The One Who Spoke Back

Chapter 15 - Poker and truths.

I was never the one to take risks. I lived a fairly vanilla life. School, friends, and family were my whole life, so where did I go wrong now that I was at a poker table with three strange men and Ryder.

I was not introduced to anybody yet. I could only make out that of the men there,  the diversity was insane: one seemed Asian, another Black, and the last one looked Caucasian.

Ryder cleared his throat and pointed at the Asian man with his eyes. "That right there, dollface, is Yuko. He owns most of Tokyo and his bullshit technological knowledge is pretty sick as well. To his right," Ryder pointed to the white guy," is Carlos. Although he looks like he sells car insurance, he is one of the most vicious gang leaders in the North American Hemisphere. And lastly, there is..." 

Ryder got cut off.

"My name is Levin." He stood up, took my hand and planted a tender kiss.

"Well hello, girls. Shall we start? You guys have to remind me of the rules again," I said, truly only playing into their egos.

Get yourself together, Thea. You can not lose this game. 

I will not bore you with all the little times I won. I will only mention that by the time the clock hit 5 o'clock in the morning, I had won a hotel chain from Yuko, more money than I could count from Carlos and even more money from Ryder. The only person who was holding his own was the Levin dude. He had not left much on the table and I was seriously annoyed. I was playing so good and I'm not even being cocky, it's just that the cards wanted me to win.

Yuko had just excused himself from the game, saying that he had lost enough for a night when Ryder pulled me aside.

"Look Thea. I know that I have lost a large sum of money to you, but I have to tell you something that you can't tell anyone at that table. I can't pay you."

"Okay. I wasn't after the money anyways. If you release Max and me from your prison and forgive whatever Jax did to you, I'll forget your debt."

"Thea, I can't do that."

"Oh is that so? Then YUKO WAIT UP!" I managed to yell before Ryder closed my mouth with his hand. Now that I was closer to him I saw that he looked older than I previously thought. There were the worry lines on his forehead and wrinkles around his eyes.

"Okay, okay. We can find another compromise."

I looked at him skeptically.

"Thea do you really want to know why I can't forgive him?"

I shook my head like a little girl with pigtails.

"Jax killed my sister." Ryder couldn't even make eye contact with me. He was scrunched over, fidgeting with his hands and I could swear that I saw a tear slip away, but as soon as it came it was gone. In a split of a second, all emotion was stripped from his face. He stood upright again and distanced himself from me.

"Sasha will take you home. I trust that whatever happened tonight stays between us. I have made you interact with powerful people. As said with power comes great responsibility. I hear what happened here tonight from someone, or read that you were taken from any newspaper and you will visit my sister personally."

For the first time since I had met Ryder, I was afraid. I now understood why he was who he was. It was as if a switch had been turned off in his eyes. They were stripped of every trace of emotion and surprisingly, humanity.

Sasha rushed me to the elevators and later on into the car. I was so preoccupied with the question of the 'how' and the 'why' that I didn't even have time to make fun of Sasha or think about Max.

I got home and as per usual, it felt empty. I was seriously doubting that my parents knew what had happened to me. And I was determined to keep it that way. I did not want to explain my situation to them. I could not explain my situation to them. Not because I didn't want to, but merely because I didn't know what was going on myself. I had been kidnapped, spend about a week in a remote cabin, forgotten to save my friend, and gotten myself into an illegal poker game with some of the most powerful men in the world. And for the humongous cherry on top, the man I was baring feelings for had been accused of murder.

I am a mess. I don't know what I'm doing. I am a mess. I am a fuck up. I am a mess.

These thoughts were running track in my mind, as I stepped out of the shower. I was taken aback when I came into my room and saw Max in my bed, knocked out cold. A single yellow post-it stuck to his forehead.

'Thought you might want him back.'

Ryder had a sense of humor even in the darkest of times. I changed into sleeping clothes and didn't even bother trying to get Max on a couch, before pushing him aside and getting in.

And for the first time in a long time, I got into my own bed. I closed my eyes, praying to fall into a deep sleep and waking up with all of my problems gone.