That was the second thing he’d said since leaving Kaleb’s that stuck out as strange. The other thing was about erasing his memory. It was getting late, and Ryder really needed a good night’s rest, so I had to cut to the chase with him.
“Tell me what happened tonight.”
“There’s not much to tell.” His voice was much quieter now, and I felt as though he was relaxing and getting very drowsy.
“I beg to differ.”
“Can’t we differ? Or is that some other archaic rule you guys have?”
I laughed and watched the smile spread across his face. I liked his humor.
“We can differ. But I’ll be honest; you’re not going to enjoy differing with me purely for the sake of doing it.” His head subtly nodded. His eyes were still closed, and I could tell by his voice that he was starting to get tired. “Ryder, talk to me. What happened tonight?”
“Finn and I walked around some. He wanted to find that room,” he mumbled.
“The Apollo suite?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you find it?”
“Yeah. We went in with the mask things on.”
“Did you and Finn separate once you were in there?”
His head shook from side to side while he mumbled, “No.”
My dick began to stir as I visualized a masked professor staring down at Ryder and Finn.
“How was the experience?”
“Fine.”
Just fine?There was so much to unpack with his simple answer.
“Was the man you and Finn were with good to you?” I asked. Anything other than treating an Omnia with respect was unacceptable. All the professors who participated in the Apollo suite knew that and abided. The consequences for not behaving within the guidelines for professors was grave. To my knowledge, no professor had stepped outside the rules and guidelines.
But I was curious as to how Ryder viewed it. This would be his first time experiencing something like the Apollo suite. He closed his mouth, and his lips formed a tight line.
“Ryder?”
His silence concerned me. My pulse picked up, and I didn’t hold back my urge to touch him. I rolled my arm toward him,letting my hand fall off the back of the couch and mold to his shoulder and upper arm.
“Ryder, answer me. Did the man hurt you or Finn in any way?”
“No. He…he was so nice to me. I was nobody to him, but he was kind.”
I relaxed the moment he confirmed the man he and Finn were with was good to him. He still didn’t see that he was someone incredibly important. In time, he would.
“You deserve nothing but kindness and respect, Ryder. You’ll learn that.”
“I don’t think I can do this, Atlas,” he blurted.
I stroked the top of his shoulder with my thumb and asked, “Is that you and the fire in the pit of your soul talking? Or is that Roger Craig talking?” Though Ryder had a fire-breathing dragon in his soul and somewhat of a chip on his shoulder, he unfortunately also had the negative words of his foster parents in his ears. That negativity affected him more than he understood yet.
“I don’t fit in. I’m not going to fit in here. These guys all are way different than me.”
“Did someone say something to you tonight? Something that upset you?” He shook his head. “Earlier, you said you wanted to erase your memory, and you also mentioned your head would feel better as long as you didn’t think too much.” I paused to take a sip of coffee and then set the mug on the side table. I had a strong hunch those two comments had been connected to something. “What did you mean by them?”
