A/N: Thanks for reading. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Enjoy!
A POV
Who would have guessed the Grey brothers and their crazy fib would help salvage my friendship with Spencer? It's been three days since Elliot "broke his arm", and I'm still amazed at Christian and Elliot's willingness to bring me and my best friend together again. Even though the Spencer incident is something that I'd like to forget, it also made me realize that I have an underlying issue.
"Ana, are you all right? You've been staring at that pasta for five minutes but haven't taken a bite.", Christian asks while we're having dinner. I stop winding the pasta around my fork and take a deep breath.
"I've been thinking about what happened at the club."
"Why? I thought you and Spencer worked things out."
"We did.", I say. "That night woke me up to the fact that I'm not dealing with things as well as I thought I was. About a month after my mom and Natalie died, I scheduled an appointment with a therapist in hopes that it would help, but I ended up convincing myself that I didn't need a stranger giving me advice on my life, thus my period of darkness began. Your arrival in my life helped me start living again. I look in the mirror, and I see a stronger and more vibrant Ana, but there's also a bit of darkness I can't shake."
"Baby, what is it? I'm here for you no matter what." Reaching across the table, he loops his hand in mine and gives me a reassuring smile.
"Spencer's disappearance in the club had me so afraid that she was gone forever. Loss is something that I know all too well, and it scares the hell out of me. Maybe talking to someone would be beneficial."
"I want you to be free of everything that holds you back so I understand what you're saying.", he smiles. Christian's mentioned how his sessions with Dr. Flynn helped him. In fact, it was Flynn who helped give him the shove he needed to confess his relationship with Elena to his parents.
"Do you think Dr. Flynn can recommend someone?", I ask.
"I'll call him in the morning and have him set up an appointment with you."
"Christian, I'm sure he has a full load of patients that keep him busy."
"I want you to see the best, and that is John Flynn."
"Thank you." He turns over my hand and begins tracing my palm with his index finger.
"No need to thank me."
"I'm madly in love with you.", I tell him as I stand from my chair and take a seat in his lap.
"And I'm madly in love with you Miss Steele. You know tomorrow is Saturday.", he says while placing several soft kisses along the side of my neck.
"Oh, is that what the day after Friday is called?"
"Your smart mouth is turning me on even more. To keep me from fucking you right here on this table, let me finish."
"Do I have to?", I pout with my hand stroking the bulge in his jeans.
"The sooner I say this, the sooner I can be inside you." I mockingly lock my lips and throw away the key which makes him laugh. "As I was saying, tomorrow is Saturday and we're both off for the day so why don't we go to the beach? It's supposed to be a nice day, and we can lay out in the sun and relax." A day at the beach could do wonders.
"I think you just want to see me in a bathing suit.", I giggle before taking a bite of my pasta.
"Well, there's that too. How about it?"
"All right."
C POV
"It's a beautiful day.", I beam at Ana as we arrive at the beach. It may sound cliché, but it's the truth. While the sun and glistening water are great, it's the smile on Ana's face that's making the day perfect. I wake up next to her every morning and fall asleep next to her every night yet I can never get enough of her.
"Yeah it is. I think I'm going to leave my shorts on for a while. There's a bit of a breeze." She's dressed in a black one piece bathing suit and denim shorts along with a striped hoodie to keep her arms warm from the breeze coming from the water.
"I could always warm you up." She sits down in the sand and pats the spot next to her for me. Even though she's wearing the hoodie, I see her shiver a little so I wrap her up in my arms. I managed to have a section of the beach closed off for just the two of us. Taylor's dressed casually in khaki pants and a white shirt while keeping watch. If being here on the beach is this nice, I can only imagine how well our vacation will go. We still haven't decided where we're going, but it doesn't matter as long as we're together. Fuck, we could go to the Arctic Circle, and I'd be happy.
"Let's build a sand castle.", she suggests before picking up the plastic pail and shovel that she insisted on bringing. A look of uncertainty dashes across my face. "What's wrong?"
"I've just never built a sand castle before."
"You had also never jumped on a bed before I convinced you to try it so why don't I help you with this? After all, I'm kind of an expert at building sand real estate."
"Sand real estate?", I ask in amusement. "Tell me about this sand real estate that you're so good at it."
"Natalie and I used to make castles in the sand, and then we started making houses and other buildings. We even tried to make our own sand town one time. Pay close attention." I watch her as she begins transforming the sand into a castle. Her blue eyes are sparkling the entire time. "Finished."
"This is amazing Ana." Yes, I'm a twenty-eight year old billionaire CEO who's impressed by a sand castle. While the castle is nice to look at, it's the artist of it who leaves me in awe. It was hard listening to her last night tell me how there's still a small piece of darkness inside her. Flynn agreed to meet with her next week for a session, and I'm confidant that it will be a step forward in the right direction.
"Why thank you.", she giggles before sprinkling a bit of sand on my legs.
"Please tell me that you didn't put sand on me."
"Um, yeah, I kind of did. What are you planning on doing about it?" Rising to her feet, she sticks her tongue at me and moves a few inches away.
"I'd say that you'd better start running. I'll even give you a head start.", I tell her while pulling myself up from the ground. Instead of running, she keeps standing in her spot. "Ana, are you going to run?"
"What if I don't want to run? Maybe I want you to catch me." I move closer and closer to her until she's at arm's length, and then I pull her into me.
"I've got you, and I'm never letting you go."
"Never.", she repeats. I bring my lips down to hers as our bodies fall back down on to the sand. I'm about to go for the zipper on her shorts when I see Taylor approaching. Fuck! Ana covers her face in embarrassment.
"This better be good.", I growl at him.
"Sir, I just received a call from Oliver, your sister's guard.", Taylor says. "It seems Reed Anders was at your parents' house visiting your sister when things got a little heated." I feel my jaw clench and my knuckles turn white as I try to stay calm, but who am I kidding? I have a feeling whatever he's about to tell me is going to have me out for blood.
"What do you mean by "heated"? Is Mia all right?"
"Miss Grey is fine, physically." I reach into my pocket and grab my phone to call Mia, but she's not answering. Just as I'm about to redial her number, Elliot calls me.
"Elliot, I can't talk right now. Something is going on with Mia."
"That's why I'm calling. I just stopped by the house to check on her since Mom and Dad are out of town for some medical conference. I could see that she had been crying so I asked what happened. Shit, she'd had a fit if she knew that I called you."
"I don't care if she gets mad. Tell me what happened."
"Reed came by to ask Mia for another chance, but she could see that he had been drinking. He ended up getting a little too touchy feely with her. When she asked him to stop, he started accusing her of having a thing with that security guy you hired for her. The guy came in and asked Reed to leave, but that set Reed off and caused him to throw a punch." Does Reed have a death wish? No one treats my sister like that and gets away with it. "After Reed finally left, Mia was hysterical with what happened. Our little sister is a mess."
"I'll be right there.", I snap before ending the call. "Baby, I'm sorry but something is going on with Mia."
A POV
"Reed Anders is going to wish he were never born when I get finished with him.", Christian hisses as we arrive at his parents' house. Since we left the beach, he has been vocal about his plans for Reed.
"How about we focus on Mia for now?", I ask. Elliot opens the front door once we're out of the Escalade.
"Hey. Mia's upstairs in her bedroom, but she doesn't know that I called you.", he says. "In fact, one of the first things she said was not to call you."
"And why the fuck would she not want you to call me?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's because you have a bit of a temper." Christian starts rushing towards the stairs, but I grab his arm to stop him.
"Do you mind if I talk with Mia before you go up? She might feel more comfortable having a woman there?" Christian's eyes move towards the top of the stairs and then back to me.
"All right.", he sighs. I pull him down to me and kiss him before heading up the stairs to Mia's bedroom. I forgot to ask which room is hers, but the sound of crying leads me to my destination.
"Go away Elliot.", she sobs after I knock on the door.
"It's me Mia."
"Ana?", she asks, opening the door. "Where's Christian?"
"Downstairs with Elliot."
"Ugh, I told Elliot not to call Christian, but I should have known that he wouldn't listen. Do you want to sit down?" She motions to a white chair that's next to her window.
"Don't be mad at Elliot. He only did what he though was right. Do you want to talk about what happened with Reed?"
"When he showed up, I could smell the alcohol on his breath, but I told Oliver that I would be ok with him. Reed started talking about how he shouldn't have given up on us so easily and that he wanted to give us another chance. I told him that he was a good friend, but he was right when he ended things. Before I knew what was going on, he started touching my chest and then tried to take my shirt off. I pushed him away, but he went back to doing it. He said that I was nothing but a tease."
"Mia, I'm so sorry."
"What if he's right? What if I am a tease? I flirted with him from the very first minute that I saw him, and then we made out a few times."
"That doesn't give him the right to do what he did. He should have known better."
"He's just like all the other guys. All he cares about is sex which is something that I don't give them, ever."
"You're a virgin?", I ask.
"Yeah. Crazy, right?", she sniffles.
"No, it's not crazy. It's admirable. You shouldn't feel bad about something like that."
"I realize being a virgin isn't the coolest thing, but I was waiting on Mr. Right not Mr. Right Now."
"I understand more than you think. It wasn't too long ago that I was a virgin. Your brother was my first. I was holding out for my Mr. Perfect which is Christian. I thought telling him my situation would send him running, but he was more than all right with it. Not every guy is like Reed and the other ass holes you've come across. Your Mr. Perfect is out there waiting on you, and he won't judge you in any way. He'll simply love you.", I say.
"I can't believe Reed acted like he did. Christian's not going to stay calm about this, is he?"
"I wouldn't count on it."
Photos from the story are on the pinterest page. Search: sherrybabie/Need-You-Now