This Time Around (Maybe) (20 page)

“Why don’t you just move in with him? I won’t be upset. You’re hardly here anyway. Oh
, hey, maybe Sephie will move in,” Isis says.

I sigh. “I know. I think that’s probably a good idea.”

“We can still see each other. It’s still in the same building,” she says, obviously noting my sad expression.

I nod twice. “Yeah, you’re right.” I walk into the living room and flop down onto the couch. “How’s everything anyway?”

She sits down next to me. “Work, uni, you know how it goes. All work and no play.”

I raise an eyebrow at her.

“Okay, well, some play.” We both burst out laughing.

“Tag?”

She pouts. “Uninterested apparently.”

I change the subject.
“You want to go out for dinner tonight? Just us?” I ask her. I miss Isis, and I feel bad that I haven’t spent much time with her.

Her pale eyes light up. “Sounds good. And I know just the place. We should see a movie too.”

“Sounds good. I’m going to go start packing up my room,” I tell her, standing up and walking to my room. I open the door and stare at all my stuff. No time like the present. I start pulling out my clothes, imagining the look on Ryan’s face when I tell him I’m officially moving in.

Chapter Twenty
-Six

Ryan

Taiya tells me to come to her apartment. The door is unlocked, causing me to frown at the thought of anyone who could just walk in. I call out Taiya’s name, walking into her room to find her standing there, smiling at me.

“Hey beautiful,” I say, looking around her room in confusion.
It is empty. “What’s going on?” I ask her, my brows scrunching. Is she moving?

“Surprise,” she says, closing the space between us and throwing her arms over my shoulders. “I’m all yours.”

My eyes widen as I realise what she’s telling me. “You’re moving in with me? Officially?”

“Yep,” she says, making me the happiest man on the planet.
She starts kissing me and making little moaning noises that go straight to my cock. I look around, finding no surface I can make love to her on besides the floor and the wall. She jumps up and wraps her legs around me, pushing her body against mine.

The wall it is.

We make love for the last time ever in her apartment.

*****

I don’t think words can express my happiness that Taiya finally moved in. I grin to myself, as I get on my bike to go for a ride. I haven’t done this in ages, ride just for the sake of it, to enjoy the freedom. Two hours later, I end up at the gym. I see Reid standing there, looking a mixture of bored and agitated, an older man standing next to him talking animatedly. I quickly head to the change room and remove my shoes, jeans and T-shirt, sliding on some sweats instead and leaving my chest bare. When I walk back towards the octagon, Reid spots me but his expression doesn’t change.

“What’s going on?” I ask him as I approach.

The other man, who looks to be in his forties but in good shape, replies, “He’s a good fighter.”

My eyes flit back to Reid. “I know he is. Who are you?”

“MMA scout,” Reid replies, not looking happy about it.

The scout takes a step closer. “I have an eye for talent. Trust me, you could be the best.”

“I don’t fight anymore,” Reid replies, stepping away from the man and walking to pick up his water bottle.

“Yeah and what a fucking waste,” the scout mutters under his breath.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” I snap, losing my composure. “If my brother wants to contact you, he will.”

“If you don’t fight anymore, what are you doing here? Still practising every day. Don’t you dare try and tell me you don’t love it, because the proof is right here,” he calls out to Reid, his arms
motioning around the gym. With that, walks off and exits the gym. Reid shrugs his shoulders in a ‘what the fuck can you do’ kind of way. I shake my head at him, and start shaking my limbs and bouncing on my toes, needing to warm up. I want to ask Reid what’s going on in that head of his, but I don’t for two reasons. One, he will talk to me when he wants to, and two, if he says he wants to fight and Summer tries to ask me about it… yeah I’d rather stay out of that.

“Come on
, bro, I’ll go easy on you,” I say, trying to lighten up his mood.

He gives me a crooked smile, so like my own. “Let’s see what you got.”

*****

“That’s everything unpacked,” I say, unable to contain my smile. I pick up the last few boxes and put them in a stack in the corner of the living room.
“There’s no escaping now.”

Taiya
laughs, taking her mug and putting it into the sink. “It feels right.”

“I’m glad you think so,” I say, walking up and taking her in my arms.
“Do you want to go out for dinner?”

“Yeah, then maybe we could go and see how Isis is handling her first shift at the bar,” she says. Isis wanted a job, and
I could always use some extra help. I don’t really need to work as much as I do, but I like being productive and keeping busy. It’s basically family and friends that work there, so we end up laughing as much as we do work.

“Okay.”

“Did you ever think we would be like this again?” she asks, her stunning green eyes looking up at me. I feel a pang in my chest, like I do every time she looks at me.

“Together?”

She nods. “Yeah. Back together, stronger than ever.”

I pull her into me. “
I dreamed about it, but I wasn’t sure it would ever happen.” And that thought was what drove me into casual sex. I wanted the connection, but knew there was never going to be anyone that I’d love as much as I love Taiya. I realise now what an idiot I was. I should have fought harder instead of feeling sorry for myself and letting my pride get in the way. However, if I had to go through all of that again to be here now, in this moment, then I’d do it.

She sighs softly, burying her face into my chest
, almost like she would crawl inside me if she could. She grips her fingers into the material of my T-shirt, pulling down a little. “We have dinner with my mum tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.” I love Rita. She’s a great woman and raised two amazing girls. “Have you spoken to Claire recently?” I ask, referring to
Taiya’s sister.

“
Yeah, we had a video chat the other day. She said she will try and come to visit us at the end of the year.” Claire moved overseas just after Taiya and I got married. “I hope she does.”

“Maybe we could go and see her if she can’t make it?”
I say.

She lifts her head from my chest to look me in the eye. “Really?”

“Sure. Reid’s here to manage the bar, so why not. We could go anywhere you wanted to go.” I want to take her everywhere, spoil the shit out of her. I’ve always wanted to take her to the Maldive Islands, which I know is where she wanted to go on our honeymoon, but we couldn’t afford it back then. Now, I can give her everything she deserves and more.

Taiya
Rose Knox will never want for anything.

*****

I watch as Isis serves a group of guys, making sure they don’t overstep any boundaries or try anything. Her first shift seems to be going well, and she has Tag and Jade showing her the ropes. Taiya sits on my lap and takes a sip of my bottle of water. I kiss her on her delicate neck, making her giggle as she puts the bottle back on the table.

“Did you enjoy your dinner?” I ask her.

She raises her eyebrow. “I practically inhaled yours and mine.”

I hide my grin into her neck, not bothering to try and deny it. I love the fact that
Taiya doesn’t try and starve herself, rather she eats healthily, and now and again lets herself indulge. I don’t mind what size she is, but I know that as a dancer, she needs to be fit and strong, even though she doesn’t dance professionally.

“Did you ask
Sephie if she wanted to move into the apartment with Isis?” she asks, frowning. I know that she worries about Isis being able to pay the rent without her living there to share the bills.

“I rang her but she didn’t answer
. I’ll try again tomorrow,” I tell her, pulling her up on my lap. I hope my sister does move in, then she will be closer so I can keep an eye on her. And see her more often, of course.

“Okay, I hope she says yes.”

“Me too. You want to head home?” I ask her, getting a little excited with her sitting on my lap.

“Yeah, I’ll just go and say bye to Isis,” she says, getting up and walking to the bar. I’m not going to deny it, my eyes are glued to her ass the entire time.

“Hi,” purrs a vaguely familiar voice, interrupting my view of the greatest ass of all time.

I look up into the face of someone I’d prefer to never see again. “What are you doing here
, Sarah?”

She puts on a fake sad face. Fuck, how was
Taiya ever friends with this girl? “I wanted to apologise to Taiya.”

“Why bother? She isn’t going to be friends with you again, you should just leave her alone,” I say, standing up and turning my head to look for
Taiya. I see her standing in front of the bar, leaning over it to talk to Isis.

“Scared that I’m here, are you?” she asks, pushing her chest out. “Or maybe it’s
Taiya that feels threatened about you being in my company?”

“Why would I be? We only kissed, and
Taiya knows about it. I’m a little more nervous about her,” I say pointing to a woman that I’d slept with before. She waves at me and I cringe, but give a slight wave back. Sarah apparently takes offence to something I said, because an evil sneer appears on her what could be pretty face.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Taiya says, as she walks up and stands at my side. “Are you stalking me now?”

Wait, what?

“You wish. I just wanted to talk to you for a second,” Sarah says, an almost vulnerable look flashing on her face before she masks it. I think Taiya notices it too, because she tilts her head slightly and says, “You have five minutes.”

I’m about to object when
Taiya bends and gives me a possessive kiss. “Five minutes,” she repeats, “I’ll just be out the front.”

Not liking the idea of my woman standing outside
, I shake my head no. “Use my office.” Taiya nods and heads to the office, Sarah following behind her. What the fuck is going on here? This is like, the kiss that never ends. A kiss! Okay, maybe she took her top off too, but fuck. I don’t know why she is still in our lives and I wish that she would just leave us alone. Instead of sitting around and doing nothing, I decide to help out at the bar until they are done.

And then I want to know what the hell Sarah would possibly have to talk to
Taiya about.

Chapter Twenty
-Seven

Taiya

After Sarah enters, I close the door behind us. I stand in front of the door facing her, my arms crossed against my chest. “What?” I ask rudely, wanting to get this conversation over with.

She looks down at her feet, as if gathering her thoughts. “I kissed Ryan for a reason.”

I scoff. “Yeah to try and seduce him.”

“No, well
, yes,” she says, cringing. “I wanted him. The way he treated you… I wanted that.”

I wait for her to continue.

“You know that my dad died…”

I nod. “Yes, I used to know everything about you. We
were
best friends after all.” I don’t even want to think about all the things we’d been through together, all our good memories. And there were some good memories. Also the bad memories, like when her dad died, I was there for her as best as I could be at that age. I know her mum and her didn’t always see eye to eye, and she took the death of her dad really hard.

“S
hit was going on at home with my mum. I was jealous, okay? You had everything I wanted, including Ryan, so I went for it. I’m sorry.”

“Okay,” I say, dragging out the word. What does she want from me? Her being sorry doesn’t
change anything; she still betrayed me, and she still was a shit friend.

I move away from the door, hoping she takes the hint and leaves.
“You know if you had problems in your life, I would have been there for you no matter what.”

“
I know. And I didn’t mean what I said about Ryan. There was no second kiss. I’m sorry.”

With that, she walks out of the door, and hopefully out of my life.

*****

I told Ryan about Sarah’s apology. I know he felt like shit, because he was involved too, and we were trying to move on from everything that happened.
There is no room for lies or omissions in marriage, so even though it hurt to bring everything up again, I told him what she said and we spoke about it. Ryan went quiet for a few moments, then said he was sorry for everything, including being a part of me losing my best friend, then said he’s going to talk with Reid. He gave me a simple kiss, then left the apartment. I cleaned up the kitchen, trying to keep myself busy. When two am arrived and he still wasn’t home, I sent Summer a text message. She replied instantly and said Reid and Ryan were talking and playing with Reid’s PS4. I take a warm bath, sipping on a glass of red wine, trying not to get my favourite paperback wet. When the water turns cold, I get out and dry myself, then slip on my leopard-print robe. I’m about to head to bed when I hear Ryan coming home.