Once again Christian was utterly speechless. How did I ever mistake this woman for being a submissive? She can't even grant me a simple request, much less follow an instruction. "Ana! Open up! Please baby, I need to talk to you!" Christian heard some rustling on the other side of the door. Taking this as encouragement that she could hear him, he pounded the door with his fist, making a knock loud enough to wake the dead and, hopefully, get Ana's attention.
The banging did the trick. Ana slowly reopened the door and peered out at him. "What do you want, Mr. Grey? Your car has been towed, if that is what has brought you here."
"You think I am here for the fucking car?" Christian asked in disbelief. "Ana, your car is registered in your name. If it has been towed they are not going to call me about it. Is that why you are driving around in that mom-mobile?"
Ana faltered a little bit at this news. "I had it towed," she whispered. "And that mom-mobile is owned by me now, so don't worry yourself about it. If you are not here about the car, I don't know what you want. I haven't touched that account you set up and you can go get your car from the towing company and give it to Leila or whoever the hell you want, because I am done!"
On the verge of tears, Ana tried to close the door again. This time Christian was expecting her reaction and prevented her from slamming it shut. His mind was racing as he processed her rant. "Why the fuck would I give it to Leila. You saw her; she is in no condition to drive. She is in some hospital a thousand miles away. What the hell is going on, Ana?"
The impact of this news took Ana by surprise. Christian saw his opening and slid into the apartment before she had a chance to object. "Ana, after that night I have been away on business. I couldn't stand to face you after what happened. I know I should have come back earlier, but I wasn't… I didn't trust myself not to lose it. I think I can forgive and move on, though. That is, if you'll still have me."
"You left me for two weeks because of one stupid night! Make that three weeks, including this last one, and you think that you can just waltz back into my life and take over?" Ana screamed, unwilling to relent. "Well, you have another thing coming, Mr. Grey!"
Christian was not sure how to respond. True, one night had been all that it had taken to push him over the edge, but surely Ana knew that her infidelity would cause a rift between them. "Well, Ana, your… indiscretion… it was not something I thought would ever happen. Since you how I feel about us, I thought you would have had more control over yourself."
He could not bear to call her one-night stand what it was and he prayed that she wouldn't make him utter those words explicitly. It would be even worse to hear her say it, though. " But I am more than willing to forgive and move on if you will still take me," he repeated quickly, hoping that she would see how much he was trying to make this work.
After listening to Christian, Ana was very hesitant. Obviously the man was admitting that he had wronged her and wanted to start over, but she was not so sure that she could trust him anymore. He had basically shown her the door after one night of drinking. And that night of drinking had occurred because Christian had been getting cozy with Leila.
No! Christian said that Leila was taken away. He doesn't want her after all… "What happened after I left you and went out with Ethan that night? What did you do with Leila?" she asked quietly. This was still something she had to know if they were even going to consider reconciling.
Christian gave her a perplexed look. "Nothing," he said. "She was a wreck and I felt so awful. I mean, she was that way because of me, because of how fucked up I was with her. So I tried to calm her down until we could take her to a hospital. I gave her a bath and it seemed to help a little."
Ana was almost stunned. "You gave your ex-submissive a bath in my house? What, did you have her try on my clothes, too? Did you use my brush to fix her hair?" Ana's voice was getting louder by the minute, but she was far from being finished. "Did you fuck her in my bed, Christian? It seemed like she would be pretty willing when I had been forced to leave."
There was electric energy in the room; it was like Christian could taste Ana's anger in the air. "Ana, baby," he began quietly.
"Don't 'baby' me, Christian! You have fucked this up so much I don't even know what to do. Can you not see how sick this is? You with all of your ex-subs… you have no idea how hard it is for me to see you with one of them."
"What do you want me to do, Ana?" Christian asked in a quiet voice. "They exist and some of them are really fucked up in the mind. I don't want them. I want you! Why can't you see that?"
Christian removed the distance between them, so they were less than an arm's length apart. "If I wanted to fuck with random subs don't you think they have a market for that in New York? Or how about in L.A.? I have been traveling a lot over the past weeks, but all I wanted to do was to be with you."
"Ana, I am ready to forgive and move on, but you need to be willing to let go, too, if this is going to work," Christian held his breath, waiting for her response.
It was like someone had taken the wind out of her sails. Ana felt utterly deflated by the argument. Adding this stress her already less-than-healthy state was not working out well. "Christian, I am just going to need some time to think about this. I know that you are used to just saying the word and getting your way but that is not how it works with me." Ana felt herself leaning away from his body as she spoke, much to the disgust of her inner goddess. Lord, he is sex on legs.
She took a deep breath and continued. "I don't know if you have noticed, or if you even care, but I am sick and I might not even come in to work tomorrow. I need rest…and space."
Christian nodded slowly. "I did notice, Anastasia. And believe me, I do care. I want to take care of you more than I want anything else. I'll be in touch, but get your rest. It is very important that you are well." With that he kissed her on her forehead and walked out of the still-open front door. "Laters, baby."