Concealed Affliction Read Online Free

along with my gym bag before getting out of the vehicle.
     
    I’m not two steps toward the connecting door leading into the house, before it swings open and angry black eyes stare back at me.
     
    “Did you think to answer your phone while you were out joyriding, woman? I’ve called you ten times in the last hour.”
     
    Ryder is about to learn a little lesson about who wears the pants in this household. As well as who can come home to it whenever they damn well please. I square my jaw and look him directly in the eye.
     
    “Whose house is this, Ryder?”
     
    Confused eyes stare back at my determined ones. I don’t give him a chance to answer.
     
    “It’s my house Ryder. That means if I want to roll in at nine at night, or nine in the morning, that’s my fucking business. Now, if you’ll step aside my dinner’s getting cold.”
     
    He doesn’t move a muscle.
     
    Doesn’t blink.
     
    Just stares at me.
     
    “Let me tell you something, Elle. When I’m seeing a woman, when I care about that woman, and when I’m fucking that woman, I think that gives me every right to know where she is, and when she’s going to be home.”
     
    I’m not sure whether I want to weep, or hit him.
     
    Being as I do best when I hang onto my anger, I choose the latter.
     
    “Well here’s a little lesson for you Ryder Callaghan. When you’re with a woman, and you feel like you have rights over her, you best make sure you sit down and see if she’s ready for the same thing. You also might want to ask her if she likes to make her own life choices and speak for herself. Because that shit you said to Brock back there at the gym? Not fucking cool Ryder! I’m my own person, and I’ll be damned if someone will speak for me. So long as I’m walking, talking and breathing I will continue to make those choices for myself! And nobody on this green earth will ever make them for me. Do I make myself clear?”
     
    Wisely, Ryder steps aside as I plow past him to the kitchen. My girl greets me on the way, so I set the bag on the counter and dig out the container of chicken parmesan I picked up for her. She wastes no time digging into her dinner while I lean against the counter, silently fuming.
     
    I hear Ryder come up behind me, he’s quiet on his feet but the squeaky linoleum gives him away.
     
    “Where’s all this coming from Elle? Not three days ago you gave me a part of you that I wasn’t sure I would ever get. You opened up for me babe, and I’m not just referring to your legs. So tell me, where’s this coming from?”
     
    I take a deep breath before turning to face him. Deep down I know he means well, I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by what he did at the gym. It’s the caveman in him, maybe. The ‘me man, you woman’ thing that makes him want to look after me? The protectiveness that’s ingrained in his being not just because of who he is, but what he does.
     
    The thing is though, I’ve come out on top more often alone than with someone by my side. I keep thinking about that load, my baggage, which I know he’ll help me carry. I know I need to remind myself that he has good intentions, but I also can’t help but want to feel like I’m the one with all the power here.
     
    That’s the thing about having power stripped away from you. It was gone from me for three days, and I never in my life want to feel that again. That hopelessness. That feeling that there’s not a damn thing you can do without asking someone for it first.
     
    So I’ve become even more independent, not ever wanting to ask people for help. Not wanting to ask them for anything . Even when you need to ask if you can have some slack on the rope keeping you bolted to the floor simply so you can piss in a bucket. Well, that’s part of what I like to call rock-bottom dependency. I’ll be damned if I ever need to be dependent again.
     
    “You spoke for me. You didn’t ask me what I wanted, you didn’t ask me for my opinion, you didn’t