Atonement (Heart of Stone) (12 page)

God, this beautiful woman beside me was the strongest
most amazing creature ever to grace this shit excuse of a living orb. Her
strength and grit as she took control and helped Paola through the grief of
losing the love of her life astounded me.

Paola, even through her sorrow, had arranged most things.
A car was waiting when we landed and had taken us straight to the hospital
where Ava had refused to see George, saying she wanted to remember him as he
was, smiling in her memories and after visiting him myself, I wish I had heeded
her acumen.

The Portuguese red tape we were trying to fight through
was utter bullshit and I could see the strain of it cutting through my
beautiful wife’s bright green eyes, they were dull and tired.

We were now back at George’s house and Ava’s tiredness
was evident on her pale face, her eyes were bloodshot and her lips had lost
their pink tinge; my chest ached at the sight.

I palmed her face and directed her gaze to me as Paola
watched my wife’s slight antipathy with a frown. “Ava” I warned as I felt the
faint resistance at my move, “Baby, why don’t you go and have a nap. Paola and
I can see to things from here.”

Her eyes flicked to Paola who nodded in agreement, “Of
course, Ava. I have to visit the British Consulate to register George’s… his…”

      Ava nodded and took a
gentle hold of Paola’s hand, “Are you sure you don’t want me to do it, or at
least come with you?”

“No, no, I need to do this, Ava. I need to…” She didn’t
finish but stood abruptly and headed out of the front door, her shoulders
sagged and low but her chin was still high. She had been fighting her emotions
in our company since we had arrived and her pain made me consider just how much
it would kill me if anything were to happen to Ava. I would follow her, simple.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to breathe without her anyway.

I stood and turned towards Ava, her lips lifted slightly
and her eyes softened as she gazed at me.

Oh yeah, she stilled loved me, even though she hated me right
now, she still loved me with the same damn potent, sometimes excruciating,
intensity that I loved her with.

I knew, to the marrow of my bones and the essence of my
soul that our love would survive the wrath of the Devil, it was one of those
rare connections that fairy–fucking–tales were made from; not that I believed
in sunshine and rainbows, hell our eight years had consisted of lightning
bolts, tornado’s and fucking heavy duty storms, but fuck me if we hadn’t pulled
through it.

We were made of fucking iron, an element made from the
bloody God’s, just for us, just for our love to endure. We owed God, a lot
didn’t, but Ava and I, we owed him our lives for building us from steel and
fortitude.

Her eyes locked on mine as I bent into her, slid my arms
under her and carried her up the old wooden steps, pushing the bedroom door
open with a foot before sitting her on the edge of the bed.

She lifted her arms when I gave her a slight nod and I
gripped the hem of her pretty pale green dress and raised it over her head.

Her hair fell in clusters around her shoulders and across
the pale cream lace of her strapless bra and as the sun streamed through the
window and caught it, the golden glow made her mass of copper curls appear to
be on fire, and her pale skin flush.

Fuck! My wife was fucking created by Aphrodite, hell, she
was Aphrodite. As I said before, I owe God everything for bringing her to me
that day eight years ago.

I wouldn’t let her go, I wouldn’t let her bounce off my
untruths and renounce our relationship.

No – Fucking – Way. She needed to know, she
had
to
know.

“You know you’ll always be mine, Ava” I whispered as I
traced the
‘Mrs Fox’
tattoo inked across her collarbone with my
fingertip. “This ink right here tells you that, it tells everyone that. You will
never be unchained baby, you’re tied to me. Our souls are so fucking entwined
that they’re welded into a single element. One soul with two essences.”

She didn’t speak as I reached around and unhooked her
bra, releasing her heavy breasts as my gaze dropped to her pebbled nipples. A
small moan rumbled through my chest and my cock hardened as Ava’s chest heaved
with her deep breaths.

She was aroused; I could smell it scorching from her but
she didn’t need this now, she needed reassurance and solace, not a quick bang
between the sheets; her heart needed care and reinforcement not the pounding a
fuck would give it.

I lifted her slightly and lay her across the bed, pulling
the plain cotton sheet around her waist, leaving her breasts free in the heat
of the room. “Dream of me, baby” I whispered against her forehead as I placed a
gentle kiss and the flutter of her eyelashes whispered my cheek. “I’ll be just
downstairs.”

I moved back but her fingers wrapped around my wrist and
held me still. For a moment, she just gazed at me with a slight narrow of her
eyes but then she sighed, “Why, Mason?”

I clicked my tongue and drew in a heavy breath, trying
desperately to reinforce my heart for my honesty, “Because I didn’t want you to
know, it’s as simple as that.”

“But,” her teeth pulled her bottom lip in as she tried to
find her next words. “I’m your wife, Mason. Did you… those girls on your sofa…”

“No, none of them, Ava. Never… there’s only been you,
baby. I know it hurts but your belief will extinguish that pain. They were just
there for an interview, Ava, nothing more.”

She shifted on the bed and a deep frown tainted her
stunning eyes, “Mason, I have never been to an interview where two girls were
fucking on a sofa.”

I smiled slightly, it was involuntary and without cruelty.
“Ava, the sex
was
the interview. I know it’s hard and it’s about time I
started being honest, even if I know it will hurt you…” I pulled in a lungful
of air and swallowed in fear before I blew out that same breath. “Baby, in my
line of work I have seen maybe… a hundred or so girls having sex. Some of them
good, some of them bad, some of them fucking downright dirty but none…
none
ever got a rise, ever even got a twitch from me. There has only ever been you
in the last eight years. Ava, you blow my fucking mind and that’s the god’s
honest truth, baby. Fuck, your body haunts my dreams, Ava. It beguiles me;
there is no way anybody else could ever do it for me after you. Sex… making
love with you…it’s like God created the act just for us, baby. Just – for – me
and you. It’s that fucking simple.”

“And Rebecca?”

There it was, her main concern, the optimum cruelty I
could have ever bestowed upon her. It was evident in the etching of her face
how having Rebecca beside me had hurt her, this one lie being the one that had
broken the camel’s back, the one that had split the binding between us.

“I… We need time for that conversation. Honesty and
openness, baby and right now, you’re too tired but I promise, tonight, tonight
we have this discussion. It’s too hard for now, okay?”

The line of her mouth tightened and her eyes darkened.
“Ava?” I said, maybe a little too harshly but she relented and nodded.

“Well don’t expect me to like your honesty and openness,
Mason. You do realise that don’t you? Even in your need for atonement and empathy,
I can’t promise that.”

That statement and the way she said it cut deep but I
nodded once, understanding her feeling of betrayal. “I understand. Sleep now
and I promise an explanation later.”

She nodded more firmly, her heart conceding but her soul denying.
“I love you, Ava.”

“And me, you” she whispered in return and even after
eight years those simple words still shunted my heart and tore through my veins.

Fuck, I fucking loved her.  

Too much? Always and forever. Entirely and wholly.

Pulling the bedroom door to a near close, Ava still
apprehensive with being shut in completely after being held by Dane, I exhaled
the breath that I had been holding.

Watching her face as I had lifted her dress over her head
had put an already potent strain on my dick, never mind when I had released her
stunning tits from her bra. Fuck, I needed her; I needed to sink so far inside
her I felt as though we were one. A single fucking being that fucked forever.

Fuck!

I poured a Poncha, a traditional Portuguese alcoholic
drink made of honey, lemon and other fruity crap, but it hit the spot, the
slight burn settling the raging torrent in my gut.

I was dreading the conversation that was deterred until
later. I knew it was needed but that didn’t mean I was looking forward to it.
It would either end our relationship or at the very least hurt it. The fact
that I had lied to my wife, my little warrior, for eight years hurt me as much
as it hurt Ava but I had been too fucking selfish, too caught up in what would
happen once she knew, to be open and truthful.

A phone trilled an alert tone and I glanced towards Ava’s
bag, realising it was coming from there.

I glanced towards the stairs, wondering if I should take
a look to see if it was important. Hell, I was the one holding secrets not Ava,
she had never held truths from me; I was the fucking idiot that did that.

My gut seared when I read the name on the screen.
Kade.

Taking another glance towards the upper floor, I swiped
the screen and grit my teeth as I read.

Kade:

Hey, I heard what happened. I’m so sorry, sweetheart.
If there is anything I can do, you know where I am. x

Oh, there’s nothing you can do arsehole.

I managed to hold back the growl in my throat as I
noticed their conversation spanned a few months.

Wow, she had been in contact with him for months, not
just lately. Even though their conversation throughout the whole of the texting
was innocent, it didn’t stop the burn in my stomach. The jealousy and anger
bubbling under the surface took my breath from my lungs and turned it to steam
as it left my mouth.

She knew how I felt about the prick, yet she had been
going behind my back and talking to the cunt for fucking months.

Jesus fucking Christ!

Hitting the back button I perused her other text
contacts. All were innocent until I hit an unknown number and my knees buckled
as I tapped the message open.

Holy fucking hell!

There were 6 photos, all of them showed Rebecca and
myself in Allure. One even showed her with her hand on my arm, looking up at me
with her wide fuck me eyes.

“Shit!”

They were dated three days ago. Why the hell hadn’t she
told me? Why had she kept these hidden? The sender obviously hadn’t known Ava
already knew, otherwise this little manoeuvre would have been so damaging, it
would have killed her all over again. At least she had found out for herself
about me and Rebecca. At least she had seen with her own eyes that Rebecca and
I had been fully clothed and not interacting in any way possible.

But fuck, I needed to find this bastard and fucking quick
before he did any more damage to my already broken and ravaged marriage.

I could hear his heavy breathing before I even opened my
eyes.

What had I done now? After eight years I knew every
single implication each different breath meant and listening to him now, I knew
it was an angry breathing.

Wonderful.

I opened my eyes and focused on the window for a while,
my back to him until I was ready to let him know I was awake.

“Turn around.”

It seemed he knew the signs of my own breathing as well
as I knew his.

Inhaling deeply I turned towards him, leaving my body
horizontal on the bed, the sheet low on my hips revealing my breasts fully and
my nipples erect, a result of the dominance in his voice.

Just because we were married didn’t mean I didn’t know
how to play him.

His eyes were dark as he fought with a fierce rage, the
sight clamping my stomach and pulling my brows together in a frown. “Mason?”

He stood, a fist held tight beside him and the other hand
on the nape of his neck, the sight of his anger brought me upright in bed.
Something had riled him and I couldn’t for the life of me think what it was.

He stalked towards me, one firm thigh rippling alongside
the other as he approached. His jaw was tight in a stern line and his chest
heaved with each substantial pull of air.

His fingers gripped my chin and titled my head back until
my neck had no more to give, my face directly in front of his furious one.

“Did you fuck him?”

Okay, I was not expecting that, whatever it was, and I
frowned deeply, “Who?”

He scoffed slightly and I tried to tip my head in
question but his hand held me firmer, refusing me any give what so ever.

“Who? Who? Shouldn’t your answer have been an immediate no?”

“Mason… I have no idea what the hell you’re talking
about.”

He bit his lower lip as he held a phone screen to my face
so close I couldn’t focus on whatever he wanted me to look at. I couldn’t move
my head back to adjust it either because of his hold so I raised my hand, took
a glance at him to let him know what I was doing, before I gripped his hand and
moved it back slightly.

Shit. I swallowed harshly but stared him out, “If you had
just asked me I would have told you I was still talking to Kade, you didn’t
need to sneak through my phone, Mason. I thought you knew when I told you I had
invited him to your birthday weekend.”

He pursed his lips and nodded slowly, “But according to
this, Ava, you’ve been talking to him for damn months. Did it go further than
talking?”

“What the hell? No, I hadn’t even seen him in person until
he visited The Panther. I told you, I always had a spot for Kade, Mason. I
never lied to you, never.”

His eyes fired red, before they turned back to the black
dense of fury as his hand released my jaw and slid across my cheek softly. I
would have thought he was being gentle until it slid further into my hair and
took a fistful, tightening as he pulled my face close to his.

My pussy ignited as my belly throbbed and I watched as
his fury flickered to arousal and need, his warm breath fuelling my own arousal
into a fierce roar.

A slight whimper erupted from me and Mason growled deep
before he crashed his mouth over mine. His lips locked onto mine, the rhythm in
his kiss fast and reckless, firm and wild as his tongue buried deep within me, colliding
with my own as we clashed teeth and wrestled against each other.

His hands bordered my waist and I was suddenly flipped on
the bed, my face in the mattress as Mason pushed my knees high so my arse was
raised in the air.

“Oh fuck…” I snarled as Mason’s thumbs opened me up to
him, displaying me like a damn trophy in a cabinet, an artefact in a museum, a
centrefold in
Playboy
.

“Yeah, oh fuck. This…” he inserted a finger inside me, my
arousal letting him in without any restraint, “This is mine, baby. I own you,
Ava. I possess every god damn piece of you.”

I groaned deep as he pushed in another finger and circled
them inside me, collecting my juices before he removed them and pushed into my
bottom.

I pushed back against him, my lust and desire now taking
over and killing any inhibitions I had. Hell, when it came to Mason I didn’t
have any anyway. This man always turned me into a hot, panting rampant bitch.

Before I could take another breath his cock slammed into
my pussy, deep and hard, firm and brutally. He hissed loudly before a loud
groan rumbled from him and I echoed each of his erotic sounds, my body pulsing
in need as I bumped back against him.

His hand fisted my hair as he leant over me, his cock
still deep-rooted and his fingers still fucking my ass.

“Your hot pussy demands me, baby. It screams in fucking
delight with every – fucking – ram – of – my – cock.” His words were met with a
plunge to emphasise his implication as he removed his hand from my hair and
pushed down on my lower back, making my back arch for him so he could drive
deeper still. “My cock, Ava,
my cock
.”

“Fuck me Mason, fuck me hard, baby.”

His fingers disappeared from my backside so he could
envelope my wrists and hold them above my head as he flattened me to the
mattress.

His drives grew frenzied and wild as he fucked me hard
and fast, his body holding me hostage under him as he brought me higher and
higher to the oblivion I needed.

“Please...” I begged. He knew what I needed as his teeth
collided with the flesh on the nape of my neck and then bit harshly, his lips
sucking at my skin simultaneously.

My body exploded in a pleasure so extreme my whole world
rocked and tipped sideways. My scream was nearly as loud as Mason’s as we both
hurtled to a climax neither of us breathed through, its intensity blowing apart
my senses and nerve endings.

His final thrust was united with his fierce ejaculation,
his hot cum filling me and triggering my own orgasm. “Arghhhh, fuck, yes!” I
screamed at him as my back arched, my toes curled and my pussy milked him
fucking dry, demanding every last drop of ecstasy from my husband.

“Christ… Hell…” Mason shouted his own expletives as he
rammed one final time so deep the pain from the depth of him grabbed my lungs
and brought my breath with a wheeze.

“Shit baby, sorry” he rasped as he realised he’d hurt me.

I shook my head, unable to form words as my body tried to
rectify my frazzled senses.

He pulled out gently, causing an ache inside me at the
loss of him before I was pulled in tight against him, my head pushed to his
firm chest.

Our breathing mirrored each other’s as our sweaty bodies
slid together and held on tight. I had missed this, missed the closeness and
nearness of him. The ache over the previous few weeks had left me exhausted and
depleted.

I squinted my eyes as I felt a tear drop from the corner
and slide down my face and onto Mason’s chest.

“Hey, baby, don’t cry.”

“What am I gonna do without him, Mason? He was my rock,
my fucking light. My god damn crutch.”

The tears were flowing harder as my sobs racked at my
chest, harder and faster with each realisation that I was never gonna see my
saviour again. The man who had grabbed me in the dark depths of hell and pulled
me up, brought me back to life and continued to support me until I was healed
and strong.

“Hey,” he shifted sideways so his face was directly in
front of me, our chests touching as he stroked his thumb along my jaw. “Listen
to me, Ava. George nurtured you and encouraged you, baby. He lifted you and
reassured you but he didn’t live for you, you did that on your own. You,
you
Ava, you’re the one who survived through it and battled your demons. You
are the one who pulled yourself through so much shit that you came out the
other end a fucking warrior, my fucking warrior.”

He frowned and slid his thumb over my bottom lip, pulling
the flesh and stretching it under his action. “Why didn’t you tell me about the
picture messages, Ava?”

Shit!

He frowned deeper when he felt me stiffen and a faint
growl echoed in the air in warning. “It didn’t matter, because I already knew.
I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of an emotion.”

“Her?”

“Well it was obviously Rebecca, Mason.”

He sighed and rolled onto his back, his face hard and
preoccupied. “No, doesn’t make sense. Rebecca already knew that you knew.”

Hell, yeah, he was right. I hadn’t thought of that.

I mirrored his movement and settled on my back, my own
gaze captivated by the mosaic tiles in the ceiling. The pattern of blue and
cream enamels was sheer splendour, the design relaxing but mesmerising. The
blue swirls and cream flowers completely hypnotising and fascinating. “What
does Rebecca do in Allure?”

He frowned then turned to me, “Baby…”

I held up a hand to him, “Mason, I’m not asking to start
an argument but I need to know. Something is obviously serious if you went
behind my back with…her.”

“I didn’t go behind your back Ava…”

“Yes Mason, you did.” I argued sternly, he had and if he
didn’t believe that then there was something wrong with him.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his thick hair, he
was in desperate need of a cut and I tilted my head and studied him as he swung
his legs over the bed and dropped his head in his hands.

He was exhausted; I could see the strain on his face and
the hunch of resignation in his shoulders.

I moved behind him, slipping my legs either side of him
as I snaked my arms around him and pulled him into my chest for support. “Talk
to me, baby. I want to know.”

“No, Ava, I don’t think you do. I… hurt you and god damn
it, that fact tears me up but I… I didn’t know how to tell you without…without
risking you.”

I pulled in a resolute breath and slid my hands over his
trembling ones. “I’m gonna go down and make us coffee. Take a moment, pull
yourself into a zone of honesty and then join me. We’re doing this Mason, you
hear me? I need to do this now.”

His eyes flicked sideways and caught mine as his hand
came up and palmed my cheek, “Can you handle it? Deal with the truth?”

I rolled my lips. Could I? But I nodded firmly, “I have
to Mason. Whatever it is, you’re my husband, and I love you and all your
faults. I knew what you were and what you did when I married you. Hell, I’ve
even joined you in that lifestyle. It’s the lies that hurt, Mason. Eight bloody
years of them and…”

“…Rebecca.” He finished for me with a look of pain and a
sigh of ache.

I exhaled heavily but answered with a small ‘yes’.

His eyes flittered across my face then a soft smile
tilted his lips, “Okay, go make that coffee. I’m gonna take a quick shower then
I’ll be down.”

I smiled widely. “Thank you, I love you…”

“…and me, you” He finished as he kissed my cheek and
lifted himself up. My eyes attached to his glorious arse as he made his way
into the bathroom. His taut buttocks clenched and unclenched rhythmically in a
pattern when he knew I was ogling him, “Enjoying the show, baby?”

I giggled as I pulled on Mason’s t-shirt, foregoing any
underwear as I left him to his shower and went to make a full pot of coffee,
knowing I would need a substantial amount of the stimulating substance in an
effort to keep calm as my husband finally let me in on his final secret, his
other life, his Mr Hyde and his secrets.