[A/N
Hi, my lovelies,
I am so sorry for the long wait... here is some answers and more questions forming... I hope you like & enjoy it. send me your comments I love receiving your feedback... After all, you are my teachers. Sorry if it's messy. I'm trying to clear it up.
Lots of love,
ASG.]
Chapter Nine
Everything is groggy when I wake up, I'm in a rift between awake and asleep. My body is aching and my brain is pounding in my skull.
"Anastasia Rose Steele," a man's voice says, and in my daze, I can't tell if it's real or not.
"What am I doing here?" I ask, my voice croaky from the deep sleep. I get control over my eyes and they focus on a dark-haired man, his expression is grim. His blue-green eyes are fixed on mine.
"Well, my men had to put you out because you're quite a feisty one." He says, clearly not impressed.
"If they hadn't –
"Anastasia! If you'll let me finish. You're arrogant, stubborn and irresponsible. But you are a fantastic soldier, I have heard remarkable things about you, but what happened? Why aren't you like that anymore?" he asks me. I am stupefied by his words. I know it is true. I have been acting like a child and I have put Mia and everyone I need to protect in danger because of it. I am too proud and will never admit to it, at least not out loud.
"What am I doing here, Mason?" I ask him, he looks at me and smile. I haven't seen him in so long, he doesn't write – I thought he was dead.
"I'm a CIA Agent," he says with pride. He stands tall, puffing his chest.
"The CIA?" I ask in disbelief, what do they want of me? Why did he take up the CIA? Why isn't he in prison?
"Yes, Ana, if you can get your act together, we have an offer for you." He says, starting to untie me from the chair. What, did they think I'm a Thanksgiving turkey?
"But, I have to protect Mia," I say rubbing my arms when I'm loose. Asshole.
"You said yourself, there are other people who can protect her." He says with a smug smile.
"You're spying on me?" I frown at him, he shakes his head.
"More like, been looking out for you," he shrugs.
"I wasn't thinking when I said that." I murmur. I wasn't. I don't think I will be able to ever leave the Greys. They've grown on me.
"Very well, I will give you my card and you call me when you have considered my proposition, besides, we can make something more out of you than a bodyguard." He says, berating bodyguards as if they are the scum of the earth. I punch his arm defending my career choice and he chuckles.
"You brought me all the way here for this?" I scoff. He nods. "You kidnapped me." I spit. Mason rolls his eyes at my remark.
"I had to see for myself if you were as good as they said you are." He states. I will get back at you big brother, don't you worry.
He holds his hand out for me and I take it, he helps me up and pulls me in for a big bear hug.
"I missed you," I whisper against his chest. He lets go of me without saying the words back. And leads me out of the garage which sported an abandoned warehouse looking room and through a door into a kitchen.
"You want coffee?" he asks me, leading me to a chair at a breakfast bar.
"Yeah, that'd be nice," I say looking at the place. Where did you score the money to buy this place? Did he even know that our father is in the hospital? That daddy needed us to support him?
"Dad misses you," I comment as I looked at the painting of a big fruit bowl that hung in the modern kitchen next to the cupboards. He places my mug in front of me, filled with scorching black coffee.
"Uh huh." He hums around his own mug. After that, there is an awkward silence. I pick the mug up and start blowing on my coffee.
"We really missed you Mace, I missed you." I counter. Clearly, it's irritating him because he gets red in the face. I fucking went to the Army, something you did. I did it only to make you proud. Are you at least proud of me? Doing three years and looking after Daddy?
"Anastasia, you can try to make small talk all night, but I don't have time for that. We need to go on to the serious things in life." He says, his voice is rash and strained with emotion.
"Okay, I'm sorry," I say and drink my coffee instead. I can understand where the frustration comes from. I practically ruined his life.
"Jesus, you're such a woman! You and your fucking emotions! What do you want me to do? Serenade how much I've missed you and Ray?" He practically yells at me, I decide to stay silent and stare into my coffee mug as if searching for answers in the contents. I know that he is angry and I don't blame him.
"Are you aware of your shadow?" he asks me and I nod. Hoodie guy, not exactly my tail but he's been around since Mia came back from Paris, he's all around the place even at the club a week ago. That's why I needed to get her away quickly, that and her piece of meat last week was a hooligan, he would've robbed her bare. Hopefully, she only went out with her boy toys to irritate me when we weren't as close.
"Yes, but I haven't identified him yet," I say. He wears surgical gloves, a hoodie, and a biker half face mask, so I can't Identify him. Mason nods. He seems to be thinking very hard.
"Good, I'm glad to see that you learned something from last time." He says, bringing up him. Long story for another time. I roll my eyes at my brother.
"I will be your mentor for this. I don't want to see you get hurt again." He says. His fingers are thumping on the mug creating the sound classified as nervousness and impatience.
"I don't need your help, Mason," I argue. Mason props an eyebrow and nods.
"If that's how you want it then fine. I don't know why you have to be so fucking stubborn." He says wringing his hand around the back of his neck.
"Mace, I was in the Army for three years," I say looking him in the eyes.
"I know Ana, you can do with my resources besides; it doesn't hurt to have some support." He says and I agree with him. The next couple of hours we sit in a room with a large screen in the middle and work on a plan to catch my hooded shadow. When I'm ready to leave he gives me a burner phone.
"This is the only way we communicate, I don't want the shadow to find out we're working together." He says and I nod. He kisses my hair and lets me climb into one of his cars.
X_X_X
The silly ringtone of my stupid cell-phone woke me up from the most peaceful sleep I have had in a very long time – since the morning with a certain Christian Grey… I reach for the phone and look who the caller is, when I notice the number, my entire body goes cold.
"Anastasia Steele speaking," I whisper, waiting for the words to hit me. And when the nurse starts talking the tears rimmed my eyes. My mind wanders to Mason, how was I going to tell Mason when I would die myself upon hearing the words I never wanted to hear?
"Miss Steele, I am sorry to call-
"Is my Dad okay?" I interject. I close my eyes hoping, praying that Daddy is okay. He is my lifeline.
"Yes-
"Thank god!" I exclaim. The nurse huffs in frustration.
"Miss Steele, we wanted to notify you that your father has been moved to Seattle Grace." She says. "He was moved last night, there was an anonymous funding to move him."
"Oh, thank you for notifying me," I know exactly who it was. No need to be cute and say the person is anonymous when I already know who the guilty party is.
"You're welcome Miss Steele." She says and the line went dead.
Christian Grey… you make it so hard for me to try and forget about my feelings for you.
With the good news I had just heard, I got up with a smile and started my day on a positive foot. When I'm dressed and ready to go for my run, Kate surprises me when she's in the kitchen getting ready for a jog herself. Looks like I've got myself a new training buddy.
Kate is wearing a pink and grey tracksuit with her iPhone tucked between her breasts, the music she's listening to is hard enough for me to hear. When she sees me she pulls out the earphones and smiles at me.
"Morning," she says filling her bottle with some sort of green slush.
"Morning, you know that is not healthy, right?" I say pointing to the device that is between her girls.
"I can't find my armband, it's a onetime thing mom…" she says picking up the blender jug.
"What is that?" I ask her my eyes are pointed on the jug in her hand with the ogre puke in it.
"An energy smoothie, one of the trainers in Hawaii gave me this recipe, you want some?" She asks me holding out her now full bottle to me.
"No thank you!" I say scrunching my face up when she takes a sip from her bottle.
"Suit yourself." She takes another sip and hums in delight.
"I'll stick to water and breakfast thank you," I say as I grab a granola bar and a bottle of water in the freezer.
"You're going to go for a run?" she asks me as I munch on my granola bar.
"Yeah, want to join me?" I nod and say around the food in my mouth.
"Sure, I was actually heading to the gym but the outdoors seems like a good option today." she says and then gulps down her 'smoothie'.
X X X
CPOV
My eyes wander to the CCTV screen in the middle of the gym area, scanning the area for the beautiful blue-eyed goddess, it's odd because I know that she isn't living here anymore but I still hope to see her.
Luke Sawyer catches my eye in the hallway that leads to the elevator and locker rooms. He is talking to someone who is hidden behind an arch. It seems as if they are arguing. I turn the treadmill off and make my way to the controls, tinkering with it trying to either bring the mystery person into the view or to turn on the sound. I'm guessing that Sawyer heard the camera's movement because he looked right at me and then moved out of the way.
What are you hiding Luke? Or better yet, who are you hiding?
X X X
Anastasia brought my sister over to my office at one p.m. so the two of us can go out for lunch, but I was planning a way to get her to join us.
"Hello Brother," Mia says as she walks into my office without Ana.
"Hi, Meems," I ask her but my heart sinks a bit when Anastasia didn't walk in behind her. Where's my Ana?
"Elliot is angry that you didn't invite him to tag along as well…" she says as she falls into the chair in front of my desk. She picks at her nails, not giving me a second glance. I wonder what her problem is.
"That's Lelliot's problem," I say. My brother came back from wherever the hell he was early this morning and he's already a pain in my ass.
"Shouldn't we go then?" she asks me. Her hazel eyes on mine.
"We should," I say with a nod.
"Okay good, I'm starving!" she says, my sister is always overexcited. The way she claps her hands and jumps on her toes. Unfortunately, she's my sister.
"Before we go, is Steele here with you?" I ask her. I already know that Anastasia is just outside the door. Thanks to Andrea. But it doesn't hurt to ask, now does it?
"Yes, Ana is here." She tells me.
"Will you wait outside for me and send her in?" I ask my little sister. Her eyes light up.
"Sure." She says. She turns on her heel and walks out with her YSL heels that were bought with my card this morning - I wonder where the second pair is. I roll my eyes at my sister but smile anyhow.
A moment later Ana walks into the office and stumbles over a loose end of the rug and falls to her knees. I rush over to help her up and make a quick note to myself to remove the fucking thing because it almost happened to me this morning as well, but mostly because it practically injured my angel. What the fuck? Now she's my angel? What is this woman doing to me?
I look at her feet and I found the second pair. I must say she's fucking hot! Ana's wearing very tight dress pants, a figure-hugging white blouse with the two top buttons undone showing off just enough cleavage to make me want more.
Fucking cleaners! I reach for her and pull her into my arms, holding her up, we stare into each other's eyes and I'm certain that she feels the same electricity pulsing through us as I do. I'm holding her close enough to feel her body heat and it's doing things to me.
"Are you okay?" I ask her never letting go of her.
"Umm, yeah, thank you, sir," she says awkwardly. Her eyes leaving mine.
"Ana," I say softly. I'm hurt that she feels she should call me sir when I want nothing more than to hear my name roll off of her tongue. I want to tell her that I miss her and that I want her to come back home. Even if it has been only a day. But I am too much of a coward to admit to my feelings.
"What did you want to talk to me about sir?" there she goes again. Sir. I never thought that I would hate that word so much. She pushes me away and moves out of my arms that were circled around her tiny but muscular waist.
"Of course. What do you know about Sawyer?" I mutter.
"What do you mean sir?" She says,
"He's been acting strange lately, you should come by Escala to evaluate the footage I have on his behavior." Shit, did I just do that? Trying to get her to come home with me?
"Umm, I'm sure Taylor can look into it. I have already spoken to him about Luke, about yesterday morning." She says folding her arms around her waist.
"What happened yesterday morning?" I query her, feeling stupid for my poor judgment.
"Oh um, I thought he was following me, you know, you confronted me about it in the elevator." She snarls. I flinch inwardly.
"I'm sorry Anastasia, I just saw someone touching what is mine and I jumped to the wrong conclusion," I tell her honestly and move closer to her, her back is now pressed into the closed door.
"I don't belong to you Christian." She whispers. Not yet baby, not yet. At least that got her to say my name.
"Please forgive me?" I plead. Her blue eyes are on mine. None of the subs ever did that, but when she does it all my blood flows to my cock. I really love it when she looks at me like that.
"There's nothing to forgive." She says, propping an eyebrow. "Can I go?" she asks me and looks away.
"Ana," I say and grab her arm softly, I pull her close to me and bring my lips to hers. She was hesitant at first but when my hands started to massage her waist she moaned into my mouth, her mouth opening enough and giving me passage to open our kiss more. I press my tongue into her mouth and she bites softly on it. I look at her with hungry eyes when her action makes my cock harder in my pants, I scoop her up in my arms, never breaking the kiss and walk us to the sofa. I lay her down and hover over her. I start undoing her blouse and she fiddles with my shirt. But I stop her when she does. "Don't," I say against her lips, she frowns but lets it go, she stops kissing me back and pushes me off of her.
"Ugh, you make it so hard for me…" she mumbles redoing her buttons. It looks like she wants to cry.
"Ditto baby," I say, she looks at me, mortified.
"Christian!" she slaps my arm. I laugh and pull her face to mine and give her another kiss "We can't keep doing this." She says pushing me away again.
"Why not?" I ask her, feeling hurt that she did not want me like I wanted her.
"I have to go before your sister gets suspicious." She says as she rises from her spot next to me on the sofa.
"Oh and thank you," she says, taking me by surprise.
"For what?" I ask her, utterly confused. What did she have to thank me for? I didn't do anything.
"Bringing my dad to Seattle." She says when she is by the door, she is looking at me. She looks like an angel. The sun is shining through the window and is landing directly on her face, outlining her face in gold. Her loose hair is hanging over her breasts and the sunshine on it reveals its copper highlights.
"The pleasure is all mine," I tell her and she walks out of my office. I would do anything for her.
X_X_X
APOV
Christian and his sister are going out for their weekly lunch, normally Mia and I meet him at the restaurant, but today he decided that she had to meet him at his office because he needed to see me. Our meeting turned into a steamy make-out session, which made the shithole I am in even more difficult to get out of.
Christian dismissed Jason, telling him that I was going to take them to the restaurant today. Jason looked at me with big eyes, a threat telling me that if I let anything happen to them I would be in heaps of trouble, I rolled my eyes at him receiving yet another look capable of killing you. To Christian's dismay, Mia sat in the front passenger seat, next to me. She was fidgeting with the radio, oblivious to the pair of eyes that was burning a hole into mine through the rare view mirror.
"Have you eaten yet, Miss Steele?" he asks me, his voice is soft as velvet when he says my name. I look at him in the mirror. His dark eyes are on mine even before I could make eye contact. I squirm in my seat – I know that his hooded eyes didn't miss that when I see the smile thugging the edges of his mouth.
"No, I haven't yet, sir, but I ate a big breakfast," I say looking at Mia who is still focussed on the radio. I look at him again and mouth 'what are you doing?' he shrugs.
"Why don't you join us?" he asks me. Mia looks at me.
"Oh, I don't know sir, wouldn't it be unprofessional?" I ask him. He sighs.
"I don't see any problems, do you Meems?" he asks his sister.
"None." She says, smiling at me. What happened to not letting anyone know something changed between us? I give her a brief glance of disapproval and rest my eyes on the road again.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt this one time," I say.
The restaurant is silent, there was only a handful of people and the waiters were standing around doing nothing, it was unusual for the five-star Italian restaurant. We were seated at once, I was next to Christian and Mia was sat across from him. Christian ordered us drinks and the slutty waitress walked away sashaying her hips. I roll my eyes at her desperateness. His hand falls onto my thigh squeezing it –a reassuring gesture ̶ making me jump.
"What's wrong Ana?" Mia asks me.
"Oh, um, I pulled my leg muscle this morning after my run, so it's been twitching since then," I explain. Christian looks at me and shakes his head at my lie.
"Oh, maybe you should have it checked out," Mia says. I shake my head. "It will go away, it's nothing to worry about," I say looking at Christian who looks hurt at my comment.
"They really decided to seat us on the smallest table they have didn't they?" I mumble. Not really caring because Christian can now hold my leg, it felt normal. I let my hands fall on to my lap and let one rest on Christian's hand squeezing it tightly. While he and Mia chatted animatedly I play with his hand under the table, absentmindedly stroking the palm of his hand.
He looks at me and I smile at him, his face bearing the same grin when he looks at me. I was almost unaware of Mia's knowing grin. Her eyes were shining when I looked at her. She shook her head and kept on talking about her plans for the next week.
It is now clear to me that I would do anything for this man. Even if it involves giving my own life. This much I was sure of.