Chapter 18
Grace-POV
It's so nice to have everyone gathered together.
After Ana calmed Christian down, we all sat around the great room while we ate and conversed.
It warms my heart to see Christian acting so carefree, more like his age, and with such affection for Ana. I'm happy he's accepting of her touch, but it also pains me that I'm not able to. I've always known and respected his boundaries though. He's always been so stubborn and independent, every since he was little, but I knew he was just protecting himself.
As I watch Christian and my father interact with Ana between them, I can't help but wonder about that comment Christian made, about Ana being his wife.
I know they wouldn't elope so it must have been a slip of the tongue, but if that's how he's unintentionally feeling, I can't wait until we do hear those wedding bells. My parents adore her, Mia and Elliot already treat her like she's their sister, and Cary and I have always felt she was our adopted daughter. She'd make a wonderful addition to our family.
"No, Gramps," I hear Christian growl, but it's in a playful nature, and when I look towards them Christian has pulled Ana closer to him. "You can't have her, she's mine."
Christian makes a show of kissing Ana's head causing Ana and everyone else to laugh.
I never imagined Christian would show affection so publicly like that, not even in front of family.
They look so happy together, I just wish they would have realized this sooner.
...
CPOV
I'll admit, while I'm not please with having unexpected guests; first the Bailey's and now my family, tonight has actually been fun. With the exception of all the stressful shit piled on my shoulders, of course.
"Ana, why don't you come golfing with me some time?" My grandfather asks her. "You'd look fetching in golf gear."
Mia laughs at my grandfathers attempt at trying to be cool with using the phrase 'fetching'.
"No way, Gramps." I playfully yet possessively growl at him while I pull Anastasia towards me and away from him. "You can't have her, she's mine."
I make a show out of kissing her head to prove my point, it's as modest as I can be in front of my family. I hadn't realized Anastasia and I have been inadvertently touching and kissing each other all night, all simple loving gestures, but the women in the room are gushing with oohs and awws. I've never showed PDA before, and now that I am, I fucking love it. Only with her, with Anastasia.
"Come on, son." My grandfather tries to reason. "Didn't your mother teach you to share?"
Elliot, who's had far too much to drink, laughs at the question and sprays what he had in his mouth towards Mia.
"Hey!" Mia jumps away as she wipes the liquid from her dress, even though I don't think any managed the journey.
Does my grandfather realize what he just asked, me of all people?
"Yeah, Christian." Elliot chimes in, moving as our mother cleans up his mess like he's a fucking toddler. "Share your-"
"Elliot!" I growl, interrupting him from saying anything more. He's always teasing me about Anastasia, add alcohol to the mix and I know he'll say something inappropriate to piss me off.
"I've always wanted to crazy golf." Anastasia tells my grandfather, ignoring the brotherly banter and trying to calm the situation
building.
"It's a date then." He grins.
Great. I haven't had the chance to take my girl out, and yet he manages to make plans with her before I do.
"You can join us," Anastasia kisses my cheek to placate me. I guess my sulking was noticeable.
The rest of the night goes smoothly, other than Elliot having too much to drink and having to sleep it off in a spare room upstairs. I'm sure Anastasia will enjoy torturing him in the morning.
It's late and Anastasia has been yawning so we say goodnight to the family.
I hope she's not too tired, but if she is, I'm glad I told Ros that Anastasia and I would not be in the office tomorrow. I just want a day away from everything and everyone, just some much needed alone time with me and my girl. We've just started this relationship and we've yet to spend any real quality time together. Taylor and Sawyer already know the plans for tomorrow and have made the arrangements.
As I show my family to the elevator, my grandfather gives more advice before he leaves, which basically translates to 'I love this girl, please don't fuck this up.' Of course that's not what he said, but I know that's what he meant.
When I turn around the most beautiful sight greets me. Anastasia cuddled up on my sofa as she looks out the floor to ceiling windows.
I stand back and watch her for a moment.
Soon she sighs and begins cleaning up.
"Leave it." I say, coming up behind her.
I wrap my arms around her as she leans her head back on my chest and sighs again.
"I love this view." She tells me as she looks out the windows.
"My view of you is amazing." I kiss her temple and see her smile.
"I think we should get some sleep," She tells me through a yawn. "We have work tomorrow."
"About that..." She turns around looking confused. "There's no work tomorrow, I've made plans for just the two of us."
"You can't do that." She accuses me.
"Baby," I chuckle. "Have you forgot that I own the company?"
"Well, yes, I mean, you can, but I can't. I'm your employee, I can't just take the day off as I please, ya know."
"Anastasia, you hit your head yesterday and you've just been released from the hospital this morning." I remind her.
"Yes, I've been release," I can hear the sarcasm dripping from her tone. "I'm okay to return to work tomorrow, the doctor even approved it."
"Well, as your boss, I'm using my power to authorize your day off. Think of it as a perk of-"
"A perk?!" She shouts at me. "Oh, so because I'm fucking the boss, now I'm entitled to perks?"
Fuck, I didn't mean it like that.
"We haven't had sex yet," I try for humor to lighten the situation. "So technically you're just arguing with the boss."
"I'm not some office whore, Christian Grey."
She turns on her heel and storms off toward the bedroom, slamming the door for good measure.
Oh shit, I've already fucked up.
Just as I'm about to go after her, my phone rings, as if this day hasn't had enough interruptions.
When I see who's calling, I can't help but wonder why he's calling me.
I'm skeptical about the conversation that will take place, but I answer the call.
"Grey."
...
Ray-POV
I've just left José Sr. and he's to be as expected after loosing a child. Even though his son tried to harm my daughter in the most unforgivable way, I feel for him. I could be loosing Annie because of this BDSM shit, I could only imagine loosing her forever.
I feel horrible and I need to fix my relationship with my daughter.
I can't believe I let that woman get into my head. I didn't know who she was because I don't watch much television, only my sports, but I heard about the incident through the grapevine, especially because everyone knows my daughter works for Christian Grey. It was only a coincidence that I saw the news about the Coping Together shooting while I was in the hotel bar that night.
I know I need to talk to Annie and apologize again, but I don't think she will hear me out. When Annie is mad, she's a firecracker.
The only way around this situation is to do the one thing I never thought I would.
Annie gave me Grey's number incase of emergencies so I give him a call.
"Grey."
"Hello, Christian, it's Ray." He's quiet so I explain further. "Ray Steele, Annie's father."
"Yes, hello, Mr. Steele, is everything alright?"
"Well, that's what I was calling in regards to. I was hoping to meet with you and finally have that long overdue conversation we should of had long ago. Now that you and my daughter are together, I think it's high time, and it may be better to hear it from the source rather than everyone else. I was planning on meeting with your folks, but I think you and I should talk."
"I appreciate that, and I'm sure Anastasia would like that as well."
"About Annie, could you not tell her about this?"
"Mr. Steele, Anastasia and I have just started our relationship, and I don't think keeping things from her is a great start. She knows everything about me, and I wont keep anything from her."
"You're right, I'm sorry, I shouldn't of asked you that."
"It's late, so I'll email you a few open spots in my schedule when I can fit you in. Once you decided which time and date fits your needs, just send me an email so I can schedule it."
"I'll do that."
"Goodnight."
"Christian." I call out to him before he ends the call.
"Yeah?"
"How's my little girl?"
"She's fine. We just had dinner with my family and they all adore her just as much as I do."
"She's hard not to love."
"You're telling me." He chuckles a bit. "Goodnight, Mr. Steele."
"Night."
After I end the call with Grey I feel a bit relieved. I'm still not sure I like him all that much, but for Annie I will get to know him and then judge instead of believing what I've read, heard, and seen on the internet. The way his mother reacted towards Ella, I mean Elena at the hospital speaks volumes. The Grey's seem to be honest and loving people so I can only imagine they have instilled some kind of moral codes into Christian, regardless of the sick shit he enjoys.
I don't know if I will ever get over that, I don't know if I can trust him, but I'm going to give him a chance. It's the least I can do after everything I've done.
Fuck, I completely forgot about Hyde, I never relieved him of his duties after we left the hospital.
Since it's late, I send Hyde a text, letting him know of the situation and that he's no longer needed, but he doesn't reply. It is rather late, maybe he's sleeping.
He'll see the message in the morning, I'm sure.
...
Hyde-pov
After I've finished jacking off to her photo for the better part of the afternoon, I'm still on a high, like the cat who is about to get that delicious cream. And the prize? Anastasia Steele.
When my brother mentioned he knew someone who needed a CPO for their daughter, I was all in. That is until I found out it was Raymond Steele's daughter.
Apparently my good friend Elena Lincoln was manipulating this dumb fuck into believing that BDSM was real dark shit, which it is and can be, just so he would take his daughter away from Grey. But what this fucker Ray doesn't know, is that I'm a sadist. I'm better than that sorry excuse of a dominant, Grey. Unlike him, I like my women strong, so I can beat them down into obeying submissives, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I have been known to use a bit of blackmail. It's more fun for me that way. This dumb fuck was taking his daughter away from one Dom and feeding her directly to another.
Elena and I go way back, further than her and Grey.
She trained me just like him, only better, yet he's her golden boy for some fucking reason, and she gave him the money to start up that fucking empire. It could of been me, I should of been the rich fucker with the sexy as fuck Anastasia on my arm. Grey and I even shared a foster home at one point so I could have been a Grey, have that influential name, but those fuckers chose him over me.
All his power is a façade. He's really a weak little submissive, the money came from Elena, and his influence comes from having the Grey name. He's nothing!
Grey's probably losing his touch too. I've set up a software program where I will be alerted if my name is entered into any system. I'm not a hacker, but if anyone runs any checks on me the system with notify me, and I haven't received any notifications what so ever. They all probably forgot about me and assumed I was insignificant. I'm actually surprised Grey doesn't remember me, or that he doesn't know Elena trained me before him. It's a small world, indeed.
In the BDSM lifestyle there are rules, and one of those rules is you don't fuck with another dominant's sub... Good thing she's not his sub.
Anastasia Steele is my ideal type to beat and fuck for my pleasure, and introducing me to his daughter was Raymond Steele's dumbest move.
I liked the way Anastasia looked the second I saw her, but it wasn't until she opened her smart mouth to tell off to her father that she became so appealing to me, and to top it off, she's with Grey. I get to have my cake and eat it too; revenge on Grey by fucking his girl.
After seeing the way she behaved at the hospital, it lit a fire within me and I can't wait to have her. She's become my prey. I'm going to take her, fuck her, beat her, break her, and then hand my leftovers back to Grey.
I've followed Grey's SUV back to his fancy apartment building, Escala. It figures this fucker has the most secure penthouse in the city, and it really pisses me off that I can't see inside.
Now while they're safely inside his Ivory Tower, I'm stuck in my car, parked across the street from his building while I wait for some
kind of movement.
I know he's going to, but thank fuck Ray hasn't terminated my employment yet, gives me an excuse to be here. I also know Grey wont let her out of his sight or alone. I have information and background checks on all his security, Jason Taylor and Luke Sawyer have the most impressive backgrounds so it'll be hard to get around them, but not impossible.
My phone vibrating breaks me from my thoughts.
"What do you want?" I snap when I answer Elena's call.
"Is that anyway to greet me?" She should know better, I don't kiss her ass like Grey use to.
"What do you want?" I ask slowly. "I wont ask again."
"I just wanted to see how you were getting on with your stalking."
"What stalking?"
"Oh, darling, you can't fool me." She cackles like the witch she is. "I saw they way you were looking at the mouse."
I don't reply, I just make a loud noise to indicate I'm bored and she best get to the point quickly.
"You should be thankful I'm the only one who saw you." She tells me.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll send you a thank you card, just get to the point of this phone call."
"I can tell you're on edge and need a release." She teases.
"It'd be nice if you could hurry this along." I growl as I notice Grey's family leave Escala.
"Alright listen, you want her, I want him, so why don't we team up? It'll be like old times, what do you say?"
"I say, you do you, and I'll do me. We'll see who wins first."
"It's like that, is it?" She laughs offended.
"Yeah, it's exactly like that."
"You do know I love a good challenge." She purrs. "Are you trying to turn me on, darling?"
"No." Not my type, she's too willing. "I have to go, bye."
I quickly hang up before she succeeds in making me vomit.
How does she not see how vile she is? Yes, I admit when I was young I thought she was hot as fuck for an other chick, but she's not a natural beauty and all that plastic surgery she's had is finally catching up to her.
As I'm about to put my phone away, it goes off again, this time a text.
Seems Ray finally ended my employment. That doesn't seem fair, I didn't even get to do anything fun yet.
Oh well, it'll be more fun stalking my prey.
...
Elena-POV
I know it may seem stupid to reveal myself at the hospital, but I wanted Christian to know it was me so he could come after me. The thought of that man punishing me is too exciting.
He's a great fuck, I definitely took my time training him to please a woman, and it pissed me the fuck off when he wanted to go off on his own. It was bad enough that I had to supply him with those women, but then when I offered myself to help him relieve the stress that GEH was creating, he turned me down.
Of course I knew exposing him wouldn't harm his image, and look at what I've done, gave him the opportunity to make even more
money. The fool has so much he doesn't know what to do with it.
I figured he would come punish me for doing that, but Anastasia Steele talked to him before he could. I knew then I had to get her out of my way before I could get what I wanted.
First was the ground work; I started manipulating her father, and gave my new pet an assignment.
Trev works with Christian's COO's wife as an assistant, so when he told me about what happened at the photo shoot, I ordered him to take the photos and show José. I knew the fucker was crazy enough to do something stupid, but that fucker José was only supposed to kidnap Anastasia, not try to kill my baby! I knew those photos would set José off, but I didn't expect things to go off with such a literal bang.
When I saw the news I was outraged and punished Trev for it before I made my way to Ray. He had been taking his sweet time getting his precious daughter away from what's mine and he needed a push.
Thanks to Grace's theatrics, she ruined my plan with Anastasia's father, and Christian now knows I'm coming. The only advantage I have is that he doesn't know what I'm planning next.
I received another shock though, apparently Christian and Anastasia are a couple.
I knew Christian had a crush on sweet little Anastasia, so I did my best to fill his mind with bullshit about love, him ruining her innocence, and vanilla sex not satisfying him. I didn't think he'd go near her with his self-loathing, so I was baffled when Ray told me they were together, and then I saw Christian with that mousey little tramp.
I thought I trained him well. She doesn't seem his type, physically yes, but she's not very submissive. And this is exactly why I tried to keep them apart, I knew she would make him weak, all my hard work down the fucking drain.
My original plan was to get her away from him. I never liked that bitch, I knew they were friends, and I knew she daydreamed of fucking him. Now that I know they are together, I have the prefect plan in mind. Being with that mouse will leave him unsatisfied and he will practically beg for me to make it all better, so I know I have to be really naughty to get what I want from him.
To bad that shit Hyde wouldn't team up with me, he's great at stalking, now I have to be sneaky.
I know I wont be able to get anywhere near Escala or GEH, but luckily I already have someone on the inside, and it's high time I call them.
"Yes, Mistress." Like a good pet they answer on the first ring.
"Do you have news for me?"
"Yes, Mistress."
"Well?!" I snap when I have to wait, fucking useless, I swear.
"Both Mr. Grey and Miss Steele wont be in the office tomorrow."
"I already knew that!" Incompetent moron! Anastasia was just released from the hospital, of fucking course they wont be at work tomorrow!
"Sorry, Mistress."
"Do you at least know where they are going to be?" I pinch the bridge of my nose as I try to calm myself down.
"I don't, Mistress, I'm sorry. I just heard they are not going to be in the office tomorrow, is all."
I can't even deal with this, I hang up and put my phone down.
What happened to the good ol' days where I had insightful information?
Seems only parents are all to willing to give me what I want. Grace would dish out everything I needed when Grey was younger, but that friendship is well and truly over. She should be grateful, thankful to me that I straightened out that wayward son of hers. She wasn't capable of dealing with him as a teenager. And then Ray, well he was nonstop talking about his innocent angel. He was so fucking boring, and a lousy lay, but very informative.
It looks like I need someone unknown to follow them around since I need to know their activities. This better fucking work this time!
Christian simply forgets that I made him and I can just as easily destroy him if he doesn't give me what I want.
Him.