Back in Seattle…
High in the sky at Escala….
Christian POV
'Ping!' Good grief what's the deal with Instagram tonight? I think to myself. As far as I know I'm not in the news and I'm sure Mia would've said something. I pick up my phone and look at it and see there are notifications from Instagram. I open it and my eyes nearly pop out of my head. There is a beautiful woman dancing with a handsome man in front of the fountain at the Bellagio. Normally, this wouldn't bother me, but off to the side I see two faces that are familiar. Very familiar. Anastasia and Kate are standing off to the side, with their phones in their hands, watching and recording these two dance. They are dancing quite well, I must say and they look very good together, she's really short though and he's really tall. I guess it's not that much of a deal considering I have to look down to Anastasia, but there's an additional four-inch difference between the two of them. Anyway, that's irrelevant. I don't know who they are but my first guess is that this is the infamous Rhiann. Now that I know what she looks like, I feel the tension leave a little. I'm still not happy about the whole situation but at least I have a face to a name now.
Still, I'm concerned about why she's a secret and why we can't find any details on her no matter how deep we dig. Welch and Taylor keep hitting a brick wall trying to find information on her. Why and how is her history and information nearly obsolete or locked up?
I suppose the main problem I have is the little issue with no one telling me where they were going or that they were even leaving for that matter. Hell, I don't even know when they are coming back. I guess that's what's pissed me off the most, that I didn't know any of this. I'll admit that if I had known I would have stopped or forbade it. Now that I think about it I can imagine how that would have ended, I'd lose Anastasia completely. I decide I need to call Elliot and let him know I've seen the video and that we will deal with all this when they return. I'm going to focus on work and working out in the meantime. Hopefully.
I call Elliot, "Yo, bro, what's up?" He answers.
I roll my eyes. Why does he have to answer the phone like that? We're not in high school anymore. Jeeze.
"Hey Elliot, I just got an interesting notification of a video on Instagram and I must say I was quite surprised. There were a couple of faces I recognized but a few others I don't. Do you know when they are returning?" I ask him, this information I need to know so I can figure out how long I have to sit on my hands because holy hell they're itching really bad right about now.
There's silence on the line then I hear an audible exhale. "I hope they don't get mad at me for this but they will be coming home on Saturday."
Oh my God! They're going to be gone for almost a week? Do they know what can happen in a week for 3 girls alone? In Vegas on top of it? Had I known this I definitely would have forbidden this whole idea. However, there's really nothing I can do right now so I tell Elliot what I've decided.
"I've done some thinking and I wanted to let you know that I'm letting it go. For now. I'll pick this up again when the girls return to Seattle. You can let Kate know, I'm sure she'll tell Anastasia." I hang up, not waiting for a response.
Fuck. Four more days of this shit. I'll be burning off a lot of steam between now and then. I'll get Taylor to work out. He likes to do that and stay in shape, though this will either be more often or longer. I'll get Elliot to work out with me too, especially sparring, I'd really like to kick his ass right about now. This is going to be a long four days. I sigh, defeated. Fuck it. Picking up my phone I start looking through social media and it's saturated with the two of them dancing. They really are good dancers.
Elliot POV
"Whoa, Christian just called. What the fuck?"
Taylor looks at me, curiously, but says nothing. Realizing he only heard my side of the conversation I let him in on Christian's side. He has a blank look on his face, and he doesn't even twitch the toothpick in his mouth. I don't know what to think. First Christian letting things go without knowing anything and now Taylor is not showing any reaction to what I said.
"No response? Ok then. If that's the case, you might as well leave since you're not going to talk." It's a subtle way of telling to leave.
This is awkward because I like Taylor, but they need to realize that just because they want information doesn't mean they're going to get it. Especially from me. Taylor looks at me, his eyes tired and turns to step off the porch, gets into the Audi and drives away. I'm puzzled but at least Christian is backing off. I text Kate and let her know what's happened. She's surprised but happy I'm not in the danger zone anymore. I chuckle. She's trying to protect me. Just one more reason I love her.
Taylor POV
God this is frustrating! I have no idea what's going on or why. First the girls leave without telling anyone which, in itself, is not safe. Not to mention they're with someone that we can't find any information on. We don't know anything about her and it's concerning how she's got all her data locked down. Who locked it down and why? For all we know she could be trying to get to Grey by going through the girls. I know it sounds unrealistic considering they are actually on a vacation and apparently Elliot knows her. He's a pretty good judge of character and can usually tell if someone is deceptive or genuine. The Grey's always trust his judgement on people before they allow someone into their social circles. This whole thing about Elliot knowing all the details about her and their vacation but not telling us anything is really irritating. All he does is tell us to leave them alone and that it's none of our business. He knows how we handle things and why we do them the way we do yet he still expects us to leave them alone? That's impossible. He should know his brother well enough by now that Christian can't just leave things alone, especially when it comes to Ana. He has to know everything that concerns her and when he doesn't he goes off the deep end. Unfortunately, I get caught in his sights and take the brunt of his anger and frustration. He used to use his "playroom" to alleviate stress and tension with his submissives but ever since Ana came into the picture he hasn't had that as an outlet. He has to work out and when he does it's for hours between running and the gym. I guess on the bright side we're all in great physical shape.
Then there's Luke. He seems to have his head up his ass and is focusing on the girl and not the assignment. I've never known him to act like that. I don't know what his deal is but I'd certainly like to have a face-to-face conversation with him to figure it out. Ryan and Reynolds seem to be perfectly fine with the whole situation so I don't understand what the issues is. Ok, maybe I understand the physical attraction to Rhiann, she's hot and I would fuck her if given a chance. Hell, I don't think there's a man alive that wouldn't take that opportunity if it was presented to them. It's more important to find out who she is before that can happen, no matter how much my want presents itself.
I feel like chaos has erupted all around me and I can't grab hold of it to rein it in. I feel like I'm living in an alternate universe when Elliot tells me Christian is dropping things until the girls return. In four days. Surely he can't be serious. I can just imagine it now. It's going to be the longest four days of my life. I can tell by the way he's looking at me that Elliot is expecting some kind of reaction from me. I can't find it in me to do it so I become stoic. Silently I brood and stew in my misery of knowing I've lost control of the whole situation at hand. It's a feeling I'm not accustomed to and I'm getting pissed off more and more as each second passes. I mean seriously, who the fuck is this girl and how did she fuck up our little world in just a few hours? Fuck! I have nothing to say at this moment so when Elliot asks me to leave, I oblige him wordlessly.