Free No Strings (Broken Strings) by Jo Briggs Page A

joked.
    “Hey, I can be deep occasionally.  Why do you think I write
award winning lyrics.”
    Olivia laughed. “Of course, how silly of me not to realise.”
    Noticing Indi standing by the patio doors trying to get his
attention, he put his hand over the phone. “Sorry, finishing off now.”
    “Look I have to go, but one more thing -” He explained
continuing into the phone as he double-checked that Indi was not in listening
distance. “I will be uncontactable for a few days as I’m heading off to
Florence tomorrow evening.”
    “Are you taking this mystery woman I’ve heard about?”
    Grey rolled his eyes down the phone, “I guess David has been
opening his mouth?” David was head of the band’s security and Olivia’s closest
friend.
    Olivia chuckled. “You know you can keep nothing secret from
David for long.  So what is she like?”
    “Beautiful, intelligent, caring …” Everything Caitlin is not
    “Just be careful, or if Caitlin gets a whiff of this before
you can shut the agreement down she will make your life hell before you are
ready.”
    “Liv, she makes me so happy. It has never been like this
with anyone, ever.”
    He’d kept his emotions under a tight reserve for the past
twenty years, but just being with Indi for this short period had been like the
opening of a dam when it came to feelings he’d never felt so strongly.  She
made him feel alive, she was quickly become the mere air that helped him
breathe. 
    “Just don’t rush into anything.”
    When he moved back in from the terrace, he found Indi had
poured him a large glass of the reserve-blend wine they had both liked from the
vineyard, and left it by his laptop.  “You read my mind,” he said taking a sip
as Indi disappeared into the kitchen. 
    “I opened it for purely selfish reasons,” she laughed from
the other room.  “Is everything ok back home? You seemed to be on the phone
much longer than usual.”
    Grey pulled a face. “Just some family issues that I was
going through with Liv,” he said after a moment of hesitation, swallowing a distaste
in the back of his throat at not being able to tell her the truth about Caitlin
and all the drama surrounding it.
    “Liv as in Olivia your sister right?” Indi said bringing in
two plates of food and putting them on the table.
    “Yes she is the only one sibling that isn’t involved with
the band. She works with my father hence the issues.”
    “I know we have danced around the subject of your animosity
to your father a lot, but if you want to talk about it properly I am a good
listener as my own parents are extremely dysfunctional as well.”
    Grey smiled, taking a bite of food. “I will share if you
will.”
    Indi tilted her head slightly as her brows furrowed at this
request.  “What do you want to know?” She took a sip of her own wine.
    “When I first approached you that day over the wall you
seemed so….edgy. What happened?”
    Indi looked uncomfortable. “You mean you don’t already
know.”
    “How would I know if you never told me before?”
    “It was all over the papers for months, so I just presumed
you already knew since you had never mentioned it.”
    Grey grimaced, wondering if his instinct about that day had
been right after all. “I haven’t been in the country for months to read any
papers.” He pushed his plate to the side and reached for her hand across the
table as he looked into her eyes, trying his damnedest to reassure her that it
was safe to tell him.
    “My grandfather is an Earl, he did not approve of my mother
social climbing ways, so he cut off my father when he married her anyway.
Trusts were set up to pay for my sisters and my education and other things as
we grew that my parents could not have access to. When not away at school we
lived with either our grandparents or uncle and aunt rather than our parents.
Last year after my eighteenth birthday I gained access to more of my trust, so
they hired some low life to harass them until I