My dear little broccolis💚💚💚
💚 Well, a Valentine's Day story, cute, no drama, some fluff and lots of lemons to come ... ENJOY
💚 Pictures will be available on the Facebook page, Mina's Fanfictions
💚 READ, ENJOY, REVIEW^^
Love, Mina 💚💚💚
.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.
💚 Three Is Better Than Two 💚
Ana was looking for a flat, and she found two flatmates in two handsome men. Will the three of them be able to live together, or will it clash and end up in tears?
‼️Rated M - {Out Of Characters/All Human/Alternate Universe}‼️
‼️Romance/Angst/Drama/Lemons‼️
‼️AS/CG/Jack Hyde/Elliott Steele‼️
.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.
💚 READ & REVIEW, DON'T BE A SILENT READER 💚
Chapter 18 (1,7K)
As Christian parked the car, Ana kept looking in front of her, doing her best to not make any rash decisions. All her instincts were telling her to pack and leave, to run from this man who had no regrets over his father ending somebody else's life. No remorse at all.
But then again, she didn't have the whole story, so she shouldn't judge yet. Maybe there was a good reason behind Carrick Grey's actions. Maybe there was a good reason why he didn't feel remorse or even sympathy toward his victim, and why Christian seemed to approve of his actions. She just needed to know what it was.
Because right now, no matter how she felt about Christian, no matter how much her heart was overflown by her love for him, her brain was stronger and telling her that nothing good could come out of their relationship. Not as long as she viewed Christian and his family as cold-blooded killers.
So she turned to look at him, even though he was purposefully avoiding her eyes by keeping his eyes on the windshield and she asked the question that she thought she never would have to ask in her life,
"Why is your father in jail? Why did he kill?"
"You're judging him," he simply said, with bitter disappointment and she ogled him, not believing that he dared sound hurt over her asking for simple and vital answers.
"Well, I am trying very hard not to. But right now, it's not easy, Christian. The man killed someone and none of you seems to think that it was wrong! Don't you have any empathy? Any morals? Anything?"
He sulked, gripping the wheel as he breathed in deeply, and she tried to see things from his perspective. Yes, she was accusing him of being a sociopath, him and his father, but then again, any sane person would. In fact, her love for him was the only reason why she didn't walk out of jail as soon as she understood that Carrick Grey had no remorse, her love for him was the only reason why she stayed and listened to that man joke with his son, her love for him was the only reason why she was there, still trying to understand and trying to find justifications to his father's acts.
"If you don't give me all the information, I am going to judge on what I have. And you can't fault me for that."
He let out a deep sigh, though his eyes never went to hers as he finally explained his family's story to Ana,
"My mother was raped when I was a teen."
Ana let out a gasp, finally connecting the dots and feeling bad to have pushed Christian into saying things he was maybe not necessarily ready to share.
"She was coming home from her book club one summer night. It wasn't that late, and it wasn't that dark. We lived in the posh suburbs, loads of lights at every corner. Her friend's house was just a ten minute's walk and she had done it time and time again, so why would either my Dad or I go pick her up, right?
And then … it was a regular bloke, too. He saw her walking alone and decided that that night was his lucky night. A true regular Joe. Steady job, nice car, wife and kids. Mr Perfect. We all have that image of the seedy guy, badly clothed and marginalised when we think of rapists, but the truth is, they can be anyone you meet.
When it started getting late for her book club, we went looking for her and found her there, left to her own device. We brought her to the hospital, but the creep was careful to not leave any incriminating DNA. And when she was let out a couple of days later, she went to press charges.
But the police didn't take her seriously. And when they investigated for good measures, they agreed with the creep. That she was crying out for rape because her affair was blown up. And when my Dad said that she had internal bruises proving it was a rape, they said that proved nothing, that she might have been into the whole BDSM scene with her lover.
I was out of control at that point. I just wanted to destroy that guy's life. He lived just a couple of blocks away from us, but since he was such a nice guy, no one believed my Mom. They say people rarely believe women when they speak out, and it's true.
And then, Mom fell into depression. She was such a vibrant woman before. Always had somewhere to go, always did something for the community or a charity. She was the eponym of a housewife. Bree Van De Kamp had nothing on her.
But then, she … she stopped living. She wouldn't go anywhere anymore and didn't even leave the house to take out the trash. She would randomly burst into tears at any given moment. She would barely sleep anymore. She would always be afraid of the smallest noises.
Therapy didn't help, so Dad and I tried to convince her that we should move, and we were looking into it. Florida had always been her dream state because of the sun mostly. So we were looking into that. And one night, she burst into tears, saying that it wouldn't change a thing because he was still roaming free and she could see how he would look at her sometimes, through the windows.
So … so Dad did what he promised to do on their wedding day, he did what he could to make sure she would feel safe."
There was a small silence as Ana processed everything Christian had just told her and he cleared his throat, swallowing with difficulty before finally turning his head to look at her, his eyes shining with sorrow and love.
"I'm not saying that my father was right, and in theory, I don't think violence is the answer. But … I know the truth. I know why he did it. He did it out of love, not out of spite. And if that was to ever happen to Jack or to you, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to do the same thing."
She saw how his expression briefly morphed into an apprehension about how she might react to this declaration, but all she could feel at that moment was sorrow for Christian's family. For his Mom who had told endure what so many other women endured, for his Dad who put his wife before himself, and for Christian who felt helpless and feared for their future.
She was glad that she didn't make any decisions on her first impressions, and she felt bad to have judged so quickly. Yes, murder was a big no-no for her, but the world wasn't black or white, and the case of the Grey family, was, suitably, grey.
"Where is your Mom, now?"
"In Florida. She's feeling much better now. She comes to visit Dad once a month, and it's rare we visit him together. It's their only moment of intimacy and … yeah.
Even though they are now apart and he is in jail, she is grateful to him and what he did for her. She has her life back. She took self-defence classes, she goes to therapy group with other survivors, and she has her new network of charities and events there. We go visit her every two months or so with Jack, and her latest leitmotiv is to nag us to know when we will give her grandbabies."
He chuckled and Ana smiled, taking his hand in hers. He eagerly squeezed her, understanding that she was not leaving him after all. But still, she did let him know,
"You are an idiot, though. You should have told me all of this before making me meet your father and letting me believe he was a sicko who didn't care about killing someone. My mind went to dark places."
He nodded, letting her know, "I don't really like talking about it. Usually, everyone has opinions on how they would have reacted, and I didn't want to hear the judgement in your voice."
She gently smiled and kissed his cheek before telling him "I get it. But sometimes, you have to relive the bad memories so rash decisions can be avoided. I was inches away from breaking up with you."
He looked at her, cupping her face as his eyes said that he could tell she was about to break up with him so she tried to diffuse the tension a little, "You know, I have to draw the line somewhere. I think murder is a good line."
"And yet, you're still here, in my arms."
"Rape is also where I draw the line. In a way, it was brave of your father and an ultimate proof of love. He put your mother's safety and sanity before his own freedom. Not a lot of people would do that."
"I know" was all Christian said, looking back at the road before he said, "I don't feel like driving another hour. Let's find a place to stay."
She agreed, texting Jack that she was with Christian and they would spend the night out so he wouldn't worry, and when Christian pulled over at a motel five minutes later, she followed him, her hand in his.
They didn't share many words as soon as they were on the bed, just love and passion. But this time, it was sweet and passionate. Gone were the dirty words, all Christian had for her were words of love and adoration, with soft touches and delicate kisses. And when they found their final climax together, Ana made sure that Christian knew,
"What I said yesterday night doesn't change, Christian. I really do love you."
And she sealed those words with a sweet kiss on his lips.
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.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.
💚 Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed 💚
💚 So I went from angst to sweet in a snap XD, But did you like it?
💚 And now we have the idea of kids said out loud ... just saying...
💚 And what did you think of Carrick and Ana's and Christian's thoughts about him?
‼️ WHO'S POV SHALL I DO NEXT? ‼️
💚 E L James owns the names of the characters from the Fifty Shades franchise, Everything else is mine (including the mistakes and grammar errors).
Love, Mina 💚💚💚
