Free Crash: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance by Sophie Sawyer Page B

beginner and my stuff isn’t very good,” I argued.
     
    “You’re making excuses,” he pointed out. “I’m coming to take you to lunch, and that’s final. What time do you normally eat?”
     
    “Twelve thirty,” I answered reluctantly.
     
    “Great, I’ll pick you up and take you wherever you want to go,” he said. “See you then.”
     
    He hung up before I could object, and I started to think maybe it would be good for me to hang out with other guys. I mean, I couldn’t have Luke anyway, so maybe taking my mind off him would do me some good.
     
    The next day, Chad was waiting for me in the parking lot after class. He pulled up in his yellow convertible Corvette and opened the door for me.
     
    “Got your sketchbook?” he asked me.
     
    “No, I forgot it in my locker,” I lied.
     
    “No worries, I can look at it another time,” he said. “I’ve got mine. So where would you like to eat?”
     
    “How about Sloane’s?” I asked.
     
    “Fine with me,” he said, starting the engine.
     
    Sloane’s was the one place I figured I’d never run into anyone I knew. It was a tiny little restaurant on the outskirts of town that hardly anyone ever went to. They happened to have killer BLTs, but I had to wonder how they stayed in business with so few customers.
     
    At the restaurant, I chose a booth in the back. The last thing I wanted was for word to get around that I was seeing Chad, because it totally wasn’t like that. I just wanted a distraction from Luke.
     
    Chad had been trying to get me to go out with him for two years, ever since he moved out here from New York. He was cute, I guess, but he just never interested me. I hated leading him on, but I was feeling desperate to shake this infatuation with Luke.
     
    I slid into the booth, and Chad pushed himself in beside me. I started to object, but he pulled out his sketchbook and started showing me some of his drawings. I kind of felt awkward asking him to move.
     
    “Can I get you guys something to drink?”
     
    The waitress stared down at us with a stupid grin on her face like it was so cute that we were sitting together.
     
    “We’re not together,” I blurted out.
     
    “Excuse me?” the waitress asked.
     
    “I was just saying we’re not dating or anything,” I told her. I don’t even know why I felt it was so important to clarify this to a complete stranger.
     
    “Oh, okay,” she said. “Um. Can I get you a drink?”
     
    “Coke,” Chad said.
     
    “Coke,” I parroted.
     
    “Coming up.”
     
    “Are you feeling alright?” Chad asked after she’d left the table.
     
    “Yeah, why?”
     
    “That was just… weird. I think you kind of freaked her out,” Chad said.
     
    “I guess,” I shrugged. “She was just looking at us all starry-eyed like we were a couple, and I thought I should let her know we weren’t. Aren’t.”
     
    “What does it matter?” he asked.
     
    This, I couldn’t answer. I didn’t even fully realize it myself at the time, but in retrospect I realize I didn’t want word to get around to Luke that I was out with Chad. It wasn’t like Luke and I were together, or that there was even any hope of it, but for some reason I just felt the need to keep it quiet.
     
    I had a BLT, and Chad had a burger. I ate quickly, but Chad seemed to take forever to finish his food. I was beyond ready to go. He drove me back to campus, and when we got there, he insisted on walking me to my second class.
     
    Just as we were nearing the classroom, Chad decided to throw his arm around my shoulders. And who should happen to be waiting for me outside my class but Luke, whose face contorted into fury at the sight. I shrugged Chad’s arm off, but it was too late. Luke flew at Chad and knocked him to the ground, climbing on top of him and punching him repeatedly in the face. I started to scream, and two professors broke up the fight.
     
    “Alright, both of you to campus security,” said one of the professors.