Broken Souls (25 page)

“Oh... Shit...” Her voice was a strangled cry as Marco sucked her clit between his lips. “I-I...” She suddenly found it impossible to speak as the release
she had been pining for hit with unexpected force. It completely warmed her skin, sending spasms of delight racing along every available nerve ending in her body.

Watching him pull a condom from the pocket of his discarded trousers, Ashley raised an eyebrow and scooted up the bed. “Somebody was prepared?” she asked, eyeing the s
hiny silver packet in his hand as she pulled off her underwear and threw them to the floor.

“What can I say? I like to be prepared,” he replied with a wink as he opened the packet and rolled the condom over his cock.
“Now, get on your knees,” he demanded, crawling onto the bed behind her. His hand grasped firmly around the base of his cock as he stroked himself.

Ashley complied, but was quickly disappointed by her new view of the headboard. She would have much preferred to watch Marco and his relentlessly pumping fist. It turned her on... what more could she say?

The bed dipped as Marco climbed on behind her. “
Tesoro
,” he murmured, dipping two fingers into her pussy.

Ashley gasped as his fingers slid deeply with ease. “Marco,” she whimpered, pushing her head into the duvet cover to stifle her moans. “Please, fuck me!”

“Is this what you want?” he teased, slapping the end of his cock against her bare arse cheek. “You want me to
fuck
you?”  

She hesitated.

It was true. It wasn’t what she wanted... She didn’t want him to
fuck
her. She wanted him to love her; all of her. The good and the bad, she wanted him to love it all.

“W-What do
you
want?” Ashley asked uncertainly, flicking him a nervous glance over her shoulder. She watched his face as he thought about her question for a moment, the silence between them slowly killing her heart one second at a time.

“Lie on your back again.”

She complied and turned over to lie on her back once more. She eyed him curiously as he crawled up the length of her body with painstaking slowness, his lips trailing a soft and warm path as he went. “What are you doing?” she asked anxiously as he kissed each of her breasts before settling his weight over her and his cock at her entrance.

“I want
to watch your beautiful face as I make
love
to you,
amore mio
,” he smiled, placing a sweet kiss on her lips. “
Ti amo
,” he whispered, pushing himself into her and capturing her lips at the same time.

Tears flooded into her eyes as she felt him moving deep inside of her. “My love
,
I love you too,” she whimpered, reaching up to thread her arms around the back of his neck. She kissed him back with as much love as she could gather. This had been the moment she had been waiting for.

“
That feels so good,” Marco rasped, his fingers gently caressing her cheek.

Overwhelmed with the emotions flooding her system, Ashley did nothing but enjoy the dizzying heights of pleasure that Marco was driving her to. The connection between them now felt
almost rock solid—unbreakable. There was a difference in his eyes as he looked at her. His coffee coloured irises showed warmth and adoration... they showed love.

“M-Marco,” she gasped, warning him of her imminent release.

He increased the driving force of his thrusts as he chased his own orgasm. Moisture glistened across his face and torso before he wiped his brow with the back of his hand.

Ashley clenched Marco’s thighs as her climax erupted. Her
fingernails dug into his skin as her hips jerked against his cock, riding out the full extent of her orgasm.

“Fuck!” Marco groaned, his body stilling as he exploded deeply into her. He
held himself up on his elbows and gently moved inside to milk the final drops of his release.

“Y-You love me?” Ashley whispered.

He dropped down on top of her again and grinned. “Who’d have thought that Marco Conti would finally admit to falling in love?”

“Well,
” she paused. “I’ve loved you for a long time. But I have only recently admitted this to myself. I’ve always had feelings for you, but it wasn’t until I actually
saw
you that I allowed myself to believe in them. Crazy, right?”

“What if I told you the same thing?” Marco asked,
keeping his weight on his elbows. “What if I knew the same, but was delaying the inevitable by not coming here to see you?” He sighed deeply. “
Amore mio
, I have merely continued with my lifestyle because I have been too afraid to commit. I always end things before they get too serious, and I don’t tend to stay in contact with the women either.”

“You didn’t have a choice with me. I was Gabby’s best friend, so you always had me to talk to,” she smiled.

“You still
are
Gabby’s best friend,” he corrected. “But yes, in a way, it brought us closer over the years despite us never actually meeting. There has always been something about you, but I didn’t know what it was. And honestly, in spite of the unfortunate circumstances that brought us together, I couldn’t believe how stunning you were when I finally saw you, it practically floored me.”

“Alright, Casanova,” she laughed. “But answer me honestly... At the time, did you think it was a mistake between us to share that night
together?”

She discreetly held her breath for his answer. This was what she wanted to hear... Did he
actually regret sleeping with her?

“I don’t
regret anything that happened that night,” he said, shaking his head. “I never once told you that I regretted what happened between us,
tesoro
.”

“Yes, you did say tha—”

He pressed a finger to her lips. “I didn’t.
I told you that I understood what you were saying. It didn’t mean that I agreed with it. I didn’t know how to tell you what I was feeling. I was afraid... I was starting to feel things that I’d never experienced before. I wasn’t sure what to make of it all. And then Sophia showed up unexpectedly.”

Ashley remembered the days she
had spent alone in the flat waiting for him to return, and all of the hours she had spent constantly checking her phone for some form of communication from him.

“You ignored me for days,” she said quietly.

Marco sighed. “
Si,
but I’m afraid I was spending that time trying to establish what I was feeling as well as trying to convince Sophia that I wasn’t the man for her. She found out that I had finally fallen in love and she didn’t want to stand in the way of that.”

“
But she still came to the funeral?”

“
I told you, she wanted to see you in person. She wanted to see the girl that had managed to tie down the famous bachelor that I am,” he said with a wink.

“But,
why did you go to Eclipse that night when you were with Melissa. What were you doing there?” Ashley was afraid to ask. She still hadn’t told him about the plan between both Melissa and Ben and that he had been played as well.

“I bumped into that girl
at the bar and, well, we ended up on the dance floor. I just wanted to let myself be free for the night to see if my feelings were real. It was the night that I had finally broken through to Sophia, so my head and my heart were hurting. I couldn’t stop thinking about you and I wanted to see you, but I knew you needed time after what happened between us. But then you showed up with that prick... and... and I was so angry.”

“
I’m sorry,” Ashley sniffed, his pain weighing down on her heavily. “But I promise you that we weren’t on a
date
. The purpose of that night was to tell him where my feelings were, and that I was feeling something more for you... But it didn’t work out that way. I was ambushed instead by Melissa in the bathroom. She didn’t know anything about you or the connection between us, so I’m not sure if it was just coincidental that the girl you picked turned out to be Ben’s lover who I think was out to make him jealous that night, because he didn’t know she was going to be there either.”

His mouth opened slightly as his eyes widened. “What did you just say?”

She felt like a real idiot telling him this, especially now that she knew things could have been different between them over a week ago. They could have avoided so many altercations, dramas and unnecessary heartache that neither of them had needed to have.

Who knew... maybe even the drama with Ben and Melissa
could have been avoided?

“I found o
ut who Ben really was tonight,” Ashley grimaced. “Nothing but a deceitful lowlife that didn’t want me, but instead, he wanted access to my parents’ estate for him and his trashy girlfriend. I overheard all of it at the charity dinner. He kept receiving strange phone calls that he took outside, so I followed him. It was then that I discovered the secret romance between Ben and Melissa, and that he was planning to marry me to take half of my inheritance for
their
future and to control his imminent bankruptcy.”

“But... why was I involved?” he asked somewhat
perplexed as he slid off of her body and moved to sit beside her.

“Bad timing
,” Ashley replied also shuffling to a seated position. “You unknowingly turned into her back-up plan. I believe what happened with you finding each other in Eclipse was purely coincidental, because she didn’t know who you were until I revealed it in the bathroom. She hated Gabby, so it was a shock to her to say the least. And Ben didn’t know who you were until the funeral either, which means that despite their relationship, she kept your identity a secret even after I told her.”

She crossed her arms over her chest as she continued.

“You were her secret weapon, Marco, in the event that everything backfired. I’m sure she would have preferred for your identity to have stayed a secret, but it wasn’t the end of the world for her. And by finding you outside of the dinner tonight, it was an open invitation for her to prove to Ben that she had a way to screw-up everything if she wanted to. Of course, he must have been keeping her in the loop with our connection, especially after I told him we had slept together. So she knew how big of a deal it would be if we met accidentally. That was why Ben was so jumpy and on edge. He knew that she could blow the whole thing apart if she wanted to. And by coming with you, it killed two birds with one stone. She would royally piss Ben off, but also run the risk of you and I meeting. She was trying to warn him that she still had control...”

“But
they both lost,” Marco said, reaching out to stroke her cheek. “Because we still managed to find each other,
amore mio
, despite them trying to keep us apart.”

Ashley raised her hand, covered his
and smiled. “Actually, I think it was only Ben who lost out. I’m sure Melissa is thrilled to bits that she has her boyfriend back. If she loves him then it doesn’t matter whether he has the money or not. Although, I’m sure Ben doesn’t see it that way.”

Marco blew out a long breath.
“I can’t believe everything that has happened in the space of almost two weeks. It’s something that you would expect to watch in a television drama and not in real life.”

She bit her lip and thought about the rest of the story she still had to tell. He hadn’t heard about
the trouble she’d had with her parents yet, which was going to be a difficult conversation. Ashley knew that she wouldn’t be able to go through it without dredging up the memories of her past. She had to tell him about Issy and her parents—she had to tell him everything.

It probably wasn’t the best time to bring up the past after they had just declared their love for each other, but she wasn’t prepared to go another minute without full disclosure on everything.

Ashley leaned over Marco and opened her bedside table. She pulled out a picture that had two drawing pin holes through it from where it used to be pinned to her notice board in her old bedroom. It had been one of the very few possessions she had taken from her old room. The picture of her and Isabella at London Zoo was one of the most bittersweet memories she held. It represented a unified bond between two little girls and one animal, but also of the pain and sadness they endured a few weeks later when they had decided to skip school.

“Marco, there’s
more for me to tell you,” she whispered, placing the photograph on the bed in front of them.

Ashley clutched the plain white envelope tightly within her grasp as she looked up at the building in front of her. This was it, the final end to this chapter of her life. It was a scary prospect, but also one then she was excited for.

She
wanted to slam one door closed so hard that it splintered, before opening the next door that would take her on her way to the life she was supposed to lead.

“Get it, girl!” she breathed, switching to her game face. She reached forward and pushed open the door into the dental practice knowing that this was going to be the last time.

“Ashley?” Claire who worked on reception called her over as soon as she stepped through the doors. “Patrick told us that you weren’t back for a while. How have you been doing since the funeral?”

“I’m good. Is Patrick around at all?” she asked, keeping
the conversation minimal. Although Claire was lovely, she didn’t want to spend too much time talking. There was a job that had to be done and she couldn’t get distracted.

Claire adjusted her glasses
and coughed. “He is... But he has back to back appointments. I’m not sure about Ben either as he hasn’t come in today.”

“
Really?” she said with raised eyebrows. “Well, could you keep hold of this for me please and give it to Patrick when you see him?”

Claire took the envelope with caution. “
Ashley, are you quitting?”

“Yup,”
she replied, turning towards the door. “See you, Claire,” she chirped, pushing the door open so that it swung on its hinges before coming back to slam closed.

She walked a little way up the street before she whooped loudly and jumped into the air. There was no way that she would ever sta
y there with Ben and Melissa. She hadn’t really wanted to after Gabby’s death either, so when Marco suggested her quitting and starting afresh, she didn’t have any arguments.

“Somebody seems
happy.”

Ashley looked in front and smiled as Marco pushed off from the lamp
-post he was leaning against. A brief whoosh of excitement caught her as she bounded over to him.

“I’ve quit!” she squealed, throwing hers
elf into his arms. “That’s it, I’ve done it!”

He caught her easily, spinning her around on the spot before setting her down. “I’m so proud of you,
tesoro
. You are moving forward in your life like you should be.” He pulled out a folded up piece of paper from the inside pocket of his jacket. “Surprisingly, I have more exciting news for you.” He passed her the paper and waited for her reaction.

Ashley unfolded the paper and read its contents.

“No...” Her heart suddenly started beating furiously in her chest as she read the words over and over again, not believing what she was actually seeing. “I-Impossible,” she whispered, looking at Marco with tear filled eyes. “S-Surely this can’t be right?”

Marco beckoned her closer and wrapped his arms around her. “The will states that the property was purchased outright by Gabriela and that it is not rented via a private landlord. It also confirms that all of my sister’s estate is to be transferred to me in the event of her death.”

Tears continued to flow freely from Ashley’s eyes as Marco spoke.

“It would seem that she invested the money
she received following our parents’ death into the dental surgery and the property you both shared, and that she was saving the money you gave her in a separate account titled ‘Ash’s Saving Fund’.” 

She shook her head as his words sunk in. “This doesn’t make sense,” she sniffed, wiping her eyes and nose with the back of her hand. “Why would she make a savings fund for me?”

He stroked her hair as a stray tear escaped his eye. “That’s my sister for you,” he murmured. “She always thought of others before herself.”

“I-I just can’t believe that she did that...”

Marco withdrew slightly and tilted Ashley’s face. “I don’t want this news to interfere with our plans. Regardless of what we have learned, this does not make any difference to what was discussed last night. If anything, we could work this to our advantage. It provides you with a stable home that is currently mortgage free and a savings account filled with enough money to cover your overheads for at least a year in London. I am aware that Patrick is also keen to buy my sister’s share of the practice along with Benjamin’s following the bankruptcy. It appears our friend has a little bit of a gambling problem and has run himself into quite a bit of debt.”

“
That’s his problem. And I promise that even in light of what we have learned with Gabby’s will, I’m not prepared to go back on what I said,” she whispered as he cupped her face and wiped away her tears. “I’m in love with you, and I will do everything to make this work between us.”

“
Amore mio,
” he breathed, lowering his head to brush his lips against hers. “You are my love...”

~

Unclipping her seatbelt, Ashley opened the passenger door of the car and stepped onto the tarmac with Marco following closely behind. She stuffed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and started to rock backwards and forwards uncomfortably.

She
was not looking forward to this one bit.

Even though she’d
had since last night to prepare, it just seemed way too soon for her. Marco had taken her completely by surprise when he had mentioned his imminent departure.

At first, she
had refused to believe him; however, as the night had worn on she noticed that Marco was refusing to sleep. He stated merely that he wasn’t tired, but Ashley knew that it was because he wanted to spend as much time with her as he could. They were starting their arrangement shortly which would entail them both being in different countries. He would be in Milan and she would remain in London. It was something they had both agreed on before they jumped headfirst into a committed relationship that neither of them were completely ready for.

When the time came
for him to leave, she knew that she wasn’t ready. Her heart was screaming at her from the inside not to let him go through with it, but her brain knew that there was no other way around it. They had to be sensible here if they were going to make anything work between them. The pain was going to be part of the sacrifice they both had to make.

“Ashley?”

She turned at the sound of her name and found that a further car had pulled up, and that Callum and Charlie Ellis were now approaching them. Following closely behind them were two gentlemen carrying multiple suitcases and clothing bags.

“Ahh
... Hello again, Ashley,” Callum smiled before nodding briefly towards Marco. “Ready to get back to the other life?” he asked, gesturing towards the private jet plane that was sat on the tarmac beside them.

“
Si
,” Marco replied, fastening the button on his single breasted suit jacket. “I’m just going to say goodbye to Ashley and then I will join you both.” He reached out and grasped her hands that were buried deep within her pockets. “Come here,” he smiled, noticing the sadness creeping over her features.

“I knew that she wasn’t into that other guy,” she heard Char
lie muttering to her husband as they started up the steps into the jet. “I can spot these things a mile away, can’t I?”

“Of course, baby,” Callum replied
, sarcasm evident in his voice as he lightly tapped her behind.

Ashley couldn’t help but snigger at them both.

“I have that for the next few hours,” Marco groaned, threading their fingers together. “How am I going to last?”

“Hmm
... Why don’t you think of me?” Ashley suggested with a wink. “I’m sure there are plenty of things that you could think up in your head if you wanted to.” She tugged on their joined hands, pulling them taut between their almost touching bodies. “I don’t want you to go,” she pouted, sticking out her bottom lip.

Marco’s eyes s
oftened. “This will work out, I promise. Do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

“Then I will see you soon,” he said, his tongue wetting his lips in readiness. “Now give me a proper goodbye,
tesoro
.”

Ashley leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. Immediately she felt the softness of his tongue as he sw
ept his way inside of her mouth, trying to seek possession of her.

The salty taste of her own
tears mingled with their kiss and she felt Marco squeeze her hands affectionately. She could tell that this was affecting him just as much as it was her. She could feel the urgency in the way he kissed her, and knew that he too was bearing his heart and soul.

“
Ti amo
,” Marco whispered against her lips. “I will see you soon, my love.”

Ashley wiped under her eyes as he picked up his carry
-on luggage and headed up the steps to the plane. She waited for him to reach the top and give her one last look over his shoulder before she mouthed her response.

“I love you...”