CHAPTER 1

Ana was running down the street from her apartment Haven Hills by the WSU Vancouver campus. She was thinking about tonight after agreeing to go with her classmates to Paddy's Bar in Portland for drinks to celebrate graduation. She had completed all her classes and submitted all her papers.

She tried to focus on the drone of the sounds of her feet slapping the pavement and her breathing. She hated going out to public bars because guys were always trying to pick her up, buy her drinks and take her off to go fuck like the college boys do in school. She sighed to herself and figured that it was just for a night.

When she got back to the apartment that she had for the next five days and already packed up for the movers to take it to her condo in Seattle. She navigated between stacks of boxes. She took off all her sweaty clothes and threw them in the washer. She went and took a shower.

She was dressed and ready to go that night, she had called a cab to get her. She was in her tee shirt, jeans and tennis shoes with little makeup on and her hair down. She never dressed fancy around anyone while she had been in school, so as not to draw attention to herself. She grabbed her crossbody bag and left waiting outside for the cab.

When the cab dropped her off outside the bar, she could see it was active with the college kids. Ana went inside and was looking around for her three classmates. She found them at a table and walked up.

Her friend, Jeana, was there with Bruce and Calvin drinking from a pitcher of beer. She sat down. Jeana said while waving down the waitress, "What will you have, Ana?" She had perky blonde curly short hair with kind brown eyes. She looked like a pixie to Ana. With jeans and a blouse on.

Ana asked the waitress standing there, "Do you have a Cabernet Sauvignon wine?" The girl nodded and went to get it.

Bruce grinning said, "Shew! I can't believe it's over, finally. What are you going to do now, Jeana?" He was heavy set with brown hair, brown eyes and tall. He was in a Mariners jersey and jeans.

Jeana said frowning, rolling her eyes and shrugged, "My dad in Tacoma has a pretty good job for me at our company." The waitress brought Ana a glass of wine. Ana paid her with a good tip. The girl smiled at her and left.

Bruce asked curiously, "What about you, Ana? Are you going to get a job yet?"

Ana sipped her wine and said, "I'm moving to Seattle in five days and start job hunting there."

Bruce said, "I am going home to Spokane. I'll job hunt there. I sent out six resumes last night through email."

Calvin said smiling, "I got a bite at DHL in management at a starting salary for a team leader." They all congratulated him. Calvin had black hair and blue eyes. He was in a muscle shirt and cargo pants. Calvin worked out a lot.

Bruce smiled and said, "That's two of us out of four employed. Here's to ya." They all toasted and smiled.

As the evening went along, Ana bought a bunch of snacks like mushrooms, fries and cheddar bites for everyone to share. They got up to dance from time to time. Ana got up to go to the bathroom and stand in line. She was a little tipsy but not bad. She must have refused four glasses of wine that guys sent to the table. Jeana thought it was funny that they zeroed in on Ana. Ana went out on the big deck off the back of the bar near the alley.

Christian Grey and his brother Elliot walked into the bar and were looking around. Elliot dragged him out of the hotel to go to the bar. They each ordered a bottle of beer and found no seats inside so they wandered out back towards the deck.

Ana was standing on the deck in the warm breeze outside at 82 degrees quietly sipping the glass of wine she got from the bartender. Suddenly, a man had his arms wrapped around her with his hand on her tit. Her glass dropped and shattered off the deck.

He leaned in saying, "Hey, baby. You're loosening up a bit now aren't you?" She turned around so fast and kneed him in the balls. He hit the deck hard, groaning. His four friends who must have been watching came over and started shoving her saying she was in trouble now.

Ana was suddenly feeling sluggish and not right. She was blinking and realized they had the bartender drugged her drink. She was walking away from them and they grabbed her and were pawing her body as she was trying to fight them as they were taking her off the deck stairs to the alley.

The one guy said, "Let's take her away from here and fuck the shit out of her."

Ana was pushing them away and screamed at the top of her lungs, "You had him drug me, you bastards!!!" Christian and Elliot went up to her and the guys tried to leave with her.

Christian said, "The lady said that she was drugged so get the fuck away from her!" The one guy swung at Christian and they all started fighting with Elliot and another guy joining in. Ana was dropped on the ground and was woosey sitting up. She couldn't do shit her arms were heavy and she couldn't sit up any more. She fell backwards passing out.

The guys were all taken care of by the bouncer and the cops that came hauling them away to the cop cars while the EMTs examined Ana. Christian and Elliot said to the cops that she screamed that she was drugged by all five of them.

Christian asked the EMT, "What happened to her?"

The EMT said, "It looks like roofies. We're taking her to the hospital for testing and probably a stomach pumping."

Christian said, "I am going to meet you there." He left and Elliot wanted to stay. Elliot thought during his time after they all left that the one bartender was acting weird.

Christian had Taylor drive to the ER and he was trying to get information on Ana. Like a name or if she is going to be, ok. They wouldn't say. He went to an administrator and asked if she had kin. The administrator on duty told him that she had no emergency contacts or next of kin that they could locate. He pulled strings by offering a large donation to the hospital to get her name so he could try to find someone.

After ten million dollars, he got her name, Anastasia Steele. He texted Welch to find her next of kin if he could. After an hour, Welch said that there was no next of kin, only a mother that was under a restraining order, charged with child abuse and neglect twenty years ago. He said the stepfather died five years ago who had custody of her as a child. Welch said what was peculiar is her basic background check was unable to be accessed easily. Christian told him to keep working on it. The cops showed up and were asking questions about Ana.

Christian eavesdropped on them. The nurse said that she was having her stomach pumped out and probably wouldn't be communicative until tomorrow morning to afternoon. Christian left and went back to his hotel making plans to come back to the hospital in the morning. He couldn't understand why he was so concerned and was somehow being pulled towards her. He knew the woman was the most beautiful woman he ever laid eyes on, but he just couldn't stop thinking about her like an obsession.

—--

Ana was in the pitch dark. It was safe in the dark, hidden away from the world. Nobody can touch you there, being oblivious to anything. She was riding up out of the murky blackness and heard monitors beeping her heartbeat. The beep droned on as she floated up into a lighter level of consciousness.

She moaned and her head moved side to side. Someone grabbed her hand. She thought it was one of her classmates. When she cracked her eyes open, she saw the most incredibly beautiful man she had ever seen in her life. He had gray eyes and reddish brown hair.

She had a rasp in her voice and asked, "Who are you and why are you in my room?"

He said flatly, "I am Christian and I saw you at the bar last night when those five guys were dragging you away as you screamed that they drugged you. I was with my brother and we and a few others stopped them and got the cops involved."

She said softly, "I am Ana. Those men must have got the bartender to drug me because I never took my eyes off my drink all night so it must only be that it happened when he made it."

Christian said seriously, "You will need to tell the police that when they come to get your statement. You should call the nurse because you're awake now." Ana hit the nurses button. The nurse came in and went to get the doctor.

The doctor walked in and told her that she would be able to leave the next morning because the Rophenol will have lost its effect but is still going to be in her system for up to five days. So she will have to take it easy. He said to eat what she could tolerate and drink lots of fluids to flush it out of her system.

When the doctor left, Christian said, "Would like you to come to my place for dinner on Friday night. I would like to have a talk with you about offering a proposal to you." It was the day after tomorrow.

Ana asked curiously, "What about?"

He smiled at her curiosity and said, "You'll just have to wait and find out." He was going to offer her a contract and see if he could get her to be his sub, experienced or not. He believed he could train her, just not like how Elena trained him. He would not be that harsh to a beginner though. He hadn't had a contract in a few months but was sick of the ones Elena kept sending. He wanted to try something different this time.

Ana liked his smile and said, "Ok, but I am moving to Seattle the following Monday. I'll meet you somewhere in Portland then. I can't have anyone over with stacks of boxes everywhere."

He asked, "Can you meet me at The Heathman at say five o'clock? I can fly you to Seattle in an hour by helicopter."

She said smiling, "I can do that. I'll sit in the lobby." He nodded.

He stood up and said, "I will see you then. If you need me for anything, call me." He put his card in her hand. He turned and left. She thought to herself, 'He acts one minute fine, another with authority and then like he has a stick up his butt and is aloof. He has an odd personality.'

—--

On Friday, Ana was dressed nicely in a designer navy blue silk midi fit and flare dress, sleeve, off the shoulder and a pair of Nine West pumps. She had her hair down and curled. It hung to her waist with her hair pinned back away from her face with a pretty blue crystal butterfly barrette. She wore smokey eyes and matte burgundy lipstick. Ana took her jacket and her purse. The cab picked her up out front of her apartment building and dropped her off at The Heathman Hotel lobby in Portland.

She was sitting on a sofa in the lobby with her legs crossed flipping through an amenities menu. Christian approached her with Taylor.

He said stoically, "Hello, Miss Steele. Come with me please?" She got up and he led her to the SUV in the parking garage. He walked with his hand on her lower back. She thought, 'For a man I don't even know, he seems a bit familiar with me.' Her alarms in her head were not going off about him yet, but she was still cautious.

They drove to Helipad 1 in Portland. There was a helicopter waiting for them. Christian said, "This is not my own helicopter but it will do for now." He took her to the front passenger seat and started strapping her in. Ana thought he was being quite forward.

Ana said, "I can do it myself."

He brushed her hands away and said, "As I am the pilot it's my responsibility to make sure you're secure." The security man, Taylor, was getting in the back.

Ana glared at him and said, "You gonna strap him in too?" Christian smirked at her.

He said, yanking the harness on her then handing the headset to her, "There's no escaping now." She frowned. He walked to the pilot's seat strapped in, put on the headset and started the preflight checks. He talked to the tower and got clearance. They took off.

After an hour and some beautiful scenery, the landed on top of Escala's penthouse tower. Christian led Ana to the elevator with Taylor. They entered the penthouse and he took her jacket from her hanging it up in the vestibule closet by the main elevator. Ana marked where that was in her head.

He asked her, "Dinner is ready now. Would you follow me?" He led her to a dining room and pushed in her chair.

After they had a relatively quiet meal. He left and went to his office, returning with a paper and pen. Christian laid down the paper on the table with a pen. Ana picked it up, read it and said, signing it, "I would never talk to anyone about you anyway, no matter what."

She reached in her purse and pulled out a folded paper and handed it to him sliding the pen towards him. He was shocked that she countered him with her own NDA. He read it. It was almost identical to his own. He signed it and pushed it back to her.

He said, "That was surprising." She smirked.

She looked him in the eyes and asked curiously, "Are you gonna try and have sex with me now?"

Christian's eyes went dark and he said deeply, "Two things about me: First, I don't make love while having sex. I fuck... hard." He stressed the word 'hard'. She thought that was a bit direct and crass.

She raised an eyebrow up at him smirking and asked, "And the second?"

He put his hand out and said firmly, "Come. Let me show you." He led her up the stairs, down the hallway, stopped in front of a room and pulled out a key from his pocket.

He said a bit nervouly, "It's just inside this door."

She curiously asked, "What is it?"

He said flatly, "My playroom."

She inquired, "You mean like a game room with an Xbox and stuff?"

He said smirking but cautiously, "No, no game systems. It's important you know that you can leave at any time."

He repeated again cautiously, "I meant what I said, the helicopter is on standby, for whenever you wanna go."

She looked at him and asked, getting nervous and perturbed, "Why is saying that so important to you? What's in there? A dead body? Just open the damn door." He inserted the key and opened the door, flicking the lights on.