Chapter 100 Telling him
Sage's POV
The drive back home with Elena was silent. She didn't gloat about winning or remind me about the deal we'd made. She just drove through the dark streets with her eyes on the road while I sat in the passenger seat trying to figure out how I was going to tell Ryder what I had done.
When we pulled up to the house, I saw his truck in the driveway and my stomach dropped. He must have been sitting inside worrying and waiting and probably getting more angry with every passing minute.
"Good luck," Elena said as I opened the door. "You're going to need it."
I didn't respond, just got out and walked toward the house on legs that felt like they weighed a thousand pounds each. The front door was unlocked and I found Ryder pacing in the living room with his phone in his hand like he'd been about to call someone.
He looked up when I walked in and the relief on his face was immediately replaced by concern. "Where have you been? You said one hour and it's been more than two. I was about to go looking for you."
"I'm sorry. It took longer than I thought." I put my jacket down and tried to figure out where to start.
"What did Elena want? What did you two talk about?" Ryder moved closer, studying my face. "Sage, what happened?"
I couldn't meet his eyes. "We went to the training arena like she said. We talked while we trained."
"And?"
"And she told me that marrying Diego was my best option because of the things my father did." The words came out flat and emotionless. "She said if other people found out what Dad did, they'd come for the Steel Wolves. But if I was with Diego, they wouldn't be able to touch me."
Ryder's jaw tightened. "That's the same threat everyone keeps making. Protection through marriage. What else did she say?"
I swallowed hard, knowing what was coming next. "She said I could fight for my freedom. Literally. Her and me, hand to hand combat. If she won, I'd marry Diego and stop fighting it. If I won, I'd be free to make my own decisions."
The silence that followed was so heavy I could barely breathe through it. Ryder stared at me like he was waiting for me to tell him this was a joke, that I hadn't actually agreed to something so reckless.
"Tell me you didn't," he said, his voice dangerously quiet.
"I thought I could win. You trained me, I've been practicing, and I held my own against those men in the parking lot who tried to kidnap me." I finally looked up at him and saw the anger building in his eyes. "I thought this was my chance to end it once and for all."
"So you gambled your entire future on a fistfight with a woman you don't know and whose skills you've never seen?" Ryder's voice was getting louder now. "Without talking to me first? Without thinking about what would happen if you lost?"
"I didn't think I would lose!"
"But you did, didn't you?" He took a step back and ran both hands through his hair. "That's why you look like someone died. That's why you can barely look at me. You lost and now you're bound by whatever deal you made with Elena."
Tears started burning in my eyes but I refused to let them fall. "I was so close, Ryder. I almost had her pinned. I thought I had won and then she twisted it somehow and suddenly I was the one on the ground and I couldn't get up."
"How could you do this? How could you make a decision this big without even calling me?" The hurt in his voice was worse than the anger. "We're supposed to be in this together, Sage. You and me against all of this. But you went off alone and bet everything on a fight you had no business taking."
"I was trying to fix it! I was trying to find a way out that didn't involve running or hiding or dragging you down with me!" The tears were falling now and I couldn't stop them. "Elena offered me a chance to be free and I took it because I'm tired of being everyone's pawn in this game. I wanted to control something, anything, even if it was just whether or not I could beat her in a fair fight."