Winning Back Ryan by S.L. Siwik Read Free Book Online Page B

wrapping his arm around my shoulder, “And your parents are wonderful.” He squeezed his arm around my shoulder tighter. “Besides, doesn’t your father always say that the most important part of faith is mercy, compassion, and forgiveness?” I leaned my head onto his. He always knew what to say. “Don’t beat yourself up over this. Ryan’s just not the one.”
                  Ben and George both shook their heads. “Learn from your lessons and move on. You can’t stay with him,” Ben said.
                  “I actually agree with Ben on this, Annie. It’ll never be the same between you and Ryan again. He’s burned that bridge. You’ll never be able to be with him again and not picture her. His betrayal will just loom over you two like a dark cloud,” Max said.
    As soon as he said the words, the image rose in my mind: sculpted back thrusting onto him, hearing his moans of pleasure as she worked his body.
    My lip quivered as tears rolled down my cheek. I wiped them away quickly, hoping that in the strange lighting of the club, they wouldn’t see me crying.
                  I couldn’t let them all see me falling apart, so I quipped, “Max, did you just say that you agreed with Ben?”
                  Max harrumphed. “Ladies and gentleman, hell has just frozen over.”
                  “Ha!” Ben slapped Max hard on the back sending him flying forward. “Always knew I could pull you to the dark side. Have a drink, man.”
    Max unruffled his shirt, glaring at our friend while taking the shot glass from him.
                  Ben held his hand up for the bartender. “Five more shots!”
    Brian’s arm was still around me as I leaned into his body, his hand rubbing up and down my arm in a soothing gesture.
                  “So, what do you guys look for in a girl?” I asked, realizing that perhaps it was time to tap into my male resource pool for information.
                  “You know I don’t look at anything past the packaging,” George said.
                  “I don’t do relationships either,” Ben answered, “Strictly friends with benefits. None have lasted longer than four months.”
                  I sighed. “Ryan gave me a list of complaints.”
                  “And?”  George asked. Brian was still rubbing my arm.
    “And…”I bit my lower lip. “Maybe there’s something to his complaints.”
                  “Then hit us with the list. We’ll give you our honest opinion,” Ben said before taking another shot and slamming the empty shot glass back down onto the bar.
                  I sighed, knowing that I had to eat my pride. “Ryan says that I don’t care about my looks. He wished I worked out with him, says I’m too much of a couch potato.”
                  “And do you think there’s truth to his words?” Max asked.
    The band on stage must have used a smoke machine, because suddenly the club was foggy and everyone was clapping along to the beat of the song. My friends and I all took a step closer to one another making our circle tighter.
                  I nodded my head at Max. “As far as being a couch potato,” I shrugged. “I don’t know. I come home from work, and if I don’t have more work that I need to do, dinner needs to be cooked, the house needs to be cleaned, laundry needs to be done…I don’t know. I’m just exhausted. All I want to do is veg out, relax, and unwind with Ryan.”
                  “That’s not strange. During the week, I always come home and relax after work,” Max stated, crossing his arms.
                  Ben snorted. “Yeah, ‘cause you act like you’re fifty. Annie’s in her early twenties, not in her thirties strapped down by whining kids and an asshole husband.” Ben turned his attention from Max to me. “You’re