Wrongfully Claimed

Chapter Fifteen

                       Ryder

Getting off the couch, Ryder anxiously began pacing up and down on the living room floor worried something was wrong.

It was Aurora -- she'd been on his mind, all morning since he'd left her to sleep in his bedroom and he hadn't been able to think of anything else but her.

He accepted the fact that she had a headache and needed to sleep it off, but he also detected something in her voice, that made him question if this was nothing but a ruse to get him to lower his guard, so she could plan her escape.

He was so unbelievably perceptive when it came to spotting whether someone was lying to him or not, which is why he planted a spare key in his room to see if she would take the bait.

He'd had a sixth sense and always knew when the other girls were faking that they wanted to be with him, just so they could buy themselves more time and get away eventually.

It had happened with one woman in particular -- a girl he'd met before Aurora. She was a pretty little French Au Pair, who he had found stranded at a bus terminal one day, trying to hitch a ride back home, after she and her boyfriend supposedly had a feud and threw her out of his car in the heat of their argument.

He'd kept this woman locked up in his house for about a week or so before he ended up it losing his shit with her and disposed of her like a dirty used condom.

He did it because she tried to pull the same card, he hoped Aurora wasn't attempting to pull on him now.

He knew he wouldn't have been able to bring himself to kill her, but he still would have been furious with Aurora for lying to him this way.

The last thing he wanted to do was to be forced to hurt her again or punish her because she rebelled and went against his wishes. For the first time in his life, he had never felt more alive and fulfilled as a man.

She made him happy and content. She made him want to be a better man.
Before she came into his life, he'd been numb and broken beyond repair.

Except when he wasn't mindlessly fucking every female out there, or when he started hunting those girls and kept them prisoner in his home, he had nothing but one bad experience after another when it came to the opposite sex.

Getting married to Marilyn and wasting nearly three years of his life, trying to make it work with that woman -- for their son's sake, only for her to end up cheating on him with his brother, hadn't made things any easier on him either.

It was a messy, ugly divorce that fucking broke him for a long time and the last thing he wanted to do was go through that again.

He genuinely wanted a future with Aurora more than anything in this world, and he wanted her to become his wife. She was a strong, take-no-shit kinda girl and he loved that about her.

There was no denying that he was hooked on her in every little way and, like a heroin addict always craving his next fix, he was forever wanting more and more of her.

He knew it was crazy, but he yearned to be loved by her. He wanted her to want him, just as badly as he wanted her. She was the kind of woman, he'd been searching for his whole life and the last thing he wanted to do was fuck what he had up with her.

Debating on whether or not he should go upstairs and wake her up, his son unexpectedly foraged out of the woodwork, all of a sudden. He came barreling towards him like a wild bull, wanting nothing but his undivided attention now.

"Hey, kiddo what's up?" Ryder greeted him, tousling his fingers through his son's wavy, blonde hair.

Sebastian was dressed in his bright, red Spongebob pyjamas all dressed for bed already.