Ryder (Savage Wolves MC) #3

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I shake my head. "You and I both seem to understand that isn't truth." If God is as forgiving as people make him sound, then maybe he forgave Athena's mother for what she had to do to escape her living hell here in her mortal body.

She smiles. "No, it's not the truth. My family is just mad she finally found her way out of the family and they couldn't stop her."

It's quiet for a second before she picks up her fork and begins to stab at the pieces of meat in her plate.

"How can I ever repay you for what you did for me?" I ask, quietly, not meeting her gaze. I focus on my own food, twirling the fork in my hand and watching the meat get pushed around.

"Talia, look at me."

I do, albeit cautiously. Her eyes are soft, her hand palm down on the table and inching slowly closer to me, as if I was a wild animal in need of soothing.

"There's nothing you ever need do to repay me. I don't need anything for what I did for you. I helped you because I wanted to, not because I wanted you to owe me something in the future. When I walked past that door and heard your screams and heard my mom whisper that I needed to help you, I came back later that night because I knew I was needed, not because I saw an opportunity for someone to be in my debt. Don't ever feel like you have this obligation to do anything for me. I helped you of my own volition."

I gulp, tears pricking the back of my eyes that I won't allow to fall. She makes me emotional. I associate her too closely with my breaking point and hearing her kindness, experiencing her goodness all over again brings out memories I wanted to keep tamped down. But those memories are also laced with her purity. Her goodwill that helped save my life. It's not just an expression when I say I wouldn't have made it without her. Dmitri was starving me, not only of food and water, but decent humanity as well. Him and his despicable band of goons weren't human. They were monsters. I was living amongst animals for what felt like ages. There were no traces of humanity left in them. They were the shadows in the dark of night. They were the monsters in my closet. They were my nightmare come to life.

And Athena was my morning sun, showing me that humanity wasn't gone. That goodness still lurked nearby and I wasn't alone. That I could survive this and get back what life was once like.

"I can't help but feel indebted to you. I'll always feel like that."

She smiles, lifting her chair up and dropping it closer to mine. "If you feel like you owe me anything, owe me this. Your happiness. I want to see you be happy. I want to see you smile and know that smile is true, not some fake thing to pretend to everyone that you're fine."

I do smile and I know it's not filled with the kind of deception she's mentioned. "I am happy."

Her face brightens at that and she leans her elbow on the table, propping her head up on her hand. A position that's a far cry from her proper seating like before. "Oh? What exactly have you been up to this past year that's made you so happy? I want to hear all about it."

I blush. I freaking blush. Heat blossoms in my cheeks and I know I'm beat red. I never blush. I'm not some innocent little girl. Blushing isn't something I fall victim too, but suddenly, being with Athena and thinking about Ryder and how happy he has made me has be blushing like a schoolgirl.

She pokes me in my side, teasing. "Seems like there might be a guy involved?" Her eyes widen and she backtracks. "Or a girl! I don't know who you're into." She blushes too and I chuckle at her behavior.