Atonement (Heart of Stone) (18 page)

To say the man was security, he was a complete knob when
it came to defence. Within seconds of my lecture he had grabbed my neck and
slammed me up against the wall, my face squashed into the peeling yellowing
wallpaper. What he didn’t realise was, it was me…

Within another second, he found my elbow wedged between
his top two ribs, my five inch heel embedded in his shin bone and the back of
my skull bouncing off his nose.

He was down before I took my next breath, before either
Gabe or shorty were on us and before the stupid prick could blink.

“Holy Shit!” Shorty spat as Gabe rumbled out a little
chuckle.

“Could have told you not to rile her Carl, but it was
more fun watching you learn the hard way.”

“You fucking bitch” Carl grumbled as he pulled himself
from the floor.

“I could have told you that if you’d even bothered to
ask, now get out arsehole.” I gave him a warning glare as he yanked open the
door and banged it so hard one of the hinges screamed in pain, before it
rattled in the frame and shook the room with vibrations.

I turned to Gabe and Shorty and smiled softly as I
refixed my hair in the manky mirror fixed to the wall, the scum and a crack
that ran through the middle of it had me peering into the tiny intact corner at
myself. “That doesn’t happen often but I need you to be aware I can look after
myself. Your priority is the girls.”

I picked up the phone and dialled Layla as the men left,
gently pulling the door closed behind them to stop the thing falling off the
wall after its mistreatment.

“Hey, love.” I could read her smile through the phone and
it brought my own forward. Layla, Mason’s best friend, was as tough as they
came. She wasn’t the strongest physically, but her determination, her inner
force and her potency to enjoy life always came through in her voice and the
tone calmed me immediately. I loved this girl as much as Mason did.

“Hey hun, Is that gorgeous hunk of yours around for a word?”

She laughed loudly, “No he’s not but Lucas is here.”

I returned her laugh as Lucas greeted me, “How rude is my
wife, Ava?

“She’s really rude, Lucas. I need you even if she
doesn’t.”

“What’s up, sweetheart?” he asked as I heard Layla’s
giggle echo through the phone.

“Okay, keep your hands off her for two minutes, I need
you. I need an overhaul of security surveillance at Allure, discreet micro
cameras to hide in the privates, a system where I issue members with access
passes and software that allows me to do regular identity and criminal checks.
You do anything like that?”

“I do and it’s about time, I was gobsmacked with just the
open area protection when I was last there.”

I didn’t argue with him about his attendance here. It
seemed like everybody knew about Allure except me but that wasn’t Lucas’s
fault. I know Mason would have threatened him into silence.

“Good, when can you come and scope the place out? Quick
as possible Lucas, and don’t forget I’m one of your wife’s best friends and
should jump the queue.”

He chuckled, “Tomorrow?”

“Perfect, I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I ended the call then looked at the other name I had
selected on screen for a long while, my nerve and gut tensing as I needed this
person’s specialty and knew no one else would do the job better.

I blew out a breath as he answered and my throat
constricted tightly causing a squeak to break out before I found my voice.

“It’s Ava Fox, I need your help.”

Silence greeted me for a couple of seconds, then, “Where
do you wanna meet?”

He answered the door then shut it quickly but my foot
wedged in the door and pushed it back before he could close it in time.

“I need a word.”

He stared at me through the gap, his whole face contorted
in both rage and fear but give him his due, he stood his ground, holding the
door tightly and preventing me from pushing it any further.

“We can either do this on the doorstep, with all your
neighbours listening,” I gestured with my eyes to notify him of doorways on his
landing sliding open stealthily, but not quietly enough for me to be unaware as
hushed breaths echoed around the corridor. “Or we can do it in privacy, Kade.
Your choice.”

He huffed loudly, his shoulders heaving with his anger
but his resignation saw them eventually slumping with a nod of his head as he
opened the door wide for me to enter.

“Thank you” I said gratefully as I took in his apartment.

It was pure bachelor pad, its light colours and deep
toned décor notifying me of his single status. No feminine touches had been
applied at all; no pictures adorned the walls, no knickknacks cluttered the
place and no soft edges were to be seen anywhere in the open plan area.

A large queen sized bed feasted on the space in one
corner, the sheer size of it seemed to dominate the room as the other furniture
slid into the background. Even the dark wood kitchen area seemed insignificant
against the mammoth bed.

“Nice place” I told him honestly.

“I doubt you’ve come here to compliment my digs. What do
you want, Mason?”

I inhaled long and slow before I turned to him. His body
was in defence mode, his fists tight by his sides ready to be used if needed,
his feet were slightly apart as he braced his body in preparation to fight and
his expression, wary and alert.

“Calm down, I haven’t come here for a fight.”

His shock showed clearly on his face and my lips twitched
as I felt his palpable relief. “I need to know what the hell is going on with you
and Courtney.”

His brow pinched in both confusion and defiance, “I
really don’t see how it concerns you. What my relationship status is has
nothing to do with you.”

“It does when it involves my friends and upsets my wife”
I retorted as I helped myself to a whisky from a crystal decanter on his
sideboard, the tell-tale aroma of the expensive brand making my mouth water as
the deep timbered scent curled around my senses and lured me in. I downed the
shot in one and refilled my glass as Kade deliberated over my last statement.

He sighed heavily and sank down onto a chair in front of
an open, but fake, log fire. “Look Mason, what exactly do you want to know?
Just ask then we can get this over with and you can get the hell out of here
and leave me alone.”

I smiled to myself before turning back to him and seating
myself opposite him on the small leather couch. “I want to know if it’s serious
between you both.”

His jaw clenched faintly as his chest heaved vividly. He
stood and poured himself a drink before returning and reclaiming his position
afore me. “Why, Mason. I don’t understand what it is to you?”

I leaned forward, placing my glass on the small table
between us as I rested my elbows on my knees and stared straight at him,
“Because my wife is still in love with you.”

He reared back, as I knew he would, my honesty and
openness stunning him and surprising him through to his core.

“I need to know how you feel. Do I have need for concern
or is it real between you and Courtney?”

He remained still and flabbergasted into silence, his
eyes narrow in suspicion but his heart hammering in his chest, I could see the
telling frantic beat of his heart in the pulsing throb at the base of his neck,
its thump hypnotising and enticing.

“Did you love her? When you took her in your pool house,
did you love her, Kade?”

His adam’s apple bobbed rapidly but he nodded once honestly,
“Yes.”

I nodded as my own heart beat sped up, my gut clenching
as I approached the next question that needed to be answered just as truthfully.
“Do you still love her?”

His brow puckered into a frown as he cocked his head, his
eyes penetrative and inquisitive. “And if I did?”

“Just answer the damn question, Kade. Don’t fuck with
me.”

I leaned back into the sofa and rested my ankle on the
opposite knee as I threaded my fingers and rested them in my lap, preventing me
from giving in to my need for dominance and control and doing something stupid.

I either needed to beat him to a fucking pulp or fuck the
shit out of him, my dick hardening torturously at the thought.

What the hell was wrong with me? I hated this bastard for
what he had done to my relationship with Ava. The photos of them in that damn
pool house refused to leave me, denied my want for peace but all at once fired
a need in me as the pictures floated around my head, especially the one of
Kade’s face between my wife’s firm slender thighs. His tongue in her sweet
pussy, fucking her into oblivion with it, driving her wild with desire as her
face contorted with both rapture and lust.

I closed my eyes and dragged in a breath as erotic images
of my cock slipping into Kade’s tight ass as he pounded Ava’s delicious wet
pussy with his tongue filled the space behind my retinas.

Fuck, I didn’t need this. Not now, not while I needed to
take management of the situation between Kade and my wife.

“Answer me, Kade, do you still love her?”

He stared at me for a few moments then squared his
shoulders and pulled in a deep breath. “Yes.”

I twisted my lips and closed my eyes again, this time
frantically attempting to rein in my anger and jealousy.

“Yes Mason, I loved her then and I still love her now.
Happy now? You got what you came for, now leave. I suppose you wanna beat the
shit out of me, finish me under either your fists or the muzzle of a gun. Well
do it quick, Mason cos’ I am so sick of all this bullshit.” He stood before me,
his face red with both passion and rage, and his body solid and mean as he
finally told me his secrets.

“Your wife…” he continued, “Your wife was the best sex I
ever had, Mason, in fact no, I made love to your wife, Mason. We had a
connection, I felt it. I knew she cared for me then and I honestly didn’t do it
to hurt you. I didn’t go after her thinking, oh I’ll fuck Ava to get at Mason.
Fuck, I knew you would kill me if you ever found out, but you know what? She
was worth that and more, Mason. God damn it, she
is
worth pain and so
much more. She is worth facing the devil in hell for. I know you understand
that because you feel exactly the same and if someone told you that you weren’t
allowed to love her would you stop? No, and I can’t either, I’m sorry, I
can’t.”

I regarded him with sinister appreciation, his openness
and frankness calmly esteeming. I did understand what he was saying because
like him I would do anything for Ava. I would scour hell for anything she
demanded, dig to the core of the earth for her dreams and my awareness of her
feelings for Kade saw me here this evening. But could I do what I came here
for, ask what had been on my mind as I had knocked on his door, even tell him
of my intentions when I found myself here?

“Do you love Courtney?”

He frowned again but sighed and shook his head, “No, but
she’s developed feelings for me. I didn’t mean for that to happen, Mason, and
now it’s too late but I didn’t intentionally go out to hurt anyone.”

I flew off the sofa and had him pinned between me and the
wall in seconds as I pressed my hard body into his. His breath stunted and I
flinched when his eyes darkened, in lust or fear, I wasn’t sure. Maybe I was
reading too much into it as my horniness controlled my senses. Maybe I was
looking for something I hoped was there but wasn’t.

“You knew she was married to Greg, Kade. How could you
have not meant to hurt anyone when the woman is married?” I snarled at him, my
rage camouflaging my desire.

Fuck, not now.

I pushed away from the wall and moved away before I did
something really fucking rash and foolish. Why the hell was I looking at Kade
differently now?

Because I had finally faced up to my sexual preferences, being
honest with myself made me see things, as well as people, differently. My
sexual appetite hugely diverse to what it had been in the past.

I knew I wasn’t gay, Ava’s sweet sexual pull on me
granted that, but Kade, God he was suddenly tempting the sins from me, enticing
an arousal that was only present for him and luring something dark from deep
inside me.

Kade remained pressed against the wall as he regarded me
warily, he had seen it in me, I knew he had. I had felt his body harden under
mine, felt the aroused frantic beat of his heart in his chest, felt his fucking
erection pressing into my belly.

Okay, I needed to take control of this, push past it and deny
we hadn’t both felt what we had.

“What exactly do you want, Mason?” Kade asked quietly but
hoarsely and I grit my teeth at the rough tone in his voice, his lust now
unmistakeable and undeniable.

I turned and watched him. I viewed the desire that could
never be acted upon, saw the confusion that mirrored mine and saw the need
pulsing in his eyes.

“I need you to decide what you want, Kade.”

He swallowed heavily and stared back, his gaze heated but
wary as his body hummed violently in the quiet room. “I think you know what I
want, Mason, just as I know what you want.”

“You know nothing, Kade” I growled at him as I kept
myself distanced and closed off to his curiosity.

He nodded slowly, “So you don’t want to fuck me?”

I was on him faster than lightening, my desire to pummel
him, pound my fists into him raged through my system as I once again pinned him
under me.

Our joint breaths were laboured and severe as we stared
at each other violently, our bodies strumming with need and carnal desires.

His hot skin burnt straight through me, the raw primal
lust expressed openly on his face seared directly to my dick, hardening it
beyond its limits as a bead of sweat trickled down my chest, bouncing across my
blistering skin as I fought to pull back.

So damn hard, becoming impossible.

“Admit it Mason, you wanna slide your cock deep within
me, claim me, fuck me so hard that I scream your name in ecstasy but do you
want your pretty wife to watch or do you wanna hurt her and do it behind her
back?”

“Fuck you” I roared as I pulled away and left him still
leaning on the wall, his legs trembling and his hard on ram-rod stiff as I
slammed his apartment door behind me.