Chapter 8 (1/2)
There was a scar above his eyebrow that Callie didn't find sexy, knowing who had put it there in the first place. His nose was slightly purple and slow to heal, which deeply contributed to the frown on her face. She could feel his pain, as if she had been the one who was punched, tossed around, and nearly choked to death.
”Sweetheart, don't do that,” Ryan said, glancing over his computer monitor to see the look of horror on her delicate face. ”Don't cry for me.”
”When was the last time you talked to Clyde?” she asked, her voice slightly quivering. ”You both promised me this wouldn't come between us.”
”And it hasn't.”
”But you two haven't spoken in over two weeks,” she wanted to shout at him, but her words only came out as a whisper.
”We're busy people,” was his short response.
”That's bullshit, Ryan,” she protested with the shake of her head. ”The long hours you spend fucking me at night should he spent drinking with Clyde and talking about what you two always talk about.”
”First of all,” he said, humorlessly chuckling, ”you and I make love. Whether it be hardcore fucking, it's love. And second, Clyde and I never have anything particular to talk about, so that's why we haven't had a drink together in awhile.”
”I can't stand that I'm the cause of your falling out,” she admitted to him. ”It's my fault.”
He stood, circled around his desk to meet her at the couch and took her face into his large hands. ”I love you, Callie. Nothing, not even your brother, will change that. Don't blame yourself for how it went down.”
”I'm in the middle of you both,” she dejectedly whispered, shaking off his hands. She wrapped her arms around his middle and breathe deeply when he circled his arms around her shoulders, pulling her closer. ”Please talk to him. Do it for me.”
”Alright, love,” he said with a small smile. ”I'll talk to him.”
• • • • •
Teddie could sense the tension between the two friends the second Ryan walked into the bar and took a seat beside Clyde. The two of them were like two high school girl friends who were ready to make up, but the atmosphere in the room was traded for something much darker.
”A whiskey.” Ryan said to Teddie with the slight nod of his head. ”Add his to my tab.”
Teddie wordlessly poured him a drink and slid it in front of him, ignoring the cold look on Clyde's face directed toward him, as if he was responsible for Ryan's arrival.
”Callie asked me to come talk to you,” he started, taking a sip of his drink. ”This conversation had actually been long overdue now.”
”You needed your girlfriend to convince you to come talk to me?” Clyde laughed in disbelief and grabbed a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it in one swift movement.
”You don't smoke anymore,” Ryan said, staring at the cloud of smoke surrounding them.
”I better start now,” he murmured. He took a long sip of his scotch and coughed up the contents. ”I thought I was okay with you fucking my sister, but what kind of idiot is okay with his best friend fucking his sister?”
”I never meant for any of this to happen,” Ryan told him, completely disheartened.
”The first time you touched her,” Clyde said, trying his best to process his own words, ”did you force yourself on her?”
”No,” Ryan answered, hardly missing a beat.
”Did she ask you?”
”Yes.”