Chapter 29: Lazy Sunday on the Grace

Sun., March 10, 2019

"I didn't know you were one of the owners of Down Under," Anastasia told Christian.

Christian smirked. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Princess."

For example, she still didn't know that he owned the entire Mile High building, making him her landlord. She didn't know that she enjoyed free rent from him. She now knew that he had worked with BB to help her launch Bennington Steele, not tried to stop it as she had assumed before. But she didn't know the details. And he wasn't ready to tell her.

"Like what?" she asked curiously. They were in the friend zone, so she was allowed to speak freely. They were snuggled under a blanket on the deck of the Grace, enjoying the crisp early Spring air on Lake Washington. It was chilly but unseasonably sunny, and there was just enough wind to enjoy the sailboat, not too much.

Christian was surprised at himself, yet again, for wanting to talk to his submissive. For some reason that he couldn't understand, he wanted her to know and understand about his past. Part of it, anyway. He wasn't ready to talk about his early childhood. He wasn't sure he'd ever be ready to tell her about that.

Christian said, "Remember last night, when you pointed out that Elena was talking to me as if I were her submissive?"

Anastasia cringed. "Yeah. She was. The tone she took with you was unacceptable. Sir."

He smirked. "Friend zone, Ana. You don't have to call me 'Sir' right now. And I don't mind you saying that because it's true. She used that tone with me because I WAS her submissive, and I think sometimes she believes I still am. I showed her last night that I'm not. But yeah, she's the one who introduced me to the lifestyle. She also trained me to be a Dom, but that was only after I'd been her submissive for five years."

"She was the shitty teacher?" Anastasia asked with wide eyes.

"Yep," he affirmed.

Anastasia laughed in surprise. "So you called her a shitty teacher to her face. Oh, her words make sense now! That's why she was so pissed off. It still doesn't excuse her behavior, though. A real Domme wouldn't have lost her temper like that."

"I agree. I'm only now seeing her for what she is," he admitted. "And what she isn't."

Anastasia tried to do the mental math, but things weren't adding up. "How many years have you been a Dom? I was under the impression it's been several."

"Six years," he answered. "I've had twenty or so subs before you, not counting the ones I played with at Down Under with only verbal contracts.

"But you're only twenty-six now," she pointed out. "How…? Oh my God, you were a child! That bitch introduced you to BDSM when you were fifteen?!"

Christian was impressed at how quickly Anastasia had done the math and deduced the truth.

"Yes, and I thought I was special. I thought I was the only one. But now… I think you're right about her, and my security team is working on proving it. If it's true, I'm going to bury her. Even if it's not, I'm done with her. What she did last night is unforgivable. She knows how much my privacy means to me. I wear a fucking hoodie just so people can't see my hair. And she just blurts out my name for everyone to hear?"

Anastasia sighed. "Tina had a good point, though. I'm not sure why I didn't see it. You're best friends with BB, both inside and outside of Down Under. I should have known. I'm not surprised Tina knew."

"She's signed the NDA for Down Under. Can I trust her to keep it under wraps?" he asked worriedly.

She nodded. "Tina's a good submissive. She's not going to talk. I'm sure you can trust her to keep the secret. I'm not as sure about Mee-Young. I like her, but I don't know her as well. She's newer. I haven't spent as much time with her outside of Down Under."

"You spend time with the other subs outside of the club?" he questioned.

"Not just subs," she admitted. "There's a group of us who get together for drinks and sometimes dinner a couple of times a month. Beatrice and Laura are the only Dommes who always join us. There are several of us subs. Tina, Candace and me are always there. BB and Jose have joined us before, and so have Tom and Daniel, but it's usually just girls. Mee-Young's still kind of new at Down Under, so she's only been out with us a couple of times."

"What do you know about her?" he asked.

Anastasia shrugged. "She's a barista at Starbucks. She's studying biology at U-Dubb because her dad wants her to be a doctor. She's a daddy's girl. Oh, you probably know her dad. Sung-ho Park. He's probably your competition."

Christian smirked. "Not really, but I do know him. She's his kid?"

"She is. And kid is a pretty accurate term. I mean, she'd old enough to join Down Under, so she isn't much younger than me, but she seems younger. I like her, though. She's cute and funny."

"Cute? You're not bi are you?" His tone was teasing, but he was actually curious.

She snorted. "No. Not bi at all. I can think that another woman is cute without wanting to fuck her. I also think BB and Jose are both hot, but I don't want to fuck either of them."

"You've already fucked one of them," Christian reminded her not so happily.

She rolled her eyes. "Stop acting jealous. That was years ago."

He pinched her nipple, which hurt even though she was fully dressed. Her nipples were still sensitive from wearing the nipple clamps the night before.

"Ouch! What was that for?" she asked, rubbing her injured nipple.

"Don't roll your eyes," he told her. "It's rude."

She raised an eyebrow. "Is it? OK, I'm sorry, Sir. I won't roll my eyes. Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, but we're still in the friend zone, so stop calling me 'Sir.' You have to obey me and respect me all the time, but you only call me Sir when we're in the Dom/sub zone."

"OK. Was it Madame Elena who taught you that rolling your eyes is rude?" she asked.

He thought about it. "Yes, she always punished me when I did it. I was a smart aleck kid, so… Yeah, what's your point?"

"Did you ever see her roll her eyes?" she asked.

"Plenty of times," he answered. "I always thought it wasn't fair that she could roll her eyes, but I couldn't roll mine."

"You were a smart kid, not just a smart aleck kid," Anastasia told him. "It was a legitimate question."

"You think I should let you roll your eyes at me?" he questioned, not sounding happy at all.

Anastasia answered quickly, "No. That wasn't my point at all. If you feel I'm being rude, I shouldn't do it, and you were right to punish me, even in the friend zone. I'm only questioning why you think it's rude, just to understand, not to challenge your dominance. You've acknowledged yourself that she wasn't a good teacher. But that doesn't mean you aren't a good Dom. You are."

Christian wanted to change the subject. This conversation was making him feel weak, and he hated that feeling. Besides, he still had questions about last night.

"Did you enjoy everything we did last night?" he asked.

"Very much," she answered. "I thought it was all perfect until that bitch destroyed it."

He sighed. "Yeah, and I don't know how many people heard her. I don't know how many people know who I am. I don't know how I feel about the club now, especially in light of what your friend… Tina… what she said. Even if the others hadn't already made the connection to BB that she had, now that they know my first name, they'll be just as quick as Mee-Young was to figure it out."

"Are you saying you don't want to keep going there?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied. "I don't want the general public to find out my private life. But you'd miss the club if we didn't go. You liked showing off your pretty little tits." He put his hand up her sweater and rubbed her nipple with the palm of his hand. When she moaned, he sniggered. She already knew that he wasn't going to fuck her today. She needed to recover. He could tease her, though.

When he removed his hand, and she could think again, she agreed, "I would miss the club. But I don't want the general public to know about my private life either. And as far as they're concerned, we're dating. If Christian Grey is the Gray Wolf, then Anastasia Steele must be Princess Rose. If your secret gets out, mine will, too."

"BB and Beatrice are both convinced that the majority of our members are discreet. There are only a few we're all concerned about. Mostly, my former subs. And Elena, of course. It all comes back to me. I only have myself to blame for this clusterfuck."

"But they all signed your NDA, not just the club NDA, right?" Anastasia asked.

"Yeah, but that didn't stop Leila fucking Williams," he reminded her.

Anastasia agreed. "If she finds another publisher, then it won't matter that Elena used your name at the club. Everybody will know everything about your life as a Dom."

"I know. My security team's working on it."

Their conversation was interrupted by Christian's phone ringing. It was Elliot, so he answered.

"Hey, Lelliot," Christian greeted.

Elliot said, "Chrissy's got a girlfriend? When the fuck did that happen, and why didn't you tell me you're not gay?"

Christian snorted. "I never told you I was gay. You assumed."

"Mom and Dad said she's beautiful and smart," Elliot said. "They're impressed. And Kate says the press is mostly positive. She approves. When do I get to meet her?"

"Are you free for dinner tonight?" Christian asked.

"Hold on, let me ask Kate." Elliot was silent for a minute, and then he was back. "Kate says we're free, and she's craving tacos."

"How's she doing?" Christian asked. "How did the scan yesterday go?"

"Her feet are swollen, so she wants me to rub them all the fucking time, which I don't mind because she has sexy-as-fuck feet. And the scan went great. It's a girl!"

"Whoa, you aren't doing the whole gender reveal thing?" Christian asked surprisedly.

"Nah, Kate has a friend from college who started a forrest fire with her gender reveal. Since then, Kate's been determined to never do one, not even a cake. Whatever. I don't care. I'm going to have a daughter!"

"Congratulations, Lel. Tell Kate it's tacos on me to celebrate. You want to meet us at Adrian's at 7 p.m.? Does that work?"

"Perfect," Elliot answered. "See you then." They ended the call.

"So, Kate's your sister-in-law," Ana deduced. "How far along is she?"

Christian answered, "I have no fucking clue. I know she's due in early July."

"You're going to be an uncle," Ana said. "How do you feel about that?"

He shrugged. "Happy for them. They tried to get pregnant for over a year. This baby's a big deal. My parents are over the moon. They know they aren't likely to get any grandkids from me or Mia, so they're counting on Elliot for now. It'll be years before Gabriela and Carson are old enough to think about that kind of shit."

"You don't want to have kids?" Anastasia asked. "Ever?"

"Hell no," he replied without even thinking. But then he paused. A baby with Anastasia? Nope, still a hell no. He wasn't the least bit interested in fatherhood. How could he be a father, as fucked up as he was? He'd be a horrible one.

But he was curious about her. "What about you?" he asked. "Do you want to have kids?"

She shrugged. "Maybe someday. Not in the foreseeable future. I'm focused on Bennington Steele, so there's no time for a family. I'm not opposed to the idea, though, maybe ten years from now."

Christian had no idea how to respond to that, so he changed the subject. Looking at the shoreline, he told her, "I've thought about buying a house out here. I've always liked Lake Washington. We grew up here, fishing with Dad. See that house over there? The one with the fairy lights and stone walls?"

Anastasia gazed at the shoreline, where Christian was referring. "I love how the stone walls match the exterior of the house," she commented. "And I like the house itself. It looks warm and inviting."

Christian told her, "When I was a child, I imagined living in that house when I grew up. I'd have my own boat that I'd take to visit my parents. They have a boathouse. I'll point out their house when we pass by it on the way back to the marina."

"Why haven't you bought your dream house yet?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I don't think it's been for sale. Besides, Escala's convenient. There's no long commute to work."

Anastasia's eyes were still on the house as she told him, "I don't think I'd mind a commute if I got to live in a house as inviting as that one, with a spectacular view of the lake."