04.09.21

Apologies for the absence, I haven't been well. It's been a tough week and I've also got dry eyes which make it very hard for me to stare at a screen or type out anything for more than a few minutes at a time. This story is almost done. Just a few chapters left.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Do you see any concern in these eyes?

EPOV

WHY?

That is my first and only thought right now as I reach for my loudly ringing and buzzing phone.

"WHAT?" I bark and immediately groan, changing my position to lie on my back and rub my eyes. It's too fucking early for this shit.

"You want to try that again Elliot Trevelyan-Grey?" Mom's stern voice comes through from the other side.

Oh shit.

"Sorry, Mom.. I didn't check the caller ID." It was true, I didn't. "I had a long night and just got up."

"What happened, are you sick? Want me to come and check on you?"

I chuckled. Grace was always in Doctor mode. "It's okay, Mom. I've just been pulling all-nighters this week. We had a water break at the foundation level of the new development we broke ground on in Magnolia and I've been supervising the night shifts on the repairs so we can make the deadline before the next phase of the project starts."

"Oh, I read about that on the news. I didn't realize it was that serious."

"We were able to contain it but it's set us back two weeks and now we need to make up for it."

"Alright, well I'll let you go and get some more sleep. Will you be able to make it for family dinner tomorrow? Please make sure Christian attends too, I called and left a message... it's been two weeks and he works too much."

"I'll drag him over. Thanks, Mom."

I hang up after saying my goodbyes and check the time. It's only 3pm. I walked in the house at 7am after my shift and I swear it feels like I haven't slept more than five minutes.

This week has been utter shit between the panic rescheduling of all our subcontractors and getting change orders approved. We have until the end of next week to get all this shit sorted and cleaned up. I go through my phone or should I say booty call phone book to see who's free to hang out tonight. It's been a whole week and I need a release of some sort.

Kate was great, no, phenomenal but then she hit me with those crazy vibes given what happened that morning. Which reminds me, I need to talk to Christian about that and see if he can get me some more information on her.

My phone pings and lo and behold, think of the Devil and he texts you.

Christian: Free to hang out? Need to talk.

Oh shit, he told me he was going to take looney tunes out to dinner. Fuck sleep, I need to know how that went.

Elliot: I can be there in 30 mins. Need food.

Christian: You always need food.

Yeah cause I don't have a bomb ass housekeeper who makes amazing food for me. I have to either cook it for myself or order take out and sometimes I want to feel cherished like the gift from God that I am.

By the time I park in Christian's garage, I'm ready to go up and tear down his kitchen in search of food but first I need to go and greet his highness in his study as per his last instructions.

I get off the elevator and as usual this place is silent and creepy. I've been to empty museums that are louder than this echo chamber. A minute later, I walk in through his nerd-dom and find Christian at his desk, just sitting looking out the window. He registers my presence but remains silent. Did last night not go well?

"Well, well little brother, how did it go with looney tunes last night? Did she rock your batcave?"

He rolls his eyes and growls. "Shut the fuck up, Elliot."

I laugh and sit on the chair across from him. "What? That bad?"

"Oh, I'd say, I totally rocked his word." I hear a sweet voice behind me and turn around to look who it is.

HOLY.

FUCK.

IT"S ANA from last week.

Oh shit…AND SHE HAS A GUN IN HER HAND THAT SHE'S TWIRLING AROUND HER FUCKING HAIR. What the fuck?

I look at Christian and his face tenses in discomfort. We aren't exactly big fans of guns.

"What the fuck, Christian?" I whisper.

"What the fuck do you think is happening?" He growls at me again. "Ana was the girl I was talking about that night and the one you made fun of her to her face."

Yeah, well… now I fucking know.

"Where's Taylor, why haven't you called the police?"

"I gave them the night off and—"

"And I have his phone. Disabled the internet and CCTV too. I came prepared." Ana interrupts, walking further into the room. She hasn't pointed the gun to anyone yet, so I guess that's a good sign. "Take out your phone and slide it across to me."

I look at Christian and he swallows, nodding for me to listen to her. For the first time I see a hint of fear in his eyes. This never happens. We are so fucking dead.

"NOW, ELLIOT." She shouts, now pointing the gun directly at Christian.

I quickly fumble and take it out, following her instructions. She picks it up and puts it into her pocket. Fuck, fuck. This is completely fucked up. My heart is hammering in my chest, my balls have shrunk into goddamn raisins and there's no way out of this for us.

Who knew my end was going to be at the hands of a woman I actually didn't sleep with? That is fucking tragic. I always thought and hell, wanted to die while I was balls deep inside a woman. Best way to go if you ask me.

Damn, the last sex I had was with Kate… I suppose if i'm gonna go, at least I did end up having some fantastic sex, even if it was a week ago.

Back to this little firecracker or should I say, ticking time bomb. This woman isn't looney tunes—that's child's play; no, she's fucking certified cause if the Joker and Harley Quinn had a child, it would be her. No fucking doubt in my mind. Why the fuck does Christian end up attracting all the damn crazies? FIrst Elena and now her?

God, if you're listening, I take back all the smartass shit I said during Sunday Mass when I was kid. I promise. I mean all that hard work into a good looking specimen like myself and you want it to go to waste? Seems counter productive if you ask me, just sayin.

"Ana, really think about this… we have parents and a little sister. You don't want to do this." I beseech her. Surely, she values family, maybe that will speak to her? "This will affect your friends and family too."

She cocks her head a little and laughs sarcastically. "Elliot, do you see any concern in these eyes? For any of that shit?"

Fuck me. She's really lost it.

"Your brother made fun of me and now…" She pauses and looks back at Christian, with a sinister smile plastered on her face. "He has to die."

FUCK.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold but nope, this woman wants to serve it piping hot, full of lead.

I rush towards her in a panic and she swings her arm to point the gun at me, raising an eyebrow and daring me to try something. "Don't be stupid, Elliot. You were once before and look where it's gotten you."

Her voice is dark, venomous and I swallow trying to maintain an ounce of calm myself. I look at Christian and his hardened jaw is evident of how he's barely holding on. She's not close enough for him to overpower her. She's smart, she's kept enough distance to be far enough for an attack and close enough to rain down motherfucking hell on him and now, me.

"I can give you money." I look at Christian and he gives me a slight nod. "The both of us can, you can walk away and we won't say a word of this to anyone."

Christian is always talking shit about people having a price. Let's see what's her number.

"You don't think your brother over there gave me the same speech? What I want to know is why you sat around and made fun of me like I was nothing. Is this how you both treat women? Like trash?" She seethes. "You think I want money? As if that will make me forget the humiliation?"

Fuck, she doesn't want money. This is getting increasingly difficult.

"What about the fucker who left you at the altar and ran off with his whore?" I bark. How about you direct your psychoness at them for a change?

"Watch your tone, Elliot." She warns. "The gun is in my hand, remember?"

Taking a deep breath, I exhale slowly and try to calmly reason with her. "We can help you get back at them. Christian has a lot of influence and I have a few friends who could beat them up."

She looks between both Christian and myself a few times before letting out a giggle. "I already dealt with them. They were practice. Now I get to practice some more on you two." Now there's a twinkle in her eye. "The grand finale."

"Y-you killed them?" Fuck, fuck. We are not getting out of here alive.

WHY THE FUCK DID HE GIVE TAYLOR THE NIGHT OFF?

"If you think about it, they killed themselves the minute they crossed me." She shrugs.

This woman is seriously bat shit crazy. She's talking about killing people as if she were discussing what she's thinking of having for dinner. I run my hands through my hair. I'm out of ideas. I need to salvage this somehow and get her to calm down and put that fucking gun away.

Tell her the truth and whatever is meant to happen will happen.

"He didn't make fun of you Ana." I confess. "I did. He was a complete gentleman. He only shared some of the things you said and I was the one who took it further. I shouldn't have said anything that morning. I'm sorry."

I am so fucking sorry. Please just drop the gun.

"You're lying."

"No, I swear. I am not." Her brows furrow and she looks at Christian who still looks impassive with his eyes fixed on Ana. It's his go to defense mechanism, appearing unaffected. "Christian defended you at every turn. He said you were wonderful despite you being drunk and funny. I was the one who decided to have more fun with it. He's never sought out a girl before and I was teasing. I didn't mean it."

"You're just saying that cause I have a gun pointed to your head." She counters.

"No, I do. I really do. I'm sorry." At this point in time, I really fucking mean everything and regret opening my big fat mouth.

"Men like you never learn. You're only apologizing because you got caught."

"No I truly am sorry. I shouldn't have phrased it the way I did. I should have kept my mouth shut or been kinder with my words."

She doesn't move or seem affected by what I'm saying at all. Her cool and calm demeanor is unnerving and frightening. Both of our balls are in her court and she's standing on them.

"Ana, please." I plead. "Let's just calmly talk about this, put the gun away. You can leave and we won't say a word to anyone."

"You've already seen my face and you know my name. You both are a liability now. My only safe way out is to make sure you both are taken care of."

I grab both my hair with both of my hands and look down, trying to find a way to make her change her mind.

"I'm sorry, Ana. I am so fucking sorry. Please." I choke out.

She looks at Christian and then back at me.

"KATE, DID YOU GET THAT?"

Kate runs in with a laptop and confirms after which they both high five. The fuck?

"You're off the hook now, Elliot." Ana says and I look at Christian who starts to chuckle. "The gun is unloaded, it's nothing but a prop for show."

As laughter fills the room, I sink to my knees and sprawl out on the floor, gasping for air and also discretely making sure I didn't actually shit or pee my pants. These fucking pricks. I'm gonna fuck up Christian later but first, THANK YOU GOD.

I cover my face and take low and deep breaths to recover from the adrenaline rush and fear of almost dying. Opening my eyes, I see Taylor walk in with a smile and witness Ana load the gun with the missing magazine she had stowed in her back pocket and hand it back to him. She handles the piece like she's playing with a fucking barbie and it's all my Lara Croft fantasies come to life except, this shit was too near death so I'm going to stay away from all this.

Next, Christian comes over to give her a kiss. I can see the fucker is in love with her. Great. Crazy met crazy. They're perfect for each other and a fucking hazard to my sanity and life now. Too innocent my ass.

"You did good, Mr. Grey." She giggles.

"Anything to see this asshole turn into a little bitch." Christian chuckles, looking at me with his usual smug face.

"That was seriously fucked up." I mutter.

"We're even now, Elliot." Ana raises an eyebrow. "Now you know how important it is to watch what you say."

"So that's why you kicked me out?" I look to Kate who shrugs in confirmation.

"No one makes fun of my bff and gets away with it. You're lucky I only kicked you out, I wanted to kick you in the balls as well."

Christian offers me his hand and helps me up. When I look at Ana, I realize how short she is. With that gun she seemed just as tall as me.

"I thought you were hungry." Christian comments, noticing how I'm just playing with my food.

"Well, that was before I had a gun pointed at my face and I thought I was going to die."

"You're so dramatic, Grey." Kate rolls her eyes and snickers.

"You think this is a fucking joke?" I growl back at her.

"My life was a joke to you, I just showed you the mirror." Ana counters. "It was a prank, but you on the other hand meant every word you said."

"I said I was sorry." I look at Christian who I can tell is enjoying this immensely. "You think Mom and Dad are going to love this part? Guns and shit?"

"I don't know, how about we first tell them how you opened your mouth?" He counters.

Grace would fucking kill me if she found out how this all came to be.

"Look, clean slate. We're both even but I swear to you, don't think you're off the hook. You need to change your way of thinking and behavior because deep down, I'm a nice person but that doesn't mean I can't lose my shit. I can go from 0 to end of my rope real quick. I mean Kate had a completely different idea that involved Taylor having your duct taped to a chair in some abandoned warehouse."

My eyes bug out and I look at Kate who grins at me with no shame whatsoever. Damn, she's freaky and hot.

When Ana is done telling me exactly the level of deception she faced, I'm thoroughly feeling chastised and regretful by the end of it. Still, the gun was a little too far. A verbal beatdown would have sufficed but in reality would probably not have been that effective… I'll concede to that.

"Come on, Grey." Kate says, getting up from her seat and dragging me to stand. "I retrieved your balls from Ana's purse, I'm going to help you reattach them tonight. Now say goodbye."

Yes, my Queen.

I don't even look at them and bark out a goodbye, following Kate like a puppy dog while I hear them both laugh behind me.

As soon as the elevator doors close she pulls me to her for a kiss but it's no ordinary one. She's in control and it's primal, all that pent up energy from the week and now this useless prank has me in a dire need for a release, more than I've ever needed before. We stumble out of the elevator and she tells me we can take her car and she'll drop me off later, whenever that will be. Just when I think she's going to start the car, she looks at me with a sly smile and moves to climb on top of me on the passenger seat and unzip my jeans. She locks me in a searing kiss and gets me ready to impale herself on to me. The moment she does, I'm a goner.

Freaky, hot and impatient. Fuck, yes.

We'll get to her apartment eventually.

CPOV

It's been a few days, okay it's been exactly three days since I last saw Ana. I dropped her off at her apartment and picked up Elliot who looked like he'd been on the Kavanagh roller coaster more than a few times. Confirmation of that was shortly given in quite the verbose manner on our way to Sunday dinner at our parents. It appears Elliot has actually found a woman who he's struggling to keep up with in more ways than one. We invited them to join us but the both declined which we both found odd since mostly women jumped at the chance to want to meet our family, as per Elliot's observation and experience at least. This would've been my first time every doing something like that but I guess I'll have to wait.

I miss my girl.

She's not your girl yet, Grey.

Another truth that's a hard pill to swallow. She's agreed for us to get to know each other but still asked for a few days apart. Our sex filled weekend did nothing but make her sore and a little skeptical of this connection we felt. I'm craving her right now and it's not a convenient time to have a boner this early in the work day. There's just something about watching and feeling the woman that you want using you to take the pleasure she needs for herself. Hell, even when I was in control, she was the one in control.

Case in point, right now. No matter how much I try, I can't get her out of my head.

I'm under her spell. Correction, I've been under her spell since that night. The sex only intesified it.

I insisted on her taking the extra NDA and check I wrote, which she initially refused before we left to go over to her place but I won, again. I could tell it made her uncomfortable but I didn't care. I was serious and it was my way of fighting for this.

Flynn on the other hand argued that having a few days off wasn't such a bad idea. In the grand scheme of things, a few days weighed against the pay off of what this could eventually become was a small price to pay.

I hated the idea of anyone sleeping next to me but now I find myself wanting to feel the warmth and serenity of her body entwined with mine, bringing me peace and restful sleep. She admitted it too that she slept better with me but that it could also be all of the sex we had been partaking in. But sex with her wasn't just sex, it was… euphoric, trancendent and honestly unparalleled to anything I've ever felt before in my life.

And I know that she feels that way too. She's just scared. Right?

Our communication is limited to messaging and a few calls for now just small exchanges here and there. She's being careful again. I understand it but I hate it. Is this the calm before the storm? I know I need to chill the fuck out and just give her the space she's asked.

Andrea's voice comes through the intercom and distracts me from my endless spiral of thoughts, alerting me to Taylor's arrival. He comes through not a minute later.

"Sir, Mr. Rodriguez cornered Miss Steele outside of her apartment building and—"

"WHAT THE FUCK? Where is Sawyer?" I jump out of my seat. "We're leaving, get the car ready."

A/N: Poor Elliot or nah? And Jose? Really bro, you gonna show your face?