”
    “The rich guy?” Mom said in a much more excited voice. “When are we going to meet him?”
    I would have laughed at her excitement if I couldn’t feel Will’s eyes burning into my skull. “Mom, I have to go.”
    “It’s not true! She’s lying!” Will suddenly shouted.
    I snarled at him. “Shut up!”
    “Who is that?”
    “NobodyIhavetogo. Goodbye!”
    “Okay, sweetie! Love you!” I could hear the confusion in my mom’s voice from Will’s shouting.
    I hung up the phone and buried my face into my hands. Why the hell did I do that?
    “You’re such a little liar,” he tutted in a low voice that made my forehead sear with heat. “I won’t play along with your little charade. I’m not Luke.”
    I looked at him hesitantly, but he didn’t look very angry. “I’m really sorry, Will. I didn’t really plan on doing that—I just didn’t feel like telling her the truth and disappointing them.”
    He throttled the engine and I winced as the car lurched forward. We were already speeding past Oakland, merging into the lanes that would take us across the Bay Bridge. “Well, we’ll probably be photographed so that’ll corroborate your lie. Your ex might not be pleased, though.”
    Shit. I hadn’t thought of that. “I don’t care.”
    “You care about using me to make yourself look better in your parent’s eyes. Nice.”
    He clearly wasn’t impressed with what I did.
    “Listen,” I began defensively. “I don’t judge you for all the things you do—don’t judge me. I’m just trying to make them happy.”
    I hated the pity on his face. “Make them happy?” he said in an incredulous voice. “Natalie, Natalie, Natalie.”
    My frown deepened with every repetition of my name.
    “You’ll never be able to live up to their standards. You’ll never be able to make them happy. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can move on with your life. I’m probably the only one out of my brothers who doesn’t suck up to my dad.”
    “How’s that working out for you?”
    His fingers whitened on the steering wheel.
    That’s what I thought.
    The rest of the car ride was pretty silent. I kept waiting for him to slip some sort of sexual innuendo into the conversation, but instead he seemed keen on pissing me off.
    “Oh, you’ll have to take all the trains and buses that the laypeople use by yourself. You have to do a write-up of how to get to all these places.”
    I didn’t expect that. “I’ll have to go by myself?”
    He smirked. “Pardinis don’t take public transport.”
    Whatever. Rolling my eyes at the smugness, I turned my head so I wouldn’t have to look at his irritating face.
    “By the way, I got you a seat in coach. It’s a