Free Lag (The Boys of RDA Book 2) by Megan Matthews Page B

the top, Aspen waves to a couple sitting on a large red tartan blanket with white sacks in front of them. The one on the right, a blonde with a short pixie cut, waves back at us and then turns and nudges the brunette beside her.
    Once we reach the blanket, Aspen sits with a flourish. “Amanda,” her hand reaches out to indicate the blue-eyed blonde, “and Marissa. Guys, this is Simone. Trey brought her to the comic shop this morning.”
    The brunette, Marissa, sucks in a breath at the statement. Her wide eyes turn to me. “Trey Good?”
    “Um, yeah. Why?” I sit next to Aspen on the blanket a little uneasy with her unflinching stare.
    I don’t miss Aspen’s head as it flips toward Marissa’s and the “shut up” look passes between them. “Trey is just such an asshole and you look so sweet.” Marissa apparently missed the warning.
    “Marissa!” Amanda hands her a white bag. “Aspen said he’s getting better. She only wants to kick him in the balls once or twice a week.”
    Aspen grabs a bag from the pile and passes it to me before taking one for herself. “Oh, God. Trey and I had a rough start, but he’s growing on me. How did you two meet?”
    I laugh before I bring myself to answer, “Well, I kind of elbowed him in the balls on vacation.”
    Aspen chokes on air and I use the time to peek in at my surprise brunch. Inside the white bag is a Styrofoam container and black spork wrapped with a napkin. As Marissa pats Aspen on the back, all three girls stare at me in silence while I open the container to one of the most wonderful sights I’ve ever cast my eyes on.
    Two or maybe three pieces of thick toast take up the space. A cinnamon smell hits my nose and I breathe in deeper. A banana — split down the middle — lays on top and the entire thing is covered in syrup and something else sweet. A quick taste confirms it's caramel and I might die a little. I’ve always dreamed of eating sugar for breakfast.
    “You’re my new favorite person in the entire world. Tell us the whole story of this elbow job,” Aspen prods.
    The story isn’t as exciting as they seem to think it will be, but I do my best to relay the first day Trey and I met. I fill in the rest of our short time together and, as if we’ve been best friends forever, they ask more questions to pry the gritty details from me. I try to keep it simple and glaze over the good stuff, but Marissa has a natural ability to see right through my weak answers.
    “So Trey was sweet? It’s hard to process it. Sometimes he’ll do something that might be nice, but he does it in such a jerky way. I can't picture just sweet.”
    “Me either,” Amanda concurs with Aspen’s statement. “So are you two dating now?”
    Dating? Are we dating? I don’t know, but I don’t think so. Right? “Um, no. We haven’t spent any real time together and he’s been different here. Intense.”
    “Yeah, intense. That’s a good way to describe Trey.” Aspen hasn’t taken her eyes from me, but she closes her mouth.
    I’ve finished my sugary bread and put the plastic fork and Styrofoam container back in the bag.
    Marissa does the same with hers. “Isn’t the Tahiti French toast spectacular? We’ve been eating it for months. We need to branch out, but it's so good and I’m so lazy. Why give up a good thing?”
    “I suggest we find somewhere indoors this winter when it gets cold. It’s already too cold if you ask me.” Aspen wraps her hands into the sleeves of her pink parka.
    “Hmm,” Marissa mulls over her comments in thought. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re here, Simone. In case you decide you want to do more than elbow Trey in the balls, I’ll help you move the body. All of us are only a phone call away.”
    Aspen laughs and rolls her eyes at the spunky brunette. “Marissa, don’t scare her away. She’ll think you’re serious.”
    “I am serious.” She turns back to me and in the most no joke manner says, “True friends will always help move the