Chapter 3
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Every head in the room turned to face me. Sighing I stop tapping my fingers and try to focus on the head of the marketing department. This conference is taking forever! Surreptitiously I look at my watch and sigh again. 2:30 where is she? I texted her over twenty minutes ago, right before this interminable meeting started. She's never taken this long to respond. Usually it only takes about two minutes before I hear a ding coming from the phone.
Maybe something's wrong. We had a great lunch, at least I thought so. Did I say something? Did something happen after she left my office? What if-?
CALM DOWN, CROSS! She's probably just busy, she does have a life outside of you, you know. When she left from lunch she told you she loves you just like normal.
I sit back and relive that moment again. Even though she says it every day now it always seems like a miracle. My heart stops beating for just a second and it's like everything in the world breathes a sigh of pure happiness.
Sudden movement distracts me from my revelries. Apparently while I was lost in my own head the meeting ended; I glance at my watch again, 2:45. Why hasn't she answered me? It's never taken her over thirty minutes before.
"Except when she runs," a silky voice in my head whispers. "She's run before, why wouldn't she again? It's not like you have anything to offer her other than sex and money." Shaking my head I walk back into my office. "Stop it," I tell me self. "She loves you, you know she does. How many more times does she have to prove it before you believe it? Give her the trust she's asked for."
Grabbing a pen from my desk, a glint of light catches my eye. I stare at the ring she gave me. When I accepted the ring I accepted what it stood for. Trust, friendship and love; Trust...not an easy thing for me to give, but the thing she needs from me more than anything else. I'd give her the world if she'd let me, so I'll have to give her trust.
Trying to push the worry out of my mind I settle down to do some work. After fifteen minutes I give it up for a lost cause. I can't keep ignoring her silence. Grabbing the phone I call her desk. It rings and rings and rings. Why isn't she answering the damn phone? That's what she gets paid for isn't it? Hanging up I call Mark.
"Mark _"
"Mark, it's Gideon Cross"
"Oh uh, hi Mr. Cross what can I do for you?"
"Is Eva in your office? I've been trying to reach her and she's not answering her phone."
"No, Mr. Cross she left about 2:00 to pick up her friend from the airport. But she did leave her phone here. I was going to hold on to it for her this weekend."
"Her friend from the airport," I ask softly. "What friend?"
"I don't know, she didn't say."
"Ok, thanks Mark and don't worry about her phone I'll have my assistant come and get it. I'll just take it home to her tonight."
I barely hear his response as I gently put down the phone. I didn't know she had a friend coming in from out of town. Did she tell me? No I don't think she did, and Angus would've called if he took her anywhere, its standing orders. Maybe her phone will have a clue.
Leaning over I call Scott and tell him to run down and get her phone. Why wouldn't she tell me that we had people coming this weekend? What is going on?
Impatiently pacing my office I wait for Scott to come back. As soon as he does I rush him out of my office and sit down to go through the phone. There's nothing in the phone calls other than a few missed calls from her mom. I turn to her texts and my heart breaks. There are a couple from me, a couple from her mom again and then several back and forth with somebody only saved as A.
*Does he know? A-*
*Gideon? No! He would kill me! E-*
*I'll see you soon should definitely be an interesting night ;) A-*
How could she do this to me? I ask her to move in with me, I buy her a ring. I give her everything she could want or desire and she goes behind my back and meets somebody else? What's his name Aaron? Anthony? Oh God, what am I going to do without her? How can I live without her?
I think about chasing after her to the airport, but I don't even know which airport, much less which flight or gate. I don't even know where she would go. Oh shit, what if she takes him to a hotel? Or even my apartment? The apartment; She'll have to go back there sometime.
Grabbing the phone again I call our doorman and tell him to call me immediately when Eva gets home. Then calling Angus, I told him to be ready to meet me in front of Crossfire in a moment's notice. There's nothing else I can do until I know where she is. I can't even track her phone since it's still sitting on my desk.
For the next hour I try to bury myself and my feelings into work. Nothing actually got done, but I was able to fool myself into thinking I was being productive.
My phone starts ringing at last.
"Cross."
"Mr. Cross, its Roger, the doorman. She got here a few minutes ago."
"Why are you just now calling?"
"I was on my break earlier. I called you as soon as I realized that she had come in, sir."
I ask the question that scares me the most. "Was she alone?"
"No sir, she had somebody with her and some man just came barging in and went straight to the Penthouse."
I can actually hear my heart break as I thank him and hang up. I rush out of the office and fly to the elevator, calling Angus to let him know I'm on my way.
Sliding into the SUV it feels like my world is shattering around me. The entire ride home all I can do is remember all the memories we had made in this backseat. This is the first place she told me she loved me and gave me the picture that's sitting on my desk. The drive home seems to take forever and it's only as I realize that we're pulling up in front of my building that I notice that it's taken half of the normal time to get there.
I fling myself out of the car and run into the building. I thank God that the elevator didn't make me wait today. I pace inside the little car as it rockets up to the top floor. I'm terrified of what I'm going to find when it stops its ascent.
The doors open, I step out and turn to my door and a bellow of rage erupts from my mouth. Some asshole has Eva flung over his shoulder. All I can see is her ass waving at me and her feet kicking helplessly. Just as I hear my Angel's voice yelling at him to stop, he smacks her square on the butt.
It's not until my fist is breaking his nose that I realize I've moved. He hits the ground hard, dropping his precious cargo. I lean down to help her up, when I notice that she's got brown hair, and Eva is standing in the doorway with her mouth gaping open. What the fuck is going on? "Oh! Fuck nuggets Gideon! What did you do?" she yells at me as she goes to the brunette's side and tries to help stop the blood. "Is there anything I can do to help, Ana?"
"I don't think so. I think he's coming around."
"What the hell do you mean what did I do? Who the fuck are these people Eva?"
A quiet moaning sound coming from the floor indicates that prick I just knocked out was waking up.
"Christian, are you ok? Just lay down there for a while. I can't believe that douche canoe punched you! Oh my poor fifty." Ana sat down on the floor and cradled his head in her lap, pushing his hair off his forehead and holding a handkerchief to his bloody nose.
"Christian? As in Christian Grey? That better not be who I think it is Eva!"
Eva looked at me her grey eyes swimming with trepidation. "Gideon, meet your brother Christian and his wife, Ana."
For a second I can't move as I realize that Ana was the A from the texts messages. Relief pours through so strongly my knees feel weak. Thank God she's not cheating on me. Realization slowly dawns that she went behind my back and did something I asked her specifically not to do. The relief is quickly replaced with a burning rage.
"What the bloody fuck, Eva? What the hell gives you the right to do something like this? I told you in explicit detail that I didn't want to me my 'brother'. I already have one brother that I wish was out my life, why the fuck would you bring me another one?"
"The feeling is definitely mutual," a hard, cold voice comes from the floor. Christian has woken up and is struggling to his feet while Ana helps him.
"Come on Mrs. Grey, we're getting the hell out of here. I'll deal with you when we get to our apartment."
"Does that mean we're staying in New York?"
"For tonight, it's been a stressful day having my wife run all over the country. We'll be leaving first thing in the morning."
"If we're staying tonight then maybe we can all go to dinner. Let the two of you get to know each other. Please?"
"I think that's a great idea, Ana. I think they should at least spend time together," Eva interjects. She turns to me with pleading eyes, "Please, Gideon?"
Turning my back from her I thrust both my hands in my hair in frustration. I don't know what to do. I've never denied her anything.
A sudden giggling has me turning around again. Both girls are doubled over holding their stomachs while laughter shakes their entire bodies. I look to Christian to see if he has a clue as to what's wrong with them and see him standing with his hands in his hair. Oh, apparently we both got that trait from dear old dad.
We just stand there and stare at each other while the girls try to compose themselves. It's very odd to look at him. We look very similar but strangely different, like the same portrait drawn with different artists and different paint. Where his hair is short and bronze, mine is long and black. His eyes a steely gray, mine an electric blue. But shape of the eye, the lips cut like stone even down to the crease between his eyebrows is the same as mine. Shit, he really is my brother. I don't think I realized until this moment that a part of me hoped it wasn't true.
Ana and Eva finally got themselves together and are looking at us expectantly. I look to Christian. It's up to him.
"Ana, I can't. Not tonight. Let's go to our apartment and we'll talk about it. Maybe we can stay in New York for the weekend. I'm assuming you pack clothes for us?" He shakes his head in amusement as she just nods emphatically. "You always do think of everything. Fine we'll stay the weekend I need to see how my new Grey Isles campaign is going anyway. I heard we got a new male model that might be good for another project. I'll set up a meeting with him, ok?"
Ana throws her arms around his neck and squeals, "Thank you, Sir."
Wow...what kind of wife calls her husband sir?
Eva walks over to Christian, "Um Christian is the model's name Cary Taylor by any chance?"
"Actually, yes it is. I hear he's this new up and comer."
Eva laughingly says, "Well if you want to meet him I can definitely make arrangements for it. He's my best-friend. In fact, he was my roommate before I moved in with Gideon."
"Thank you that would be most appreciated, Miss Trammel."
Christian and Ana leave with Ana telling Eva that she would call her if she can talk him into dinner tomorrow night. Slowly, we walk back into the penthouse.
"How was work? I think I need a work-out; I'm just going to change clothes and hit the gym. Does that sound good or would you like dinner or I could-"
"Eva, ENOUGH! You're not going to be able to chatter your way out of this. Nor are you going to be able to distract me. What the FUCK were you thinking? I told you and told you I wanted nothing to do with him. Why couldn't you respect me enough to listen to me?"
"Baby, I do respect you, I just couldn't let it drop. You have a brother, a brother who never even knew who his father was. Can you imagine not knowing where you came from other than knowing your mother was a crackwhore?"
"It wasn't your place! I don't want to imagine it! I knew who my father was he was a manic depressive con-man who apparently cheated on his wife and rather than face any of his responsibilities he took the easy way out and killed himself! You saw how Christopher is; why the hell would I want another brother like that?"
"At least you have a brother and a sister and lo and behold here's another brother for you. I'm an only child; do you know how lonely that is? There's nobody to share anything with. Nobody to be on your side when your parents are being unreasonable. It was just me all alone! If I had had a brother when I was getting raped maybe I could have turned to him to help me. Christian is not Christopher, everything he has he's gotten for himself. Can't you just try to get to know him?"
I sigh, "it means that much to you?"
"Yes, but don't just do it for me. Do it for yourself, from what I can tell the two of you are a LOT alike."
"Fine, but don't expect us to be best buddies. I'll go out to dinner with them tomorrow night, but that's the last I want to hear about it. Do you understand? I want you to drop it."
"Thank you. I love you."
Eva kisses me gently as I savor the sound of those three words. "You know, you're my life don't you? I tried texting you earlier and when you didn't respond I went nuts. I called your office and Mark told me that you had left the office early to go meet someone. When I got your phone I saw those messages from Ana and thought you were leaving me. It destroyed me; don't hide anything from me again. I can't handle it."
"You looked through my phone? Again? Didn't I talk to you about that? I need you to trust me. If you want to know something just ask. That's a deal-breaker for me."
"I promise just don't leave and don't stop loving me. I couldn't take it. I love you."
"I love you too, always; now how about we go workout."
I follow her to the bedroom and watch as strips to just her bra and panties. She bends over to get her work out clothes from the bottom of the dresser. My blood starts burning again, but not from anger. Now, its lust that has my heart racing, watching her delectable ass stretched out before me.
Quickly, I stride over to stand behind her and put my hand between her shoulders to keep her bent over.
"Gideon, what are you doing?"
I don't answer as I use my other hand to shove her panties to one side and bury my fingers into her.
"Oh god Angel, you're already ready for me."
"I'm always ready for you."
Taking my hand off her back I reach around her to pull her breast out of her bra and tug on her already stiff nipple.
"Oh Gideon, fuck me please"
Using one hand I unbutton my slacks and slide the zipper down. I pull out my fully erect cock and bury it deep within her.
"Eva," I moan as I start pounding into her hard, "I'm not going to last long."
I thrust my fingers between her legs and rub her clit. Her pussy is clenching my dick and in a rush she's screaming my name as an orgasm rips through her.
"Oh fuck, Eva. You feel so good. I can feel your hot little cunt twitching around my dick."
With one last hard thrust I start to shatter. As I shoot load after load of cum in her I release all the fear and all the tension of the day. I suddenly feel at peace.
"I love you, Angel."
"I love you too, Gideon. When I can walk again we can take a shower. I suddenly don't feel the need for the gym tonight."