Winning Back Ryan (39 page)

             
If life was a road to travel down, I had tripped and had fallen face first into the asphalt. I should have just walked away like Brian suggested, instead of being petty and vengeful. I thought I had a handle on it all. I realized too late that by spending my life trying to hurt Ryan, I only hurt myself more, allowing the anger to consume me to the point of nearly taking me over. It also kept me from moving on…to bigger and better things. My revenge was a double edged sword and in my short sightedness, I cut myself deeply with both ends. I just hoped eventually this pain would disappear. Maybe it would be like a wound that even when it healed, a scar would always remain.

             
I heard the bathroom door open, but I couldn’t stop crying in time. The glass door of Brian’s shower opened, and he stood there staring at me, looking troubled.  He stepped into the shower fully clothed in basketball shorts and a white undershirt. 

             
I muttered, “I’m still dirty. I can’t get clean.” He took the bar of soap from me, putting it back on the holder. Brian turned towards me, his eyes never moving from mine.  He held his hands out and moved very slowly towards me. He didn’t need to close the space, however, because I grabbed his shirt pulling him to me. I cried hysterically into his now sopping wet shirt and he slowly encircled his arms around me.

             
“It’s going to be okay,” he murmured into my ear. I cried harder, thankful to have him in my life, thankful to have all of my friends. I knew that when it came to friendship, I hit the jackpot because the true test wasn’t when your life was good; it was what they did when your life fell apart. And my friends were right there, having my back.

             
When I finally regained my composure, I said, “Sing to me.”  It’s what my mother used to do when I was a child and would wake up with nightmares. It always calmed me, even though she had a terrible singing voice.

             
“What do you want me to sing?” he asked.

             
“Anything,” I replied.

I closed my eyes, resting my cheek on his chest, his heart thumping wildly against my ear. The water sprayed my back
as I heard him begin to sing.  By the third word, I started to smile. By the second chorus, he and I were dancing in the shower.

             
“How do you do it?” I asked as he swayed my body back and forth, my head resting on his shoulder.

              “Do what?”

             
“Always know how to make me happy. How do you know how to make me smile?” I asked.

             
Brian gazed at me tenderly. “Annie, every day that I’ve lived since the night you saved me has been a gift that you’ve given me. The least I can do is try to make you smile.”

             
I smoothed back the wet hair from his forehead. “Brian, you owe me nothing. I need you like you need me. I had to save you, because there’s no world that I want to live in where you don’t exist.”

             
He hugged me tightly. “We were meant to be, Annie. I can feel it. I sleep better at night now with you in my arms.”

I sighed contentedly, the peace that always came when I was near Brian taking over me.

              “You’re right. I belong with you.”

**

One week later….

             
“Hey, Annie, this came for you in the mail,” Brian said, walking into the apartment in a three piece gray suit, carrying a large box. I glanced up from my laptop laying on the couch. Because of my physical condition, my boss allowed me to work from home. I didn’t mind; I saved on commuter fare. Brian and I worked out in the apartment building’s gym at odd hours so that people were less likely to see me and stare.

             
I placed my computer down, standing up, walking over to the table. I took out a pair of scissors from the kitchen trying to maneuver around the half dozen vases of flowers. Brian went a little overboard when I came home and the apartment was now filled with floral arrangements. It smelled like a botanical garden.  Opening the box, I smiled brightly. Inside were packed cheap ceramic figurines. All of clowns.

I picked up the piece of paper lying on top:
These should hold you over for a while.

             
Brian peered into the box. “I don’t understand.”

             
“It’s a gag gift. Ben knows that I hate clowns.”

             
“So, he got you a dozen figurines.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “What an ass.” He wrapped his arm around me, hugging me, as he dipped his head, kissing me in greeting.

             
“Yeah, that’s Ben for you. Don’t worry, honey, I’ll have these gone soon,” I said. Surely there was a wall somewhere…

He kissed my forehead before tossing down the rest of the mail on the table.

              “I’ll be right back. Just wanna get out of these clothes,” Brian said before walking into the bedroom. I made sure that he was out of view before picking up a few of the figurines…searching. My heart pattered faster when I saw it, laying on the bottom of the box, hidden from plain view. I pulled the book out, reading its title: 

50 Foods
In Your Fridge That Can Serve You In Other Ways

I pulled out the slip of paper from inside:
Your turn, Princess.

             
I smiled widely at the book and realized that this perverted manual was probably the best present I had ever been given, because of what it represented- my desire to not be treated as a victim. The feeling that my friends, especially Ben after all that he heard and saw, would see me in the same light as they did before was a gift beyond measure. I was still his princess, and he was still my foul-mouthed, perverted friend.  As he so accurately put it, he and I had a
complicated
friendship. But, I knew where I belonged.

             
“Hey, Annie, do you want to order take out tonight and watch a movie after you finish your work?” Brian called out from the bathroom.

             
I slid the book back underneath all of the figurines and replied, “Sure, honey. You pick the movie tonight.”

The End

The Beginning…

S.L.
Siwik lives in New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and two dogs. 
She loves going to NJ diners on the weekend for inspiration, drinks a pot of coffee a day, and loves finding new music to add to her playlist.  Author to
Just Good Friends and Winning Back Ryan.

Getting Back Annie
, Winning Back Ryan’s
sequel will be out shortly. So, will my erotic romance,
Office Perks
.

Thank you for purchasing this novel.

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