Blowback

by Stephanie Summers

  She raised her eyebrow. Dropping her hand to the table, she said, “That place where I was madly in love with you and spent months wondering what I’d done to deserve you dropping me like I meant nothing at all.”

  “Evie, I really am sorry,” I said. The pain I caused her was written all over her face, but the thing she didn’t realize is that I felt that same pain right along with her.

  “All I ever wanted was an apology and some sort of rational explanation from you, but I can’t stand to hear it now that you’re ready to deliver. Too much time has gone by,” she said, shaking her head. “It doesn’t matter anymore. We were kids who were never really meant to be together. We’re adults now. I’ve moved on.”

  “I get it. I’ll leave you alone,” I said, sliding around to the edge of the seat. Just as I was about to stand up, she spoke.

  “You don’t have to go.” Her face softened from the scowl she’d given me seconds before. “You might as well keep me company while I wait.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah… Stay. I don’t really want to sit here alone until they get here, especially if this is a bad area like you said, and we were friends before everything, right?”

  “We were,” I said as I scooted closer to her.

  “There’s no reason we can’t at least catch up.”

  “True… So what have you been up to besides running your own business? Married? Kids?”

  “No and no… How about you? Earlier, you said you weren’t married. I’m sure you can understand my surprise there, but what about kids?”

  “Nope.” I let her comment on my lack of marriage go. I couldn’t tell her the truth back then, and I couldn’t do it now either. “I turned out to be a loser, Evie. You should be glad you didn’t end up with me.”

  “Oh, don’t say that. I’m sure things aren’t all that bad.”

  “I’m pretty much just an errand boy for my father, and I look out for my sister. Nothing glamorous about that.”

  “How is Georgia?” she asked with a smile brimming on her face. “She was such a cutie.”

  “She’s doing pretty well. Does good in school. She’s a typical almost-teenager, I guess.”

  “Wow… It’s hard to think of her being so grown up. Do you still call her ‘chipmunk’?”

  “Yes,” I said, chuckling. “She doesn’t like it as much as she used to.”

  Just then, Evie reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. After looking at it for a second, she frowned and tapped at the screen before placing the phone on the table.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Sophie. She got caught up with something at work, and she can’t come until later tonight. She wants to go to a club now instead of dinner, which kind of sucks because I was hoping she’d be able to drive me home tonight since I have no car now. I haven’t even had a chance to tell her about all that.”

  “How far away do you live?” I held my breath in anticipation. I didn’t know if I wanted her to say she lived close or so far away I couldn’t go searching her out when she left.

  “I still live in the same house I did in high school.”

  That was the last thing I wanted to hear. I really didn’t need to know exactly where she lived and how to get to her, and now that I did, I didn’t know where that would lead.

  “Really? Your parents are there, too?”

  “No, they moved to Florida a couple of years ago. I moved in there instead of them selling it… I saw a few different hotels when I was walking here. I’ll just get a room and deal with getting home tomorrow.”

  “So… I guess that leaves just the two of us for now.” Oh, the possibilities.

  “Yeah. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want. I figured you were probably gonna leave when she got here anyway.”

  “It’s all good. I don’t mind staying.”

  An awkward silence settled over us. She alternated tapping her index and middle fingers on the table. A nervous habit of hers that I was happy to see hadn’t changed. It gave me hope that she was still the person I’d fallen in love with, and not the stranger she seemed to be.

  “So, Jet… do you drink?” she asked, finally breaking the silence. She grabbed the beverage menu from the table and flipped through the pages.

  “Uh, yeah,” I said with a smirk.

  My phone rang, interrupting the moment. I could tell by the ringtone that it was Georgia, and I couldn’t ignore it.

  “Sorry, I have to take this,” I said as she nodded at me. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Bub. I’m going over to Katie’s for the weekend.”

  “Does Niall know?”

  “Yeah, I told him. Not that he really cares either way,” she said, her voice tapering off. I wanted to tell her he wasn’t worth being upset over, but I knew it wouldn’t help.

  He really didn’t care, but I knew it would set him off if she didn’t tell him anyway. He was the only person I knew who actively looked for the smallest reasons to blow up, and since I wasn’t there at the moment, I preferred she play by his rules.

  “Okay, Chipmunk, listen up. You can go and have your little boy-talk fest with your friend, but if any little wankers even so much as look at you while you’re over there, I will show up, and I will take care of business.”

  “Shut up,” she exclaimed, giggling wildly. “You wouldn’t know if there were boys there anyway.”

  “You’d think that, but then you’d be wrong,” I said as I glanced at Evie. She was watching me just like she used to when she thought I didn’t notice her doing it. “I have eyes everywhere, and you better not forget it.”

  Georgia was a good kid, but I knew first hand just how skeezy teenaged boys could be. My only hope was to convince her I’d find out if she did anything she shouldn’t be doing.

  “Whatever. Bye,” she said and ended the call.

  “Sorry about that,” I said, jamming the phone into my pocket.

  “No problem,” she said.

  “So you were asking me if I drink, yes?”

  “Yeah. I think this day calls for an adult beverage or two. Might as well start now since I know Sophie will want to get some cocktails later. Do you want to share a pitcher of blackberry-peach sangria with me?”

  “Really?” I asked with a smirk. “You’re gonna pick the girliest drink on the menu?”

  “It’s fruity, and I like it,” she said. The smile on her face grew brighter as she giggled. I hadn’t realized how much I missed her laugh until I heard it again all these years later. “It’s a better deal than just ordering a glass or two, but I can’t drink a whole pitcher by myself.”

  Alcohol and possibly spending the rest of the evening with her? I liked the thought of that. If she’d asked me to drink with her a minute before, I probably would’ve declined, but one phone call from Georgia changed it all.

  CHAPTER 8 – EVIE

  “I’ll share with you, but I’m getting a real drink first,” he said. “Go ahead and order if the waitress comes back. I want this,” he said, pointing to a Philly cheesesteak on the menu.

  I nodded and watched him walk through the gathering crowd toward the bar. The restaurant had been nearly empty when we entered, but with it being a Friday evening, it quickly began to fill up. I drowned out the chatter going on around me as I sat there thinking about the events of the day, and how they’d led me to Jet Flanagan.

  I wanted to be bitter toward him, wanted to hate him. I wanted to question how I could have ever thought he was so special, so incredibly attractive with a personality to match. But the fact of the matter was, when he was right in front of me, all those things I wanted to do and feel dissipated. It was like no time had passed, and he hadn’t tossed me away for someone else.

  After I ordered our food and a pitcher of sangria, he came back with a glass of what appeared to be whiskey. He sat down and brought it to his lips, pulling the amber-colored liquid into his mouth. After swallowing, his tongue graced his lips for a split second before setting the drink
down. His eyes focused on me as he leaned forward.

  “I didn’t think it was possible, but you’re even more beautiful than you were in high school, darlin’.”

  It felt like someone had lit a match under my chin as his words poured over me.

  “You’re getting too close to that place I don’t want to go to again,” I said and took a sip of water.

  “What am I supposed to say to you, Evie? I don’t know a thing about you anymore, except that you apparently like fruity alcoholic beverages and you drive unreliable cars into bad neighborhoods.”

  “I haven’t really changed all that much.”

  “Neither have I, unfortunately,” he said, and then finished his drink in one quick swig. “Maybe if I had, we could’ve found ourselves in a whole different situation right now.”

  “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means if I hadn’t been such an asshat, maybe we’d be here under entirely different circumstances or somewhere else togeth—”

  The waitress interrupted our moment with much-needed alcohol. I poured myself a glass and took a quick drink. The fruity concoction washed over my tongue, satiating my growing thirst. We only managed to make small talk while we waited for our food, but it was no time at all before I felt myself begin to loosen up, courtesy of my beverage of choice.

  His lips looked warm and soft, just like I remembered them, and though his hair was a little shorter, it looked just as silky as it ever did. My skin flushed as I found myself fantasizing about him like I had all those years ago. I wanted his strong arms holding me close to his body. Needed to wrap my legs around his waist and cling to his shoulders as he kissed my neck. Craved for fiery passion to melt us into a pool of ecstasy.

  “Are you feeling okay?” he asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

  I nodded. “I’m just a little hot,” I said, fanning myself. “It’s stuffy in here.”

  “When is Sophie getting into town?”

  “Not for another couple of hours or so, I think.”

  “I’ve got some time if you want me to help you find a decent hotel instead of one of the shitholes around here.”

  The waitress returned with our food, and we ate in near silence. In a desperate attempt to break the awkwardness between us, I decided to ask the first thing that popped into my head after we’d both finished eating.

  “What’s so shitty about this area anyway? It didn’t look all that bad.”

  “It isn’t if you think drugs, thieves, and prostitutes are cool.”

  “Yeah, no, thanks. Not my scene.”

  He looked away from me, dragging his hand through his hair. When he looked back at me, there was something different about the way he looked at me. Something settled over his face, almost as if a wall had gone up between us, and it was only visible in his dusky eyes.

  “Let’s get you out of here then, shall we?” he asked as he stood and retrieved his wallet from his back pocket. He threw down two fifty-dollar bills on the table.

  “How much do I owe?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s the least I can do,” he said as the corner of his lip turned up.

  “Hm… I’m not sure one dinner makes up for stomping my heart to bits, but, sure, okay.”

  “I’m pretty sure I didn’t say it did.”

  “No, I guess you didn’t,” I said as he took my hand to help me out of the booth.

  The way his skin felt against mine was like a jolt straight to my weary soul, resuscitating the feelings I’d tried so hard to kill over the years. This was the same man who had thrown me away like I meant nothing for another woman he wasn’t even with anymore. At least if they were still together, I could’ve resigned myself to the fact that they were meant to be together and that my one true love was maybe still out there somewhere. How dare he flit into my life again and make me feel like no time had passed at all? Just as quickly as I’d taken his hand, I dropped it.

  Once we got outside, I pulled out my phone to look up a taxi service. I was putting an end to this right now.

  “You can use my helmet,” he said, turning to speak over his shoulder as he walked in front of me. “I ride without it sometimes anyway.”

  “That’s okay… I’m going to get a taxi,” I said and stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, determined not to take another step with him.

  “Evie… You don’t have to do that. I don’t mind helping you find a room.”

  “It’s fine. You’ve been drinking anyway. Maybe you should call for a ride, too.”

  “Please,” he said, mocking me. “That girly drink of yours was like drinking fruit punch. I only had one real drink, and it didn’t even give me a buzz.” Taking my hand again, he said, “Let me help you out.”

  That jolt struck me again, and as hard as I tried to stay strong, it was all for naught. I caved and hated myself for it, but the Evie of tomorrow could deal with the fallout. Evie of the present was just going to go with the flow and see where the current took her.

  The thick moisture in the air threatened to turn my hair into a frizzy mess. Maybe the helmet would keep my hair flat or maybe it would make my head sweat. Considering I had nothing at all with me to sort out the mess the humidity could cause, I was hoping for the former. Helmet hair had to be better than a frizz ball.

  I stood close enough to him to smell that he still used Irish Spring. I used to love that smell, but every time I encountered it in the years since, it reminded me of him, so I’d avoided it at all cost. I started to realize just how much I hadn’t gotten over him, feeling like a fool for being hung up on someone I hadn’t even seen since I was a teenager. It was no wonder I never found true happiness with anyone else. Maybe this would be our second chance at love. Maybe fate was trying to step in to correct the mistakes of the past. Or maybe I was going to get my heart broken again and my life destroyed.

  CHAPTER 9 – JET

  What the hell was I doing? And what did I expect the outcome to be? There was no way she’d ever trust me again, not after the shit I pulled on her. I zoned out for a second, waiting for her to finish a phone call she insisted she had to make before we left.

  “Love you,” I heard her say, yanking me back to reality. My mouth dropped open slightly as my eyes rose to her just in time to see her dragging her finger across the screen to end the call. A smile passed over her lips. Fuck. She’s got a boyfriend. She’s got love written all over her face.

  “Is it okay to carry my purse like this?” She took the strap to her red leather bag and slung it over her head so that the strap sat on her left shoulder and the bag hung near her right hip.

  “Yeah, that’ll work.”

  I swung my leg over the bike and sat down on the seat. She stood there looking at me in apprehension for a second before taking a step closer.

  “Haven’t you been on a motorcycle before?”

  “Um, well… No, not really.”

  “Not really? Either you have or you haven’t.”

  “I was on a dirt bike a couple of times with my ex-husband, but never anything like this.”

  Ex-husband. My jaw clenched, and I nearly bit my tongue to keep from asking her details that I probably didn’t want to know.

  Reaching back, I patted the seat behind me, inviting her to take her place. I didn’t watch her get on the back of my bike, but there was no mistaking her there. She settled into place, her thighs squeezing against my hips. My abs tightened as she gripped my sides. Placing my hands on hers, I pulled them around to the front of my body, placing them low on my torso and entirely too close to my cock.

  I didn’t care if she had a boyfriend or not or who she’d told she loved only a minute or so before. In that moment, the only two people who existed were the two of us, and in my heart and soul, she was mine again. Consequences be damned.

  We didn’t stop until I’d taken her about five miles away from where we’d started out. It was a much better part of the city with plenty of hotels to choose from. I turned onto a dea
d-end street lined with places she could get a room. Pulling up to the curb, I turned my head and asked her which one she wanted to go to. She chose a place called the Oak Inn, and I dropped her at the front door.

  “Thanks for giving me a lift and for dinner,” she said, smiling at me. “It was nice to catch up.”

  “No problem, darlin’, but you aren’t getting rid of me so easily. Go get checked in. I’ll wait for you here.”

  She rolled her eyes playfully and turned to enter the front lobby. I watched her perfect ass sway back and forth as she walked away. Couldn’t help myself from thinking about how fucking sweet it would be to see it completely naked with me pounding my cock into her. I had no doubt in my mind I’d be seeing it and the rest of her spectacular fucking body in all its glory soon enough.

  Like I said before. I didn’t care if she had a boyfriend or not. Just one more thing to add to the list of things that made me a bad person.

  My phone rang, interrupting the dirty thoughts about her I had running through my mind.

  Not a number I recognized, but then that wasn’t out of the norm for the people I kept company with. Most of us used burner phones and you never know when someone had picked up a new one.

  “Yeah?”

  “What the fuck is going on?” Flint, an employee of my father, asked. “Why haven’t you called me?”

  “Sorry, man… He was there with some kids, and I forgot to let you know.”

  “Bullshit, Jet. He’s been alone the whole time I’ve been here. I thought maybe you got your ass in hot water when I didn’t hear from you, and came to make sure you didn’t need some backup.”

  “They must have left after I did,” I said, trying hard to keep my cool while lying my ass off.

  “You want me to go ahead and get him?”

  “By yourself?”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time,” he said, no doubt alluding to the few times over the years that my head just wasn’t in it, and he relieved me of my duties.

  “This can’t blow back on me. It’ll be my balls if he thinks I just blew it off.”

  “I’ve got you this time, J. I’ll just tell him I saw him out, and it was too perfect not to grab him.”