No Strings (Broken Strings) (10 page)

“We can convert it into  two beds for tonight,” he explained
as he sat down on one of the large seats.  “We have our own attendant in this
car, who can serve us drinks and some snacks in here, or we can go into the
restaurant car later if you want.  I had tried to get a cabin with our own
bathroom, but it seems they don’t have them on this route.”

Indi smiled coyly as joining him on the seat, half facing
him. “Single beds?”

He nodded apologetically, turning more to face her, and took
one of her hands in his.  “But, I’m sure we can snuggle up together in one for
a few hours.  And, the hotel in Florence certainly has a double.”

“Grey, I don’t mind sleeping in a single if you’re here with
me.”  She assured him softly, their earlier argument put to the side as she
leaned forward to nuzzle against his chest.

“I thought we should talk through this tension before we
head off.  I want to give you a true idea of what my life is like with my wife,
and in general, which is why I appear not to care about other people at the
time.”

“Okay.”  She lifted her head off him, and turned in her
seat, to listen in earnest to what he’d to say.

“I am sure it comes as no surprise that I lead an opulent
lifestyle, but that wasn’t something I attained via the music. It is something
I was born into.  My family is beyond wealthy, more than the largest public
limited company. As the oldest of five, I am the one that each of the others
turns to in time of crisis. Even though I am not technically heading up any of
the companies owned by my family. I still get daily phones from people who are
running them for my input.  I am always the one that has to negotiate when our
father makes their life difficult. I’ve more responsibility  than one person
should have, and that is what makes my time exceedingly precious.  At times, I
take for granted that people will just wait around for me to be ready, and I
accept that I come across as pompous because of this, to people who don’t truly
know me.”

Indi gazed at him, her mouth slightly ajar as he spoke.  He
had already divulged he had problems with his father, but she had not begun to
imagine this kind of pressure. This man sounded almost as calculating and
uncompromising as her own  He squeezed her hand slightly as he continued.

“As mentioned before – my sister was harassed by a man we
knew extremely well. She had a stalker for months beforehand, unbeknownst to
us, it was him all along. It ended in him kidnapping her.  Endless hours of
counselling couldn’t help her come to terms with what happened.  Even now,
three years later, she still has nightmares.  She became the shell of a person
she was before: uncontrollable, anti-authoritarian drug taker. I blame myself; if
I had paid attention more perhaps the kidnapping could have been averted. 

“My goodness, I didn’t realise that had happened.”  A cold
shudder went down Indi’s back as she came to the realisation that her own case
could have so easily ended in kidnapping, as well. 

“The majority of it was kept out of the papers at the time
and they caught him within a few days of her being taken.  He has been in
prison ever since, but is due to be up for parole in only three years.”  

“You asked me yesterday why I have changed between that
first introduction and now.  Before this holiday, I was holding people at arm’s
length. I wanted to uproot from London to hundreds of miles away just so there
would be no chance of ever running to him once he was released, but my
counsellor helped me realise that I couldn’t let him win, and needed to learn
to face my fears and let myself trust people again.”  Indi’s voice wobbling as
the stark reality of how close she could have come to something more serious
took its toll on her senses.

Grey looked down at her in dismay, and pulled her into his
chest tightly seeing the tears welling up as she spoke.  “Don’t cry honey, you
never have to be scared of him ever again.” 

“How you can say that when we won’t even be in each other
lives once we leave here.”  Her sobbing becoming persistent, as the realism of
not being able to have Grey protect her long term, truly hit her.

“I may not be in your day to day life, but I will still make
sure you’re safe.  You just need to make contact with the name I gave you last
night as soon as you are back home. He will take care of everything.”  He tried
to soothe her by running his hand repeatedly over her hair.

“But won’t it be costly to have someone protecting me?”

“Don’t you worry about that. The bills will come to me
personally rather than the band or family. No one would need to know.”

The idea made her feel that she always would be an
undisclosed facet to his life. Not just a holiday fling that turned into more
but his kept woman. A sense of sordidness washed over her as her already
heightened emotions moved from distress to wrath as she pushed herself away
from his embrace and walked to the other end of the cabin out of his reach. “You
make it sound as if I will be your dirty little secret.”

“No, that isn’t what you are at all.” He made a move to grab
her as she moved away, but Indi was too quick.

“Don’t touch me.” She said firmly, her eyes full of hurt.
“I-I thought with all the gifts and these surprise trips you had actually
started to care about having me in your life.”

“I do, but it is complicated.” Grey said as Indi noted the
inward struggle in his countenance.

Indi looked away and rolled her eyes. “Which means what? You
care enough to pay for some security but not for -.” In the end,  she couldn’t
bring herself to finish the sentence. She was making a fool of herself, they
had entered into this as a no-strings fling, so he wasn’t doing anything
different to what they had agreed upon.

Grey stood up and began walking closer,  but held his hands
up in a gesture of surrender as he pleaded, “Ok, I won’t touch you but please
hear me out.”

Indi remained quiet and just waited.

He stood in front of her, ever so close that she could feel
his breath against her hair as he stood up taller than her. “You aren’t just a
secret fling to me, Indi. I have grown to care about more than I thought
possible in such a short space in time, but there are –
things,
family
things I need to sort before I can bring you into my life properly and show you
off to the world in a way you deserve.” His voice was heavy with emotion as she
watched his eyes brimming with sincerity.

“But I would have to be hidden away until then?” She
whispered, reaching out to palm her hands against his hard chest signalling her
willingness to consider his plan.

“You could still meet other members of my family that I
trust if that would make you feel more at ease?” He leaned in and began to kiss
away her half-dried tears.

“I would like that.” Indi said before closing her eyes as
Grey began devouring her mouth with his.

Later on, after cleaning themselves up and changing into
different outfits, to dine with Adam and Hayden in the restaurant car.  The
meal went by pleasantly; she soon gathered that, despite them actually being in
Grey’s employ, they were actually remarkably close friends with him, as well. 
She discovered for the first time that Adam and Hayden were members of the same
corps section as a cousin of Grey’s who headed up the band security.

They laughed and joked at his expense about stories of their
nights out with him, his cousin Richard, his friend Charlie, and them before
his marriage.

“I don’t think I’ve seen him this happy in a long time.” 
Hayden had observed when Grey had left them alone with Indi for a few minutes. 
“You are clearly beneficial for him.”

“I think he is equally good for me too.”  Indi replied
wistfully as she sipped at her wine, unaware that Grey had heard what she
said.  “I’ve never talked some much to one person about my inner thoughts
before, saving me lots of time in therapy,” she joked, she enjoyed her chats
with the men when Grey disappeared off to sort out some business from time to
time. 

“Just let me know where to send
the bill.”  Grey said drolly as he retook his seat, and kissed her cheek.

They had managed to snuggle into the cramped single bed,
rather than sleep separately for some of the night.  Each had struggled to get
any proper amount of sleep as they knew they had to get off the train at 6am
the next morning in Rome, and changed onto another one for the final leg into
Florence arriving at 8.20am.

Finally, in Florence, they grabbed a taxi to the hotel Grey
had booked for them all - or at least what his assistant, Sam back in England
had booked on Grey’s instruction.  Checking in to a nice suite of rooms, they
spent the morning unpacking, before catching up on a brief slumber in a
massive, queen-sized sleigh bed.

With the hot afternoon sun blazing through the half-drawn
curtains into their bedroom, they were woken from their haze of sleep, by the sound
of a mobile ringing.  Grumbling, Grey rolled over on his back and released Indi
from his grasp slightly.  “I don’t recognise that ringtone.  It must be yours.” 
His fingers strayed from her stomach, to arouse her exposed nipples to more
hardened state as the sheets had worked its way down their bodies during their
sleep.

“Mmm, I can’t imagine who would be calling me; they know I’m
out of the country for another week.”  Sighing she pushed herself off the bed
and pulled the offending phone from her handbag.  Looking at the screen, she
frowned slightly and accepted the call.  “Hey, is something wrong?”  She asked
the person on the other end, moving into the adjoining sitting room.

“I was just checking up on my little sis.”  Aimee said
casually.

“You had me worried calling like that. I thought it was
serious calling me on an international call rate.  However, it’s lovely to hear
your voice you would love it here.  So relaxing and the weather to die for.  My
tan will put your porcelain complexion to shame!”  Indi teased her
good-naturedly

“So, have you seen any hot men?”

“Actually, I’m in Florence with one now.  It has been a
whirlwind.  I’ve so much to tell you when I return.”  Indi said bursting with
excitement, to share some of her news with her closest sister.

“OMG, Florence.  I hope you’re being safe.”  Aimee
cautioned.

“Do not concern yourself, this is nothing like that. 
Anyway, I must go, I’ll see you when I get back.”

Smiling, Indi closed down her phone, and exited the
bathroom, catching a quizzical expression on Grey’s face.  “My sister,” She
explained.

“Was anything wrong?”

“Oh, no, she was just checking up on me, we’re pretty close,
and after all that I went through with the court case. She has been keeping a
close eye on me, and wasn’t too keen on me staying here alone.”

“Ahh, did you tell her about me?”  He asked, feeling hopeful
that she’d.  He liked the idea of her feeling confident enough about their time
together to share it with one of her sisters.

Indi smirked, moving back to joining him in bed.  “Actually
I did mention you in passing, when she asked if I had met any hot men.”

“Oh I see, so I’m a hot man, in your opinion,” he teased,
pushing her on her back as he slid his hands over her hips and waist, lightly

“Extremely,” she giggled as he began tickling her rib cage
while trailing the tip of his tongue from her collarbone, all the way up her
neck, to just behind her ear.  He pressed his upper torso against her breasts
as his mouth trailed across her face to her lips. 

One of his hands reached between her legs, flicking across
her clit, stroking the wet skin surrounding her entrance with increasing
frequency that it made her hips move of their own volition. Indi gasped loudly
against his mouth as he continued to devour her mouth while her body shuddered
with the rapturous pleasure from his handy fingerwork.

“Mmm, a perfect fit.” He murmured as he slid his rock hard
length into her with an eager thrust. He continued to describe all the dirty
things he enjoyed doing to her as he punctuated every slow but powerful thrust
with a groan of pleasure.

Afterwards, they were enticed from the bed with some room
service, followed by a tour of Uffizi gallery with their own tour guide as Indi
has expressed an interest in seeing some art museums. 

They spent the next couple of hours viewing one of the
largest collections of Italian Renaissance paintings in the world, including
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, Leonardo’s Annunciation, Michelangelo’s Holy
Family, and Titian’s Venus of Urbino. 

“Thank you for arranging to go there, Grey.  It was a
fantastic buzz to be surrounded by all that history.”  Indi wore a big wide
smile as they walked back to the hotel.

“I’ve more planned tomorrow, that is why I suggested the
comfortable shoes.”  He pointed to her spiked heels and shook his head in mock
horror.

“Okay, I’ll wear more sensible shoes tomorrow, just to
please you.” 

Over the next three days, they visited the Accademia
Gallery, Bargello Museum, and the Palazzo Vecchio, one on each afternoon, after
lazing around in bed all morning and talking.  

Each evening they travelled with Adam and Hayden to see
different musical events being held in Scandicci, which was located just 10
kilometres outside of Florence.

They had enjoyed anonymity for the first two evenings, but news
of Grey’s presence in Florence had been announced via social media by one eagle
eye fan on their final day.  This caused widespread chaos around their hotel as
a large crowd of fans had been building since the waited for a glimpse of him.

“I think it might be best if you forget about your plans for
tonight and we just head to the train station in the morning. The crowd out
there has swelled dramatically.” Adam cautioned as he glanced out of the window
that overlooked where the crowd was congregating.