Prologue
The pavement came up to greet Sophia like an old friend. Even as she fell toward it, she laughed. An accompaniment of cackles and shrieks sounded off behind her, her two friends lurching forward to try and save her from the peril. She barely registered the gripping hands on her arms, just like she barely registered the biting pain of the pavement as it slammed against her palms and knees.
Grace was the first to get purchase on Sophia and hoist her up. Hannah, the source of the cackling, was doubled over on the sidewalk with laughter, but was still able to lend her strength to the cause.
“Guys!” Grace scolded, holding Sophia’s wavering form still. “We’re going to lose The Pizza Race!” Sophia put one determined foot in front of the other and kept walking. “I blame Hannah,” she said simply.
“Don’t blame me!” Hannah shrieked, still giggling. “It was those guys at the bar. Harry and friends.”
“Gary!” corrected Sophia.
“Terry,” Grace said, rolling her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, Sophia caught a small smile on Grace’s lips.
The three continued their journey on the sidewalk, Sophia yanked along by Grace’s firm grip, Hannah flitting beside them. The night was crisp, but not cold. Sophia dragged her fingers along the wall of the squat red-bricked buildings as they passed, a love note to her city. Darcy could hide in her musty house by the ocean all she wanted, but this was where Sophia belonged—in the heart of the world.
Well, maybe not the heart of it. Berkeley was a big enough city that she felt a part of the action, but not so big that she felt lost. And the weather? She cringed at the thought of Pine Bay’s relentless rain and blasting fog. No thanks. Give Sophia a sun-drenched beach followed by a lazy summer night and she was as happy as that Gary dude, or whatever his name was, when she’d told him Grace was single.
“Sophia,” Hannah whined. “If we lose again they said they’ll stop delivering to us.”
Sophia opened her mouth to pitch a retort at the petite blonde, now nearly a whole block ahead of them, but Grace gave her a pointed look and she shut her trap. She sped up her pace, even as her feet seemed determined not to agree with what her mind was urging.
“Shouldn’t have worn these shoes,” Sophia muttered. “You’re sure my toes aren’t broken?”
“Your toes are fine, girl,” Grace said, snickering. “It’s your liver that you should be worried about.”
Sophia glared down at the cherry-red pumps anyway, if only to help her find footing on the sidewalk. Each step sent a slice of pain right up the top of her foot, but she focused on keeping moving all the same. They were nearly there.
Heel, toe. Heel, toe. Heel, toe.
Sophia looked back up in front of her, to where Hannah was skipping down the street. Her wavy hair caught the light of the streetlamps, practically glowing as seen through Sophia’s drink-addled eyes. Hannah was a natural brunette, like Sophia, but had been blonde as long as Sophia had known her. She looked good that way.
“I see our building!” declared Hannah, flouncing back to her slower comrades and grabbing Sophia’s other arm.
“Oh shit!” Grace patted Sophia on the butt. “That’s the delivery guy. We gotta hurry it up, woman.”
Sophia was not going to be the one who lost them the pizza race. She shook her friends off and strode forward confidently toward the approaching set of headlights that stopped on the side of the road just outside their building. The sign mounted on the top glowed, illuminating the Utopia Pizza sign like a beacon.
The Pizza Race was something the three roommates had been playing since they first moved in together two months ago at the start of term. The walk home from their favourite bar, The Husky Owl, was about twenty minutes. Utopia Pizza normally took about twenty minutes to deliver. They would call upon leaving the bar and try to get home before their pizza arrived. So far, they’d only lost twice—but those two times had cost them. The first time, the pizza delivery person had waited ten minutes outside their apartment before they showed up. The second time had only been five, but Utopia’s management hadn’t been happy.
Hannah was the only one of them not wearing heels, and she ran forward like a marathon sprinter. Grace and Sophia trailed behind, laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.
The guy who emerged from the car shook his head at the herd of drunk girls heading towards him. They finally reached him, panting, and Sophia reached out for support from Grace again as her momentary rush of adrenaline began to ebb.
“Sloppy, guys,” Jack chided. He broke out into a big smile, all white teeth and dimples. “I got stuck in every red light and I still made it here before you.”
Just because management didn’t like the pizza race, didn’t mean everyone was so against it. Especially since winning earned them a big tip.
“We were held up,” Sophia said, grinning. She patted Grace on the arm. “Quite literally.”
He rolled his eyes and pulled their two pizzas out of the thermal bag. “One of these days I’m going to get you that third strike.”
“But then you won’t get to see us anymore,” said Hannah, winking. She grabbed the boxes from his outstretched hands and sashayed up the steps of their building. She had a thing for Jack when she was drunk, but pretended not to the rest of the time. Hannah, for all her sweetness, was a bit of a snob.
“I guess that leaves one of you two to pay,” said Jack, redirecting his attention to Sophia and Grace.
Sophia, being the only one with two free hands, rummaged in her clutch for two twenties and stuck them in Jack’s palm. “Keep the change, Snack Attack.”
He grimaced at the nickname but said nothing about it. She’d been calling him that since he’d first introduced himself. It seemed fitting; after all, he was the supplier of the drunk snacks.
“Later.” Jack waved and headed back to the driver’s side of his car. Grace and Sophia turned and stumbled up the steps. Hannah was already in the elevator, holding the door open with one hand while doing a balancing act with their prize in the other.
“You guys are so slow.”
Grace and Sophia glared.
They got off at the fourth floor and tried to make as little noise as possible on the way to their apartment. Once through the door, though, the shenanigans began.
Grace abandoned Sophia at the kitchen table and slipped her phone onto the dock by the TV in the adjoined living room. Hannah joined Sophia at the table with the pizza just as the music started to play, and before long the three of them were up to their elbows in cheese.
“This is amazing,” groaned Sophia, practically choking down her pizza. “They don’t make it like this in Pine Bay.”
“Mmm,” Grace commented with a wry grin. “Talk about a slice.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “You sure you don’t want to visit your sister soon? Hannah and I could come.”
Sophia let out a sharp laugh. “So you can ogle my sister’s boyfriend? I don’t think so.”
“You can’t blame a girl for trying,” said Grace, shrugging. She flicked her long, ebony hair over her shoulder dramatically.
The three burst into giggles.
Darcy and Gabriel had visited when the girls first moved in together, and both Hannah and Grace had been smitten on sight. Sophia, still wary of how fast her sister’s relationship was moving, had viewed it as a test. Neither of her friends would ever touch Gabriel, but their interest had been anything but discreet. And, considering both of them were considerable beauties themselves, Sophia had kept a close watch of Gabriel during the visit. But the stoic stranger hadn’t so much as given Hannah’s lithe figure or Grace’s dark beauty a second look. He’d only had eyes for Darcy.
Which was good for him because Sophia would have kicked his ass. Or at least tried to. She wondered if her friends would be so ga-ga over Gabriel if they knew he was a trained killer who sometimes turned into a shark. Even if he did look disturbingly like Michelangelo’s statue of David, Gabriel was no poorly-outfitted shepherd boy.
“I am absolutely pooped,” Hannah declared some time later. She slid back her chair a few inches for emphasis. “I’m heading to bed.”
“Me too,” said Sophia. The pizza and the race had sobered Sophia up a little, but now she felt a heavy sleepiness descend upon her.
Grace nodded, still chewing on the crust of her last slice. She grabbed the boxes from the table and shoved them into their overstuffed fridge, giving the door a good few taps to ensure it stayed closed.
Sophia rose to her feet, which screamed back at her. She was still wearing the damned shoes. Oh well, she was close to her room now. May as well wait to take them off until she was inside.
“Night my loves,” said Sophia sleepily from the hallway.
Hannah’s room was directly off of the living room, and she was already halfway inside when she replied, “Sleep tight.”
Grace was only a few steps behind Sophia and gave her a pat on the back before turning to go in her own room.
Sophia slipped inside her dark bedroom and closed the door, leaning against it as she did a violent and jerky can-can to relieve her feet of their trappings. The first came off and thumped onto the floor by her feet. The second, however, slipped off on an upswing and went flying across the room. Sophia grimaced, expecting a loud clatter as the shoe collided with the wall.
Except it didn’t.