Fifty Shades Of Cerulli~Book Two.

Chapter Eleven

CHRIS' POV
I woke up to Grave screaming, and Zak calling my name. I jumped out of the guest room bed and ran straight downstairs to where Grave was sleeping on the couch. She was kicking and screaming, and Zak was trying to calm her down.

"Chris! I don't know what to do! She hasn't had an episode like this in years!" He shouted. I got on the side of the couch and kneeled down. I grabbed her face lightly in my hands and rubbed her cheek with my thumbs.

"Grave, it's okay, baby. It's okay, it's just a bad dream. Wake up, Grave." I whispered to her. The screaming calmed and she settled down. I was hoping it wasn't a trauma response, but she did just go through a lot. I looked down and noticed a bit of blood around her thighs and I sighed. I got up and got a damp towel, then walked back over to the couch. I was at a toss up of letting her sleep or waking her up so she could clean the blood off of her. Before I could decide, she woke up.

"You're still here?" She asked. I nodded.

"Of course I am. I couldn't leave you like this. I'm staying right here until you get better." I cupped her face and kissed her forehead. I started to clean up her thighs, and she sat there staring at me. "What's wrong? Do you want to do this? I really don't mind." She shook her head at me and smiled lightly.

"I'm just... thinking is all." She told me. I kept cleaning but stopped at closer to her inner thigh. She took the cloth and went to the bathroom to keep cleaning up. I heard the shower turn on and I went to knock on the door.

"Grave, do you need help?" I asked as I placed my hand on the knob. She opened the door and let me in. She had already gotten out of her clothes, but she needed help stepping into the shower. I grabbed her hand and her hip and helped her get in. I started to get ready to get in with her to help her, but she stopped me.

"I need to be independent. I can't have people helping me every step of the way. I made a mistake and I'm paying for it." Her words hurt, knowing that she blamed herself for what happened. I sat down on the counter as she shut the curtain.

"Grave, what do you mean? None of that was your fault. You got drunk and drugged. It wasn't your fault." I assured her. She was silent for longer than I would have liked. I pulled back the curtain and she had sat herself down under the water with her knees pulled up to her chest and tears running down her face. I got in with her, in my sweater and jeans. I didn't care. She needed me. I pulled her into me and stroked her wet hair as she cried and screamed into my chest. I started to cry with her, knowing this would have a lasting impact on her. We stayed in there for what felt like hours, until the water got cold and she was shivering. I helped pick her up and I placed her on the bathroom counter, then wrapped a towel around her. I kissed the top of her head and held her close.

"Your clothes are soaked, Chris. You should probably go change." She was right, I was soaked, but at the moment all that mattered was her. "Chris, it's okay. I can take care of myself for a few minutes while you go change." She said as she looked at me. I picked her up off the counter and started carrying her out of the bathroom bridal style.

"I know but I never want to take my eyes off of you again. I never know when something could happen. Grave, I don't want this divorce. Whatever I said, I never meant it. Every day I wake up and think I am so lucky to have a woman like you in my life, and I can not bare a life without you in it. You know this. Grave, please let me just reverse this. Trust me, I am begging you." I begged in my soaked clothes as put her down. She was standing in front of her window, wrapped in her towel, then turned to look at me.

"Prove it to me. Prove to me that you deserve a five millionth chance to trust you." Her words hurt, but they weren't wrong. I had hurt her so many times before, but I was determined to make this work. I took her hands in mine.

"I promise, starting tonight. After I change into some dry clothing of course." I mean, we're in Vegas, there's plenty of things to do right? It was just a matter of finding things she hasn't done here.
..........
After having some discussion with Zak, and Grave getting ready for what I wanted to call the most epic date night, I had it all planned out.

"Okay, Mr. Cerulli, what do you have planned first?" Grave asked. I smiled and took her hand as we walked out to the rental car and I helped her in.

"Our first stop is the REAL Bodies Exhibition. Zak said you had considered at one point going to school to be a mortician, and that you were fascinated by anatomy, which for some reason is something I never knew." I informed her as I pulled out of the driveway. She smiled real big, and I listened to her go on and on about her fascination. I felt like I could listen to her talk about her interests for hours.
We finally pulled up to the museum and got inside. I watched as her eyes got big and she looked at everything, admiring the whole place. She had so much knowledge that I never knew about. As she was admiring everything, my phone started ringing. It was my realtor. I gave Grace a kiss on the cheek and told her I had to take this phone call, without letting her know who it was.

"Chris, it's Dave, your realtor. I wanted to let you know that the bid was accepted on the victorian house. It's all yours, I just need you to sign some papers and get the keys." I almost couldn't contain my excitement. This was going to be the first house that Grave and I could call "ours".

"That's great! I'm kind of out of town right now, I should be back in Scranton in the next couple of days. Can I digitally sign the papers and have you overnight the keys? I want to surprise Grave as soon as we get back." My realtor chuckled, and agreed. I gave him the address to send the keys to, and received the papers via email. This was it, this was going to be the official home of the Cerulli's.
I walked back over to Grave and placed my hand on her lower back.

"Are you ready for the next stop?" I asked her. She smiled and nodded.

"What's for dinner?" She questioned as we pulled closer. I wanted to surprise her, so I just stayed quiet. When we got there I handed valet the keys, and we went in. We were then escorted to our table, which had a wonderful view of the city all lit up.

"Welcome to the Iconic Table 56. I had to pull a few strings to get it on such short notice, but I'd pull every string for you." I said as I grabbed her hands. She looked in awe out the window.

"Chris, this is amazing. I mean, I'm amazed. I always wanted to go here but they were always booked." She explained. I grinned and kissed the top of her hand. I saw a blush come across her face. I felt like we were falling in love all over again.

"Grave, I have something to show you." I pulled out my phone, not being able to contain my excitement about the house. I turned the phone to face her once I had the picture of the house pulled up. She smiled and handed the phone back to me.

"It's a beautiful house, I'd love to live there." She complimented. I smiled even wider.

"Well that's good because it's ours. My bid was accepted today. We can move in as soon as we get back to Scranton!" I was overly excited about this, but Grave just stared at me in shock.

"Chris, I-I don't know what to say..."