This Time Around(50)
“At least I fixed it,” he mutters under his breath, looking down.
“I didn’t say that to make you feel bad. I was just trying to get you to understand.”
“I know,” he says, placing his hand on my back. He’s about to say something else when more customers walk up to the bar, wanting drinks. “To be continued later.”
“Okay,” I say, sighing and looking over at Scott who has his eyes on me, a frown marring his expression. Great, he probably thinks Ryan’s controlling me and I’m some weak woman who lets him walk all over me. I stock up the fridge, and tidy everything up as much as I can. I’m collecting empty bottles from one of the tables when Scott walks up to me and pulls something off my back.
“What’s that?” I ask, looking at the piece of paper in his hand. He raises an eyebrow and hands it over to me. The paper reads, ‘property of Ryan’ and he’s stuck it onto my back with a piece of sticky tape, like one would a ‘kick me’ sign. I scrunch the paper up, not knowing whether to laugh or yell. I catch Ryan’s gaze and he gives me a boyish grin and a wink. I shake my head at him, and throw the ball of paper, aiming for his head. He ducks, his shoulders shaking with laughter.
“I’m heading out,” Scott says from next to me. I turn to him, and give him a chaste kiss on his cheek.
“Nice seeing you, Scott. I’ll message you about catching up, okay?”
He smiles and nods, waving once before leaving with his friends. I pick up another empty beer bottle and walk towards the recycling bin, putting them in. Everyone in the bar starts to clear out, and I for one am grateful.
“What time do we close?” I ask him as I approach.
“In about ten minutes. Are you okay?” he asks, taking me into his arms. “You look tired.”
I hide my face into his chest. “I’m fine. A little hungry.”
“Better go feed my woman then… hmmm,” he rumbles, squeezing me tighter. “I’ll quickly close up and then we can go and get something.”
“What do you want me to do?” I ask, looking around.
“The place is sparkling; you’ve done enough. Why don’t you sit down and I’ll make you a drink?” he says, lifting me in his arms. He gropes my ass a little before placing me down on the seat.
“Perve!” I tease, sticking my tongue out.
He stares at my tongue. “Don’t give me any ideas.”
“Like I’d need to!” Let’s just say Ryan can be very… creative.
“True,” he says, smirking.
“And no thanks on the drink. I’ll grab something when we head out.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m not really thirsty. I’m sure I will be later though,” I say, my tone making an innocent sentence sound extremely dirty.
His lips curve into a panty-dropping smile, and I watch as he goes about his business, closing up and emptying the cash register. About fifteen minutes passes before he walks back over and lifts me off the stool.
“Let’s go feed my girl.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Taiya
The next morning, I don’t know why the fuck Sarah is standing by my car, but it’s taking everything in me to not jump into my car and run her over. I don’t know what went wrong along the way with our friendship, but as far as I’m concerned, she can go to hell. I know I’m a good person. I’ve never screwed anyone over or betrayed anyone. I’m as loyal as they come, and I deserve a friend that is more than a trifling whore with a thing for my husband.
“What do you want?” I snap, looking for my keys in my oversized handbag.
She purses her lips. “Can’t an old friend say hello?”
I laugh without humour. “Cut the shit. What do you want? To convince me Ryan slept with you? Because we all know that’s bullshit.”
“You don’t know shit, Taiya,” Sarah says angrily, her cheeks going red.
“I know that you can go get fucked,” I tell her, finally finding my keys, pulling them out and pressing the button to open the car door.
“Fine, we never slept together. I’ll admit it. I lied. But I kissed Ryan more than once. Maybe you should ask him about that?” she sneers, a look of hate appearing on her face.
“What the fuck did I ever do to you?”
She shrugs. “Everything came so easy to you. You deserved to be taken down a notch.”
“It’s not high school anymore, Sarah. Grow the fuck up and move on with your life.” With that, I get into my car and drive off.
Her words run through my mind on the way home. Could she have been telling the truth? Ryan told me he hadn’t seen her again. However, I suppose I’d be stupid to blindly believe everything a man tells me. I push Sarah out of my mind and turn up the volume on the radio. John Legend’s ‘All of Me’ plays and I sing along with the music. I drive to the supermarket to pick up a few things for the house, and then head straight home. Ryan said we can start fixing up the studio next week, and I can’t wait. I still can’t believe he did this for me, such a huge gesture. It’s like all of a sudden, everything is going perfectly in my life and I’m not going to let anyone walk in and ruin it for me. Ryan and I deserve our happily ever after.