Free The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks

already been through this."
    "And it's not attractive at all," Emma said, ignoring his comment. "Take it from a woman who knows. Unless you want to lose out to a guy like that, you'd better change your tune before it's too late. If you keep acting the way you've been acting all night, you might as well say good-bye right now."
    Mike blinked at the honesty. "So I should act like I don't care?"
    "No, Mike. Act like you do care, like you want what's best for her."
    "How do I do that?"
    "Be her friend."
    "I am her friend."
    "Not right now, you're not. If you were her friend, you'd be happy for her."
    "Why should I be happy she's with him?"
    "Because," Emma said as if the answer were obvious, "it means she's ready to start looking for the guy who's right for her, and everyone knows who that is. In the end, I honestly doubt if it'll be the guy over there." She smiled and touched his shoulder again. "Do you really think we'd be giving you such a hard time if we didn't believe this was all going to work out for you two in the end?"
    As much as she teased him, Mike knew at that moment why Henry loved her so much. And why he loved her, too.
    In a sisterly kind of way, of course.
    Julie and Richard's drinks finally arrived-bourbon for him, a Diet Coke for her-and after paying, Richard put his wallet away, then glanced off to the side, toward the man sitting at the end of the bar.The man was stirring his drink, seemingly minding his own business. But Richard waited, and sure enough, a moment later the man's eyes drifted over to Julie. The whole time he and Julie waited for their drinks, the man had been doing just that, though he'd tried not to be obvious. This time, however, Richard caught his gaze and watched him with unblinking eyes until the man finally turned away.
    "Who are you looking at?" Julie asked.
    Richard shook his head. "No one," he said. "Just thinking about something else for a second there." He smiled.
    "You up for hitting the dance floor yet?" she asked.
    "Not quite yet. I think I need to finish my drink first."
    Andrea, dressed in a tight black miniskirt, stiletto heels, and a halter top, had stretched the chewing gum from her mouth to her finger and was twirling it around in boredom as Cobra downed his sixth shot of tequila and chased it with a squeeze of lime. Wiping the pulp from his mouth with the back of his hand, he grinned at Andrea, his gold incisor catching the light of the neon sign behind them.Cobra had rolled up in front of the salon on his Harley on Thursday morning-though Andrea didn't know it, her name was frequently mentioned at biker bars as far away as Louisiana-and by the time he'd left, Andrea had given him her phone number and spent the rest of the day strutting around the shop, feeling downright pleased with herself. In her rapture, she hadn't noticed the pitying glances Mabel had cast her way, nor had she realized that Cobra was, like all the men she dated, basically a loser.
    He'd called her earlier that evening after a couple of beers and suggested that she meet him and his friends at the Clipper. Though not technically a date-he hadn't offered to pick her up, nor had it occurred to either of them that he might suggest getting something to eat first-Andrea had been thrilled by the time she hung up the phone, thinking it was close enough to at least feel like a date. She'd spent an hour figuring out what she wanted to wear-first impressions were important-before she'd left to find Cobra at the Clipper.
    The first thing he'd done was put his arms around her, resting both hands on her bottom while kissing her on the neck.
    It hadn't bothered her. After all, Cobra wasn't bad looking, especially when compared to some of the other guys she'd gone out with. Though he wore a black T-shirt with the picture of a bloody skull emblazoned on the front and leather chaps over a crusty pair of jeans, he wasn't fat or hairy. And the tattoo of the mermaid on his arm, she had to admit, was relatively tasteful when