Christian Grey

When the brunette beauty behind the bar politely asked me to wait a few seconds before serving me, I didn't know if I wanted to shoot her or fuck her more.

Within two weeks, I knew I wanted her. Hell, I had Barney pull some major strings so she would be working directly with me, instead of having a desk job with my father. Anastasia Steele could not have chosen a worse time to enter my life.

As for teaching her a lesson, that could wait. She saved my life and thought nothing of it, only wanting to know why someone would try to kill me. My brother wasted valuable minutes trying to interrogate the fucker instead of putting him down as soon as he saw the knife was drawn. I blamed Elliot for the whole incident- not that it was anything new. Convincing Carrick that Elliot was unreliable was another matter all together.

Elliot didn't have my back; he never would. I was a threat to his inheritance, a threat to his future, and if I were to die, I doubt he'd shed too many tears. He'd just miss having someone to boast to about his latest piece of ass. Idiot. What he failed to understand was that women were important in our world, but they had specific roles to play. And Elliot's interpretation of one of those roles was dead wrong. No wonder the Italian families couldn't take him seriously. If you wanted to fuck around you kept it secret. That's why the media was always speculating that I was gay or celibate. I didn't need anyone to know who was getting my dick wet. That was my business and mine alone.

I groaned as Taylor passed me an open can of Red Bull. I hadn't even thought about contracting a new submissive since I met Anastasia Steele. And that was fucking unusual, even Taylor knew I was particularly frustrated these days.

"Boss, Clayton and I are ready. We'll be in the car with Paul," Taylor said, dressed in black and holding a black balaclava in his hands. He had a gun holstered under each arm and was holding an AR-15.

I nodded, unbuttoning my linen shirt and changing into black jeans and black hoodie. I grabbed the same weapons as Taylor, but strapped a knife to my thigh for good measure. I tipped the rest of the Red Bull back and grabbed a burner phone from my desk drawer. I triple checked I had enough extra ammo and that all of the guns were loaded, I pulled on the balaclava, and a black baseball cap over the top for good measure. I locked my office door, hoping that I wouldn't run into Anastasia on the way out.

"Drive," I commanded Clayton as soon as I hopped in the black pick-up truck. It was tense in the cab and I was anxious to get it over and done with. I had studied Elliot's guards and their pattern of patrolling the warehouse. There were three of them, all on a corner and every fifteen minutes they rotated. It wasn't a true warehouse they were guarding due to it's size, but it fulfilled that purpose. Taylor parked the car a block behind the building, handing Paul the keys.

"Wait for the call. No sooner, no later," I instructed, clapping him on the shoulder. I had to choose the most trustworthy men for this. Taylor was also my CPO and had been with our family long enough to know up from down, but I was taking a risk with Clayton and Paul. They hated Elliot because he had slept with their sisters, girlfriends, or something stupid like that and they were eager to work with me and benefit from my success. But they had to prove their loyalty first.

I pulled out my hand gun and ducked behind a dumpster. Screwing on the silencer, I knew I had just one chance to knock out the security camera on this corner. I counted to three on my fingers, and Taylor and I both disabled hit our marks. Two of the guards came running.

"Drop your weapons! The police are on the way!" one of them called out. Clayton shot him in the shin from the gap under the dumpster, allowing Taylor to take out the one covering him. I put a bullet in the other's head.

"You two go in. I'll hunt the other one," I said, covering Taylor and Clayton as they cut the chain on the door and slipped inside. There wasn't anything of value stored in the building except for our family's personal stash of guns. Only Carrick, Grace, Elliot, and myself knew about it. And since it was Elliot's jurisdiction, it would be his fuck up if the guns went missing under his watch. I skirted the building twice, before determining that the last guard must be inside. The five crates of guns were stacked right by the door. I spotted Paul backing the truck in as I silently headed deeper into the warehouse.

If I wanted to surprise an intruder, I'd come from behind. I knew I'd have to go so much deeper than necessary. I heard the slight shift of a gun. Before the other guard could react, I sliced his throat with my knife. Because he was facing Taylor and Clayton, if I shot him, the bullets would have passed through and could have hit them.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," I said, helping Paul with one of the crates. We pulled out into the streets, and I directed Paul to GEH, where I could stash them in a top secret vault.

I dialed a familiar number. It rang twice before Jose Rodriguez Sr. answered. "Yes."

"Do your thing. It's done. Torch the place. Pick up is tomorrow night," I said before hanging up and snapping the phone, breaking the SIM card and putting it in a bag with the other destroyed burner phones.

"Pull in here," I directed Paul. "Welch has wiped the tapes, right?"

"Yes, boss," Taylor responded, hopping out of the car. "Boys, go home."

Paul and Clayton left the private garage as fast as possible.

"Clayton didn't take the shot," I said as Taylor and I walked the first crate to a steel door that looked like a utility door. I unlocked it, and spun the handle, pulling open the second door.

"It was his first time out," Taylor said, as we continued to ferry the crates into the vault.

"But that wouldn't have been his first kill," I said, knowing that in order to join our organization he would have had to have killed before.

"Let's deal with it tomorrow, boss," Taylor said, climbing into the SUV we parked here sooner. It was a short, quiet drive back to Escala.

"Well, get some sleep before Elliot wakes us up as soon as the guards are due to change," I said pulling off the baseball cap and sweaty mask.

Taylor nodded and headed down the hallway to the quarters he shared with Gail. I envied the fact he had someone to come home to every night. Strolling to my office, I replaced the gun in the reinforced room behind the bookshelf.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen before heading to my bedroom to go and shower. And wash the blood that covered my hands down the drain.

"Christian?" a sleepy voice coming from my bed stopped me in my tracks. Considering my mind had been occupied with Anastasia for the past week, I was still rooted to the spot, shocked to see her in my bed. In the moonlight streaming though the window, she looked so peaceful. Her skin was luminous and I found myself responding to her mere presence.

"Go back to sleep," I whispered, heading to the bathroom.

"Why are you dressed like that?" she asked, turning on the light. I noticed she was sleeping in the lacy blue bra I had provided for her.

"The robbery, remember?" I asked, swallowing thickly as she made no move to cover herself. Her hair was in a messy braid over her shoulder and I felt my jeans get tighter. Down boy.

"Oh my god, are you hurt?" she exclaimed, catching sight of my hands and jumping out of bed and rushing over to me. I took a deep breathe, trying not to let my gaze linger on her exposed body, or the nearly see-through panties she was wearing on the bottom. Fuck me.

"I need to shower," I said, trying to extract myself from her narrowed gaze. She followed me into the bathroom.

"I'm not leaving until I'm certain that's not your blood," she said, sitting down on the closed toilet. I shrugged and pulled off my hoodie and tee shirt in one fluid move. I felt her eyes on my body as I began to unbutton my jeans. She stood up. I watched as she stalked towards me, her eyes never leaving my own. Her arms wrapped lightly around my bare waist and she pressed her head to my chest. I was frozen, reveling in the feeling of her warm, soft body against mine. "I'm so glad you're okay."

As she attempted to flee the bathroom, I caught her wrist. "Anastasia, thank you for caring."

She gave me a small smile. "I'm glad it's not your blood."

I took a deep breathe and pulled her back to me. "Me too."

We were stood face to face, neither of us wanting to make the first move. Her breathing hitched as I broke the spell and started to take a small step forwards.

"Oh, fuck this," she whispered, crashing her lips to mine. Taken by surprise, my arms shot out to grasp her biceps, ready to push her back. Quickly overtaken by the feeling of her lips on mine, I relaxed, allowing her arms to shoot up and her hands to tangle in my hair, causing me to groan. She slipped her tongue in my mouth, stroking and dancing, teasing my. My hands traveled down the curve of her bare back to rest firmly on her incredible ass. I squeezed, causing her to moan.

She pulled back suddenly, a coy grin on her face. "That's enough, Mr. Grey."

I swallowed heavily, feeling my dick harden even more. How the hell did she have that power over me? I watched her dart back out into the bedroom and I exhaled sharply, yanking down my jeans and diving under the spray of cold water. It did absolutely nothing. Groaning I switched the temperature to warm and let my hand travel down to grasp my pulsing erection.

Giving a firm stroke, I groaned as object of my desires slipped back into the bathroom. Topless. She bit her lip as she watched, smirking as I moaned and began to run my hand up and down, over the head eliciting a sting of swear words. Embarrassingly soon, I released my load all over the glass of the shower. Anastasia grinned salaciously and danced back into the bedroom. I pressed my forehead against the glass, trying to catch my breathe and figure out what the fuck possessed me to jack off in front of the woman who had the power to bring my whole world crashing down around me.

I snuck back into my closet wearing nothing but a towel. "I'm not asleep."

I groaned internally. "I'm sorry for keeping you up."

"It's your home, do what you need to do. But honestly, I'm no stranger to violence, but I'm not sure I can sleep after this," she said, sounding worried. I clenched my jaw, unhappy that she was avoiding discussing what had just transpired in the bathroom. Maybe she needed time. I pulled on a white cotton shirt and clean boxers. Figuring she might want something else to sleep in, I grabbed my Harvard shirt for her.

"Here," I said, throwing it at her. She nodded in thanks and pulled it on. "Today, I've apologized to you more than I have in the past three months."

She smiled. "Maybe you're seeing the errors in your default behavior."

I couldn't help but smirk back. I bit back a groan as she sat in my bed, in my shirt. Never before had I felt such a strong level of attraction towards a woman, even when she was suspended by ropes in my playroom. Miss Steele was something else entirely. I was fighting a battle I would be losing very fast. "Are you sure you won't be able to sleep?"

She nodded and I pulled her out of bed, throwing her over my shoulder. She squealed as I carried her out of the bedroom. "What has gotten into you?"

"I'm in a good mood," I said, sitting her down on one of the kitchen bar stools. She blushed. "Do you want anything?"

She chuckled and shook her head. "You know, I'm pretty sure you're violating and crossing so many employee employer boundaries right now. This could be considered sexual harassment."

"Is it truly unwanted attention, Miss Steele?" I asked setting my hands on the counter and facing her. Her cheeks colored even more and she bit her lips. Fuck it all to hell.

I leaned over the counter and pulled her lip from her teeth. "What did I tell you before?"

She laughed. "Well, now I know how to get your attention. We need to talk about all of this Christian. I have questions that need answers."

I sighed and handed her a glass of chocolate milk, taking a sip of my own. I needed her to trust me, to open up to me and confirm my suspicions. Her eyebrows raised, but she didn't say anything. "Elliot isn't the right choice to take over the family business. So, I stole the guns he was supposed to guard, and my Cartel contacts will make sure it looks like they did it. They're going to take them to Mexico for me, but not tomorrow ."

She nodded, her eyes getting darker. "Why now?"

"He pissed me off one times too many," I said. I wanted to tell her truth, and in that moment, I felt I could trust her. How she would take this information would change everything. "He didn't kill the fucker who stabbed you when he had the chance. He was trying to keep him alive for information. And you're much to valuable to me to be considered simple collateral damage."

She sucked in a breathe and took a nervous gulp of the milk she didn't even want. "Why aren't you transporting the guns?"

"I'm not sure it's the right move. I have everything in place and it can be done in a moment, but right now, having them close is more of an insurance policy," I said. "Look, you, Taylor, and myself are the only three people who know that the guns are not going to be transported out of Seattle any time soon."

"What about Gwen? Isn't this her area of expertise?" she asked, looking confused.

"Gwen is pregnant," I said matter of factly. "She won't come back to this job once she gives birth."

"That's why you brought me on," she finished. "Even thought I know nothing about this kind of stuff."

"That's why you're the perfect choice. Anyone from the organization would know too much, be trying to climb to the top. And right now, I really need someone by my side who isn't going to be seen as a prime target," I said, draining the glass.

"I think we both know I'm already a target," she said softly, her blue eyes flashing with sadness.

"I'm nearly certain we both know who is responsible for the explosion," I said, watching her face pale. "And we both know he's a problem."

She met my gaze, but I could see her posture change slightly and she tucked her hair behind her left ear, like she always did when she was nervous.

"Luke Sawyer is a very big problem," I said, watching her wring her hands. Now I had to get her to admit it. "But you already knew that. I'm going to ask you this once. Are you working for him?"

She froze and then nodded very slightly, letting her eyes drop to the floor. "Just feeding him information."

"You don't trust him," I stated. "That's why you were asking about Mia. Someone told you."

She didn't say anything for a moment. "I don't trust him."

"Who told you about him and my sister?" I asked, letting my voice become slightly more menacing.

"Barney," she whispered, looking scared.

"Good," I said, swiping her glass of milk and finishing it. "No more secrets, right?"

She nodded vehemently. "No more."

I yawned and stretched, letting her see my gesture as unthreatening. "Do you think you can sleep now?"

She shook her head, tucking her hair again. She was still nervous. "I don't think so."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Why don't you trust me?"

She visibly straightened. "Because you asked me not to make you kill me. And you haven't said anything else."

"What do I need to tell you?" I asked.

"That you won't hurt me," she whispered.

"I won't hurt you. My parents may be blind to new employees, but I knew you weren't just a civilian when you fell into all of this. Barney told me you were an FBI informant before I decided to hire you," I said. "My father was getting close to figuring it out, which is why I moved you from your assistant position."

She sighed, visibly relaxing. I decided to give her a little more information. "If we can control what you tell Sawyer, we might be able to get my sister away from him."

She nodded. "I can help with that."

"Relax, Anastasia. Now that everything is out in the open, you're much safer. You don't have to hide from me," I said softly, reciting the urge to wrap my arms around her. I balked at the thought. I don't remember the last time I had the urge to hug someone. Crushing my wayward thoughts, I had one last question for her. "How do you know Jose Rodriguez Jr.?"

I definitely struggled with this chapter- I hope it worked. I'm certainly more comfortable writing in APOV (as you can probably tell) but hopefully this helped to advance the plot and give you all some insight into the mind of this Christian Grey.

A million thank yous to everyone who added this story to their favorites or follow lists- and an even greater amount of thanks for everyone who left such kind reviews! Writing this story, for this audience, is amazing and I love to hear and watch you all react to every twist and turn!

And as per usual- Pinterest link is on my profile, or search /mosaic23/
There's a large collection of images and songs that have helped to inspire me to write this story.

After everything that has happened in the US over the past few days (and years) I would like to wholeheartedly say that I do not condone or support any type of violence. Although it may not seem like it because of this story, I am vehemently anti-gun. My thoughts are with everyone who was shot this past week and their families. Black lives matter.