A/N: Exit stage right

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. —Napoleon Bonaparte

EthanPoV

Boom-Boom-Boom!

I sit straight up in bed, pushing my hair out of my face. What the fuck?! Who the hell is knocking on our door this fucking early? How the hell are they knocking on the door? Don't residents need to buzz guests in?

I don't even bother grabbing my robe, trying to get to the door which sounds like it's about to be knocked off its hinges. I open it just a white knuckled fist swings as if to restart its insistent pounding.

I dodge, saying, "What the fuck, man? Why are you trying to wake the dead?"

It's Christian Grey, Ana's boyfriend or whatever. Isn't she supposed to be at his apartment?

"Where's Ana?" he demands, scanning me from head to toe, before taking in the apartment.

"She's not here. I thought she was with you," I retorted, worried. If Ana's not with him, where the hell is she?

He brushes past me, heading straight for Ana's room.

"I told you she's not here, Grey," I called behind his retreating figure.

Obviously, Mistrust must be his middle name as he twists her doorknob to find absolutely no-one within. I could've told him. Wait. I did tell him.

He throws a hard look in my direction. I don't know who the hell he's trying to intimidate. I live here. If anyone doesn't belong, it's him. He's seemed to have a hate-on for me since the girls' graduation when he didn't know me from Adam.

"Happy now," I drawl, preparing to usher him out, when suddenly his lips tightened and he darted past me to invade Kate's room, too. This is just fucking unacceptable.

"Hey man, I've told you several times that Ana is not here," I shout. Seriously, what's next? Is he going to search the breadbox?

Once again foiled in his quest for the absent Ana, I think finally, the fucker's gonna leave, when he turns to the final bedroom door: mine. What the— Does he think I'm hiding Ana?

I do to block him and he rushes me, shouldering me into my goddamn door frame, disorienting me. But once inside, he realizes she's nowhere in the apartment.

Anyone else I'd expect to apologize for barging in, invading our privacy and generally acting like a rude fucking tool, but not Grey.

No, he's determined to show his ass at every given point. Didn't know the man had this kind of emotion in him, frankly. He always seems so closed off and remote. Could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw him carrying that chick out of the building like something out of An Officer And A Gentleman.

If I had a girl like Ana, I wouldn't be trying to hook up with some other babe while she was right there. I had heard she was supposed to leave and go to wait for him at his apartment while he dealt with...whatever, but honestly why would she? What the hell type of shit is he into? And why is he into it at our apartment?

I wanted to get to the bottom of it, but I felt better not knowing. I was sure it would work itself out. And Ana, I'm sure she's fine. I couldn't blame her for trying to get away from the intensity of that asshole if this is typical behavior from him. He acts like he's lost his goddamn mind.

I should have known something was wrong with him because Kate can't stand him. Then again anyone vying for Ana would have to go through Kate. Even me. She keeps telling me to give up because if something happened with Ana and I fucked up, then it would ruin her friendship. Kate basically warned me off from the very beginning. Sure, I had asked Ana out a couple times, but she wasn't receptive, so I let it go. But that didn't mean I had to stand by while Captain Save-A-Hoe ran into the sunset with Ana if he didn't deserve her.

Ana was part of the reason why I came back. I mean great apartment with three bedrooms, one for Kate, Ana and me? Why not? Seemed like a pretty sweet setup. I could possibly get to know her better. Besides at WSU, she was very busy; between working at Clayton's full-time, and taking a full load, not to mention all the other little side jobs she was doing. Besides I thought that kid Jose Rodriguez liked her. And he was at their apartment 24-7. I mean Kate's great, but I knew he wasn't there for her.

But Kate had assured me despite the torch he was carrying, Ana could care less about him that way. I thought Ana just simply didn't have time to date to deal with maintaining a romance or deal with the messiness of a relationship. And now that she's free, I wanted to spend some time with her, but there she was, trying to introduce me to Grey's sister, Mia.

I really hoped she wasn't as batshit crazy as Grey. Though I'd heard they were all adopted, maybe his shitty affect was the result of nature over nurture. Elliot seems like good people. I could hope.

"So what's the deal, Grey, where is she? Because I have no clue. The last I checked, she went to your place after you, and whoever the hell that chick was in our apartment, the one you carried out, settled up. Because both Ana and I had courtside seats at the bar when you came out with her before you got into that ambulance and rode away."

"That's none of your business," he shot.

"I think it is since it happened in my damn apartment. I really hope you weren't this obstructive with Ana. Because there is no way she would have taken such a ridiculous explanation or lack thereof," I remarked. "You and that chick both seemed pretty fucking cozy together for a man with a girlfriend. I don't imagine Ana liking that shit at all."

For a moment, I thought he wasn't going to respond. "A dangerous situation arose and I took care of it," he said shortly.

I was pretty damn uncomfortable when I realized that he was just going to leave it at that. What kind of dangerous situation was it and why weren't the police called? I'm sure that that's not standard operating procedure.

Well he could delay and keep mum if he liked. It's no sweat off my ass. But though I'm pretty laid back, I do have a feel for people and his behavior set off a whole shit-ton of warning bells. And he may be filthy rich, but I'm not exactly a pauper.

Besides, I like a great mystery and last night's scene had scandal written all over it. Strange lady in our apartment that only Christian Grey of all people could talk down? They leave in an ambulance together even though she didn't look injured. What was up with that?

Worse, Ana seemed sad and a bit resigned. He had technically co-opted our apartment, kicking us both out. And he wanted us far away from the scene, even offering to put me up in a hotel room like he was the fucking concierge. And even after commandeering our place, he'd tried to get Ana to return to his apartment while he did God only knows with some other woman for about an hour.

I'm a psych major and the son of a news hound. Curiosity's in my blood even if I never caught the media bug. Grey's pretty damn lucky Kate wasn't here, or she'd be giving his proctologist a run for his money.

At some point, this was all going to hit the fan. All I had to do was sit back, wait and watch. Because though Ana may have shot me down, Grey wasn't doing much to recommend himself. I had nothing to do with him taking part in a bout of self-sabotage.

I knew Ana wasn't going to take this type of behavior lying down. So he better bring his A-game. Ana doesn't care about his billions. In fact, every single dollar works against him. Ana's all for pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.

Whereas he could have distracted any other woman with a pretty bauble or smile, that won't work for her. In fact, throwing money at her is the quickest way to lose her regard. He's looking at me like I'm some sort of competition which gives me a very big clue that he doesn't understand the nature of Ana's and my relationship.

He seemed almost jealous. Did he think that Ana and I had some type of love nest going while Kate was away? Ana's one of the most trustworthy people I know. He must be up to no good if he's suspicious and thinks Ana of all people would stray.

Like so many paranoid people, he must be suffering from a guilty mind. Mens rea. Fucker's projecting harder than a movie theater. Because the bullish way he came into our apartment suggests he had given Ana sufficient reason to avoid him.

So I'll be a good boy and survey the environment. I won't interfere. I am my father's son, and I know enough not to interrupt my enemy when he's making mistakes.

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