Ruins Of Roses BOOK 2 (Rebuilding Ruins Series)

40. MELTDOWN

ANGEL ROSE

"You are glowing this morning Mrs Russo" Frankie winks at me as I dry our breakfast plates.

"Even with these angry marks on my skin?" I point to myself.

"I must say they look good on you" he smiles satisfied with his handy work.

"Yeah sure" I roll my eyes putting away the dishes.

"Gorgeous even" he smirks.

"And so do those scratch marks on your back" the side of my mouth turns up.

"Touche" he chuckles.

Last night he left hickeys all over my neck and chest and I scratched his back raw. It was an explosive and unforgettable night. I dread the day our marriage comes to an end cause I just can't picture my life without him but he's determined to stay single. What am I to do.

"Don't you just love makeup s*x"

"I know I hate fighting with you" I feel my cheeks heating up.

"I know you do" he wraps his arms around me from behind.

"I do not" I pull his arms off of me only for him to put them right back on me.

"I know you do" his tone is teasing.

"Oh shut up" I turn and shove him away only for him to burst out laughing. Jerk.

The last couple of days have been both awesome and frustrating especially when he decided to bring the old Frankie back to life, the Frankie that's always looking for ways to push me away. I was so mad after our fight the other day. We are on our honeymoon for goodness sake. He should let me call him babe, my love or whatever else I want to call him but no he had to remind me that our marriage isn't real. Though it hurt me to the core I masked it quite well letting him know I was just having fun which of course is a lie. He's an i***t if he can't see I'm in love with him.

"Wanna go again?" he lures at me.

"Go where" I act clueless just for the fun of it.

I just can't keep up with this man's s****l appetite. It's just too much. I'm not used to it. My ex Carl was a workaholic and we did it a handful times a week. He loved his work way too much to spend the day in bed with his wife.

"Tame Godzilla" he grab his crotch like a Michael Jackson wanna be.

I cover my mouth giggling "I'll pass"

"Oh come on babe. You know it'll be good"

"How did you manage to sleep next to me for months and not want to be intimate when you got this unquenchable appetite?" I lean against the sink.

"It was easy"

"How so?" I raise a brow.

"I'd think about when my coworker broke his finger and I had to watch it bend over backwards" he says and I screech scared out of my mind.

"Yep it was a horrible sight" he flashes a mischievous smile.

"I'm done" I hurry up the stairs taking two at a time.

"Let me find you in bed naked" I hear him yell after me.

"Not happening Russo"

***

Frankie has a fishing rod bag over his shoulder and a surf board in his hand while I have a basket filled with all the goodies in my hand for our picnic as we walk down the sand path leading to the beach surrounded by nature.The sky is blue and the birds are chirping and the smell of the sea lingers in the air.

Frankie looks quite hot walking next to me in a white shirt, a pair of shorts that show off his muscular legs and sunglasses. I just can't help checking him out. I reach for his hand and he looks down at me but quickly looks away. It's as if he just remembered I was here.

"Nice colorful outfit you're wearing there wifey" he eyes my outfit in mock adoration.

"Thank you dear hubby" I swing our entwined hands and he looks at me longer this time and I flash him a smile.

I'm in a lime crop top, turquoise shorts and cute hot pink wedge flip flops. I have a passion for bright colours and I'm not ashamed of it anymore. Growing up other kids used to make fun of me whenever I decided to put an all colorful outfit but my grandmother would tell me not to mind them till it stuck. With time I got used to their spiteful comments and started blocking them out.

"I feel like I'm married to a teenager or something" he says a frown on his face.

"Get used it" I lean my head against his arm.

"How about you only bring your clothes when you move into my house"

"Your house needs some colour so I'm definitely bringing a couple of things over"

"Only your clothes are allowed into my house" he says.

"You compromise when you are married baby" I start walking backwards so I can look at him holding his finger.

"Why do you think I never wanted marrige?" he questions.

"Probably because you let your mind focus only on the negative side of it" I pull away from him taking out my phone from my leather waist bag.

"That is because marriage comes with a lot of baggage"

"You know negativity is a state of mind not a reality" I snap a picture of him. He looks so good and doesn't even try.

"Sometimes it's a reality" he shoves his hand in his pocket and I snap another pic of him. This is so going to my i********: story.

"True but you don't have to be controlled by it. You can be happy and married if you meet each other halfway" I put the basket down and hand him my phone.

"Only when you meet someone compatible which is unlikely" he puts the surfboard down.

"Lucky me" I mumble.

"What was that?"

"A guy once told me not to let one bad experience keep me from experiencing other amazing things life has to offer" I go stand in front of a tree and pose smiling.

I hope he's snapping photos of me cause I'd be upset if he isn't.

"He's one smart guy isn't he" I see his lips twitching.

"Oh yes he is"

It feels like yesterday when Frankie was pulling all the stops to get me to sleep with him. I know that if I had taken his lust filled advice we wouldn't be here right now. He'd have done the hit and run on me just like he's done to every girl he's been with since his ex and left me in tears and feeling used.

When he starts snapping pics of our surroundings I look around for something to do. A plan comes to mind when I see the tree I grab the pocket knife from the basket and start digging the knife into the tree trunk.

"What are you doing?" I hear him ask.

"Carving our initials" I continue trying but the bark is too hard.

"What for?" he holds my hand and takes the knife from me.

"For the memories. You'll come here one day and see our initials on this tree and recall our time together" I shove both my hands in my pockets.

"I probably won't come back here again" he hands me my phone.

"Why wouldn't you want to come back to this beautiful place?" I give him a confused look.

"What should I carve"

"A loves F" I feel my cheeks brightening. Why did I think this was a good idea.

"Why do you?" he starts carving our initials.

"What?"

"Why do you love me?" he blows on my initial.

"I never said that"

"I know you do" he keeps his focus on the tree he's carving.

"If I did which I don't I'd be in love because you were blessed with good looks and you've got a sense of humor. I love a guy that makes me laugh" I wrap my arms around his back.

"I guess you bring out the best in me"

"You also make me feel young and all tingly inside" I giggle.

"You the cutest" he chuckles.

When he's done I take a picture of his handy work before giving him a kiss and a thank you. After taking lots and lots of pictures of Franke and I we continue our journey to the beach till we reach the clear blue waters. I'm amazed by the sight before me.

"Beautiful" I smile at him.

"I know" he walks up the wooden pier.

"You've been here before?"

"My grandfather used to bring me, my siblings and cousins out here growing up"

"What would you do while out here?" I take more pictures of him and the scenery.

"There were plenty of things to do. Sometimes we would swim, fish, surf, play games, prank each other the list goes on" he walks up to the sea shore.

"Does it mean you a prank star" I grin.

"I'll let you be the judge of that" he smirks.

"Don't even think about it Frankie Russo" I scold placing the basket under the tree by the hammock.

"It's gonna be so much fun pranking you" he laughs as he takes out the contents on the fishing rod bag glancing at me.

"It'll be even more fun when you don't get any" I cross my arms over my chest.

He only glares at me. That shut him up.

"Have you ever bought your son here?" I break the silence.

"He's been here at least two or three times but he was young back then" he places the fishing rod on it's stand.

"When are you going to see them again?"

"This Christmas"

"That's like two months from now. How do you think they would feel about you getting married without them knowing" I remove my flip flops.

"My son probably wouldn't care but my daughter would give me a hard time about it. I've decided not to tell them" he looks up into the sky.

"I understand" I go sit on the hammock.

I take out my writing pad and pen from my bag and put the pad on my lap and start writing. I know this marriage is not real but the fact that he wants to keep me a secret hurts.

"What are you writing?" he asks.

"A song" I continue writing needing to numb the pain with a story that tells a happier one than mine.

I've done this since I was fourteen. Whenever I was going through pain I would write a happy song and it would help numb the pain for a few hours.

"What is it about?"

"it's about love" I smile to myself.

"You write lots of those huh?"

"That is because I'm a hopeless romantic" I cover my face with my pad feeling shy.

"I can tell" I hear him chuckle.

"How can you tell?" I remove the pad from my face.

"You were married to a guy that cheated on you for how long?"

He better not be about to insult my relationship with my ex again or we going to have serious problems.

"Four years"

"And you still love him?" he raises a brow.

"Um..." I say after a short pause.

I want him to trust me so the only choice I have is honesty but I don't see how this has anything to do with anything.

"And you love me too?"

I look up at him and our eyes meet. He has a knowing look, I guess he's finally figured out I'm in love with him. I cast my eyes back to my notepad.

"That sounds crazy" he starts stripping his clothes.

"What is crazy, that I still have feelings for the man that left me or that I have feelings for a man that's emotionally unavailable?" I get on my feet.

"Don't confuse lust with love baby girl"

"If it was lust I wouldn't have wasted my time waiting for you to put a ring on my finger" I look down at the gorgeous rock on my finger and sigh.

"You're just confused. I hope for your sake you'd have figured it out when this is over" he scoops me in his arms as he walks up the wooden pier.

"What are you doing" I ask in panic as he walks to the edge of the sea.

"I want to welcome you properly"

"What? How are you going to do that?"I hope he's not about to throw me into the water.

"You'll soon find out" he jumps in the water with me still in his arms and I scream as loud as I can before we both splash into the water.

Water fills my mouth as my body is submerged into the water. When I come up for air I'm coughing like crazy. I see Frankie not too far from me laughing. How dare he throws me into the water like that and laugh about it.

"What did you do that for" I slap his arm.

"I told you I was welcoming you the Russo way" he's still laughing.

"By throwing me into the water?" I slit my eyes at him.

"Yep" he grins.

"You are crazy" I start swimming to the shore annoyed at him for doing this.

"Don't go just yet baby. Come let me make it better"

I don't say anything else to him as I stomp out of the water and down the path back to the house my clothes dripping wet. I had intended to take a selfie but he's gone and wet my clothes. Now I have to go change.

"Come on baby" Frankie grabs my hand.

"Don't touch me" I snatch it out of his hold.

"Don't tell me you're upset about this. You are supposed to laugh with me" he scoops me in his arms.

"What are you doing?" I shriek. I'm in panic mode now.

"Relax. I'm going to make it up to you" he carries me to the hammock.

"Put me down right now" I hit his chest scratching his face and arms.

"Damn woman. These nails gots to go" he finally puts me down cursing.

"Do not touch me" I point a finger in his face before laying on the hammock with my back to him.

I hate this. All I am to him is a s*x object nothing more. Though I'm his wife it's like I'm one of his side chicks. I feel tears filling my eyes before falling. Why am I even wasting my energy crying over this man.

"Are you crying?" I feel him sit on the hammock behind me.

"No" I sniff wiping my face.

"You breaking my heart now" I feel him lay behind me and pull him in his arms which only makes me sob.

He has no heart because if he did he would have left me alone a long time ago but he kept pursuing me just to have access to my body till I lost my heart to him but even then he's not satisfied. As if that's not enough he wants to suck me dry till I've got nothing left for anybody else. I never loved anybody the way I love this man and I don't know if I'll ever be able to give my love to another after him.

"Baby talk to me. Tell me what's going on?" he puts his head on my shoulder his stubble deliciously pocking the skin on my shoulder.

"I just...can't do this anymore" I take a deep breath wiping my face even as more tears continue falling.

"Look I'm sorry for throwing you into the water like that. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just joking around" he pushes my hair away from my face.

"It's not about that" I half whisper.

"Then what is it about?" I can hear the concern in his voice.

"It's about the intimacy. It's messing with my head. I think we should stop doing it"

"Baby I thought this is how you wanted this to go. Get married then enjoy the intimacy" he lifts himself so he can see my face.

"It's just...I thought by now you'd be in love with me but I realize that your heart is not big enough for two people. Your ex... she'll always possess your heart" I shut my eyes feeling more tears threatening to fall.

"Baby look at me...Please" he says.

"It's okay Frankie. You don't have to do this. I'll be alright" I shake my head.

He takes my chin in his hand and makes me look at him "You might not be the woman I love but you are special to me Angel Rose. I don't make love to any of the other women I've been with but I did it with you because you are nothing like them. You don't even compare to any of them. You are my best friend and I've never had one of those" he chuckles.

"Are you serious right now" I give him a teary smile.

"I'm serious. You are my only friend. I haven't dated anybody since... you know but I did it for you" he flicks my nose "It's the reason why my family set us up to marry. They could see you were provoking a positive change in me. Other than my family I've never had anybody do that for me"

"Not even your ex?"

"Not even her" he repeats.

I feel my heart melt into a puddle and my face flashing. My mind is telling me everything he just said is a lie but Frankie is not like that. He's as real as they come and I love that about him.

"I'm sorry if I upset you" he says his face inches from mine.

"Okay"

"So you forgive me?" he takes my hand in his.

"I guess" I shrug.

"Then give me a kiss"

"No" I pout.

"Yes" he leans in to kiss me in but I turn my back on me.

He takes my chin in his hand and turns my head his way.

"Dude I said no" I push his head away giggling.

"Say yes" he bites his bottom lip.

"You are not getting another kiss from me today not after...throwing me into the water"

"Oh really"

"Hmm" I nod.

"Watch me" he lays on top of me with both of my hands pinned above my head with one of his.

He takes my chin in his hand and gives me a kiss that leaves me panting.

"I feel like you just r***d my mouth" I grin.

"r***d your mouth?" the corner of his mouth lifts.

"You kissed me when I told you I didn't want you to" I rake my hand through his hair.

"You are my wife" he says and my heart warms. I don't think I'll ever get used to being called his.

"I like this side of you" I change the subject.

"Enjoy it while it lasts" he kisses the side of my mouth before getting off the hammock.

"I intend to"

"Let's go skinny dipping" he pushes his boxers down his legs.

I don't have to be told twice, I strip off wet clothes and bikini and run after him jumping onto his back for a piggy ride. He runs into the water with me on my back and I scream at the top of my lungs giggling like a little girl as we splash into the water.

"I feel like a teenager once again" I grin when we resurface.

"Your nature brings out the teenage in me" he does the back stroke in the water.

"I like what being here is doing to your personality"

"And what is that?"

"You've been so sweet" I say.

"I'm always sweet"

"Not you are not. I wish I could bottle this Frankie that you are right now and take him back home with me" I swim to him and wrap my arms and legs around him and kiss him.

"You are starting to sound like a broken record" he cups my butt in his hands.

"You are fun to be with when you are this relaxed" I run fingers through his wet hair.

"I can be more fun" he winks at me.

We spend the afternoon in each other's arms and when we get tired of that he teaches me to fish and he dares me to eat the raw fish and I eat the disgusting fish just for the fun of it but immediately spit it out and go wash my mouth in the water screaming "Ewww ewww ewww" while he laughs. I splash him with water and that shuts him up. He's shocked for a minute or so but when he recovers he splashes me back and we go at it till we exhaust ourselves and go lay on the sand.

Hungry we munch on the goodies in the basket we brought with us under the shade of a tree talking about random stuff and joking around. He's quite chatty today and I'm enjoying every second of it. I beg to bury him in the sand and luckily for me he agrees. He helps me dig a shallow pit, well I'm the one helping him but it's the same thing. When we are done he lays in the pit and I cover him with the sand till only his face is left visible then grab my phone and go kneel next to his face and kissing his cheek I snap a pic of us.

When we're done being silly he teaches me how to surf but when I keep falling of the surf board every few seconds I give up. I lay in the sun while he surfs off till he's so far off into the water but I'm too busy enjoying the sun I barely notice. I lay there till my pale skin turns a nice golden shade. When minutes tick by and he's still not back I sit up and noticed he's gone further than I imagined he'd go. I start to panic thinking he might get eaten by a shark or piranha or some creepy sea creature. When he finally comes back to shore I run to him and jump in his arms kissing him all over his face.

"Woman chill out will you" he laughs but let's me hug him and kiss him to my licking.

I think I'm falling deeper and deeper into the love pit there's no way I'll be able to get out. If anything I'll be stuck here forever.

I take in the sight of him as he gets busy catching dinner for us and snap more pics. There's birds swimming about and I can see fish under the water unaware of the risk of being taken out of the water by Frankie's fishing hook. Minutes pass and Frankie catches at least five fish and I watch him pull each of them out one by one like a pro. As the sun begins to set we make our way back to the house where we give the fish to the cook to prepare while we get ready for dinner. When we are all clean we go have a candle lit dinner under the stars.

"For you" he hands me a red rose.

"Aww thank you babe" I peck his lips my heart doing a tingling sensation.

"You deserve it" he grabs a folk and digs into his food.

"Today was amazing" I take a hold of his hand.

For a second he seems shocked by my action but quickly recovers. We've been more friendly than lovers since my melt down on the beach earlier today so I totally understand his reaction.

"It was" I kisses the back of my hand.

"We should do this more often. We could like go on gateways each month" I caress his arm with my nails.

"If you can afford it we can cause I can't afford taking you to all those fancy places each month" he cuts his salmon.

"You seem to have forgotten why we came to Italy to begin with" I smile.

"Almost forgot about that" he chuckles.

It's funny that when we got on that plane over a week ago we were only planning to ask for Frankie's uncle to invest his money in our individual business plans but ended up married. I know I got my end of the deal approved and I'm certain Frankie will get his too. I know his family made us tie the knot just in case my working relation with Mateo doesn't work out when I'm famous and I end up hiring another manager. In that way a Russo will still get to benefit from my fame for life even though Frankie has to live with a woman he doesn't love but that is how arranged marriages work.

After dinner we pack our things for our journey back to the villa the next day. Today might have not started out perfectly but I feel like we made progress in this union. I hope that Frankie continues to open up to me even when we return so this marriage becomes so beautiful he won't want to end things like ever.