Fifty Shades Freed (Christian & Ana)(123)

Good," he says eventually. He leans down, but pauses before his lips touch mine, silently asking if it's allowed. I raise my face to his, and he kisses me tenderly.

"Your lips are always so soft when you've been crying," he murmurs.

"I never promised to obey you, Christian," I whisper.

"I know."

"Deal with it, please. For both our sakes. And I will try and be more considerate of your . . . controlling tendencies."

He looks lost and vulnerable, completely at sea.

"I'll try," he murmurs, his voice burning with sincerity.

I sigh, a long shuddering sigh. "Please do. Besides, if I had been here . . ."

"I know," he says and blanches. Lying back, he puts his free arm over his face. I curl around him and lay my head on his chest. We both lie silent for a few moments. His hand moves to the end of my braid. He pulls the tie from it, freeing my hair, and gently, rhythmically combs his fingers through it. This is what this is really about—his fear . . . his irrational fear for my safety. An image of Jack Hyde slumped on the floor in my apartment with a Glock comes to mind . . . well, maybe not so irrational, which reminds me . . .

"What did you mean earlier, when you said or?" I ask.

"Or?"

"Something about Jack."

He peers down at me. "You don't give up, do you?"

I rest my chin on his sternum, enjoying the soothing caress of his fingers in my hair.

"Give up? Never. Tell me. I don't like being kept in the dark. You seem to have some overblown idea that I need protecting. You don't even know how to shoot—I do. Do you think I can't handle whatever it is you won't tell me, Christian? I've had your stalker ex-sub pull a gun on me, your pedophile ex-lover harass me—and don't look at me like that," I snap when he scowls at me. "Your mother feels the same way about her."

"You talked to my mother about Elena?" Christian's voice raises a few octaves.

"Yes, Grace and I talked about her."

He gapes at me.

"She's very upset about it. Blames herself."

"I can't believe you spoke to my mother. Shit!" He lies down and puts his arm over his face again.

"I didn't go into any specifics."

"I should hope not. Grace doesn't need all the gory details. Christ, Ana. My dad, too?"

"No!" I shake my head vehemently. I don't have that kind of relationship with Carrick. His comments about the prenup still sting. "Anyway, you're trying to distract me—again. Jack. What about him?"

Christian lifts his arm briefly and gazes at me, his expression unreadable.

Sighing, he puts his arm back over his face.

"Hyde is implicated in Charlie Tango's sabotage. The investigators found a partial print—just partial, so they couldn't make a match. But then you recognized Hyde in the server room. He has convictions as a minor in Detroit, and the prints matched his."

My mind reels as I try to absorb this information. Jack brought down Charlie Tango? But Christian is on a roll. "This morning, a cargo van was found in the garage here. Hyde was the driver. Yesterday, he delivered some shit to that new guy who's moved in. The guy we met in the elevator."

"I don't remember his name."

"Me neither." Christian says. "But that's how Hyde managed to get into the building legitimately. He was working for a delivery company—"

"And? What's so important about the van?"