Atonement (Heart of Stone) (13 page)

Ava placed the full carafe of black coffee in the centre
of the table and I knew we were in for a long night, but hell, we needed to do
this. If I had any chance of repairing my marriage it was by being truthful,
honest and absolutely blunt.

She sat opposite me and I knew it was to get the full
view of my face, the force of my honesty and maybe a little distance so her
fist couldn’t reach me. Shit, my woman could fucking lay me out with a single
swift punch, most of my men couldn’t even do that.

I inhaled greatly, pulling in the courage from the air
around us and blowing it out slowly as I closed my eyes. “I have owned Allure
since I was eighteen.”

She gasped and I heard her harsh swallow before I opened
my eyes and studied her. Her chest was heaving in anger but her face showed no
other emotion than shock.

“Twenty two years?” she whispered with a choke and my
heart fisted at the sound of her.

I rolled my lips and nodded, still watching her deeply,
waiting for… hell, I didn’t know what I was waiting for.

“What you don’t know about me is very little Ava, but
this, this is something I didn’t know if you would understand after your past.”

She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “What the hell
does my past have to do with a fucking knocking shop?”

“Brothel, Ava. An upmarket brothel at that.”

She laughed and shook her head, “Call it what you want,
Mason, but it’s still a place men go for a fuck, nothing more, nothing less.”

I shrugged, “Whatever, but it’s nothing like the
backstreet fuck holes out there. It’s secure, expensive and I look after the
girls.”

She nodded slowly but her eyes hardened along with her
jaw, “
Your girls?
Correct me if I’m wrong Mason, but that makes you a
pimp.”

My teeth sank into my lip and I sighed heavily, “Fair
enough but I don’t touch Ava, not since you. I know what you think and let me
tell you, you’re wrong, baby. Your cunt is the only pussy I’ve touched in eight
years.”

She smirked and locked my gaze. “That’s not entirely true
is it Mason? Maybe six years, but definitely not eight.”

I sighed but didn’t answer her. “What I don’t understand
is how you get away with it.”

I frowned at her as I poured us more coffee, my frazzled
nerves needing the stimulant that coke would provide but I settled for coffee.
My life was too complicated without another addiction to the white stuff.

“It’s disguised as a strip club. The upper rooms can be
declared as hotel facilities and we only ever entertain regulars or cast iron
recommendations. Plus, it helps when you have the police Commissioner in your
pocket,” I tipped my head and smirked at her “thanks to you.”

“Jesus Christ, Mason. You have Robert Delaney on your
books?”

Yep, that didn’t go down too well.

I shrugged again but didn’t answer, not sure what to say
and how she would react. She shot out of her chair and palmed the kitchen
worktop, her shoulders heaving as she digested this latest information.

“Do you even realise what I risked to get him and his
daughter out of your life Mason?” she bit out without turning.

I swallowed and rolled my tongue around my top teeth
trying to dampen the dryness of them as my heart pounded with my wife’s hurt
and anger.

I stood and approached her, encircling her waist as I
rested my chin on her hair but she remained with her back to me and her face
out of the window. “I… I needed both of them, baby.”

I cringed when she stiffened and gulped, her whole body
radiating pain and anguish at my words.

“You always needed her though, didn’t you? Always needed
your little fuck whore in a way you never needed me.”

She pulled out of my embrace but I caught her as she
tried to leave. “Sit down and let me finish, Ava. You wanted the honest truth
and fuck, you’re gonna get it. Sit the hell down and listen.”

Her eyes blazed as her breaths turned into shallow pants
of ire. She didn’t move so I gripped the tops of her arms and lifted her,
carried her over to her chair and placed her gently down. “Listen.”

She ravaged her little finger with her teeth, the sight
hardening my cock like it always did but I rounded the table and settled
opposite her. “My dealings with Robert Delaney are needed to keep the business
out of the spotlight, as for Rebecca…”

Her eyes shot up to mine, her interest now peaking at the
mention of Ava’s longest rival, not that she needed to worry, I would never go
there ever again.

I took another deep breath and locked her down with my
gaze, needing her to understand why I did what I did. “Someone is targeting
Allure and… us.”

Her brows lifted then lowered into a frown, “Us?”

I nodded and huffed. “Over the last couple of months two
girls have been beaten badly and one… Yvonne was… strangled.”

“Fuck!”

I nodded at her, pausing for her to digest before I
continued. Her eyes flicked around the room and I could see her thoughts behind
her eyes. “You’re wondering what that has to do with Rebecca. Well, my
manageress, Wendy, fucked off after all this shit started and I knew the only
person who could calm and somewhat protect the girls was Rebecca. She ran
Allure for ten years before you came along and it all kicked off between us.”

“Jesus Christ” she huffed out as she stared at me with disbelief,
“And us?”

I gulped, knowing I was once more risking Ava because of
the route my lifestyle took. “I received a note telling me to let you go, you received
the photos and… and a… I got another DVD.”

She reared back and stared at me in confusion, “Of?”

I lowered my face to the table, not wanting to disclose
this bit of the story but knew I had to, to have no secrets between us anymore.
“It was full of video clips of you.”

She frowned and I closed my eyes, “Just random clips of
your daily life. You taking the kids to school, you shopping, you walking up
the steps to NSC and some of you… you in the bedroom window… naked.”

She was silent and I let her be silent whilst she
comprehended that she was being stalked because of me, always because of me and
my fucked up life.

“I’m so sorry, Ava… I…”

She lifted her hand and halted me, “What does Rebecca
specifically do?”

I frowned at her question, not sure where she was going
with it but I humoured her. “She runs the place virtually. Sorts out the girls,
sorts out bookings and stuff and when there is bad blood between any of them
she sorts it out, stuff like that.”

She nodded and sighed, “Is Allure open just at night?”

“Yes.”

She nodded slowly before she downed her coffee and
refilled it, wincing when she took another gulp and realising it had gone cold.

“Sack her” she demanded.

“Ava…”

She shook her head and held my gaze, “I’ll take it.”

“What?” I barked as I spluttered out my own coffee.

“Your girls need someone who can protect them properly
until all this is over. Rebecca can’t do that and I won’t sit back and let the
girls get hurt. Get her out and I’ll come in. This needs sorting now Mason,
before any more people get hurt.”

Holy fucking Hell!

I think I had gone mad but when Mason had told me what
the girls were going through, all I could think of was what if it was Layla or
any of the girls at The Black Panther. Just because they sold their bodies
didn’t make them any less a person.

I knew I could defend them better than Rebecca and this
was another way to get her out of our lives.

“Have you gone mad?”

I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes with a slight tilt
to my head. “Mason, you know I could run the place blindfolded. I can protect
the girls if need be and to be perfectly frank, I want your fuck whore out of
our lives once and for all.”

“Holy shit, Ava. I dunno… fuck!”

He pulled in a deep breath and his cheek twitched as he
rapidly chewed on it, his eyes still fixed firmly on me as he deliberated my
request. “Baby, it’s… I’m not actually sure I want you in that environment.”

I laughed and shook my head in bewilderment. “After
everything we’ve been through. I have killed people, I have been abused
numerously and I have fought my side and for my family enough to take care of
myself, Mason. You have dragged me into many of your
contracts,
your
fights and your fucking business ‘meetings’. I’m sure I can handle a few
prostitutes and a fucking nutter.”

He hissed through his teeth and stared at me, his worry
moving aside for his acceptance. “I need you to be sure, baby. Sure of what
you’re getting into.”

I nodded firmly, “I’m well aware, Mason. A house full of
people fucking is not gonna shock me. We need to find this bloody nutter and
fast. I need to be there to protect them, I don’t want anything more to happen
when I know I can prevent it but I want full carte blanche Mason, free rein to
run it as I want. If I want to change things, then I will change them. If I
think the girls aren’t getting the respect they deserve then I will make sure
they get it. You understand me?”

His face darkened slightly but he nodded, “Okay. And
Robert?”

“I’ll respect whatever you want to do with Robert but you
get rid of Rebecca.”

He nodded once but his face softened as he smiled, “I
fucking love you, Ava. I don’t deserve you, you know that. Jesus, you surprise
me time and time again with your strength and I don’t just mean your physical
strength. Your inner strength, baby. It’s bloody potent.”

“You need to share anything else?”

He shook his head as I lifted out of the chair and
perched my arse on the edge of the table beside him. “I need to get George home
then we sort out Allure and you need to come home.”

The relief that surged through his face made my heart
skip and my soul dance as my spirit soared. “Thank you.”

I scrunched up my nose and shrugged, “I miss you, I’m
being selfish, but… I just miss you.”

He palmed my cheek and stroked his thumb across my
cheekbone tenderly, his eyes soft but glowing, “No you’re not, and after
everything I have done I didn’t think I would ever be welcome back in your life
again.”

He leant into me, placing his firm lips over mine and
kissing me tenderly, lovingly and so slowly I thought I would explode. Jesus,
this bloody glorious bastard owned me completely. His kisses amazed me time and
time again.

A small soft moan left his mouth and tickled my tongue as
I slowly wrapped it around his. I slipped my hand around his head and cupped
it, holding him tight against me as I heard the front door open and close.

“Fucking officials…” Paola moaned, completely
disregarding our sensual kiss as I heard her fill the kettle.

I pulled away and frowned, “Everything okay?”

Paola huffed but nodded, “It is now. Do you know how hard
it is to find a bloody international funeral director in this bloody town? Near
damn impossible but they wouldn’t release him until we had George’s… his death
certificate signed by one and customs… ha, what a bloody mess they are… Jesus
bloody Christ.”

I couldn’t help the smile that lifted my lips. “Now I see
exactly what George saw in you Paola. Good god girl, you got guts and fire.”

She stared at me then a slight chuckle lifted her lips
before a full on bark of laughter belted out. “And you Ava. I heard all your
little stories from George. He was so damn proud of how strong you are, do you
know that? He bloody loved you Ava, he said he was honoured to have you as his
daughter, that he didn’t save you but you saved him.”

My chest thumped against my chest as the pain tightened
my blood but Paola’s revelation swelled my heart. “He was my salvation, Paola.
He rescued not just my body but my soul and I will forever love him, even
though he is no longer with us, I will always hold him close.”

She smiled sadly at me, “and me, Ava.”

Her words made me smile. This beautiful Portuguese thirty
year old woman was so British she seemed out of place in her own home town.
“What will you do Paola?”

She sucked on her lips but shrugged, “I have absolutely
no idea now.”

“You want to come back with us?”

She frowned and regarded me. “I can set you up in London.
I can give you a job and you can be near your family… us.”

I knew she had no family over here. Her own parents had
died after they had driven their car off a cliff in a freak storm three years
ago.

She chewed on one edge of her lips but then cocked her
head, “Why the fuck not. What do you have in mind?”

“You can answer a phone can’t you?”

She scoffed, “Well I should bloody hope so, I don’t hold
many skills but I’m sure saying a hello into a phone is simple enough.”

I smiled, “Then you are now the current assistant manager
of Allure.”

“Allure?”

“Allure. A high class fuck house, Paola, you okay with
that?”

She barked out a laugh, “Can I sample the merchandise?”

I smiled ruefully as Mason laughed, “Hell girl, you can
sell
the merchandise if that’s good for you.”

“Then let’s fucking pack!”

“Thank you, Princess.”
I shivered as the soft echo
filtered through my ears and into my soul.

I smiled and nodded faintly, ‘you’re welcome, George. I
love you.’ I answered silently.

***

I sat beside the dome of soil and dirt, hating the fact
that my ‘father’ was covered with earth’s shit. My hand was resting on the
wreath I had decorated his coffin with, my fingers slightly stroking one of the
white roses - George’s favourite flower.

The funeral party had descended to The Loft, Mason’s
club, to start the party but I had remained back to say a private goodbye.

Mason was stood by the chapel doors, silently and
patiently waiting for me, knowing I needed this final moment with George alone.

“George,” I started, needing to address him one last
time. “I miss you” I choked out, my voice no more than a whisper in my grief.

I smiled and chuckled slightly, “Jesus, listen to me. I
know you’d be scolding me if you were here… but you’re not. I… Jesus, I can’t
do this without you, George. What the hell do I do now? Everything is a fucking
mess… again. What the hell is wrong with me? I attract this shit like a bloody
magnet and I’m not sure I can do it without knowing you’re there, on the other
end of the phone to pull me back together. You were always there, always and…
I… I love you, simple. What you did for me will never ever be forgotten, I will
never forget your soft words and your gentleness that night and I will tell you
now, it was that that made me into the woman I’ve become. You were the first
person in nine years to hold me tenderly, to… to help me see myself, make me
feel something other than pain, and to just selflessly do something for me
without wanting something in return. If you hadn’t, I don’t think I would have
ever looked at another person again without wondering what they wanted from
me.” I sighed and glanced at Mason, stood silent, his hands in his pockets and
his face dark and black with his deep worry for me. 

“You brought my life back to me, George and you brought
me to Mason and I… just… Thank you doesn’t even come close, you know. Doesn’t
even touch how much I owe you. But I promise, I fucking promise, that I will
live my life, I won’t waste what you gave back to me. Your grandbabies will
honour you in every way possible and Paola, well she’s just solid, George. That
woman astounds me and I see exactly what you saw in her. I’ll look after her, I
promise.”

I swallowed past the lump that was threatening to choke
me alive, the pain in my adam’s apple fit to bursting. “I love you” I whispered
as I kissed my fingers and placed them back on the flowers, “so much George.
Katie will look after you, I know she will. Give her a kiss from me. See you
when I get there and get the vodka cooling ready, cos’ you never know, with all
this new shit that’s kicking off, it might be sooner than we plan.”

I pulled in a breath, nodded to him and stood. Mason was
beside me in seconds. “Okay, baby?” he asked gently as he tenderly wiped my
tears away with his thumbs, the pain on his face making my heart ache all over
again.

I reached up and kissed him softly, “I will be. I got you.”

He smiled widely, “Hell yes you do, Ava. All of me, baby
and if I could stop the pain for you I would.”

“I know you would. Let’s go get shitfaced.”