Chapter 4- When Paths Cross

Eyeing Christian and hearing the tone in his voice I sighed not in the mood to fight with him. "We can talk this weekend."

"Bella it is only Tuesday, I want to talk now. Get in the fucking car."

One look at his face and I just nodded. "Fine." Slamming the car door I got in and sat back looking at my cell again wondering why Edward never answered me.

"Slam my door like that again and you won't sit for a week after the punishment." Christian hissed at me as he got in.

"Cut it, I had a shitty day and last time I checked I am not on your time right now. What is this about?"

Christian floored the gas making the car lunge forward and me get thrown back against the seat. I grabbed at my seat belt and glared at him. I hated when he let his anger control him and the more I thought about it the more I was just done. Done with him but then he spoke, his tone was tense and almost pained, "So I cannot just pick you up mid-week because I want to talk to you?"

His words make my mouth open in shock, "What?"

"I dreamt of you, did you dream of me too?" He whispered back to me turning his head to look into my eyes.

"FUCK!" Echoed in my mind as I sat silent staring back at him. I must have texted him Edward's message by mistake. "Christian."

"Bella, you didn't answer me."

His tone was soft and very un-Christian like. I blinked my eyes and my mind raced, what the fuck to do. Do I tell him the truth and risk his anger? Or do I lie and try to cover my ass. "Oh that, it is a lyric from a new poem I read today." I lied and looked down at my cell avoiding his eyes.

"And you texted it to me why?"

"Just thought of you when I read it." I lied more and then peeked at him. He seemed to be buying it so I reached to turn on the radio to cover the silence.

He didn't speak again until we reached his place. I sighed and prayed he did not bring me here to go into his playroom but he remained quiet as we walked into the elevator. His eyes seemed lit up but no words. Once we stepped inside his apartment I noticed at once why. The place was lit with candles everywhere. Staring at the candles then back at Christian I swallowed hard. "What is all this?"

"I was trying to tell you the other day but then you safe worded me and left so quickly I thought it best to give you your space. Bella, I want you to know that you are more than just my sub."

"Wait what?"

"Relax Bella, I am not proposing." Christian chuckled a bit then looked at me with warm eyes. "I want to spend more time with you and outside the playroom. I missed you when you left the other day."

With Edward in my thoughts I held my tongue, I did not want more time with Christian but he went to all this trouble. I stare at him with no words then he points me towards the dining room. As I wander in there I see more candles and a dinner laid out. He pulls out a chair for me and we eat in silence.

After a while Christian looks at me, "Did I shock you?"

"Hmm Mr. Contract to be with me, yes you did." I answered him honestly and then jumped as I heard his door bell. "Where you expecting someone?"

"I told him I would be busy." Christian answered but stood up to answer it.

As he walked out of the room I quickly texted Edward, "I miss you and we need to talk soon." I quickly hid the phone back in my pocket as Christian walked back into the room.

We finished our dinner in silence but for the softly playing music he had turned on. As I listened to the love songs he put on I was in turmoil in my mind. This was not the Christian I had come to know, he was being so different. Quiet and almost as if he was trying to read my mind Christian just watched me intently. I felt like a traitor as I knew that the man who haunted my dreams was not him. Then I felt my cell vibrate in my pocket. Without looking I knew it was Edward, how was I ever going to do this?

I coughed softly then excused myself to the restroom to check my cell, there was a message waiting from him. "Yes we need to talk, there is so much that I have not told you because I did not want to scare you off or overwhelm you. I never planned on you but now I have found you I will not be letting you go. I miss you too." I just stare into space not sure how to respond but this message, this single message from him excites me more than this surprise from Christian. I know that I need to end this with Christian but I don't know how.

Standing up I wash my hands and stare at myself in the mirror. Now I see what Edward sees, my face is pale and my eyes seem troubled but I look beautiful. There is a quiet beauty to me that I never noticed before. I can hear the music in my mind again and it makes me smile as it brings back that moment with Edward. No one ever cared how I look at myself before or insisted that I look deeper to see the beauty inside me. Edward touches me on so many levels that I never dreamed of, how can a stranger walk into your life and know you better than you know yourself?

But before I can text him back there is a thunderous knock on the door, I open the door slowly. "Yes?"

"Bella, come to me."

I see Christian standing in the hall waiting for me. He is wearing his playroom attire and it makes me groan. I am so not up to this tonight but I am not given a choice as he pulls me by the arm. Inside the room he pulls me close kissing me hard. "I have an idea for tonight's scene." His voice is soft and un-Christian like until he nuzzles my neck. Snapping his head back he glares at me. "Who has touched you?"

I shiver at his glare scared, is this part of the scene or can he smell Edward on me? He is kissing right where Edward bit me last night. "No one."

"What?"

"No one sir."

"You seem different, what has changed?"

"What do you mean?"

"You do not seem as eager to be here anymore. You are tense and not trusting me." His eyes glare darker at me. "You will listen to me, you will trust me and you will submit. Here. Now. Tonight." With that he pushes me backwards against the wall where there is a large cross. I know better than to fight him, he seems a man possessed and I cannot tell if this is scene or just him reacting to me. He slams my hands into the shackles as he pushes my arms over my head but I am still fully dressed. Confused I just watch as he drops between my legs to shackles my ankles. "Bella, something has happened. You need to tell me or I will make you tell me."

"Nothing has happened."

"I think I know what it is." His eyes are almost black as he glares up at me. "But I want you to tell me."

Confused as hell I just shake my head until he walks across the room. He starts digging in his drawers of toys as I stare in horror. He pulls out thing after thing waving them at me so I will be sure to see what he plans to do. "Christian please. What do you want to know?"

"His name for starters."

"There is no one."

He clicks on music and I groan, I know what this means. Begin scene, I close my eyes but as the pain of a slap on my thigh makes them fly open. "I know who it is. I just want you to tell me." With those words he begins to rain down blows on me with his flogger. Harder and harder they grow till I cry out yellow. Then he tosses the flogger aside and comes at me. He kisses me hard while his hands pull at my shirt ripping and tugging till it comes apart in his hands. He bites at my breasts through my bra then pushes them up so my nipples are out for him. He bites them till I scream out yellow again then I feel the bite of a clamp. First on the left then on the right.

The pain of the clamp makes my mind numb, all I can think of is Edward and protecting our fragile relationship. I cannot and will not tell Christian. Edward, Edward, Edward. His name is all that echoes through my mind then my eyes widen in shock as I hear a loud buzzing sound. I turn my head to see Christian coming at me with a large vibrator in his hand. First he pulls up my skirt then he lets it vibrate against my thigh. "You just need to say the name."

I shake my head and whisper, "there is no one, no one but you."

I close my eyes as he rips my panties open and thrust the vibrator deep inside me. "Bella. You are mine." With that the thrusts become harder and harder as he repeats himself. "You are mine, I am not ready to let you go."

My knees start to shudder as my body reacts to all this then I feel him pull the vibrator deep inside me and leave it there as he walks away. I close my eyes and whimper scared of what he is going to do next. My mind is still racing with protecting our secret but my body is now shaking as my release comes near, suddenly I feel the hard slap of a crop on my thigh. It is almost too much to bear. "Christian." I whisper.

"What did you say?"

"Christian."

He stops with the crop inches from my thigh with bright eyes looking at me. "What are you supposed to address me as in here?"

"Sir." I pant out fighting with my body as the vibrator pulses on inside me. "You are sir."

"Then why did you say Christian?"

I close my eyes and bite back a moan then open them to stare at him, "You asked his name."

That is all it takes, his face changes into the soft one I saw at dinner and he lunges at me dropping the crop while he kisses me hard. Then he pulls back, I feel him unshackle my ankles but before I can say a word he is pulling the vibrator out of me and then I feel him thrust himself deep inside me. Groaning I wrap my legs around him while I close my legs. Harder and harder, deeper and deeper he thrusts till we are both crying out. He slaps my ass hard and I lose it. As I spiral out of control I start to mumble the name of the real one that I want. "Ed…wahhh mmmmmm" I cry out and feel my legs sagging around him.

If he heard me start to say Edward's name he never told me. I don't remember much else of that night but waking up in my room at his place alone. He never slept with me and that used to bother me but now I welcomed the space. I woke up confused and dazed and sore. The woman parts of me ached and my breasts. I brought my hands to them and groaned at the pain I felt in my nipples. "Damn him and those fucking clips." I sighed then rolled over to see him standing in the doorway. "Are you trying to scare me?"

Christian just laughed then lunged at me. He had never touched me but a kiss here or there outside the playroom so I was in shock as he tugged my ankles pulling me to him. I cried out but this time it was not in pleasure but in pain. I was so sore that the length of him inside me was almost burning as he moved but he closed his eyes bent on his own pleasure. His thrusts were so hard and deep that I felt tears come to my eyes as I just laid there wanting it to be over but on and on he went. I felt him grow larger for a moment then empty himself into me but he was not done. He pulled out of me only to flip me over. Then with his hands on my hips puling my ass up into the air he thrust back into me. This time I let out a small scream of pain. He hit my back walls so hard I shuddered in pain but grabbed the pillow to bury my face in to muffle my screams. This was worse than the playroom. In there I was prepared for the pain but here, here I thought I was safe. Finally he found his release again and then left me.

As I lie there numb I started to cry, he said nothing to me. No words for the whore that he had used for his pleasure and he wanted to tell me he wanted more from me. Apparently his idea of more was a degrading fuck here and there. That was not what I wanted, my heart was crying out for so much more. I wanted to be something to someone. To mean something and I wanted a connection with someone so that when we joined as one it too meant something. I could not be just a fuck.

Standing up stiffly and sore I wanted to shower the smell of him off me but more importantly I needed to escape him now before he came at me for more. I grabbed some clothes from the closet and my cell phone to get out of here. Snatching up my purse from the hall I ran straight into his security. "Are you ready to be taken to your car Ms. Masen?"

"Yes." I choked out and looked down as I walked to the elevator. My whole body ached and I had not even combed my hair. I did not bother to tell Christian I was leaving, I knew that his security would inform him but as I got into the car a wave of nausea hit me. "Please Taylor just take me to my apartment. I can get my car later."

"Are you feeling alright Ms." He politely inquired as he started the car.

"No, I don't." I sighed and laid back during the ride. It had to be my nerves. I called work and called in sick before we got to my place. Then I climbed out of the car and went straight to my place to crawl into my bed. I was feeling worse. As I lie in my bed my whole body tensed as if I was going to have an orgasm then seemed to explode into pain. It tightened over and over as I screamed in pain. What was happening? I glanced down to see a scattering of blood of the sheets under me. Almost passing out in fear I grabbed my cell to dial him. The one I needed, the one I trusted and the only one I wanted near me at this moment in time. I listened to it ring and ring but no answer. I could feel the blood now trickling out of me and I was scared. Taking the phone with me to the bathroom. I stared down in horror at the red lines running down my legs. The phone was still just ringing and ringing. "Edward." I whispered when it finally beeped for me to leave a message. "I need you." Then I sagged against the bathroom wall down to the floor where I laid with my head on the cool tile closing my eyes.

I lost track of time then as I waited for him to call me back. I saw again the dream and the pictures of him and me. Now there they seemed clearer. I saw us together, bright smiles in each one then one flashed where I looked different. My face seemed to glow and Edward, his smile seemed even brighter in this one. Just as I realized why I heard my name.