Chapter 5:

The dance music was to loud and pounding for Ana to enjoy it. She gave Tara her "this is uncomfortable for me" look. Tara replied silently with a smile and nodded toward the exit of this exclusive club. They spilled out onto the street and both took a deep breath.

"Good lord, it's a meat market." Tara said shaking her head. "But, I guess I did ask for the man ocean to throw up some decent men." She looked around not impressed with the specimens that were offered. "I guess I should have been more specific in what I wanted."

"Why in the hell did I let Diane talk me into joining her and the other girls from the office?" She found the keys to Kate's car and remotely unlocked it. "Let's go find a nice quiet bar and throw back a few brews."

Tara opened the passenger door. "Screw that…let's go home, watch a movie and have a few brews…we won't have to worry about driving home."

"Sounds good to me." Ana opened her door and slid into her seat. She was fastening her seat belt when she saw a stranger out of the corner of her eye come up to Tara. She watched as the man stood stopped and stared at the lovely Brit.

"Ryder?" Tara said lowly. Her heart stopped then restarted with a painful boom!

When Ana heard "the name" she quickly unfastened her seat belt and was out of the car. Tara was glued to the ground. "Tara?" Ana put her arm around her friend's waist and pulled her close showing her possessiveness.

Ryder looked up and down both women. They both are very beautiful. "Hello, I am Ryder Hamilton." He offered his hand to Ana. She looked at him as if he was a convicted murderer.

"Come on, Tara…we are late." Ana never took her eyes off the large muscular man but she pushed Tara into the car. She shut the door and turned back to the man. "Stay away, Mr. Hamilton. Tara's mine now."

"Yours?"

She gave a sly smile. "I think you understand, and understand this, I don't share in any aspect what is mine." His mouth fell open. "I hope we understand each other." Ana got back into the car and she sped away. When they came to a stoplight, she began to laugh. Tara snapped out of her comatose stupor and looked at her friend as if she had gone mad. "He thinks we are lesbians."

Tara had to laugh. Sure, she had experimented in college, but she liked men. "Oh, god…he is probably jacking off right now thinking about it."

The light turned green and Ana hit the gas. "Probably. I hope his cock falls off."

"Meeoooow….kitty has some claws." Tara laughed. She then turned sober. "It was shocking to see him standing there. I haven't seen him in months."

"He's handsome." Ana replied. "But, then again the dangerous ones …well you know."

"Yeah. .. dangerous and handsome." Tara sighed heavily. "I could really use a cigarette."

"Didn't know you smoked."

"I don't…well not anymore. He made me quit." She rubbed her forehead. "I can't believe I froze like that. I had so much I wanted to scream at him. Fuck, I've practiced it for months…and I see him…then I can't even fucking speak."

"The big question here is why he was there? Was this a chance encounter or did he follow us?" Ana turned the car into the parking lot behind their building. She parked the car and then turned to Tara. "Does he know where you live?"

"I don't know."

"You better stay with me tonight" A big grin crossed her face. "Of course, you are now my bitch."

"Fuck you, Steele….you would be mine."

Sawyer watched as the two women walked arm in arm into their apartment building. His attention then went to the Porsche that pulled in behind the girls. The driver was watching Ana and Tara as they walked. Sawyer quickly wrote down the license plate number and then called back to headquarters and gave the information to Welch. He kept his surveillance post and watched as the Porsche drove off. He knew that one of those girls had picked up a stalker. He called Taylor.

"T, we have a situation. Miss Steele and her neighbor picked up a tail from the club this evening. The subject followed them to their apartment building and watched them walk into the building. After sitting in his car for about eight minutes the subject then drove away." He went on and gave Taylor a description of the subject, the make of the car, and the license plate number. He informed Taylor that he already Welch running the plates.

"Good job, Luke. I will inform Mr. Grey." Taylor said sternly. "Take the post in the apartment. Keep your eyes on the monitors. The last thing we need is this fucker breaking in."

"Affirmative." Luke stated then hung up.

Jason Taylor hung up his cell and then called Welch. He resigned for about ten days. As he told Ana, he and Gail did go to Vegas and they did get married. Within a few days of their marriage, Christian found them and begged them to return to Seattle. Gail said yes immediately, but Taylor held out for another two hours. Both he and Gail had paternal feelings for Christian Grey and they could not leave him to his own devices. After speaking to Welch, Jason knocked on Christian's study door and stepped in. Christian was on his cell speaking lowly but tersely. "Mr. Grey, we have a situation." He declared when Christian clicked off his phone.

"Anastasia?" He stood up with concern on his face. "Is she alright?"

"She is fine, but either she or her friend, Tara Holt picked up a tail. They were followed home from their night out by a Ryder Hamilton. He stayed in his car but watched them go into the apartment building. He stayed for eight minutes then left."

"What do you know about this Ryder Hamilton?"

"According to what Welch found, he is a wealthy business man, he was born in New York City but has lived in Portland, Oregon for the last ten years… um….he is known to frequent BDSM clubs in and around Seattle, Portland, and New York City and he makes no attempt to hide his lifestyle." Jason cleared his throat. "According to Welch he was involved with Tara Holt for five years until they broke up six months ago. She was his submissive for five years and lived with him in Portland. She moved to Seattle after they broke up."

"Fuck, another Dom. Is he after Tara or Ana?"

"I would assume he is after Miss Holt. According to Sawyer, he tried to speak to Miss Holt, but Ana interceded and told him to back off that Miss Holt was hers and she didn't like to share."

Christian's mouth fell open. Holy Shit, were these two women involved in a lesbian relationship? Just the thought made his cock harden and twitch. "I have to talk to Ana. I can't lose her to a woman."

"Mr. Grey, I don't think that they are involved. I believe it was a ploy to get Mr. Hamilton to leave Miss Holt alone." Taylor flipped his small notebook shut. "Luke is in the apartment watching the CCTV monitors and I have Reynolds watching from the parking lot and two other men walking about securing the perimeter."

"Just keep Ana safe." Christian sat back down calming his nerves. He couldn't stand the idea of his Ana being in any danger. "And, put a detail on Hamilton. I want to know what he is doing before he even knows."

"Yes, sir, it will be done. We also caught wind of a tail on Miss Holt. It seems that Mr. Hamilton has her under surveillance." Taylor read over his notes. "If I learn any more I will inform you immediately."

"Thank you, Taylor." Christian said with a sad smile. He was missing his love. He was also grateful that Gail and Jason returned to Seattle and to his employ.

"Anytime, Mr. Grey." Taylor nodded then took his leave. It was the very first time that Christian had actually thanked him. Maybe, Miss Steele's leaving was for the best for Christian Grey. Maybe, he would finally grow up into an adult man and stop acting like a petulant adolescent.

Christian stared at the photograph of Ana that he kept on his desk. She was smiling at him with those bright blue eyes so full of joy and life. He would give his whole fortune to have her sitting in his lap smiling at him. "I will marry you, Ana, and you will be mine forever."

xxXXXxx

Ryder Hamilton was a dark haired god that loved sex, fast cars, and domination. His life was ordered and structured for his pleasures but that was before Tara left him six months ago. He tried to forget her but she could not be replaced. He tried six subs in six months and they all were failures. No one satisfied him but Tara. He knew that she had left Portland and found employment in Seattle but he fought the urge to follow her. After the last failed attempt to secure a decent sub he decided to come to Seattle and win her back. He hired private investigators to find her. He never thought that she would switch sides, but that little brunette made it very clear that Tara belonged to her now. He had to admit that it turned him on to think of those two beautiful women together and he would love to be in the middle of that. He stood at the window of his suite at the Fairmont staring over the lights of Seattle. He had to find a way to rid Tara of little Miss Bossy Pants and get his favorite sub back.

Tara woke up with cottonmouth and a headache that would bring down a water buffalo. She groaned as she sat up in a bed that was not hers. She began to laugh when she remembered that she spent the night with Ana after they finished off a few beers and two bottles of wine. She heard her bed buddy moan as she woke up.

"Oh, god…my head." Ana cried.

"We drank too much." Tara offered softly. It hurt to talk. Her head was pounding.

"Is there any wine left in the world? I think we drank it all." Ana sat up and brushed her hair out of her face. "Oh god…I think my head is going to explode."

Tara giggled even though it hurt to do so. She slowly crawled out of bed. "I need a gallon of coffee and about ten Advil." She grimaced as her own voice caused her pain. "Thank god it's Saturday and I don't have to go to work."

Ana followed suit and climbed out of bed. She staggered into her bathroom to relieve her bladder. She brushed her teeth to get the alcohol taste out of her mouth and quickly washed her face free of her smeared makeup. She leaned against the door jam and stared at Tara who was struggling to pull on her jeans. "You could just use my robe to cross the hall."

"It's personal now…me against these damn jeans."

Ana laughed. "You do realize that you have them inside out?"

"Fuck me running." Tara declared in her British accent. She dropped the jeans. "Fuck it! Where's the robe?"

"You don't have to leave, Tara." Ana remembered that a certain Dom from Portland was in town, and if Ryder was anything like Christian, there was a good chance he was waiting in Tara's apartment for her. "At least let me go with you…just in case."

"In case of what? Do you think he might be…" Her voice faded when the idea finally crossed her mind. Ana nodded. "Shit, I never thought of that."

"Listen, we are the same size, so just go take a shower and pick something out of my closet. I'll go fix you some coffee, me some tea and a light breakfast." Ana opened the closet door. "If you need undies…in the drawer there….just keep them."

"I will buy you some new ones."

"No need."

Breakfast was toast and tea for Ana, toast and coffee for Tara. They sat in silence at the breakfast bar. Both were praying for reprieve from their pain. Their lives were crap except for their friendship.

"I fell in love with him. I am still in love with him, but I cannot do that anymore. I deserve better." Tara declared unexpectedly. It was as if she had an epiphany. "I made the mistake of telling him how I felt and he used it against me if I protested against his punishments. "If you love me, you will do this for me" was his mantra. The last scene we did pushed me over the edge. He humiliated me by restraining me to a whipping bench then pissed all over my back then he fucked me so hard that I was bleeding."

"Oh, my god." Ana breathed horrified. She remembered the contract that Christian showed her and that was one of his hard limits, no bathroom play. "How did you leave? When did you leave?"

"It was the next day. I spent all night hiding in the guest room. I refused to sleep with him. I got up, packed what I could and then I stood before him and told him that I was terminating our contract which was in my right since I no longer felt safe in his care as a Dom. I walked out and moved into a cheap hotel. I think I shocked him because he never said a word and he never tried to stop me. I lived in that hotel for a few weeks while I looked for work anywhere but Portland. That's how I found my way to Seattle."

"So, last night was the first time you have seen him since you left." Tara nodded. "Do you think he had other women?"

"Of course, Ryder loves sex more than breathing." Tara looked up to the ceiling. "I'm afraid, Ana. He knows how to control me, how to get me to do things that I never thought I could do." She felt a tear roll down her cheek. "He will destroy me if I let him back in."

Ana felt the same way about Christian. He could easily use her emotions to control her. He knew that she loved him, but at this moment, she loved herself more. Like Tara, she felt she deserved better. She was a human being with feelings, desires, needs, and wants. She deserved to be cherished and respected. "I fear that I will always love Christian Grey. He was my first love, my first lover, my first everything. He taught me about passion and sex."

"He is dark, isn't he?" Tara asked bluntly. Ana only nodded. "Dark like Ryder?" Once again, Ana nodded. "How bad?"

"Spankings, bondage, floggers, riding crops, a lot of pleasure with toys but the worse was when he took a belt to me. It's my own fault, I asked for it. I told him to show how bad it could be, to give me the worse punishment to see if I could handle it. I had to know for sure."

"Why?" Tara was confused.

"We just started our relationship. I met him while I was still in college. He conferred our diplomas." Ana didn't care anymore about the NDA. She needed to purge her heart and mind and Tara would understand since she understood the BDSM lifestyle and the need to be discreet. Ana trusted Tara never to tell anyone about her life with Christian. "I literally fell at his feet at our first meeting." She had to laugh. "I interviewed him for my absent room-mate…"

"The strawberry blonde who was here for about a week or two then left?"

"Yeah, that's Kate. We've been friends since our freshman year." Ana took a sip of her tea. "I actually fell into his office, he picked me up, he stalked me to Vancouver, and the rest is history. My body is so attuned to him that I gave up my identity for him. I gave him complete control of everything because I didn't know anything about the world or relationships. I was innocent and trusting. I ran off to Georgia for a few days to get my head straighten out, but he followed me to my Mom's home. I couldn't deny him. I wanted him so much, so when I returned, I agreed to be his Sub, but never got around to signing the contract." She shrugged. "When he hit me with the belt and I could see the pleasure and joy that he derived from it, I knew I couldn't do that. I deserve to be more than a whipping post and a vagina to fuck."

Tara sadly laughed. "At least, you figured that out faster than I did. It took me five years. You are strong, Ana Steele. You live up to your last name."

"I don't feel like it some days." She got up, took her cup to the sink, and rinsed it off. "There are days that I want to run back to him. I miss him so much. Does it ever go away?"

"It's been six months for me and I still fight the urge to call him. I think men like Ryder not just take over your body and heart, but also your mind and soul. I feel like a puppet on a string."

Ana turned around and looked at her friend. "Exactly." Ana leaned over the breakfast island. "You know, we are fucked royally."

"Yeah, I know."
The two women looked at each other. "So, what do we do now?" Ana asked with her eyebrows lifted in question.