CHAPTER 8 - Home sweet home
The next three days are like hell on Earth for Christian. He had been expecting a lock down for quite some time, but it was declared earlier that he had foreseen; unfortunately, Seattle was the first big city in the USA to be impacted by the virus along with New York City, and the reanimation rooms were dealing with a growing number of people with breathing problems. His mother Grace even had to do more hours these past two weeks to cover for one of her pediatrician colleague taking shifts in the designated COVID-19 area. And if the situation in China and Europe was any indicator of what was coming next for the USA, it was just the beginning of a long nightmare.
On the Asian front, the situation with his partners in China was terrible, as the government stopped all activity three weeks ago for nobody knows how long. Luckily, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan were not impacted. Yet. His vice president Ros is in charge of that part of the World while Christian has to deal with the USA and Europe. In France, Spain and Italy, things are already difficult, with lock downs in all three countries and the activity being highly reduced. In the United Kingdom, for the moment, the government does not show any sign that they will go into lock down any time soon, which is a bit surprising but somehow some good news for GEH's business there.
In the USA, GEH is only present in the states of Washington and New York, which were the two most impacted states in the country as of now. The digital activity of GEH is only slightly impacted with people continuing working from home; only a small team of IT technicians and engineers goes daily onsite, and they each have been provided with a car in order for them to avoid public transportation. They also received a stock of gloves and masks.
But for the shipyards, the situation had to be analyzed carefully; that was the purpose of Christian's travels these past few days. The conclusion, validated by the authorities, is that only one fifth of the men would go onsite at the same time, with 8 hours shifts, to try to keep producing as much as possible without endangering anyone; the economy could not be totally stopped. Christian talked to all the local managers and arranged for them to provide a bonus for all the workers during this period of time. Of course, everything will be put into place so that the safety of all workers is ensured.
Christian spent the first day in Seattle in different parts of the city, the second day in Vancouver and Spokane to visit some suppliers and the third day in Bellingham. He is exhausted. The only thing that could make him feel better now is to get home as soon as possible. Which should occur in less than thirty minutes now as the car getting closer to Bellevue.
On Friday afternoon, Christian had called Susanna, his current "fuck friend" as she likes to call herself despite Christian finding it extremely vulgar. He wanted to check if she'd be willing to spend the night with him at Escala. After all, it might be his last time away from home for quite some time. But after calling home that evening, he simply did not feel like it anymore, so he called Susanna again, to cancel. She was not impressed, which led to a heated argument over the phone, which led to a common agreement to end the contract. Somehow, Christian preferred it this way, things were clear, he entered this lock down period bound by contract to no one.
After everything fell apart will Leila, Christian did not want to start another relationship with anyone. And in particular, he did not want any woman in contact with his children. But he had always enjoyed the physical aspect of relationships, and at twenty one was definitely too young to enter celibacy. So he started visiting clubs with his older brother, where he would meet with women just looking for sex, like him. When GEH's reputation started to grow, it was obvious that he would need to be more careful about these encounters; that's when he started contracting escort girls, all coming from the same agency, to come to his place at weekends. They were all vetted by his security team before coming to Escala. And so far, this kind of arrangement totally satisfied him; there were no feelings, just sex. And both the women and himself got what they were looking for: satisfying and attachment-free sex for him, satisfying sex and money for them. Until now, Christian thought it was the perfect deal. He is not so sure anymore.
On another note, these three days were a good test in terms of security and Christian ends up pleased with how well Sawyer has stepped into Taylor's shoes.
As far as what was going on at home, Ryan reported to Sawyer several times a day. This in addition to Christian's daily Skype or Facetime calls with the children or Miss Steele helped him feeling reassured. It seemed that they were kept quite busy and entertained.
When Christian finally enters the house, he quickly gets rid of his jacket and tie, undoing a few of the buttons of his shirt, then swiftly goes upstairs to the children's rooms. It is two hours past their bedtime, so Christian knows that he will find two sleeping children, but it is very important for him to see them. First he goes to Phoebe's bedroom. She is laying on her left side, with the sheets still totally covering her body. Christian just kneels next to the bed, and caress his daughter's hair sweetly before letting her sleep peacefully. He then goes to Teddy's room. As he nears the racing car slash bed, he sees that Teddy's laying on his stomach, with both the sheet and blanket having partly slipped from his body. His little boy always moves in his sleep. Christian slowly brings the sheet higher to cover the sleeping boy, as well as the blanket. He caresses his little hand then leaves the room, reassured that everything is okay.
Christian looks towards Miss Steele's bedroom door, sighing, then goes downstairs, in the kitchen, to get some water bottle from the fridge; he is tempted to have a glass of Scotch, but knows it will not help him get to sleep. As he already has a hand on the handle, he sees a note on the fridge "Mr Grey, the children and I baked some salmon quiche today and there is some left for you and Mr Sawyer. There are also cookies in the jar on the kitchen island. Just help yourself. Ana."
Christian is not sure if he is hungry right now but as soon as he lays eyes on the quiche in the fridge, he changes his mind and takes a bite. He actually finishes it in no time without sharing it with Sawyer who already left for his cottage anyway. And it is the same with the delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies. Christian has been in love with Gail's baking ever since she started working for him, but he has to admit that Ana's is just as good. This young woman is indeed full of surprises. Christian refuses to think about it now, but he goes to his room and after a quick shower, he lies down in his bed with a smile on his face.