This Time Around

Chapter One

Ryan

When she walks in, I’m surprised. No, I’m shocked. I never thought I’d see the day that she walked back into this bar, but here she is. Her curly brown hair frames her round face, and her blazing green eyes are narrowed in anger. Even angry, she is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever been in the presence of. My gaze can’t help but wander down her shapely body. She’s stacked in all the right places, and I should know, I’ve tasted every inch of her body many times over. She steps in front of me and purses her lips.

“You had no right, Ryan,” she seethes, her voice low and shaking.

“I had every right,” I reply calmly, trying to pretend this woman has no effect on me. When in truth, she owns me, body and soul.

Only she doesn’t know it.

“I’m not yours anymore,” she says, her voice losing its edge. She sounds resigned, tired. I don’t like it one bit. I prefer her anger.

“You will always be mine,” I say with a shrug.

“Ryan, I’m serious. You can’t do this to me,” she says with a shake of her head.

I lean in a little closer so I can smell her familiar scent. “Tell him to leave you alone then, Taiya.”

“So you get to fuck anything with a skirt, but a good man can’t even look my way?” she asks, gritting her teeth.

“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”

I wasn’t expecting the slap. But I should have. Taiya always did have a fiery temper on her.

“Fuck you, Ryan. Stay out of my life,” she spits out before storming off.

I watch her walk away from me.

My wife.

I should be used to it by now, but it still hurts.

It always hurts.

*****

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

And this is why I’m moving out.

A moan pierces the air, and I cringe, not wanting to hear Summer’s cries of pleasure. Summer is like a sister to me, and to hear her making sounds like that… with my twin brother, let’s just say there are a million places I’d rather be right now. I put my iPod on, blocking out their sex sounds. Summer and Reid didn’t want me to move out, but I know for a fact that they need their privacy. So we compromised. I’m moving to another apartment. It’s on the floor below, but on the opposite side of the building. That way, I can still see them every day, but we each get our own space and privacy. As unlikely as it is, I got the apartment with Taiya in mind. The image of her brings up mixed emotions.

Love.

Desire.

Want.

Pain.

I try to ignore the last one, but whenever Taiya comes to mind, the lingering emotion is always present. She is the only woman in the world with the power to hurt me, and that’s exactly what she did.

Even if it wasn’t her fault, or her intention, she did it nonetheless. I shove my face into my pillow, trying to block out how it felt seeing her again after all this time.

A year.

I hadn’t laid eyes on my own damn wife in a year. I’m a fuck up. I know it; she knows it. But that doesn’t make me stop wanting her. I don’t think anything could make me stop wanting and loving Taiya. Maybe that’s my penance for my past mistakes. I can actually hear Reid talking in my head, telling me not to think like that, nothing was my fault. Although I can hear the words, it doesn’t mean they penetrate, or that I actually believe them. Nothing he says could make me believe them. I try to bury those thoughts, letting the music lull me to sleep.

*****

“I love it, Ryan!” Summer states, looking around. She is wearing a huge smile, her brown hair falling like a curtain around her face. I watch as she sits down on my new leather couch and shifts to get comfortable.

“Make yourself at home,” I tease, shaking my head at her as she puts her bare feet up. She’s wearing shorts and a ratty looking T-shirt, which looks like an old one of Reid’s. Or it could even be one of mine.

She shrugs at me. “My home, yours, what’s the difference?” she says flippantly, reaching for the remote and putting on the TV. She speaks the truth. My home is her home, and vice versa. Her phone beeps and I know it must be Reid. He is so whipped it’s not even funny. I give him shit about it sometimes, but we all know I’m thrilled for the two of them. Reid couldn’t have dreamed up a better woman, and I’m happy that he found her.

Summer changes the channel and then starts singing along to some ridiculous song.

“When’s Reid done?” I ask, sitting on the chair next to her.

“He usually works out for an hour after work,” she says.

“I know,” I reply. I know my twin’s habits better than my own.

“Should be home in about two hours then,” she answers.