05.17.21
I really wanted to get this out since I have a very busy week ahead. Loved reading your reviews and theories on the last chapter. Some y'all have no faith in your boy!
CHAPTER NINETEEN - Consider this a wedding present.
I'm having an out of body experience, I think. It feels as if my entire being has been splintered across Seattle like a cityscape of twinkling lights that slowly send you into a hypnosis.
"I think you're trying to kill us both." I hum with a lazy smile, turning to face Christian whose hands are still slowly and continuously tracing the curves of my body. I'm just about ready to call it night but I know he's hoping for more. He's maintained a very generous 3:1 orgasm ratio I've noticed. He's like a sexual giving tree.
"Well fed and well fucked? There are worse ways to go, Miss Steele." He purrs seductively, leaving a trail of kisses starting from my shoulder to my neck and finally finding my eager lips. His tongue dips in and takes over. If my body was relaxed and on the verge of drifting away, this kiss just yanked me back into the present and signaled my body to ready itself for more from him.
We've spent the last two nights together and it's been exhausting in the best way. I thought an orgasm from nipple stimulation alone was a myth but Christian seems to be on a mission to prove me wrong every time. We tried something new, well for me at least, after my own dive down the rabbit hole to see what BDSM was all about. Christian has been otherwise perfectly content with vanilla but I told him I didn't mind trying some things. He started me off with light bondage and blindfolding which didn't last very long since he always wants eye contact, often demanding it. He says it makes him feel closer to me and I feel the same way. I now crave the intensity he creates between us.
I may as well have been a virgin before this because what I had previously was… well, a travesty of a sex life.
He knows my body better than I do. It's exciting and mesmerizing how alive you can feel, I don't know if I'm actually seeing things clearly or just in another haze– except this time around, everything is brighter and more colorful instead of the smog I was navigating before in hopes to reach the end of the road where the air would finally clear.
"I don't like this power you have over my body, Mr. Grey." I pout.
"You love it, baby." He chuckles. "I can hear it every time you beg me." Well, yeah if you're going to rev me up with all the dirty talk and not follow through with any action just to tease me then of course I'm going to beg. That's his game of late, drawing everything out till I'm about to lose my damn mind.
"That's because you don't play fair." I giggle, pulling him closer for a kiss.
"Where's the fun in playing fair? I'm all about winning." He smirks, running his nose along mine. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have another round I'd like to win." I start to laugh trying to stop him from scooting down but as always I fail since he's much stronger than me.
"Fuck, you taste so good." He growls as he latches on to my clitoris and my hips buck up immediately in surprise.
As always he takes his sweet time exploring every crevice as if it were the first time. He's a perfectionist, not satisfied until I'm past the point of coherency and unable to control my own body. My hands in his hair aren't detractors from his mission at all, the harder I pull the more dedicated he becomes.
I may just blackout after this one.
I met with the lawyer Christian referred me to earlier in the week, it ended up being a two hour m meeting after the usual workday at his office. I explained everything and told him I actually had excel spreadsheets of everything because that's just how I lived my life. Everything was budgeted to make things easier and all that data was now helping me even if my case was weak. At least I had something to show for it.
By Friday morning, paperwork was filed with the courthouse and I was asked how I wanted the papers to be served to the scumbags. I chose to deliver the news myself.
Borrowing a sophisticated plum bodycon dress from Kate, I did my hair not wanting to look like the old Ana they used and took advantage of. This would be brand spankin new Ana. For a change, I actually looked like I belonged at GEH today when I walked into the lobby for work this morning. Christian had texted earlier wishing me luck and telling me that everything would eventually work out. Kate wanted me to secretly record a video which I mean, of course she did but I promised her a detailed account instead.
Now here I am standing in front of their new office building. Monday morning the announcement went out on all the tech blogs about Acero securing a spot in GEH's first ever accelerator. My google alerts were still on for Acero so it was hard to ignore till I turned them off eventually.
Get your shit together, Steele. You can do this! With that pep talk, I walk in with purpose towards the front doors and directly to reception. I give them my name and show my ID, after retrieving my visitor's pass I take the elevator to the 18th floor up to the Acero offices. I try not to let any emotion threaten my resolve but I'm human after all, so the regrets and what ifs do echo through my brain.
"Hi, welcome to Acero. How can I help you?" The bubbly redhead asks me when I approach her desk. The offices look beautiful, they're currently occupying half of a floor and it's vibrant, clean and just what I had imagined success would look like for them once upon a time. I see the logo I made, blown up on the wall behind the reception desk. I swallow and suppress the tinge of sadness and humiliation I suddenly feel.
"My name is Anastasia Steele." I begin after clearing my throat. "I'm here to meet with Gaia and José Rodriguez."
"Um…" She looks at the screen. "I'm sorry, did you have an appointment? I don't see your name on her schedule and José's not in right now. Let me ca–"
"It's urgent." I cut her off. "I'm short on time and this is an urgent matter."
The redhead's face pales at my brusque tone and she nods, picking up her phone to no doubt call her boss. I'm directed to a small conference room to wait and the bitch makes me wait a whole 15 minutes. If this is her way of making me feel small and then it's not working. It's just pissing me the fuck off. Christian has told me to stay as calm as possible and keep my angry badger tendencies at bay, I smile at the thought.
"Baby, I'd like you in my bed tonight and not in jail so please keep the angry badger locked away." He tries to distract me with those very capable lips of his and I hate to admit it's kind of working.
"What's the point in dating you if you can't even bail me out of jail? 'Mr. I've got the police chief in my pocket!' And why do I have to be on my best behavior. It's not fair." I grumble in between kisses.
"I promise you'll have the last laugh, eventually."
Yeah, yeah, whatever that means.
"Well this is a pleasant surprise." I hear Gaia's saccharine voice from behind me. I've been staring out the window, lost in thought for god knows how long. Grinding my teeth in hopes to suppress my rage I exhale and slowly turn around to an immaculately dressed Gaia looking like a million bucks. I guess the 100k and 5 million helped in the wardrobe upgrade. I feel my confidence start to waver a little.
"You need to revisit the definition of pleasant." I bark, throwing the envelope towards her from across the table.
"What's this?" She raises an eyebrow.
"Consider this a wedding present."
She smirks opening the envelope to read through the paperwork and starts to laugh.
"Oh come on, Annie. This is a little desperate don't you think?"
"What the hell did I ever do to you? I have done nothing but be supportive and loyal to you BOTH." I tell her with a wavering voice but keep my stance firm. "You know deep down that I deserve my share in all of this. I worked my ass off just as hard as you did. For fucks' sake it's named after me. "
"Don't get it twisted." She snarls. "This was always our idea. You chose to do the shit you wanted to. No one asked you. As always, you've come around with your sad face and crocodile tears to try and take shit away from me. Well you know what, you won't win this time. All this is mine and what's more, I've got Christian Grey standing behind me. While you're just a small time assistant at his publishing company, I actually have meetings and meals with him. He's completely invested." She says with a wicked smile.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I look at her in confusion. "What have I ever taken from you?"
"My father, Ray… José… all you do is fucking take, Ana." She spits out. Whoa, this woman has lost her shit. "Ever wondered why my father left my mother? It's because your mother couldn't stop spreading her legs for him at the office and then once she had ruined their marriage completely he decided he no longer wanted to be in our lives and checked out. I was so happy when she took you away to Texas shortly after with that rat, Morton. You both were finally going to be out of our lives. Ray and I started to get close, he always treated me like a daughter and he was paying more attention to me since you weren't around but then you just had to call bitching and moaning about how Morton was such a shit to you... everyone rallied around you. José and I had gotten even closer, he was MY BEST FRIEND…. And you took him away and spread your legs for him when he was going to be mine."
I have no idea who the hell this girl is. I'm in complete shock, at her revelation and the fact that I'm still paying for Carla's mistakes. My whole body is in shock.
"Then as the years passed I realized you were just a dumb shit, I kept waiting for you to show your true colors like Carla but you were just so blind and naive and then I thought, okay fine, she'll just be our little pet… they'll eventually break up but then Acero happened. José and I got closer again, just like before and then it finally happened between us. Something that I could take away from you for once. It took a lot of work but it finally paid off before José made a huge mistake."
"You could've just told me. I would have never stepped in the way… you didn't have to hurt me like this. If you had told me back then I would've done anything to help—."
"I didn't want your fucking help. All this little Miss I'm such a saint act is so fucking boring and frankly I'm glad I don't have to be constantly around it anymore. You were always the deadweight, the third wheel that no one wanted."
I'm doing my best to stay calm but now she's just being vicious.
"So this was all just revenge? Do you even love José?"
"I don't love anyone, Ana. I want success and I will do anything to achieve it. If that means I have to say a few words here and there, fuck a few people… I'll do it. Anything to get to a point where no one will ever take anything away from me."
"You're so fucking delusional." I shake my head and pick up my bag. I need to get out of here. I can't trust myself to be around her any longer. When I round the table to walk towards the closed door, she stands in front of it, blocking my way.
"For once, open your fucking eyes and do the right thing. Walk away quietly and drop the suit. Go focus on trying to make that little book reading app you were so giddy about once, go waste your time on that. You have no place in Acero or our lives."
I should be angry, I should be so fucking angry but I feel so small and broken. She's held a grudge against me for things that were never my fault and yet what she doesn't realize is that had she asked me for the world, I would've given it to her.
"I treated you like family." I say brokenly. Ray's words come to mind about self-worth and I dig my heels in a little and stand a little taller. "You're right, I have no place in your lives because I've found myself a better future without you. You'll read about it one day and I can only hope I can watch your smug face hit the pavement when you do."
She scoffs, smirking and looking me up and down. "Next time you want to say any effective last words, make sure you're not wearing borrowed clothes that don't suit you. Now get the fuck out."
I open the door to walk out with my head down, desperately trying not to give in to the tears as I rush to the elevator bank.
Once it arrives and the doors open, it's José who looks at me completely shell shocked.
FUCK MY LIFE.
"Ana?" He steps out but I ignore him and walk in, pressing the shit out of the close doors button. "Ana, what happened?"
"Go ask the psychotic whore who you love so much." I say without even looking at him and impatiently wait for the doors to close.
I'm not entirely sure how I got back to GEH but my feet safely got me to the building where I spent the remainder of the day numbly doing my job.
It's so beautiful and peaceful out here. After the shitshow that was yesterday, I didn't want to see or speak to anyone. However, I was also acutely aware that if I did shut down and hide in my apartment, it would only fuel Kate and Christian's curiosities and I wasn't ready for an all out attack from both sides asking me what was wrong. Thankfully, Christian had a late call at the office so I headed over to his place and just crawled into bed and went to sleep. I didn't want to eat or be awake, I just wanted complete silence with no chance of my brain to dwell on this bomb drop until some time had passed.
And now, sitting on this beautiful boat and letting the warmth of the summer sun shine on me, I feel a little better. I've been lying to Christian, I don't want to but I think it's just better this way, by telling him that I have a headache and silence helps with it to eventually go away. It's either this or my going on a rampage and possibly committing murder and I know for a fact that orange is not my color.
I quietly watch Christian and Mac handle the sails as the wind comes towards us with a force. If I isolate the sound and tune it out, in the silence of it all, it looks like a dance. They're in sync with each other and know exactly what to do without having to say a word. I watch Christian move with determination and focus as he goes through his paces. The sunlight brings out the copper highlights that hide within his hair and coupled with the beard it looks like he actually belongs on a boat. Just a carefree young guy out to see the world and absorb all the good it has to offer. He told me this place brings him the most peace and that he could sit here for hours on end and just be.
"Feeling better?" Christian asks, taking a seat behind me and resting his chin on my shoulder.
"A little bit," I answer. "It's beautiful out here."
"Even more so with you."
"You and your one liners." I giggle.
He wraps his arms a little tighter around my waist and kisses my neck. "I know for a fact they're working so don't even try to fight it."
I snort and shake my head. His hands slowly start to creep under my shirt and I try to swat them away giggling.
"What are you doing, what if Ma—"
"He left." He cuts me off with a kiss.
"B-but.. wher—"
"He'll be back later. Do you think I'd let anyone else see my woman in the throes of passion?"
"I dunno. Who knows how high your level of freakiness goes, we've never discussed it." In fact, I'm terrified to find out just how freaky he is because that will mean he's eventually going to get bored and honestly, I don't think I'd blame him.
"As high as it can go, trust me exhibitionism is not on that scale. I. Don't. Share. Ever."
I'm not used to a possessive streak, never experienced it actually so in it's newness it tends to do a number on me. I feel a blush creep into my cheeks and he smiles at me knowingly.
"Are you going to tell me what you've been so quietly thinking about all this time? This is the most you've talked all day."
Sighing, I lean back a little more into his embrace and my gaze drops to his hand entwined with mine, caressing them gently. I hear the water gently crash against the boat and the sounds of birds flying above. Can we just stay here forever and not deal with the world?
"Do I have to?" Because it's just utter bullshit and I don't want to cry or be angry surrounded by all this beauty.
"You don't but I'd really like to know. I always want to know what goes on in that head of yours. Especially when you go all quiet on me."
"Lots of weird things go on in my head. You don't wanna know, Grey." I giggle.
"Try me." He smiles, encouraging me with a soft kiss.
Here goes nothing.
"Anytime I see your fleet of mini batmobiles or whatever I literally hear the batman theme song in my head. Nananana batman." I sing out the last part and he snorts a laugh that grows louder a few seconds later. "Thank god you don't do the voice though cause that would really freak me out."
He does a version of it and I squeal, begging him to stop, desperately trying to cover my ears. Once we calm down from our silliness, I take a deep breath and tell him everything that happened at Acero yesterday.
Surprisingly, I don't cry. I just say words with zero emotion. My brain is done.. I didn't think it was possible for her to humiliate me any more than what transpired at the almost wedding but of course the Universe wasted no time in proving me wrong.
"The rumor mill surrounding Carla was insane before I left for Texas but no one ourtight bullied me because of Ray and the fact that I was friends with them, even if we didn't always hang out, we always came to and left school together until we, when I came back and then suddenly I was the star Quarterback's girlfriend and I guess everyone had to be nice to me but I still kept to myself. I was more myself private anyway."
"You never knew about her affair with her father?"
"Nope. One day he just left with no explanation as to why. Mr. Reed was very aloof and absent even when he was physically present and she didn't get along with her mother that much. I always remembered Mrs. Reed to be sweet. I don't think she knew because if she did, there's no way in hell she would've been nice to me after all that. Carla was loud and attention-seeking enough. It was embarrassing. I'm the exact opposite, I hate being in the limelight. When she asked for a divorce out of the blue, it was because she met someone in the 'classes' she was taking in Olympia. He was visiting from Texas to oversee the whatever crap mega store… whatever, I don't even know. He was a fucking alcoholic and sex addict who by some miracle had a high paying job at a good company and all my mother saw were dollar signs."
"And now he's in jail." I sense relief in his statement.
"Yep, vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence. Carla dumped his ass before he was even taken to the station." I scoff. "And now I find out that I'm being punished for something I didn't even know about… isn't that fucking hilarious? All this time I've treated her like a sister and supported her when all the while she's looked down on me and tolerated me. Ray is my father, he chose to be my dad, how could I have taken him away from her? And the Josè shit… he asked me out not the other way around. Yeah, I was crushing on him but so was literally every other girl in our grade. He had his pick of the crop but he made his decision." I rub my face and run my hands through my hair, bowing my head. "This is the kind of stuff I didn't need resurfacing. It's just ridiculous. I told you this was a bad idea, I should've just let it go."
"Hey, hey…" he gently calls out to me and cups my face turning it towards him.
"You can't let her walk all over you. She's all talk, thinking you're the same girl but you're not."
"It's not that, I don't want all the drama. I just want to move on with my life."
"You need to resolve this before you move on otherwise anytime you hear their name or run into them, it'll upset you. Get what you're owed and then close the chapter on this. You have to teach them a lesson or they'll fuck over someone else."
I screw my eyes shut and wince at the discomfort of what possibly lies ahead. Christian's lips graze against my temple, asking me to look up to him where I see warm grey eyes start to darken a little.
"For what it's worth, you looked sensational in that dress. I'm a little offended you took it off before I had a chance to myself." He pouts. "Missed opportunity Miss Steele, I should punish you for that." I roll my eyes as he narrows his playfully at me.
"I hear we're alone on this boat, have at it." I giggle and he drags me in a rush towards the main bedroom.
I am so nervous. After our day out on the water yesterday, I felt calmer only to wind myself up today. We're on our way to Christian's parents house and I freaking the fuck out. Both Kate and I are being introduced as girlfriends, she's got this in the bag… I'm nowhere near any bag.
"Ana, relax. They're going to love you." Christian calm voice brings back to the present.
I don't really respond. I changed my outfit so many times before finally settling on the dress he got me the morning after at the hotel room. It seemed like the only appropriate choice to wear. Witnessing the frenzy over my sartorial choices didn't seem to scare him away, I think he enjoyed it which pissed me off a little more. I'll be honest, if he isn't half as nervous meeting Ray, I'll be so pissed.
"I've never done this before… meet a guy's parents." I mumble. He looks at me briefly in confusion. "I mean, last time didn't count. We grew up together and there was no formality, it just became an understood fact. This is all so.. I don't want to say anything wrong or for them to think any less of me given how we met."
Because I'm dead sure, José's mom probably thought I was going to end up like Carla at some point. While she was never mean to me outright, looking back there was an unconscious bias on her part. I remember once walking in on her saying shit to one of her friends on the phone about Carla after the divorce was finalized. I knew enough spanish to figure it out.
"Well, they just know that we bumped into each other at the Fairmont and started talking. That's the version I told Mia and my parents and it's all that they need to know as far as I care."
"You mean to tell me, Elliot kept his mouth shut?" I joke.
"Elliot wants to live, so yes." He chuckles. "It's not just you he has to watch out for, it's Kate. She's probably smother the fucker in his sleep."
"That's too easy. Kate doesn't believe in getting her hands dirty." I laugh.
My initial greetings with his parents go well. They're friendly and obsessed with their children I can see. And now, even more so I suppose given that their son is actually progressing in his personal life outside of his focus on the business.
Mia hugs the crap out of me, barely able to contain her excitement, while Kate winks at me mouthing reassurances. She knows I'm freaking out. Elliot gives me a hug and truth be told, I know deep down he's a really good guy. He's come around the apartment enough that we're over the awkwardness from 'hostagegate' and have moved on to becoming friends. I can tell he's still watching what he says when in front of me, though.
We sit down to dinner shortly after and conversation flows. I remain quiet and a nervous wreck till Grace addresses.
"Ana, Christian tells me you both met at the Fairmont." She smiles and I nod.
"Just how did you get him to talk?" Mia adds. "He's always so boring and grumpy."
"Okay guys, how about we leave her alone. We met and now we're here." Christian shoots her look to back down, while gently squeezing my hand under the table.
"Uh.. actually…" I decide in the moment that I might as well tell them. "We got stuck in the elevator at the Fairmont and started talking."
"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT." Mia exclaims and Christian rolls his eyes. "This is pure rom com material."
I tell them what really happened and how I ended up there. "Christian made sure that I ate and had a comfortable bed to sleep in. He was a perfect gentleman even though I yelled at him a few times. You raised a wonderful man." And I love him. I look at Christian who's now shy from the praise and attention. Grace is practically on the verge of tears, Carrick is beaming like a proud father and Mia is just about to burst at the seams.
"So wonderful that he tried to kidnap her a few days later." Elliot snickers and just like that the spell is broken.
"You just had to open you fucking mouth. I swear, I'm gonna kill you one day." Christian growls. Grace gapes at us and then looks at Elliot and admonishes them both for language and attitude.
"Well, didn't you? Back me up Kate." Elliot challenges and Kate mimes zipping up her lips and throwing away the key. I stifle a laugh. Mia's face lights up when I nod.
"OOOH CONFLICT! Tell me more!" She claps. "Leave no detail out." Sorry, Mia... there are some details that I have to leave out.
"Ana, if you'd like to sue, I happily offer my legal services." Carrick teases and Christian groans, mumbling under his breath.
"Stop teasing him." Grace scolds everybody and the table goes quiet. "Now, Ana… I know how difficult he can be, tell me you gave him a piece of your mind when he tried to get crafty."
She winks and I burst into giggles while the entire table follows with the exception of Christian.
"How about we ask Elliot here why I had to even resort to that?" Christian gives him a pointed look.
"And that's my cue, goodnight everyone." Elliot gets up, acting like he's about to leave before Kate yanks him back down. Damn, my girl has him on a leash. Christian goes on to explain Elliot's role in all this, thankfully they leave out how we got back at him since his parents aren't very pro-gun.
While Elliot sheepishly laughs, Grace, Carrick and Mia all tear into him for being such a big mouth and disrespectful. I'm asked multiple times if Elliot apologized and I confirm that he did. Christian wears a smug expression watching Elliot get scolded given the attention is no longer focused on him but that only lasts a few minutes till they're back to the both of us, making jokes and asking more questions.
"I'm never coming over again." He threatens before smiling at me and giving me a quick kiss. The whole table howls and I feel my face go red.
Christian offers me a tour of the grounds after dessert. Their place is huge and hearing the word grounds at first sounded something out of a Jane Austen novel and indeed it was. Grace takes pride in her perfectly manicured gardens. We walk towards the boathouse on the property and it's such a beautiful little oasis. The moonlight reflecting off of the water from the skylight creates a soft glow and makes the whole space look so magical.
"This is so beautiful. How does anyone ever leave?" I murmur, looking around.
"It's one of my favorite places here." He tells me and sighs. "About my family, I know they're a little enthusiastic, it's just that I've never–"
"I loved it." I assure him, holding his hand and stroking it with my thumb. "They love you and I really enjoyed myself. I think Mia wants to adapt our story into a screenplay because we're meeting for lunch soon and Grace is going to show me baby pictures of you the next time I'm over. And there's the whole free legal counsel thing, you know since this ape I know tried to kidnap me..."
"Fuck that shit. We're definitely not coming back." The horror on his face makes me laugh but he smiles in response to my reaction.
I cradle his face and pull him in for a kiss. We stand like this for a few minutes, savoring each other, till we come up for air.
"No one gets to love you but me, either." I whisper and his eyes widen in surprise.
I knew I was falling for him that morning even through the heartbreak but in relaying the story to his parents about what happened and then taking into consideration everything that happened since then, it all made sense. I can't fight it, I do love him and this will last as long as it's meant to. All I know is that if by some reason it didn't work out between us, losing him would truly feel like the end of the world because loving him feels like I'm on top of it and if I didn't have him by my side then it would be such a hollow existence where nothing else would ever compare no matter how hard I tried.
He holds on to me for dear life and his voice wavers as he speaks. "I love you, Ana. So fucking much. I know it's fast but please tell me you believe me."
"I do. I love you too." I reply, trying my best to keep my tears at bay. His body sags in relief and I'm rewarded with a kiss that pretty much knocks me off of my feet.
We leave his parents house shortly after where we go back to Escala and he demonstrates over and over again how much he loves me.
GPOV
The nerve of this bitch! I worked so hard to suppress all that shit her mother did but it remained simmering under the surface. I really did try to let it go, especially when I realized just how much of a dud Ana really was. I think I even convinced myself that I liked her and I played that part as best as I could till I didn't have to. But every now and then when she talked about Carla or I heard that homewreckers voice it brought back the horrific memory of walking into my dad's office with that slut on her knees, sucking him off. They never noticed me, then again my dad never noticed anything he wasn't interested in, namely myself and my mother. My mother was oblivious as always and a month later he left with no reason. My mother begged him to stay but it made no difference. Two months later, Carla and Ray got a divorce because she'd found someone in Olympia and Ana was soon out of my life. The bitches were gone. During that time, I wondered if Ana knew about her mother or did she just not care? I tried to find clues but she was always so… unremarkable and boring. That made me hate her even more. The only time I began to like her again was when she finally left for Texas which was too short-lived.
Her claims that Morton came on to her seemed fabricated. She was okay looking, I can't imagine what he could've seen in her, unless she was just acting like a jealous brat who no longer was getting any attention so why not throw a wrench in it all. The best way to do that was to cry wolf and boy did it work.
"I just ran into Ana, what the hell happened?" José walks into my office, panicking– typical. Did she give you the tears? Well, I can give you tears too. I turn around and act the part.
"12, she's suing us for her one third share in all this." I pick up the envelope and toss it towards his direction. "I told her I was sorry and that it just happened but she called me all the names in the book and I begged her to drop it but when she became vicious I told her that we weren't afraid, that Christian Grey would protect us from litigation, it's in our contract anyway. This is just a petty lawsuit. She has no proof."
"Fuck." He closes his eyes and sits on the couch, hanging his head. "We don't need the negative press, G. Let's try to resolve this quietly and maybe give her some equity."
"Are you out of your mind?" I raise my voice. "On what grounds? This idea is ours. The tech, all the hours of coding and the time spent chasing after investors and all the headache… everything is yours and mine, José. This is just her trying to hold on to something that's no longer there."
"She was there too, she provided moral support. She was our best friend." He reminds me. "Fuck, this is all my fault. I… fuck! Now what?" I want to slap him right now. I should've known this was going to happen, especially after he got his ass kicked that day. That bitch Kate probably put her up to this. I'd give anything to have the chance to beat the crap out of her.
"I'm telling you, she has no grounds. Nothing was signed between us that gives her the right to ask for equity. If she wanted it so bad, why didn't she ask for it in the beginning? This is just revenge, she's hurting and lashing out. I get that whatever happened was fucked up but I'd have expected her to keep Acero out of it."
He clenches his jaw in frustration and buries his face in his hands. I quickly close the door to my office and kneel down to pacify him. The thing with José is that a little sweet talk goes a long way, especially when it leads to sex or the promise of it. I give him the spiel that we'll reach out to Ana in a few days after she's cooled off to try and resolve this amongst ourselves. It placates him for the time being. Till then, I need to figure out a way to smack some sense into that bitch her fucking cheerleader.
I had already booked an appointment at the Fairmont Spa courtesy of the gift Christian sent over with the flowers the second time he had to cancel on dinner. It had been a long week and even longer day with all this Ana-lawsuit crap, so this little pick me up ended up being a lifesaver and the best way to start the weekend.
I walk in and go straight to the lockers to put away my things when another woman follows me in. She's almost my height and gives me a smile before opening her locker. She's tall, with lily white skin and a sleek bob, dressed in the latest designer garb. Earlier this week, the front desk told me a huge delivery had come in for me and was sent to my condo. When I went up to check, I found a fully stocked wardrobe with the latest of what I assume was everything. Rows and rows of Louboutins with outfits for work and expensive evening wear.
In the middle of the room was an envelope with a bottle of champagne. It was from Christian, telling me he looked forward to peeling every single one of these outfits off of my body in the future.
I died and came back to life a thousand times over.
"Thank god for the weekend." She groans. "It's been a bitch and half."
"I know what you mean." I laugh, taking off my shoes. We talk a little more and I find out that she's here for a massage as well.
"I'm getting the hot stone massage, my body is killing me." She winces.
"What do you do?"
"I'm an apprenticing with the head chef at the Mile High Club." She smiles. "I got two days off and I thought, let me pamper myself before I completely lose it. What about you? By the way, I'm Mia." She holds her hand out and I shake it.
"Nice to meet you, Mia. I'm Gaia. I'm in the techspace. I run a startup called Acero. We just got into an accelerator and this was our first week so things have been hectic and my body is killing me too." I laugh.
She gasps. "Wait, you're Gaia Reed?"
"Yes." I'm taken aback by her reaction. How the fuck does this girl know me?
"OH MY GOD!" She exclaims and lowers her volume when suddenly everyone looks in our direction. "I know you, my brother told me all about you. Oh god, this is just too good."
"I'm sorry, who is your brother?"
"Christian Grey."
"Ch-christian is your brother?" Before I can say anything she tells me they're adopted and that's why they don't look alike.
"He's quite smitten with you, don't tell him I told you that. But you have to come over for dinner next weekend. I've promised not to tell my parents but he's on a time limit. My mom is going to love you. You know, he's never really been like this. You must be very special. I've been waiting for years for him to bring a girl around."
My heart bursts and I'm unable to contain myself. I want to scream for joy.
"Well, he's very special too. I've never met anyone like him." I smile, trying my best to keep it together. "We've both been so busy as of late but I can't wait to see him next week when he's back from Asia."
"Yeah girl, he's such a workaholic. You need to lock him down. Good luck!" She laughs. "I've never seen him so happy and excited about someone and now I see why. You're a knockout." I know, girlfriend. He was drooling over me the second we met.
We talk a little more before going our separate ways to enjoy our spa treatments. I do a quick google search on Mia Grey and it confirms that she's indeed his sister. Fuck me, Christian Grey is playing the family card already. YES!
I need to figure out a way to get José out of the picture and fast. But first, I need some pampering and then I have to figure out how to shut down Ana.
I remained on a high the entire weekend. When I told Christian I ran into Mia, he apologized a million times, completely embarrassed but I assured him that I absolutely loved it.
C-Grey: Fuck this, I'm coming home early. I'm at my wits end. I need to see you. Monday my office, 8am.
G-Reed: In the mood for breakfast? ;)
C-Grey: I'm going to make an entire meal out of you, baby.
I clench my thighs in anticipation, mentally picking out an outfit and thinking of the ways I'm going to make him completely mine.
A/N: Major breakthrough vibes for Ana. Major straitjacket vibes for Gaia.
Two more chapters and then an epilogue. I'm gutted it's ending!