Since you all have voted to have two updates each week, here is a new chapter... Enjoy!
Disclaimer: All characters belong to E.L. James
Ana
Once we have had lunch, I change into something more comfortable and smile when I remember our kiss. To be honest, I didn't want him to stop, with my raging pregnancy hormones all I wanted was for him to bend me over the breakfast bar and fuck me hard. Though I guess him stopping when he did was a good thing. He was clearly upset and I know that sex was his coping mechanism along with punishing his sub. So falling back into that pattern, would have been a huge step back for him.
Now, he is in his study for an emergency skype session with Autumn, stepping back in to the kitchen to clean up, so Gail won't find her kitchen a mess when she returns from her doctor's appointment, I see the freaking letter that bitch has sent to Christian. I want to take it, rip it to shreds and then burn the fucking pieces of it to ashes.
Yes, I am angry that she basically called me a cheating, gold digging whore, who convinced Christian that the child she is carrying is his, when it is not. Above all however, I am so mad at her from trying to get into his head again, making doubt if he can be a good father and suggesting that she is what he needs, when really what he needs is for her to be out of his life for good with no contact at all.
I know he doesn't want to hear it, but what she did to him was rape. He wasn't old enough to consent and she took advantage of what Grace had told her about his issues with touching, as well as his self-loathing. She groomed him to meet her needs and didn't give a fuck about his needs. To me a person like her is the ultimate predator and even now she can't stay away from him. Some people understand their wrong doings in prison, but she is still thinking that she helped him or she just doesn't care and wants to use him one more time for her benefit.
Only this time it won't happen, because I do believe ever since she has been locked away Christian finally had the time to understand that what she has done to him was wrong. In addition, he now knows that his family loved him all along and he isn't going to throw that away for her, because it goes without saying that if he was to help her, he would not just lose me and every right to be a part of Liam's life, but also his family.
"Ana, Autumn has asked to see you for a moment." Christian says and I look up to find him standing at the entrance to his study.
"Sure." I smile at him and follow him to his study where I sit on his lap to we can both see Autumn on his computer.
"Hi Ana, Christian told me what happened with your friend and about the letter he received today, I just wanted to make sure you are fine. If you want to talk you can always call me for a session, you know that, right?" She says and I smile.
"Thanks, but I'm good. I'm so over dwelling on the negative things that have happened, that I have decided to just focus on the positive things."
"Okay, so tell me about the positive things." She says.
"Well, Christian and I get along better than ever and we have picked a name for our son. My mom and I are much closer since she moved in with me and I have already made some new friends in Seattle, in Christian's siblings and Claire who works as a receptionist at the publishing house I'm working at."
"That sounds great, you both need to have friends." She says and gives Christian a look.
"I don't need friends, Autumn, I have Ana and my siblings, that is all I need."
"You need friends too, Christian. When was the last time you went out to have a beer with the guys after work?"
"Um… that would be never." He says and my mouth drops open. For a second I hesitate, but then I decide to just go through with it. So I get up, take my phone from my jeans pocket and dial Elliot.
"Hey Ana banana, what's up?" He asks.
"I was wondering if you are having any plans for tonight."
"Yup, Ethan and I are going to a bar to watch the game, want some girl time with Katie?" He asks.
"Actually, that is a good idea, but I wanted to ask if you want to hang with Christian tonight… can he join you?"
"Really, how cool is that?! I'll pick him up around 7pm."
"Cool, bye Elliot." I hang up and find Christian staring at me.
"Your brother will pick you up around 7 pm, you are going to watch the game at a bar along with him and Ethan, Kate's brother." I tell him and he tries to look annoyed, but I can tell that he is excited.
"Don't give me that look, I can see that you are excited." I giggle and hear Autumn snort with laughter.
"Ana, look… yes, I do enjoy to spend time with my brother, but if he wanted me to be there, he would have called me." He says and I roll my eyes.
"He was thrilled, Christian. The only reason why your siblings are not calling you to hang out with them is, that you have said no so many times, they just don't see a point, so right now you have to make an effort. Oh… and I have talked to Gail yesterday, don't even think about doing the hermit thing on Thanksgiving and Christmas, because this year you will celebrate… see it as exercise for next year and many more years to come, where I won't accept you not celebrating with Liam and me."
"Why Miss Steele, I had no idea you could be so bossy." He smirks.
"I just don't want you to miss out on anything and Autumn is right, you need some downtime too. So, tonight you can just hang out with other guys your age, have some beers and whatever unhealthy food they are serving at the bar, while watching a game."
"Will you join us?" He asks and I sit on his lap again.
"No, if you don't mind I would like to call Mia, Kate and Claire to come over and hang out. You know order a pizza, talk about guys and watch a movie."
"That's fine with me."
"Great, I'll call them now, you talk a bit more with Autumn." I get up wave at Autumn and leave his study to call my friends, who all agree to come over tonight.
Secretly, especially after the kiss we have shared today, I would have loved to spend more time with Christian alone, but we also have to spend time with our friends. It's not healthy to have a relationship where you spend all your free time together without seeing anyone else.
In the afternoon, Christian and I leave Escala, because he wants to show me the house. To my surprise neither Taylor nor Sawyer are following us. Instead Christian is driving us in his R8 and for some reason, watching him drive is really hot.
"Do I need to pull over for a quickie?" He asks suddenly and I get the soda I am sipping down the wrong pipe.
"Wh…what?" I croak and he laughs.
"You are flushed, you're pressing your thighs together and you have that fuck me look." He chuckles and I gape at him.
"I do not have a fuck me look!" I pout.
"Oh you do, Miss Steele, it's hot." He chuckles.
"It's those darn pregnancy hormones… and watching you drive is hot." I murmur embarrassed and smirks at me.
"Well, I can always find a sp…" He stops, annoyed, when his phone rings and answer the call.
"Ros… NO! God damn it, those stupid fuckers! No, I'll go, please get in touch with Andrea and let her make the arrangements for me to go next Tuesday… no I can't go before that we have the Russians coming in on Thursday and then I have an important meeting on Friday, if they can't wait they can go fuck themselves… yes, call me back." He says hangs up and hits the stirring wheel with both hands, making me jump in my seat.
"Sorry… fuck, looks I have to go to Detroit next week, the deal we are working on is going down south… can you reschedule the appointment with Dr. Greene for a week later?" He asks and I nod. Dr. Greene is going to make a few more tests to see if Liam has been affected by the drugs I was given at the hospital and I don't think that I will be able to face the results without him by my side to support me.
"Good." He says clipped and I can tell that he really doesn't want to go on this trip. I would love to ask him why this business trip is stressing him out so much, but he doesn't seem to want to talk about it, so I keep my mouth shut until he pulls up in front of a huge wrought iron gate.
After typing in a code the gate opens and he drives up a long drive way and I can see the meadow, the grass is really tall and full of leaves that have come off the trees surrounding it, but I can imagine that it must be breath-taking in spring and summer with countless wild flowers and green grass.
"I love the meadow." I murmur and from the corner of my eye see Christian smile. When he turns a corner the house comes into view and it is huge… really huge.
For a second, I want to say something, but stop myself and as I get out of the car I feel something I wasn't expecting at all, I feel … like coming home.
Christian
Even a couple hours later, I'm still stoked because Ana really loves the house. The moment we stepped inside, I could see that she loved it and was already turning it into our home in her head. She surprised both Elliot and myself when she asked tons of questions about stuff I haven't even heard of, but Elliot knew what she was talking about.
Later I remembered that her Dad is carpenter and that she has worked at a hardware store all through college, so even though she says she sucks at DIY, she clearly knows all about renovating and what materials are needed. For a while, I felt like an idiot, because I had no clue what my brother and Ana were discussing, but she seemed so excited that I just let it go.
After that, I showed her all of the house and of course, Ana being Ana, she was most excited when I showed her the room that is going to be the library. It will also be her study, because even if she doesn't work, I know that Ana needs something to do and maybe staying home with our son will give her enough time to write, because she once told me, that she dreams of writing her own novel one day.
We also agreed on having a playground for Liam, both outside in the backyard and inside next to the gym, so he can play and run around, even if the weather is not good enough to go outside. Elliot also told us that we can have an inside pool, in addition to the one that is already outside, which is great, because this way I can include swimming laps into my daily workout routine.
A quick glance at the clock on my laptop shows me that Elliot and Ethan will be here soon. I wanted to meet Ethan Kavanagh for a while now, because Mia told me four weeks ago when she called me that they have been dating for a while now, which apparently no one besides me knows, because they want to see if they will work out before they let everyone know that they are in relationship. His background check came back without any red flags and while I hate the fact that my little sister is seeing anyone, at least on paper Kavanagh seems to be a decent guy.
Leaving my study, I find Ana in the kitchen making popcorn and what looks like pitchers with cocktails.
"Cocktails?" I ask, I know Ana is responsible and wouldn't drink, but why would she even tempt herself like that.
"All virgins, Mia has sent me some great recipes. Kate and Claire have to work tomorrow and Mia has to drive back to Bellevue, so neither of us can have a drink." She says and suddenly giggles.
"What?"
"Umm… well, since it won't get me into trouble anymore, remember the one weekend you had to go to New York, while I was your sub."
"Sure, what about it?"
"Kate and I decided to get drunk and have some fun with it, so we googled cocktails and went to a bar where we only ordered cocktails with really bizarre names. She ordered an Adios motherfucker and I had a Red Headed Slut… the bartender must have thought we are crazy, did you know that when you order a shot of Bailey's with Sambuca that it is called a Slippery Nipple?" She says still giggling and I try hard not to smile.
"So, you broke the rules? Miss Steele, I am shocked." I reply trying my best to keep a straight face.
"Sometimes, but it was fun, we ended up in a karaoke bar and had a blast. Though I had to bribe Kate not to tell Elliot that I got shit-faced so you wouldn't find out… in hindsight that night was the best decision of my life."
"Oh and why is that?"
"Well, the next morning I had the worst hangover and forgot to take the pill, when I remembered it was already too late to take it, but I took it anyway, only to get sick again. I guess, that is why the pill wasn't effective and little Liam came to be." She says with a smile and caresses her belly.
"Is that so, well, Miss Steele, in this case I have to agree that breaking the rules was the best thing for both of us."
"Yo! Bro, we are here!" I hear Elliot holler as he comes in with Kate and whom I assume is her brother.
"Hey, I'm Ethan, nice to meet you." He says and we shake hands before he gives Ana a quick hug and the only reason why I'm not knocking his lights out for touching her is that I know that he is into Mia and not Ana.
"Wow, look at you, Ana… who would have thought that you would be the first to have a kid, especially since Kate always said the poor guy who ends up with you would probably need a crowbar to get you to open your legs." He laughs and my mouth drops open, but Ana laughs.
"Oh come on, she's just jealous, because she needs a vice to keep her legs shut." She replies.
"Bitch!" Kate laughs and they hug, so I guess that is just some kind of friendly banter between them.
"Oh okay guys, time to get the hell out, let the girls have some fun." Elliot says and so we leave and head to a bar just around the corner from Escala. We sit down at a table with perfect view of the large flat screen TV and Elliot orders beer, burgers and fries for us.
"So… spill bro, are you back together with Ana?" Elliot asks and I sigh.
"Hell if I know. It's complicated, we are working on our issues and we have gotten a lot closer ever since I'm back from Aspen… she agreed that we would move into the house together and we want to raise our son together… but we haven't fucked yet if that's what you want to know."
"That's good, but damn how do you manage to be around her without fucking her, I mean even I have noticed that she gets hotter by the day it feels since she is pregnant." Elliot says and I glare at him.
"That's just the problem, if it was up to me, I would fuck her senseless at any given chance, but I'm not sure that is what she wants. Before all that shit went down, our relationship was basically solely about fucking and I don't want her to think I want to go back to that, but I feel like my dick has his own mind, because he stands to attention the second Ana steps into the room."
"Want my advice?" Kavanagh asks and I raise a questioning brow at him.
"Hey, I have known Ana since she moved in with Kate four years ago, plus I'm a psychology major, so do you want my opinion or not?" He says and shoves some fries into his mouth.
"Go on." I mutter and watch him take a long sip of beer before he starts to talk.
"Wait for her to make the first move, this way you know that she is ready. Sure the waiting sucks, but if you make the first move and she feels pressured into it, everything you have achieved until that point will turn to shit." He says and his words reflect my thoughts on it exactly. I know that I could easily seduce Ana, especially with here raging pregnancy hormones, but that's not what I want.
"Easy for you to say, dude. When was the last time you've been with girl without getting any pussy?" Elliot smirks and I roll my eyes.
"Actually, I've been seeing the same girl for three months now and we haven't had sex so far."
"Three months? What's wrong with her?" Elliot wants to know and Kavanagh shifts in his seat.
"She's never done it before, so she wants to be sure we will work out. Can't blame her for that, actually, it makes me respect her a lot more. Plus, she is a great girl, so I can wait for her to be ready."
"Hot?" He asks and Kavanagh smirks.
"Prettiest girl I have ever met." He says and I make a mental note to tell Mia that she has made the right choice by starting to date him. He seems to be a decent guy, who treats her with respect and that's something I can't say about any of the other fuckers my little sister has dated so far.
"Well, I wouldn't wait... but then again, I don't have to because my Katie likes to fuck just as much as I do." He says with a smug smirk and Kavanagh punches him in the shoulder.
"Dude, that's my sister you are talking about, I don't need to hear that shit about her." Kavanagh says disgusted and try not to laugh.
"Just saying… anyway, bro, I hate to say it, but good old Ethan here is right, let Ana make the first move, so you know she is ready… for your sake I hope she does so before your dry spell starts."
"What?"
"Didn't know? Once she has popped the little fella out there will be no sex for about six weeks." He grins and I close my eyes. Shit, I had no fucking idea… damn if she doesn't make a move before Liam is born I'm looking at about seven and a half months without sex… damn I'm cursed!
Taking a long sip from my beer, I decide to let the topic go for now and watch the game, after making a bet with Elliot and Ethan to see who wins.
I have just won the bet, when my phone buzzes and I see a text from Ros, saying that my trip to Detroit is arranged. Well fuck, looks like I have to go back to that hell hole of a city I escaped when I was adopted by the Grey's…