Chapter 95 - Ryker

She was a goddess. Stretched out before like a gift I hadn't earned, I knew my mistake had been in letting her withdraw in the car. We were born for each other. Made and crafted to be the missing piece the other needed.

I wasn't going to spit in a deity's face. Not again. I would lay out my cards, force her to accept them, and then we could skip, walk, dance, race each other to hell.

I smirked as she glared at me. I could almost hear her shrill voice as she spat more angry words.

"You know my father was an asshole."

She went still beneath me.

"He beat me. Beat my mother. What you don't know, is that he forced me to beat my mother." I voiced the words that condemned me to hell. "If I didn't do it, my beatings and hers were ten times worse. He became more sadistic the older I got. Seemed to think that because he could cow me into hurting her, that he was a big strong man."

I looked into Willow's eyes. Saw the acceptance. The willingness to listen. To absolve. To comfort.