50 shades of gray

Chapter 26- Ready or Not...

Okay, so when it comes down to it, maybe I'm not ready for this.

After Elliot left, Christian, Kate, and I shared another bottle of champagne. And now it's empty. There's no legitimate reason to delay heading to Escala, so we're going to be heading to the car any minute.

Of course now is when I start panicking. Are we really going to have... a threesome?

I'm a good girl. I can't do this.

"You ready?" Christian asks me.

No. No, I am not.

"Um, just a moment," I blurt and run for the restroom as fast as my Louboutins can carry me.

Once I get there, I do just what Christian suggested I do an hour ago – I splash water on my face. I look at myself in the mirror and blink for a full two minutes, my mind reeling at the prospect of doing this incredibly depraved, hot, sick, tempting, immoral, sensual, free, experimental, reckless...

Well, this thing.

My phone rings. It's Christian.

"Are you alright, Ana?" His voice is soft and concern colors it.

"I'm sort of freaking out." Honesty is the best policy, right?

"Do not freak out," says Christian Grey, the Dominant. I hesitate for a moment but I decide to trust him.

I take a steadying breath. "No, sir."

"Kate will be in to fetch you from the restroom while I pull the car around. She'll bring your jacket. Hold her hand on the way downstairs, but do not touch her beyond that."

"Yes, sir."

There's a pause before he says quietly, "Don't overthink this, Ana."

"No, sir."

He sighs heavily then hangs up.

I look down at my phone. My hands are shaking. Can I really do this? I want to, but sometimes that's just not enough.

The door to the ladies' room opens and I hear Kate's heels click across the floor.

Her finger reaches under my chin and tilts my face up to face her.

"Chris told me to tell you," she says, taking a deep breath. She drops her voice to her lower register and does an absolutely abysmal imitation of Christian's voice. "'Do not freak out.' He told me to say it just like that."

I can't help it. I guffaw. I laugh so hard I snort. I wonder momentarily if Christian knew that her horrible impression of him would make me laugh so hard.

"Why were you doing a British accent? He's not British," I gasp, wiping away moisture from my eyes.

"What?" Kate looks almost offended. "That was not a British accent!"

"Oh yes it was," I say as she thrusts my jacket into my arms.

"That's what he sounds like," she insists, grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the restroom and into the gyrating crowd.

Meanwhile, I'm laughing so hard I can hardly keep up.

"He does not sound like that... at all," I shout over the music.

"See, this is why I don't like being the messenger," Kate mumbles, smashing the elevator call button three times. A hot couple walks up beside us to wait, whispering in each other's ears and feeling each other up. "The messenger always gets shot." The doors open and she pulls me inside.

The couple untangles itself long enough to take a step towards our elevator, but then a door behind them pings open. They choose the privacy of their own elevator and our doors close, leaving the two of us alone together.