Author's Note

This is an experiment for me. Yes, this is a cheating story, another one in a long list of cheat stories that are out there. Now that you know, feel free to read the first chapter and decide if you want to join me in this journey.

I can already tell you, it's going to be very painful...or maybe not as painful as I think, who knows? Everyone has a different levels of tolerance for pain, so let's see who can take it. The choice is yours but please remember, no one is forcing you to read this. You want to critique my story, by all means, go ahead, but don't attack me. I'm an adult and I wish to be treated with respect. Also, do feel free to ask questions, I will try to answer them as best as I can, but I will not reveal the outcome of this story. This is your final warning. Read at your own risk.

Most of the characters in this story belong to E.L. James. I've taken the liberty to add a few new characters of my own. The story is mine as well as the mistakes.

Thanks,

Stem

CPOV

What the fuck am I doing here? How many drinks have I had? Apparently not enough to numb myself into a blissful oblivion.

"Sir, we're getting ready to close roughly fifteen minutes from now. Do want to keep your tab open?"

I look up and see the bartender staring at me with pitiful eyes. I don't want pity, I don't fucking need pity! What I want, what I need, so desperately, I cannot have.

I notice a woman sitting at the other end of the bar, as I'm about to stand to make my leave. She looks sad, lost, almost as though she's lost her best friend. It's so obvious to me what she needs. She needs another drink.

"Give her another drink." I gesture with my chin. "Put it on my tab."

"Will do, Mr. Grey."

I watch the bartender walk over to the lovely young woman, she looks over to me, raises her glass and smiles. She's quite beautiful.

I raise my glass back to her as I feel and hear the familiar clink of platinum as it makes which was once, a comforting sound. I take a drink and as I lower my glass, I stare at the object that reminds me of the vows that I made, not so long ago. My body and mind are in turmoil, drinking is doing nothing to help ease my worries and numb my pain.

"Thank you for the drink."

I hear a voice call out to me, bringing me back from the brink. I look at the woman before me, she's more than beautiful, she's absolutely breathtaking.

"You're quite welcome, please join me for another drink." I say, knowing full well, that this is not what I should be doing. This will only lead to bad things, very bad things. I ignore the voice in my head and hope that she will take me up on my offer.

She looks at me and contemplates, she shifts the weight of her body from one leg to another. She's taken, she hears that little voice inside that pretty little head of hers.

Ignore it! Please! I need someone to talk to!

She slowly takes a seat on the bar stool next to me and says, "Don't mind if I do."

I look at her once more and offer her a true Christian "I'm a sex god than can make you come on command if you just give yourself to me" smile Grey.

She looks like she could use a good hard fuck. She's just my type, or rather she was my type when I was on the prowl and fucking for fun. She's wearing a simple back dress, hiding behind that silky material is a body that I could control and I bet I could her pregnant in one single fuck session.

"Holy shit!" What the fuck am I thinking? I fucking love my wife! Despite the challenges that we are facing at the moment. "Shit!"

"I'm sorry, I'll leave if you want. I thought you just invited me to join you. Again, I apologize."

The pretty thing says as she removes herself from the bar stool and walks away.

Yes, go. Please. This is wrong! I love my wife. We will work things out! I'm sorry love! I don't know what I was thinking! Blame it on the booze and on the pain of...

"Wait! Please stay!" I shout as I run towards the exit.

She turns quickly and looks at me with a sad smile.

"No, you're right. This is wrong. I shouldn't be here either. I don't know what I was thinking. We need to go our separate ways before we..."

She doesn't complete her thought but she looks down in order to avoid my gaze.

"It seems as though we both have the same thing in mind don't we? This never was about you joining me for just a drink." I say matter-of-factly.

She takes a deep breath, lowers her head and says, "Indeed."

I decide not to waste anytime and get right down to it.

"Is he here? I mean, you know, is he expecting your return?"

"No, he's away on business."

"I see." I say as rub my chin with my hands, contemplating my next move. Perhaps we can talk, maybe that's all that we both need.

"What about you?" The lovely woman asks. "Is she expecting your return?"

I'm surprised that she asked me anything, I'm the one that handles all negotiations, I do not answer to anyone.

I surprise even myself when I answer, "No, she's away on business and won't return until Monday."

Why the fuck I told her that she would be gone all week-end is beyond me. What am I doing? I don't want her, well, not all week-end anyway. I want and I love my wife.

"Well then, it appears as though you and I have some time on our hands."

"It would appear so." I say as I feel my heart race.

This is wrong! This is wrong! This is wrong!

I say it in my mind over and over again and I see it in her face, she knows what we are discussing is wrong. Talking is one thing, moving into action is another. I take another drink and say, "Let's get out of here."

I take her to a very discreet hotel, one that I used to frequent in my wild days. We sit on the sofa, her on one end, me on the other.

I'm at a complete loss as to what I should do, I've never done what I think we're about to do.

"So, may I ask what brought you to the bar?" The lovely woman asks.

"The typical thing would be for me to say that my wife and I had an argument."

"Well, you get zero points for originality."

"I may not be original, but it is the truth." I snap.

She blanches at my words, then she smiles.

"The truth. We should all be so truthful, don't you think?"

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I shout.

"It means, that what we are about to do, is be untrue! That's what it means!" The lovely woman shouts back.

"What's your name?" I ask quietly.

"We agreed, no names remember?" She replies.

"I need to call you something."

"How about liar, cheater or home wrecker?" She snaps.

"That name could also be applied to me, I guess we should forgo names."

"Agreed."

"What brought you to the bar?" I ask curious as to what would make her want to commit such an act. Perhaps her husband is just a plain old ass?

"I asked you first." She replies.

"So you did. I was upset with my wife, before she went away on business, we had a disagreement."

The lovely woman cocks her head and furrows her brow.

"Ok, so we had more of what I guess you would call a fight." I say as I attempt to elaborate without giving too much of myself away.

"A fight? What about?" She asks as she leans sideways, towards me.

"Children."

"You selfish bastard! You don't want children?!"

"No! I mean, yes! I mean, no, you're not understanding what I'm tying to say. I do want children. She doesn't."

Her face is in shock as she realizes what she said about me is wrong. I do love children and I would love to have...

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"That's ok. So, that's the gist of things. I want another child and she doesn't."

"Another child? You already have one?"

I smile as I think of my beautiful baby girl.

"Yes, she's perfect. Her name is Steel and she's..."

"Ah, ah. No names, remember?"

"Sorry, I get a little carried away when I think about her. She is the most perfect little girl in the entire universe."

"I'm sure she is."

"Tell me more."

"Well, like I said, I want more children and she doesn't. She wants to focus on her career and that's why I relented when she said she didn't want to have children."

"But she did, you have...Steel. Odd name for a baby."

"Steel was adopted. It is a unique name for my baby girl, there's a story behind it, but that's for another time."

"Tell me more about the disagreement that you had with her."

"Like I said, my wife is very career driven. When she said she didn't want to have a child because she didn't want to give birth and ruin her body, which I adore, I suggested adoption. She knew we had to compromise and that's how we ended up with little Steel. A part of me was happy that she fought me and didn't get pregnant, otherwise we wouldn't have our baby girl."

"I see, and now, do you want her to get pregnant?"

"I just want another child. It doesn't matter to me if we make one together or adopt one, I just want to be a father again."

"I just found out today that I cannot have children, not that it matters. My husband is so focused on making it here in Seattle and making a name for himself that he's tossed me aside. Working late hours, pulling all-nighters, he's always out-of-town and I'm here, alone, with no one."

Before I can stop myself I take her face in my hands and kiss her. She returns my kiss as we are both filled with a desire to fill the emptiness inside of us.

I carry her into the bedroom and we remove our clothes quickly. I want to take this woman and forget about the outside world.

I take a condom from the box that I had the bell boy get for me and lie down next to the lovely woman.

She's sobbing quietly as she turns to me and says, "Love me, please love me, make me feel needed, special..."

"Cherished." I say as I kiss the tears down her face.

"Yes, please cherish me, if only for one night..."

The following morning, I wake with regret. My stomach is in knots. What the fuck have I done. I've broken my vows. As I lie in bed, I turn slowly to look at her. The lovely woman is sleeping, a fitful and restless sleep but sleeping none the less.

I run to the bathroom and throw up. I take a quick shower in a pathetic attempt to wash away the sin and betrayal. I've never scrubbed my body so hard in all my life. I want to get the fuck out of here and forget that this shit ever happened. I need to go home, I need my wife and daughter. I may have ruined my life with one foolish decision.

Fuck!

"I guess we both have the same idea." The woman says as I walk out of the shower and quickly cover myself. I still feel filthy and I'm disgusted with myself.

I gesture with my arms and say, "It's all yours."

I dress quickly and think about leaving and not looking back but oddly, I feel as though I owe her something. I can hear her weeping in the shower.

I take a quick look inside and see that she too, is scrubbing herself raw. We both fucked up and we both are going to pay.

She dresses and joins me in the living area. She doesn't say a word. She merely sits on the sofa with her head down.

"Jesus, I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry. This was..."

"A huge mistake." She says as she completes my thought.

"Yes," I reply, "I hope you can forgive me, I love my wife. I love her so much. She is everything to me, she's my world and I can't for the life of me, believe that I've done this to her."

"Hey, it's ok. I won't say a thing. The way things are going in my life at the moment, I'm not even sure I'll be here in this horrible city with these horrible social climbers amongst the wealthy and elite for much longer."

I frown, is that what she thinks of me?

Shit! Why do I care?!

"Present company excluded of course." She says as she caresses my cheek.

She really is quite beautiful.

It's been three months since that fateful night. The night that almost destroyed my marriage. I thought long and hard about telling my wife everything, ok not everything that we did, but I did want to tell her about my act of indiscretion. When she returned from her business trip she begged for my forgiveness, which made me feel like the lowest scum on the planet, something I did not think was possible since I thought I was already at the lowest point in my life. She asked me to give her one year, one more year to work on and focus on her career and then we can either start working to make our own baby or adopt one. I almost ruined my marriage and my life over one stupid decision. It was one night and it was a huge mistake, a mistake that will not happen again.

I think about how lucky I am to have my love as my wife. She was never interested in the Grey name or the money, she loved me for me. She was and still is ambitious and career driven and as much as I tried to help her, she made it very clear that she wanted to make it on her own and she has. I love her even more for her independent spirit. I couldn't be more proud of her and her accomplishments.

"Hey little bro? Where are you?" Elliot asks as I return from my thoughts.

"Sorry, what was that Elliot?"

"Dude, this is my party. A celebration of Grey construction and I need for you to be sharp tonight. This bid that I won has really put my business on the map."

"Elliot, you've been on the map from the very beginning. What are you concerned about this time?"

"It's a big coming out party for my new go-to-guy. Quinn Brady. He's really exploded on the scene. I'm lucky to have scooped him up. It was quite a coup for me."

"I know Ell, you've said that time and time again. When are we going to meet the newest hot-shot on your team?"

"He should be on his way."

"Boys? What are you doing in the kitchen? Your wives are looking for you. Now go on out there and be social Christian and Elliot, go tend to your wife."

Grace leaves the kitchen as Elliot and I smirk at one another.

"Don't look at me Elliot, you're the one that wanted to have this party here." I say as we head towards the deck.

There are so many people at this damn party. How I would love to go home and get lost in my wife. I wonder where she headed off to?

Elliot and I are about to walk over towards the dock when we hear someone call out, "Elliot? Elliot?! Is that you?"

"Quinn! You made it." Elliot shouts as he grabs my arm.

"Come on bro, I want you to meet Quinn."

"Relax, I'm right here knuckle head. Quit acting like a fucking cheer leader for fuck's sake!"

We walk over to his newly appointed hot-shot and we are introduced.

"Elliot, it's great to see you. Thanks for the invite."

"Dude, it's no problem. This party is for everyone at Grey Construction and you are part of my team."

"Thanks man."

This fucking fawning over one another is making me sick!

"Ahem." I say, as I try desperately to break up this uncomfortable bro-mance.

"Christian, this is Quinn, Quinn Brady."

"Quinn, this is my little brother Christian, Christian Grey."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Grey."

Yes, it is, isn't?

"Call me Christian." I say as I take his hand.

He has a firm handshake, I think he will be a solid addition for Grey Construction.

"Thanks Christian."

"Dude, where's that pretty little wife of yours? Don't tell me you left her at home."

"She was with me," Quinn shrugs. "She must have gotten lost in the crowd." Quinn turns and takes in the vast size of the yard and I know that he is paying attention to the extreme detail that Grace, Kate and of course, my lovely wife put in to making this an eye-catching and very much over the top event.

If there's one thing my wife does well, it's knowing how to plan and throw an extravagant party. She makes any event more spectacular and she's grown quite comfortable, rubbing elbows with Seattle's elite, not only in business but in social stature as well.

I take a look at the tables covered only in the finest linens, the flowers caressed in Crystalline vases, the delicate stemware and the Strelka cutlery. All things I really didn't know or give a shit about until my wife started planning parties, she does it as a hobby, "to help her friends," that's what she says, but I know she enjoys the planning and enjoys having an unlimited credit card to spend her little heart out, especially since it's not coming out of her pocket.

I thought she would eventually quit her job in publishing and take on this party planning thing as her full-time career, but no, she does it for fun. She loves her job too much to quit. I take in the sight of my wife's work and my heart swells with pride. The twinkling lights do well to light up the evening sky as dusk approaches. The view is awe-inspiring, dimmed only by light of my beautiful wife. Where in the hell is she? Probably with Kate, chatting with the most powerful housewives and business women of Seattle. I'm sure they are most impressed with my wife's planning of this event.

Yes, this will definitely be an affair to remember.

"Ah, here comes my lovely wife now."

I see a woman approaching, she stomps towards Quinn with a scowl on her face, "Quinn! You left me, again. You said that you wouldn't leave me alone with these people and you promised me that..."

"Shhh...honey, don't embarrass me. You're about to meet some very important people and one of them signs my paycheck. Don't ruin this for me." I hear Quinn attempt to whisper in her ear.

I look at her and smile but her attention is towards Elliot as Quinn turns her to face him.

Holy mother fuck! It's her! It's the woman from the bar!

Shit! Shit! Shit!

"Honey, I'd like for you to meet Elliot, Elliot Grey. Elliot, this is my wife, Ana, Ana Brady."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Elliot."

"The pleasure is all mine, Ana."

So, the vixen has a name and I finally know it. Her name is Ana. Ana Brady. Keep cool Grey. Maybe she won't remember you. We were both pretty plastered.

"I have to say Ana, you are much prettier than I expected. I didn't think Quinn could snag anyone as beautiful as you, especially with his ugly mug." Elliot chuckles.

Ana giggles and it's like heaven is playing a delightful chorus in my ears.

What the fuck?!

"Oh hey Ana, before I forget. I'd like you to meet my little brother."

She turns to face me and her smile fades, the color drains from her face as she leans on her husband.

"Ana, are you alright?" Elliot asks as he helps to steady her.

Suddenly, the strangest thing happens, Quinn hears the roar of the crowd and he leaves us, with his wife who appears to be suffering from a dizzy spell.

"Yes, I'm fine. I...I just got a little light-headed is all. Quinn, can you get me a..."

She turns to see that Quinn has already made a bee line to meet one of the most well-known and popular photographers in Seattle.

"It seems as though your husband is busy meeting one Jose Rodriguez." I say as I extend my hand.

"Oh?" is all she can manage to say.

"Yes, he's very popular not only in Seattle but nationwide. He's going to start working in Europe and he's on the cusp of exploding world-wide."

I don't why the fuck I'm going on about him, maybe it's so we don't say something to reveal our...indescretion.

"Uh yeah," Elliot says, "So Ana, you're ok?"

Ana nods, "I'm fine."

"Cool, this is my brother, Christian, Christian Grey. Christian, this is Ana, Ana Brady, Quinn's wife."

"It's my pleasure, Ana." I say as take her small hand in mine and as I do, I feel a jolt run through my body.

What the fuck has happened to me and where in the fuck is my wife?!