Broken Souls (17 page)

“Do you
always think of the worst case for everything?” Despite the howling wind around him, Ashley didn’t miss the evident sounds of frustration in Ben’s voice. “Did you not have some sort of back-up plan?”

“Not really,” she replied
. “It’s not like you casually sit down with your best friend and discuss what happens if one of you dies.”

“
I’m sorry,” he said with a sigh. “Look, I’ve finished doing a little bit of shopping and I’m walking towards Bond Street station now. How about I pop over and we can talk about it?”

“I... Uh...” Ashley looked nervously at the stacks of
CDs and DVDs that littered the floor around her. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” she mumbled. “I’m organising some stuff. Why don’t you just stay on the phone for a little bit instead?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m busy,” she said, picking up a nearby CD with her free hand. Flipping it over, she read the track list at least four times before deciding to throw it into a nearby bin bag.

Although it had been one of her favourite albums merely six months ago, it was nothing but rubbish to her now. She would no longer be able to enjoy it as she had done. It was over
and needed to go.

“So,” Ben exhaled, “should we talk about what happened last night? Melissa was pretty upset when I caught up to her outside.”

“I don’t know what the heck she said, but I can guarantee it was a lie,” she replied. “That girl spouts bullshit like there’s no tomorrow. She makes enemies wherever she goes, Ben.”

“Just tell me,” Ben started, agitation growing in his
voice. “Did you tell Melissa that she was nothing but a worthless, two-faced bitch after she had tried to apologise to you?”

Ashley smacked her fist against her thigh. “That is complete and utter shit, Ben! I can’t believe you are being sucked into her lies. The woman is pure poison and she knows it.”

“But why would she say that, huh? She wouldn’t just make that shit up. I think something happened th
at you aren’t letting on to. Come on, if she’s lying, then tell me what
really
happened?”

Her fingers tightened
around the phone, pressing the device deeper into the side of her head. She couldn’t do it. If she revealed the conversation with Melissa then Marco’s identity would be uncovered. It was safer that Ben hadn’t worked out who he was. He didn’t like the guy, and would probably dislike him even more if he found out about the connection they shared. But then again, Melissa had also revealed her motive for the night, which she could share with Ben. That way, she didn’t have to disclose anything about Marco.

“Melissa wanted to make you jealous,” Ashley replied smugly, wishing she could see his reaction on the other end of the receiver. “Her plan was to ambush, make you jealous, and then ultimately go home with you. She didn’t try to apologise to me once.”

Ben was silent for a number of minutes before he finally spoke. “
Right, well that clears that up I guess. But why did she slap Marco?”

“Honestly, I can’t answer that because I don’t know,” she lied. “Now, w
hat do I do about my rent?” she asked, changing the subject.

“
It’ll be fine, Ashley. Stop thinking about your rent for five minutes and just focus on one thing at a time. Gabby’s funeral comes first before you start worrying about other stuff.”

“Okay,” she agreed, nudging a nearby stack of films with her foot. “Thanks for the chat, but I’m going to have to shoot. I’ll see you on Monday, right?”

“You got it.”

Disconnecting the call, she dropped her phone to the floor and yelled into the air. She had no idea why life
was choosing to deal her with such a shitty deck of cards. Something had to eventually change... something had to go her way.

After keeping herself locked away in
the confines of her flat for the remainder of the weekend, Ashley was feeling extremely fragile and vulnerable by the time Monday morning reared its ugly head.

It was the day she had been dreading since the surgeon delivered the shocking bl
ow to her life over a week ago; the news that had shattered every part of her support system, leaving her completely exposed and alone once again.

Today was
Gabby’s funeral and she had woken up way earlier than she had needed to be, and it was all because she couldn’t sleep. Tossing and turning, dreams and nightmares, they all contributed to the dark, thunderous gloom that had been hanging over her since last Sunday.

A part of her
wished that she could turn the clock back to stop today from happening. She wasn’t prepared to say goodbye to her best friend just yet. She needed more time to come to terms with things.

Tears
continuously streamed from Ashley’s eyes as she stood in front of the bathroom mirror applying her make-up and pulling her hair into a tightly coiled bun. Given the circumstances and the unrelenting moisture seeping from her eyes, she was surprisingly happy with the average looking outcome she had achieved. Today wasn’t a fashion parade, but was pretty obvious that a lot of eyes were going to be on her.

Pulling loosely at the belt of her dressing gown, she pulled the m
ass of pink fluff from her body, hanging it on the back of the bathroom door for later. She already knew that it was going to be her outfit of choice when she returned from the funeral in need of some fuzzy comfort.

Today was g
oing to be hard and she knew it.

Su
cking in a deep breath, Ashley walked back to her bedroom and looked over the outfit lying on her bed. “I’m going bright for you, baby,” she whispered, picking up the coral coloured skater dress and slipping it over her head. Her fingers smoothed over the material as she choked back a soft sob. The dress had been a birthday gift from Gabby last year, but she hadn’t had the chance to wear it.

It was bright and bold, but she knew t
here wasn’t any way that she was going to the funeral in the usual customary black attire. She chuckled lightly, knowing that Gabby would have been furious if she had wasted an opportunity to glam-up for an event in her honour.

Because of this reason alone,
Ashley decided that it was enough justification to wear her five inch nude courts that were now sat on the floor beside a pastel flowered clutch bag. It was either go big or go home, and Ashley was most definitely going big. She didn’t give a shit about the looks she would attract, or the whispers and comments her outfit would garner. With the size of her birthmark, it would just be like a normal day of people making comments.

Slipping on her court shoes,
Ashley turned towards her bedside clock.

“Slow down,
” she scolded.

There was no use in her getting rea
dy earlier than she needed to, otherwise she was going to be left moping around the flat with nothing to keep her mind occupied.

“
Cara?
”

For a
split second, she truly believed that she was imagining his voice. It felt as if she had finally dropped off the edge of the cliff and was freefalling from the sound of his heavily laced accent.

“
Cara,
are you here?”

Her breath hitched and her skin began to tingle. She froze
as she heard him close the front door and his heavy footsteps coming through the living room. Hastily, she scraped her teeth along the inner flesh of her upper lip, biting and gnawing harshly at the skin as his footsteps drew nearer and nearer to her bedroom door.

His footsteps were clearer as he stepped into the hallway leading to her bedroom. They were heavier and unmistakeable
as was the sound of jingling metal that caught her attention.

Gabby’s keys.

She had completely forgotten about their existence. All week she hadn’t even thought that he could be letting himself in whenever he felt like it. She had never even questioned the matter before now. Had he been keeping an eye on her this week without her knowing?

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she breathed, shaking her head. The idea was stupid and sounded as if he was almost s
talking her.

“Oh, you
are
here. Why didn’t you answer me the first time,
cara
?” Marco asked, popping his head just inside of her bedroom door.

Keeping
her gaze trained on her bedside table, Ashley felt a flush of warmth invade her cheeks from his presence. The sound of his voice alone was enough to stall her breathing completely.

Her mind flicked back to Friday night and the pleasure she
had created through her own imagination. The virtual Marco she had created that had given her an intense and fulfilling orgasm after the pretty bad evening she had endured.

She heard his rough chuckle as the bedroom do
or creaked open fully. “There’s no use pretending to be shy,
tesoro
.”

The movement of his leather shoes alerted her to his sudden closeness. She sucked in a ragged breath as his fingertips lightly ghosted
across the bare skin of her neck. His touch like a cool breeze caused her to quiver. The muscles in her entire body clenched together before they released in unison.

“W-What are you doing here?”
The warmth flowing between the closeness of their bodies set her completely on edge.

“I wanted to see if you were alright,” he whispered, his breath prickling across her lower neck and exposed ear
lobe.

She
didn’t turn to look at him. He was trying to turn on the charm and she had to fight back against it.

“We need each other today, Ashle
y,” he murmured, his fingers exploring the side of her neck. “I’m not going to know anybody, so I’m relying on you to be by my side.”

Her nostrils flared
and she bit her tongue.

“
Why won’t you look at me?” he growled, reaching out to turn her chin so that he could fix her with his hardened glare. “I’m sorry if you’re upset with me because I haven’t been here, but I can explain everything to you. I don’t want you to shut me out.”

She noticed that he hadn’t yet removed his hand from her face.
“Marco, what are you doing?” she asked, shrugging out of his hold.

“
I’m trying to get close to you,” he replied, reaching out to grasp her arm.

Ashley couldn’t work out what he was up to. She hadn’t seen him since Friday night at Eclipse where she had rejected his advances, so she was struggling to see how he could just bounce back so quickly and expect her to fall into his arms.

It was what she wanted, but she couldn’t. There were still too many questions she had to ask him about Sophia and what had happened during his hiatus earlier this week. There wasn’t any chance of her knocking down the walls she had built until she had answers.

“Please, stop this,” Ashley begged.

Marco ran his fingers along her arm. “Stop what,
tesoro
?”

“This game you’re playing. It isn’t fair, Marco.”

“Who says that I’m playing a game?” he asked, quirking a brow at her. “You won’t even give me chance to explain anything to you. I’ve been gone for a few days, but you are only assuming what I’ve been doing. You keep shutting me down, so how do I know it’s not you who’s playing the game?”

“Marco, it’s your sister’s funeral,” she pleaded with him. “Can we discuss this later?”

He sighed. “That was the wrong answer. Why didn’t you deny that you’re playing a game?”

“
Please, Marco.”

“
I won’t allow you to play me,
tesoro
. You have no idea who you are going up against and what I can do...” He laughed to show that he was sort of joking, but it still didn’t lighten the unease she felt.

“
Don’t be ridiculous,” Ashley said, trying to brush it off. “I’m not playing a game and I agree that we need to talk later. There’s been a lot that’s happened over the last few days that we need to sort out, but now isn’t the right time.”

Marco dropped his arm to his side. “
The car is waiting for us,” he said, gesturing towards the door.

~

Although she welcomed the glorious sunshine as she stepped outside, there was still a bitingly cold breeze that continued to blow against her exposed arms. Shivering slightly, Ashley hugged herself to contain as much of her body heat as possible.

“This isn’t a goodbye party, Gabby,” she sighed, lifting her face up to the sky. “This is a see you soon party.”

“You did really well in there, Ashley. I’m proud of you,” Ben said, coming up behind her and placing his jacket around her shoulders.

She startled
from the unexpected touch and turned around to face him. “I was just trying to get some air before I started the rounds with everyone. Honestly, I don’t even know who half of these people are.”

“Patrick and
some of the guys from work are here.”

“
And Melissa?” she asked, her fingers grasping at Ben’s jacket, holding it tighter around her.

“
Yeah, she’s here.”

Ashley
rolled her eyes and sighed. “Great... I’ll look forward to bumping into her, hey?”

He
shifted on the balls of his feet. “They’ll be going in a minute, so I don’t think you’ll see them. I asked if they could just slip out quietly without making much of a fuss over you and stuff.”

She gave him a relieved smile. “Thank you.”

“It’s nothing,” he shrugged. “But anyway, when are you going to introduce me to Gabby’s brother? I’m curious to finally meet him,” he admitted, folding his arms over his chest. “We were sat at the back, so we didn’t really see the family members sat near the front.”

Ashley swallowed the thickness growing in the back of her throat. She had forgotten about Marco and Ben meeting
today. It was too late now for her to try and avoid the situation, especially after Marco had come to the flat and accompanied her to the funeral.

She
had had no other choice but to tell Ben that Gabby’s brother had appeared and was taking her today. Of course his reply then informed her that he was looking forward to meeting the infamous Mr Conti, which was enough to set her on edge before they had even arrived.

“He is... Um...”
Ashley looked around at the beautifully kept gardens of the chapel as she struggled to find the right words to say. “I-I... He...”

Ashley craned her neck
at the sound of heavy footsteps in the gravel. “Shit!” she cursed, inhaling a deep lungful of air. “Why?” she cried with frustration. “Why now?”

“What
’s wrong?” Ben followed her line of sight until his eyes locked with Marco’s.

“Cara
, we need to go and greet people,” Marco instructed, his hand pulling on the sleeve of his suit jacket. “Can you spare a few minutes?” he asked, flicking his gaze between them, his upper lip curling with clear distaste.

Ben coughed and turned towards Ashl
ey. “You can’t be serious... Mr Holidaymaker from Italy, the same guy that tried to get into Melissa’s knickers,
he
is Gabby’s brother?”

“
Cara...
” Marco huffed impatiently.

“Ash
ley, is this for real?” Ben scoffed, throwing his arm in Marco’s direction. “Please don’t tell me that this arse is Gabby’s brother. Honestly, I assumed that the whole ‘Marco’ thing was just a coincidence the other night.”

Ashley
bit her lip. “I’m sorry, Ben. But he
is
Gabby’s brother,” she mumbled, rotating the heel of her court shoe into the gravel. The atmosphere around them had plummeted in seconds.

Ben turned towards Ashley and placed his hands against his hips.
“Why does he call you
cara
?”

“It’s an endearment,” she
replied quietly, turning her face into the side of her shoulder.

“
An endearment?” Ben narrowed his eyes and a frown creased his brow. “But you hardly know him?”

She
noted that his answer was more of a statement than a question.

“Well... I...”
Ashley stammered as his eyes continued to pin her to the spot.  She could practically see the cogs turning as he worked tirelessly to unearth the truth that she was keeping from him. It would be a disaster if he found out about the relationship between her and Marco. She wasn’t ready for him to find out—at least not yet anyway. “I will catch up with you in a little while,” she said, offering Ben an apologetic nod as she slipped past him.