Crash continues to stare down at Luca’s leg, looking deeply skeptical, then over to Annie. “Aren’t you a vet?”
She straightens, offended. “We’re both medically trained. Why don’t I break your face and fix you right up?”
“Wait,” he says, entirely unfazed, “and Em actually took time off work?” Crash looks over at me, frowning. I register that this is the least credible part of the story and scowl at him for being right.
“Of course I did.”
“?‘Of course’?” he repeats, laughing dryly. Crash stands to press the back of his hand to Luca’s forehead. “What, are you dying or something?” He laughs again but it lands with a thud. You could hear a pin drop. He looks at each of us in turn. “Okay.” He sits back in the chair. “Why didn’t anyone call me about his leg? All you said was he was sick.” He returns his focus to Luca. “Why are you being so quiet? And why is everyone being so weird?”
Annie and I lock eyes, and I feel the decision solidify inside me. I promised to do better and that means no more lies.
Dammit.
“Let’s sit down,” I suggest, and Annie reaches for my arm.
“Are you crazy?” she hisses.
“We have to tell him,” I say. “Ihaveto. Besides, he knows too much already.”
“Or we could kill him,” she counters, and Crash cackles behind us.
“She’s a little scary,” he tells Luca. “It’s sort of hot.”
“I’m going to pretend you’re kidding,” I say to her.
“Try me,” she says, moving to the other chair while I take up the spot beside Luca on the sofa.
“Okay,” I continue, “before I start, you need to swear on your shirtless life that you won’t breathe a word of this to anyone.”
Crash bends his arm and brings the side of his straightened right hand to his temple. He’s momentarily distracted by the flexing of his own biceps but finally blinks back over to me. “Scout’s honor.”
“That’s a salute, dumbass,” Annie tells him.
“I’m serious. You can’t tell your mom, your fuck buddies, or even your cat,” I say. “Do you understand me?”
Crash’s brows pull low, and he hesitates before nodding. “Sure, yeah, whatever. What the fuck, Em?”
Annie and Luca watch me with keen interest while I take a deep breath and put the story together in my head. “On Friday night, I was late getting home—”
Crash barks out a laugh, saying, “Yeah, no shit,” before turning to Luca, who stares blankly back at him before shrugging. Crash’s concerned attention lingers on him for a beat before he looks back to me. I have to admit, this stings.
But it’s not unfair.
“Right, well, Luca was out for a run, and I was parked, waiting forhim. We were going to go the beach. He started to cross the street, and someone hit him.”
“Wait, for real?”
“He was really hurt and was bleeding out.”
“Hebledout,” Annie corrects.
Crash stands up. “What?”
I nod. “I know.”
He points to Luca’s leg. “That? No way that’s fromFriday.”
“Just listen to me, okay?”
