"Ana? Come on wake up." The gentle voice eases me out of my dream. My eyes flutter open and Christian stands in front of me dressed in one of his charcoal suits holding a briefcase in his one hand. "You need to get ready for work. I've already let you sleep in late enough." He swats me on my behind and disappears into the bathroom.
I smile and raise my arms out in front of me to stretch. "Well good morning to you, too." I grumble and sit up.
Christian comes back in the bedroom and leans down to kiss me on my forehead. "Good morning, Miss Steele. How are you feeling?"
"Fine." I reply and begin to blush. My behind is still a little sore from our adventures in the playroom last night, but I think I'm unharmed.
"Fantastic. I have a meeting I have to go to, but Taylor is going to take you to work. Just meet him in the foyer when you're ready." He bends down again and gives me a long, lingering kiss on my lips. "Laters, baby." And with that he's out the door and off to control the universe.
I hurry up and get ready for work. I take a quick shower and go simple with a plain black dress and let my hair fall in soft waves against my back. I slide into my heels, grab my purse, and go meet Taylor next to the elevator.
"Miss Steele." He hands me a container of what appears to be food. "Mr. Grey had Ms. Jones prepare you some lunch to take with you today." He then pulls out another container. "Ass well as some breakfast. His orders were to eat it all before the day is done."
I can't help but smirk. "Of course he did. Well, thank you." We head down into the garage and I slide into the back of he Audi SUV while munching on my bagel. Taylor drops me off to work just in time and tells me that he'll be waiting out front at the end of the day.
Jack is his usual grumpy mood this morning. Right when I walk in he hands me a bunch of files to review and sends me straight to my desk. I work without stopping until lunchtime. I'm eating the salmon and tossed salad that Christian packed for me at my desk when my phone starts to buzz.
"Hello, Christian." I pick up on the second ring.
"Hey, baby. How's work going?"
"Terrible. Jack's had me do his work all day and doesn't let me even have a bathroom break." I take a deep breath and let it back out.
"Let me know if it gets any worse." Christian says. "I'll fire his ass so fast he won't even know what hit him."
"I'll be fine." I say just as Jack walks in. His face turns livid in the matter of seconds.
"Anastasia! What did I tell you about talking on the phone while you're supposed to be working?"
I can feel my face heat up as I put the phone to my shoulder so Christian can't hear. "Jack, I'm on break."
"You've been on break long enough. Get back to work or I swear to God they'll be consequences." And with that he slams my office door shut and storms out.
"Ana!" I hear from the muffled voice. "What's wrong?"
"Sorry, Christian. Jack's mad at me and I need to get back to work. I'll see you later." I hang up before he has any time to speak. Before I know it I slam my phone onto my desk and start crying tears of frustration. I hate the fact that Jack has gotten under my skin like this, but it's not like I can tell Christian. Jack doesn't even know about us, anyway. I wonder if he would still treat me this way if he knew I was dating his boss's boss's boss.
For the rest of the day I'm locked in my office doing pointless work until it's finally time to leave. Everyone else has already left for the day, but of course Jack wanted me to stay much later. I grab my belongings and head out the door when Jack stops me.
"Ana. Did you get everything finished like I told you to?" He peeks up at me from behind his computer screen.
"Yes. It's all ready for you tomorrow morning," Now leave me alone.
"You know, Ana," He slowly gets up from his deck and comes to stand in front of me. I can smell the alcohol on his breath and it sends shivers down my spine. "I don't want to be hard on you, but it's not like you're making it any easier." He reaches out and rubs his hand up my elbow and to my shoulder. I jump way from his touch, disgusted. What the hell is he thinking?
"I'm leaving. See you tomorrow." I turn around to leave before he stops me again.
"Oh, and the maintenance people want us to go out the back doors tonight. Something about setting a new alarms system or something."
"Okay." I say and hurry up to the back doors. I just want to get out of here. I can just walk around front and meet Taylor there.
I come out around the back where there's only one streetlight to light my surroundings. I clutch my purse to my chest and begin walking towards the front when my heel catches on something and I'm falling towards the concrete ground. I hit hard on my knees and I can already tell they're going to be scrapped up. Great. Just great. I manage to stand but up on my wobbly legs when all of a sudden I hear a ruffled sound come from behind me. I quickly turn around and all I can do is scream before the darkness takes over.