Chapter 2 – No Secrets from Sullivan
It's been a year since Christian Grey bought LT and we became a team. Fuck team, we were a force to be reckoned with. In that year, we've stripped the company down, split it up, and sold it to the highest bidder like a fucking slave auction. All so we can purchase four more companies – three to build up, the other to plunder like we did Lyden Technologies. I feel like a pirate riding the high seas looking for my next victim. I'd say it's awesome but the reality is awesome isn't an awesome enough word for it. It's orgasmic!
Hard work pays off. Christian and I have put in seventy plus hour weeks since day one and we've pretty much made a target list of companies we will eventually have. He pursues the larger ones, while I hunt the small-to-midsized ones. We have a list of the companies we will buy moving forward. I'd have said want, but I have to be positive, so it's only a matter of time. Christian is brilliant. I'm not slouch either, but the kid is visionary. GEH even crossed the twenty million mark in the first year and I had the honor of sitting at Christian's side as he broke the news to his parents, siblings, other family, and a few family friends.
He handled the situation better than I would have. I mean, if my father bitched at me for a year straight after dropping out of college, I would have bent him over the table and shoved the latest GEH financials up his ass for good measure. That's me – I'm a god unholy bitch. Not Christian. The now twenty-one year old has the control of an old seasoned businessman.
His family members are interesting. His father is a wealthy, prestigious lawyer – which in my mind makes him an arrogant prick. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree now, does it? His mother is a prominent pediatrician. Christian says she's a saint. From my experience, saints are the best in the bedroom because you bring that wall down and their inner freak comes exploding out of them. I'm banking on Grace knowing her way around a penis. The day I said that to Christian, he just about threw me out of his office while I laughed at him.
Mia is adorable but needs to be sent to a convent, as she's boy crazy. Elliot, the family whore, well, he and I stayed after that family dinner at a bar and compared cell phone pictures side-by-side of our conquests. In the end, the score was Ros 1 – Elliot 0, as I'd had about ten of his women before he did. He claimed I turned them, to which I replied, Go fuck yourself Elliot, some women like having both orifices filled and since you aren't big enough to fill the front one, your teeny weeny peeny needs to enter through the back door. We even compared oral techniques to maximize our partner's vaginal pleasure. I am the Jedi Master and he is my apprentice. Christian wasn't amused, but fuck him. I fucking adore Elliot. He's like me – bat shit crazy, smart, and a free spirit in every sense of the word. Christian could take lessons from him.
Christian's mom's best friend is this peroxide blonde Elena Lincoln. Honestly, I just don't get it. Grace is a saint and Elena is just creepy as all fuck. How the hell does someone like Grace get to be friends with the embodiment of malevolent? And Christian really seems to like this woman too? Am I missing something or is Christian fucking the bitch? She looks good for her age, so who knows, maybe the kid has mommy issues from before he was adopted and he deals with it that way. I know he's not gay, regardless of the rumors that Elliot perpetuates and his family believes. I see how he looks at women, brunettes in particular. His eyes when he sees a petite brunette are like those of a starving kid being handed a McDonald's Happy Meal.
I've learned a great deal about Christian in the past year – he's a control-freak extraordinaire; he's a visionary; he needs to play more; and I'm one of two people who can fuck with him, Elliot is the other. Oh, and he desperately needs to get laid. In the year I've known him, he hasn't been on a single date. Not one. Not male. Not female. Like what the fuck? If I don't get laid every few days, I'm an unforgiving bitch.
For Christian's twenty-first birthday I sent him a portable, cow milking machine so he could get some relief. He fired me that day, so I went out with Elliot to a nightclub, partied, laughed, and we both picked up women for a long weekend of kinky fun. I wasn't surprised when my phone rang at seven a.m. on Monday morning and all I heard was Christian bitching because I wasn't at work yet. See, he loves me in his own fucked up way, and I love him. He still needs to get laid.
By the time I got into the office that morning, we went right to work and didn't address Friday. Victory is mine! There really wasn't a need. We spent more hours together than most married couples, so we knew each other. Needless to say, when the afternoon came and I hired three petite brunette prostitutes to show up at his office to tie him down and pleasure him, well, he wasn't amused, though little Christian's attention wasn't missed by anyone. Okay, so little Christian clearly wasn't that little. "Christian, if you want your real birthday present, well, you're going to have to select one of the girls, put your hand down her little pants and pull out your prize. And before you ask, it's not a tampon – that would be disgusting."
Christian never did anything that you'd expect. I never in a million years expected him to reach into the pussy-jar for the prize, but he did after he made each girl sign a non-disclosure agreement that he magically pulled out of his ass. Okay, so it was from his desk, but what the fuck Grey – an NDA is always at the tip of his fingers. I have to admit, he was thrilled with his season tickets to the Seahawks, but passed on the women. Me? Well, I took them home with me, called Elliot and offered him one, though he tried to take two in my guest room. It was a long, wonderful night other than hearing Elliot's fucking going on in the guest room, but then again, I'm sure he and half of Seattle heard mine as well. Good fucking times!
GEH had grown fast that first year, with us now having a Human Resources Director, a new IT Director, and another ten employees in our corporate offices. Christian and I shared an Administrative Assistant, Maggie, who we were working into an early grave. If we made the next few acquisitions we'd planned, the GEH team would have to grow significantly. We'd also have to review our current staff and replace anyone who was underperforming. In my mind it was our IT Director. He agreed and assigned our HR Director the task of coming up with a shortlist of acceptable candidates. I scoffed at the idea, but he insisted I be patient.
HR came up with a list of resumes from people who graduated MIT, Harvard, Caltech, and even my old alma mater, Stanford. The final four looked like a bunch of dweebs. After interviewing them, Christian and I glanced at each other and muttered, fucking wannabe nerds and laughed.
"So what do you want to do Ros?" Christian asked. I could tell he already had a plan of action in his mind, so this was just his way of seeing if we are once again on the same wavelength.
"This babe I fucked around with at Stanford" I started, causing Christian to raise an eyebrow at me, so I corrected myself, "of the many babes I fucked around with at Stanford and beyond, there was one in particular, who wasn't a good lay by the way but had curves that you couldn't ignore, had a little brother Barney who was about thirteen or so. This kid kept getting in trouble for hacking into different companies and government websites just to see if he could. The kid was a computer genius. Not much personality to him but put him in front of a keyboard and he was Rainman. Special kids, like Barney, are grabbed by the Microsoft's of the world or our illustrious government, because they don't see limits, only puzzles without the moral ambiguity those assholes who graduate the MITs of the world have. Barney must be in his late teens by now. I want to say we need someone like him – a go getter, who will love what he does, develop programs no one else will have, and in terms of IT security well, there's pride in not allowing other hackers in."
Christian's face remained unchanged, as it always did when he was pondering an issue. Finally, after what felt like forever, his eyes met mine and he smirked. "What's this Barney kid doing now?"
"No clue, but I can reach out and find out. We can bring him up for an interview and see. Keep in mind, if we hire someone like Barney, we'll need to expand our IT budget, as someone like him will insist on the best equipment or he'll build it himself."
A week later, Christian and I sat in his office awaiting the arrival of seventeen-year old Barney Sullivan. Frankly, I didn't know what to expect, as his sister was hot, yet the most inhibited bitch on the face of the earth. I mean, I get it, sometimes with high intelligence something has to be sacrificed and in her case it was sexuality and some personality, so I was naturally curious about her little brother.
The gaudy kid who walked through the door a minute later was unexpected. He was taller than Christian, and that's saying something as he's almost six-two and I'm five-nine. Barney had to be six-four, brown hair, and desperately in need of a sandwich. I glanced over at Christian, who was already pulling out the file folder from his desk where he kept the take out menus. The kid couldn't weigh more than a hundred and fifty pounds. He was your typical geeky kid, minus the glasses and lacking the acne. There was something about his blue eyes that left me feeling he was otherworldly and his brain was always working on a puzzle of some sort. His outfit screamed Geek Squad – khaki's and a polo shirt, though he pointed out that suit and tie were optional, but he pulled a red bow tie from his pocket and informed us he brought it just in case.
We introduced ourselves, found out when he turned eighteen, and asked him about his hobbies. The kid had no real work experience, though he admitted to fantasize being the Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise one day. Christian looked at me as if I was out of my mind bringing Barney in for an interview. Frankly, I was feeling the same way – out of my fucking mind.
"So Barney," I asked hoping to steer the conversation onto something business related, "what is your biggest IT accomplishment in your mind."
When he blushed and giggled like a schoolgirl, I dreaded his answer. "I've worked with a network of hackers to reroute luxury food shipments to poor areas in Africa, Asia, and South America. It felt like the moral thing to do."
I sighed with relief when I glanced over at Christian and he had a broad smile on his face. "What else have you accomplished Barney?" he asked.
Barney became a bit introspective for a minute before replying, "I've hacked into companies who I thought were less than above board and leaked sensitive company emails that caused some legal issues for them. I've also run detailed background checks on people."
"How detailed?" Christian asked. I almost felt like he was panicking.
Barney smiled distantly. "Well I know all about both of you."
"What do you mean Barney? What do you know about us?" I asked. My life was pretty much an open book. Christian knew just about everything there was to know about me.
"Just the basics – school, upbringing, bank balances, legal files, and the … um… well never mind the rest," he blushes. "You two are peas in a pod, but I'm surprised you haven't murdered each other yet to see who is dominant."
In a split second, Christian had an NDA in front of Barney insisting that he sign it. The kid did so without even reading it. "You know what you just signed?" Christian asked. I knew after Barney left, Christian and I were going to be having a conversation neither one of us wanted or expected to ever have.
"An NDA, which means shut up Barney," he replied distantly.
"So Barney, what can you bring GEH as its IT Director?" I ask.
We watch as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out two thumb drives and hands them to Christian. "Systems that are more secure than you currently have. It took me all of ten minutes to download all of your confidential documents and throw them onto these thumb drives. Your current IT person is crap. Plus I can integrate all of your current and future companies, but to do it right will require an investment on GEH's part to upgrade equipment."
"When can you start?" Christian asked.
Barney merely shrugged and gazed out the window. Christian ordered him to be here two weeks from Monday ready to start but before he left, Maggie, our assistant would walk him around the building to check out our current computers and servers, so we could ensure he had everything he needed on his first day of work.
A minute later Barney was gone and Christian locked the door to his office. This was going to be an interesting conversation, so I figured I would start. I reached out to shake his hand and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Grey. They call me Mistress Vermillion. I assure you all of my actions are consensual, legal, and highly enjoyable for all parties." I couldn't help but smirk at him.
"Fuck!" he muttered before pulling out a bottle of scotch from his cabinet and two shot glasses. We each down a shot, though if I'm not mistaken, he took two.
Even after two shots, he didn't know what to say, so I asked, "Consensual, legal and safe?"
He nodded before taking another shot.
"Contractual like mine?" I asked.
Again he nodded.
"Female like mine?" I smirked.
He smirked back.
"All brunettes?"
He nodded.
"I have a thing for blondes. For me it's about control. When I'm in a shit storm I need it," I mumble. "Don't get me wrong, on an average day I'm the queen of kink, but there are times when more is needed by both parties. Now pull out two of your NDA's so we can sign away our voices and be done with this conversation once and for all."
He laughs as we both sign off on our NDAs. I'd never seen a more panicked look on a persons face than was on his at this moment. It was fucking hilarious. "Who knows Christian, one day you and I can expand upon the discussion I had with Elliot about how to pleasurably stimulate lady parts."
"Fuck you Ros," he chuckled. "Trust me, I know all about stimulating lady parts and then some."
