Free Blowback by Stephanie Summers Page B

each other incessantly so we still felt like we were a part of the other’s every day life. Every time we got together, it was like no time had passed at all since the last time we’d seen each other.
    As I swung the door open, I was practically tackled by my blonde-haired, blue-eyed best friend. Her boobs slammed into me a full second before the rest of her did and almost knocked me to the ground. Seriously, those things were ginormous and could be classified as a couple of concealed weapons.
    Someone close to Sophie’s build but with short, inky black hair and bright green eyes followed her into the room. She was a smidge taller than Sophie, but not by much. I’d never met her, but she had a familiar face. Like one of those people you’d swear you’d seen a million times, but you’d never laid eyes on them before that you can remember.
    “Hi,” I said and held my hand out to her after I freed myself from Sophie’s embrace. “I’m Evie.”
    “I’m Alex,” she said and shook my hand. A mousy smile brightened her face. “I’ve heard so much about you, Evie. I feel like I’ve known you as long as Sophie has.”
    “She’s told me a lot about you, too.” I smiled warmly at her. The vibe coming from her was nothing but positive, and I looked forward to getting to know her better. I’d been concerned that, by some chance, we wouldn’t get along, but my fears seemed to be unfounded.
    They followed me into the room and sat down at the table near the window as I plopped myself on the bed.
    “Well, Sophie, my car finally died on me.”
    “About time. I knew it wasn’t long for this world,” she said as she rummaged through her purse and pulled out a brush. “Surprised it lasted this long.”
    “Are you staying in town tonight?” I asked.
    “Yeah,” she said, working the brush through her hair. “I’m not planning on being sober tonight. Maybe not tomorrow night either. We should make a weekend out of it.”
    “Can you take me to a rental car place sometime before you go home?”
    “Nonsense. I’ll just take you home. It’s not a big deal.”
    “I know, but I’ll need something to use for a few days until I get another car anyway. It’s just easier to go ahead and get one.”
    “Where’s your car now?”
    “At a garage. I junked it for a grand, and guess who owns the place? Big. Remember Big? He lived down from me for a while.”
    “Oh, yeah,” she said. “How’s he doing?”
    “Not bad. He’s a giant piece of man-meat now. Seriously, I didn’t think he could get any bigger, but he did. Rock solid now.”
    “Well, it sucks that your car died, but at least you got something out of it.”
    “That’s not the only thing I got for my troubles,” I said, smirking and glancing away from her.
    Sophie leaned forward, her mouth curling up into a grin. “Tell me what happened. Did you get it on with Big in his garage? Is that how you know he’s a hot piece of man-meat now? You got an up close and personal view?”
    “Not even close… but I did end up getting a nice meal out of the whole thing.”
    “That’s nice of Big, though I would rather hear the details of a fling, but dinner is good, too.”
    “Not Big.”
    “Then who?” she asked. I could tell by her tone that she was starting to get impatient.
    “Jet Flanagan, of all people.”
    “What the actual fuck?” she asked. Her voice rose to almost a screech as she dropped the brush onto the table. “You can’t be serious.”
    “Who’s Jet Flanagan?” Alex asked.
    “Only the love of Evie’s life who dumped her to go get engaged to someone else. Please tell me you kicked him in the balls after he paid for dinner.”
    “I didn’t. I wanted to, but I didn’t,” I said. The butterflies started fluttering again as I thought of him and the way his gorgeous eyes looked at me just like he used to. I tried to remind myself of the bad deeds he’d committed against me, but they seemed to fade away by the second.
    “Oh, God.