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Sweat trickled down my forehead and onto my eyelids, stirring me from my sleep. 

My inner goddess tossed in her sleep before sitting up right, removing her eye mask to glare at me.

It was hot. Seriously hot. Then, my senses drew my attention to the fact that arms were still fastened around me. Christian always clung to me in his sleep and he always ran hot. He was hot. Wow, my mind's in the gutter the first thing in the morning. I smiled, and my body relaxed at the thought. I began sinking back to sleep, enjoying the comfort of his embrace a little longer before...

My mind began clicking together little bits of information, flashes of scalding memories from last night. Oh, last night. In that same instant, the events from last night flooded back into my head and I felt a sharp pain in my chest. 

I winced.

My discomfort must have disturbed Ethan's slumber, for I felt his hold on me loosen and his breathing changed against the back of my head. In response, I flipped around to face him, letting him pull his arm up from under me. His eyes opened and they filled with pain as he flinched, recovering the arm that had been tucked under me all night.

"Good morning, Ethan." I cheered, watching his eyes adjust to the light.

A sweet smile played across his face as his eyes met mine, shining in a way that made me blush. "Top to the morning to ya', Ana!" He retorted with a huge grin, trying to pull off some kind of fake accent that I just could not put my finger on. Given that he had just suffered my entire weight, I was not about to call him out too.

"How's the arm?" I pursed my lips, watching him stroke his arms.

Ethan laughed, a charming boyish laugh. "It's still fast fast fast asleep."

Was I that heavy? 

My inner goddess was in her Lululemon tights eating an avocado. She looked at my slyly, before nodding with spite. 

Maybe I was. I had never had Christian's arms under me for an entire night before... maybe it was because I was heavy?

"Hey, you're light as a feather." Ethan had mysteriously picked up on my thoughts, landing a soft punch on my cheekbone. As he continued to stare at me, it felt like he was beginning to stare through me. His blue eyes turned stormy. "Ana, your eyes are so red."

At his words, my right hand flew to my eyes and rubbed against them. Man, they were sore. "I'm alright." I reassured him, tenderly massaging the area around my eyes in an attempt to ease the ache. The only other time they had ached this bad was when my grandma died. But, I guess this was a funeral as well... for my love life.

"You're alright." Ethan cooed. 

I felt the mattress move under me and when my hands fell away, Ethan was out of bed and heading towards the toilet. I pulled my arms above my head, giving myself a good stretch. Was I ready to face the day? or should I go back to sleep?

What time was it?

Sitting up, I reached for the alarm clock and stared at it intently. Finally, the gears in my brain began to churn again. My jaw fell. "HOLY HELL I AM LATE FOR WORK!" I hollered, leaping out of bed and rushing into the toilet to freshen up. 

Ethan was brushing his teeth as I budged in, knocking into him. "I don't think hell can be holy." He pointed out as I frantically washed my face with water and tried to straighten my attire. 

You're going to work in that? My inner goddess sneered. Way to tell your boss that you never went home.

She was right. I looked like a complete mess. My hair was all tangled up, and Ethan was right, my eyes were bloodshot red. I had surrendered to exhaustion last night, failing to save my straight shirt and pencil skirt for today. Now they were crumpled. I dod not even have my toothbrush. I groaned in frustration, lost as to how to proceed.

Ethan spat and rinsed his mouth out. Reaching for his face towel, he dried himself up and then turned to face me. He watched me through narrowed eyes as if he was uncertain if I was stable. To my surprise, he handed me his toothbrush with a cheeky smile. "Brush those teeth."

I stared at him in both horror as well as awe. Which sane person would lend anyone else his toothbrush? A familiar face flashed into my mind, a sweet memory hit, and my world came to a halt. Gripping on tightly to the toothbrush, I broke down once again.

"Ana." Ethan's voice soothed over me as he took me into his arms for what possible was the umpteenth time in 24 hours.

"I'm a mess." I sobbed.

"That's okay, Ana."

I shook my head against his chest. "I need to go to work."

He snorted quietly, my body shaking with his laughter. "Only you, Ana. Only you would think of work at a time like this."

Why did he sound so much like Christian?

"I'm a mess that needs to go to work." I whimpered, letting the waterfall flow into his bare chest.

"Let's handle things one at a time, shall we?" Ethan replied, his voice filled with encouragement that seemed to uplift me. "You can be a mess that doesn't need to go to work."

"No work?" I tested the words, my system grasping the concept. It malfunctioned for a moment, both sides of me debating. Eventually, I nodded in defeat. My heart sank, "I threw my phone out..."

There was a long pause. I imagined Ethan trying to understand why I would do that, something I had already explained to him yesterday. "Not to worry!" He piped up after a while, "You can use my phone."

Pulling away from me, Ethan offered me a full-blown smile. His hands left my back only to caress my face, his fingers softly brushing away the tears that had made my face their home. "Don't cry, Ana."

I bit down on my bottom lip, hard. Struggling against the impending tears as my hormones wrecked me apart.

Ethan took my hand in his and led me back out into the room, then he grabbed his phone from the study table and handed it over. "Now, i'm going to hop into the shower." He spke slowly, as if I was a toddler. "Don't try bursting into the toilet against unless you want a little action."

I giggled as he threw me a playful teasing wink. While walking towards the toilet, he turned back to check if I was following. He waved his index finger at me like I had been misbehaving. A gurgle of laughter bubbled out of my lips as he strutted into the toilet. I heard the door creak but it did not close shut, remaining ajar.

It was no wonder why spending time with Ethan was always a breather. Somehow, he never failed to make me smile no matter how bleak the situation looked. Suddenly, I was grateful for Kate. If I had never met her, I would have never met Ethan.

"Hello?" I breathed into his phone.

"WHO IS THIS?" Jack's booming voice screeched.

I was in deep trouble. "Jack, it's Ana."

"ANA?! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

My inner goddess looked up from reading tomorrow's papers, the headlines read: ANASTASIA STEELE FOUND DEAD OUTSIDE SIP. She shook her head at me in a mockingly slow fashion.

"I'm calling in sick," I whispered. "I've been passed out from the meds."

"OH HELL." He shouted. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENED THIS MORNING?!"

I really wished he would lower his volume. Soon, my ears would be as sore as my eyes.

"ANA. THE CEO OF GREY ENTERPRISES HAS BARRICADED SIP."

"Huh?" Christian?

"HE'S SITTING AT THE FRONT DESK. HIS MEN ARE INTERROGATING EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE AND CHECKING THROUGH SECURITY FOOTAGE."

"What?"

"Ana." His tone was dead serious. "He's looking for you."

My heart clenched at the thought and I pictured Christian's feet crossed up on the dront desk. His icy grey glare piercing through each and every soul that entered SIP. Of course, he was always in control, and he wanted to hold the reins of this situation too.

"He thinks one of us are hiding you." Jack lowered his voice, almost as f he did not want to get caught. 

My mind raced through the thought of Taylor patrolling the corridors and peeking through every office. 

"Ana, what's happening?"

My heart pounded uncomfortably. "Jack, I can't be found."

"What did you do?" He rasped, as if I had just told him that I had committed a murder.

Suddenly, a door slammed over the phone and I jumped.

"WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO, JACK HYDE?!" A familiar voice growled.

I grimaced, not ready to hear him.

"My mother." Jack retorted bravely, injecting as much innocence as he could.

Releasing the phone from my ear, I dropped it into my hand and pressed the end call option on the phone just as Christian's voice blasted from the phone. "ANA?!"

Shaking, I took an unsteady step back. My body seethed at the sound of my name n his lips. Christian is looking for me. Deep within me, I knew Welch was on my case too and it was only a matter of time until my hiding spot with Ethan got sniffed out. It then dawned upon me that I had shared a bed with another man. A man not Christian. I knew that he would not take it well. 

But betrayal fueled by adrenaline raced through my system as I clenched my teeth. The same way I had not taken it well when he confessed that he had shared more than just a bed or a bath with Leila.