Chapter 8

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."

"Jesus, Ryan, she was fucking sixteen."

"I was aware."

Clyde took a deep breath and then exhaled through another cloud of smoke. "Then why the fuck did you do it?"

"Because I might have loved her then," Ryan confessed. There was no point in holding back anymore. "I should have been a big brother to her, but it's hard not to love her more than that. Can you understand?"

"No, I can't." Clyde stood, dropped his cigarette into his glass of whiskey and took off.

"Twenty fucking years old, and I couldn't keep it in my pants," Ryan muttered. He only got a sympathetic smile from Teddie in return. "You and I are friends, right?"

"Nah, you might fuck my sister," Teddie replied with a smirk. It faltered when Ryan frowned. "Sorry. That was a little too soon. If it helps any, I believe you love Callie. I saw the way you looked at her last time you two were here together. She's got your bloody balls by a string."

"I may be a fucking Brit, but I haven't spoken like that since ever." Ryan took one last sip then threw a few bills onto the bar. "Just a little extra as an apology in advance. It looks like I'll be spending a lot of my time here."

• • • • •

"For the last time," Callie shouted after Clyde as they both stormed into his office on a quiet Monday morning. "I'm sorry that you had to find out that way."

"That's what you're apologizing for?" Clyde asked, scoffing in disbelief. "I practically spoon fed you every basic damn thing you know up until Mom and Dad died. And then I took you in because I wanted to keep you out of the system. I paid for your tuition because I believed that you were a genius to have been accepted into college so young. And this is how you repay me? By fucking the man who I considered my brother for years?"

"I'm your sister!" she all but screeched. "I'm supposed to fuck up."

"Fuck up then, Cal. Don't fuck."

"I really love him," she said, rubbing the skin between her eyes. "I should have come to you sooner and told you, but I was afraid this would have happened."

"It still happened," he told her, shaking his head violently. Then he pulled her into his arms and held her in his tight embrace. "Callie, I love you so much, and if it's Ryan who makes you happy then I can accept that, but I can't accept that you both couldn't trust me enough to come to me."

"I'm so sorry," she cried into his chest, circling her arms around his middle. "I wish it was anyone else just so you wouldn't look at me like that."

"No, you don't," he said, sighing. "You love him too much to give him up, and I won't ask you to."

"You promised me it wouldn't change us."

"And it won't. Just give it time."

There was a knock at the door, forcing them both apart as Ryan stepped through with worry lines to accompany the shock in his eyes.

"There's been an accident downstairs. The finance department is calling everyone up here."

Clyde reacted quickly and answered his ringing phone on the desk. His eyebrows furrowed then he frowned. "Agatha Paige? Fuck, this is bad. Ryan, get downstairs. Call an ambulance. Make sure she doesn't fall asleep."

Ryan didn't know if all those orders were directed toward him or the person Clyde was on the line with, but he quickly turned to the lift across the lobby and was stopped when Callie tugged on his arm.

He kissed her slowly but was forced to part with her when the lift opened. "Come with me, love. I'm going to need all the strength I can gather.