Atonement (Heart of Stone) (21 page)

I opened my eyes and stared around the room with bleary
eyes for a while until I recognised where I was. The phone on the desk started ringing
but I ignored it until my mobile started and I frowned as I hunted for it.

It was bouncing across the desk in a furious attempt for
me to answer it as I snatched it up and answered. “Hey, baby” Mason purred
through the phone.

“Hey,” I answered as I picked my clothes up from where
Mason had dropped them under the desk. “What’s up?”

“I was just ringing to say I love you” he said slowly and
seductively, his passion and desire curling around my senses and lighting a
fire inside me.

I smiled as I searched for my knickers. “And me, you baby”
I replied as I bent under the desk to see if they had been nudged under but
came up with nothing. I frowned and scanned the room as Mason droned about
something going off at Pulse.

“Uh-huh” I murmured as I checked the small washroom at
the rear of the office. A smile lifted my lips when I paused to listen to the
raw sexiness of my husband, “Very funny, Mason.”

He hesitated in his monologue about a new beer the
brewery had put on special offer. “Sorry?” he asked and I smiled at the
innocent tone in his voice.

“Where are they?”

He was silent for a moment, “Okay Ava, give me a clue
baby cos’ right now I haven’t the foggiest.”

“My knickers, Mason, where did you put them?”

“They’re inside your jeans Ava; I didn’t have time to
separate the damn things in my desperation to get to you.”

“Try again” I laughed as I shook my jeans just to make
sure he was telling the truth.

His silence was alarming as I listened to the increased
speed of his breathing and my skin prickled when I realised he wasn’t pulling a
prank. “Never mind, they’ll be here somewhere” I choked out a little too
cheerily, desperate to hide my concern as my husband’s rage engulfed the static
through the phone.

“Look again, Ava… LOOK!”

I jumped at his tone as my eyes scrutinised the whole
area in the small office, “You know, maybe I wasn’t actually wearing any” I
tried but knew it was useless.

The phone died and I knew he would be ploughing through
the door within minutes.

I pulled on my jeans foregoing my knickers as I pulled my
t-shirt over my head, the realisation that my bra was missing also hung deep in
my gut. Whichever arsehole had pinched my favourite pink undies was going to
buy me a new set… bastard.

I picked the scattered papers off the floor and begun
sorting through them as I waited for the arrival of my glorious bastard but as
I shifted them together a file caught my attention.

It was employee records and I flicked open the manila
envelope and leant back in the plump leather chair and started shifting through
everyone.

I started with new and made my way to the oldies. Some of
the pro’s had been here since the beginning; Olga, Jayne, Heather and Marlene
being the oldest as a few newbies glued to the lobes of my brain as I opened it
wide and let the information soak in. I was surprised to find that Gabe and
Pete had also been here since Mason opened it twenty two years ago.

I slipped the file into my bag as I heard Mason’s noisy
approach. “Where the fuck was you?” he bellowed at someone as the office door
flew open and Mason scurried in with a contrite Gabe close behind.

My eyes slipped between them as I felt Mason’s fury at
this gentle giant surround the whole air in the room, his anger swallowing the
oxygen as he demanded it possessively. “You were told Gabe… I FUCKING TOLD
YOU!!”

I pursed my lips as I stood to Gabe’s defence, “He was
told what?” I asked Mason as I demanded his attention.

His gaze flicked to Gabe in warning before he tried to
hide it, but I hadn’t already caught it, seen the cautionary look directed at
the poor man paying for someone else’s twisted idea of fun. “Mason…”

His dark expression flipped me an advisory retreat but I
ignored it, as I usually did. “What’s going on? What did you tell Gabe to do?”

Gabe screwed up his face as he sensed the approaching
conflict, his guilt mixing with his embarrassment as he looked between us.

Mason remained silent so I turned to Gabe, “What were
your orders, Gabe?”

He swallowed heavily and cringed as he glanced at Mason
then me, “I was told to stand guard, Mrs Fox.” His words were quiet as he bowed
his head and locked gaze with the pattern on the carpet “And I’m so sorry I,
uhh I needed the toilet.”

His remorse was thick with his culpability but I shook my
head at him and smiled, “Everybody needs to pee Gabe, I’m okay, nothing
harmed.” I glared at Mason; his anger at something I would soon be finding out
about was heavy and laced the room with stifling smog. “Could you give us a
minute?” I asked the huge but currently meek man.

He nodded and left the room quietly, his upset and
self-hatred dragging behind him with his wounded pride.

I hesitated for a moment, dragging in the tremble in my
gut before I turned to my still silent man, “Sit down.”

He crooked an eyebrow cockily and I leant forward,
slamming my hands on the desk as I glowered at him, “He’s after me isn’t he?”

The crooked eyebrow lowered as he closed his eyes and the
distress across his face answered my question without any need for words.

I nodded slowly as I swallowed and slumped into the
chair. “Again,” I scoffed bitterly as I rubbed my hands over my face.

Mason was crouched before me instantly, his hands
grabbing mine but I shook him off and moved back, “Why do you lie, Mason? You
know by now I can handle the truth, so why fucking lie to me?”

He shook his head in frustration as he regained his
upright position, his sombre face looming over me as I sighed heavily, “Fuck!”

“I will find this bastard Ava, I promise you.”

I snorted and curled my lip with malicious mockery, “No
you won’t Mason because it’s too close.”

He reared back and stared at me. “What the fuck does that
mean?” he spat out, his temper slowly rising with my sarcasm as his eyes dipped
to deep pools of sin.

“Because it’s me again, Mason and you don’t function when
I’m threatened. I’ve sorted it, just hang back and wait.”

He tipped his head and barked out a bitter laugh, “
You’ve
sorted it?”

I narrowed my eyes on him as I stepped from behind the
desk and stood in his personal space, my own anger with him as potent as his
with me. “Yes, I have sorted it.”

I turned and snatched up my bag but his hands grabbed the
tops of my arms and spun me around. His face was red and angry as his jaw
tightened and his lips thinned to a scowl, “What the fuck have you sorted
exactly?”

I struggled under him, his grip become painful and harsh
“Let go, Mason” I warned slowly.

He exhaled heavily as he released me but then my back
slammed against the wall as he empowered me in his huge and dominant frame, his
large hands slapped on the wall beside my head as he controlled every movement
I made. “Tell me Ava, tell me what you have done.”

My nerve wavered slightly as his intense eyes shifted
over my face and my belly tightened with anxiety. “TELL ME!” he roared and I
flinched at his rage. “So help me god, Ava. Tell me!”

“I uhh…” Oh shit, what had I done. The reality of the
situation hit me with the weight of regret. I knew he would be so angry and why
I had done it wouldn’t be accepted by him as reason enough.

“I’m waiting, Ava.”

His laboured breaths brushed my face as I lifted my eyes
to his, “I hired someone to take care of it.”

His eyes narrowed in confusion then widened slowly as
awareness hit him, “Oh dear God, no Ava, tell me you didn’t, please tell me you
didn’t.”

I rolled my lips and pulled back my shoulders defensively
as I stood my ground and stared him down, “I did… I hired Simon Bell.”

I watched the dip in his throat as his eyes fluttered
faintly before he screamed with a roar of rage and the desk received the full
force of Mason’s fury. I stood motionless and in shock as he picked it back up
and threw it across the room as though it was a pillow, his strength feeding
his wrath as he trashed the poor wooden piece of furniture.

“Do you even realise what you have done?” he thundered as
he swat the last splinter of wood across the room.

“I did what needed doing Mason, we needed help with this.
The girls were suffering because of something you have done to upset some
lunatic and I couldn’t sit back and watch any more innocent lives be taken so…
so carelessly.”

He laughed, loud and extremely as his head flung back and
his body shook.

My finger slipped to my mouth as I nibbled furiously with
nerves, my gut clenching at Mason’s obscene reaction. I had just done what I
thought would help, that was all.

He turned to me slowly, his jaw clenched as his eyes
blazed, the fire in them intensifying with each step closer to me, “Do you know
how Simon works, Ava? Do you?”

I nodded and shifted back a little, pressing myself
further into the plaster of the walls, Mason’s calmness terrifying me more than
his rage. “Yes, I know.”

He scoffed and shook his head as he reached me. I
flinched as his fingers lifted and he ran them down the curve of my cheekbone,
“No Ava, you have no fucking idea. Do you know what happens when Simon corners
the bastard doing this to us?”

“He kills him” I answered with puzzlement, wondering
where Mason was going with this.

He chuckled darkly, “How much did you pay him?”

I frowned but answered honestly, “£50,000.”

He clicked his tongue and leaned further into me, his hot
torrent of controlled breaths causing a chill within me when the sinister King
of the Underworld stared back at me with ice in his eyes, reminding me very
much of whom I had married and who ruled this dark organised criminal world I
lived in - I married into. “And what happens when our man offers Simon
£100,000, Ava? What happens then, baby?”

My eyes widened as his words hit home and my knees
buckled as my heart slammed against my ribs and the blood drained rapidly from
my face. He caught me immediately, his face softening when he realised his
nefarious personality was dominating his behaviour with me, and carried me back
to the sofa for the second time that day.

“Mason, I…”

He shook his head and kissed the top of my head, “Don’t
worry, baby. I’ll sort this mess out, I promise.”

“I’m so sorry, I… I thought…”

“I know. Ssshhh…” he whispered into me as his arms
enveloped me protectively and pulled me in close.

“But we have a deal, he can’t do that, Mason, he can’t go
back on his word. That isn’t good in our world, he should know that.” I argued
as I peered up at the beautiful face that was so full of love adoration. He
smiled gently and ran a finger along my cheekbone as his eyes grew serious.

“We need to talk Ava, stuff… things have progressed and
now you need to be aware.”

I flinched at the tone in his cold voice, his dark side
once more fighting to get out. “Okay.” I nodded as I pulled away from him and
curled my feet under me, letting him know I was ready for it.

He sighed deeply as his tongue swept across his dry lips
and I dropped my gaze to watch it with envy, “I’ve placed a tag on you.”

My eyes widened as I stared back at him with incredulity,
“You have done what?”

“You’re being targeted Ava, and now Liv’s been…
approached.”

I swallowed back the need to climb off the sofa and beat
my husband to a pulp, make him pay for whatever shit he had brought into my
life now, brought into the life of my friends. I gave him a slight nod to
continue, I needed the information about everything, I needed to know the where’s,
what’s and how’s of everything.

“He left a message with Liv. It’s me baby, it’s me he’s
after and he’s going through you to get to me. You need Wes with you at all
times, you hear me. Do not let him leave your side. If I find out you’ve been
difficult Ava, there’ll be trouble.”

I laughed slightly at the order, “Yes Sir.”

His face darkened as his eyes blazed, “Don’t fuck with me
Ava, not over this.”

I smiled at him, relenting with the knowledge that he was
worried, really worried if the look on his face was anything to go by, “Okay.
Wes will be glued to my hip, I promise.”

He gave me his unique smile, “Kiss me, baby.”

I returned his smile before I relinquished to his
request, kissing him with the passion he always expected after our
disagreements, telling him how much I loved him as I worshipped his lips and
idolised his tongue.

“Do you have cameras in here?” I asked as I pulled back.
His hand wrapped around the back of my head and steered me back towards him.

“I haven’t finished yet. I need to taste some more of you”
He whispered before his soft lips found mine again and adored me with just his
mouth, cherished me with the control of his lips and filled me with his
confidence in each movement of his delicious kiss. “I love you Ava and I
promise he’ll go through me before he even gets a chance at you. I NEED you to
work with me on this, baby; I need one hundred percent of your cooperation.”

I nodded, unable to smile with the seriousness in his
voice. He was frightened and for Mason to show fear then it was something I
also needed to fear. His warning brought a lump to my throat. The distress and
trepidation on his face made me aware of just how serious this bastard was.

“And to answer your question, no there are no cameras in
here.”

I stared at him and shook my head in disappointment, “I
can’t believe you have them in the corridors where they’re not needed, yet in
the rooms there is no security what-so-ever.”