The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone (267 page)

His lips twitched as my boldness amused him. “A sale?”

“Yes, I need enough firearms and ammo to take out Neil Oswald.”

His eyebrows shot into his hairline before he let out a huge belly laugh, his stomach heaving with each thunderous boom. “You . . . you want to take out Oswald? And what makes you think you are even capable of that, with or without my goods?”

I smiled slowly at him and stood firmly, “Because I have nothing to lose going against him.”

He frowned at me. “Sugar, everyone always has something to lose. I won’t bullshit you, I’ve heard about you, a lot of people have but I don’t think you or even your fuck of a husband could even take on Oswald.”

I shrugged at him. “Please don’t take offence at my bluntness, Mr Barlow.”

Steed groaned beside me, causing Barlow to smirk and shake his head. “No, she’s direct, Steed. I like that.”

He was a surprise, I’d give him that. His reputation as being a sick bastard and a merciless cruel man, I knew was very much to be the truth, but he also stood out as a business man, a person only in this circle for his own profit.

“If I don’t succeed in taking down Oswald, it makes no difference to you. However, just let’s say for a minute that I do manage it, it could very well mean you just upped your tax bracket.”

I knew the guy didn’t pay tax and it was just a figure of speech but I didn’t miss the greediness flicker in his eyes. “And just how do you figure that out, Ms Fox?”

I held his gaze and smiled, “Because Mr Barlow. You provide me with what I need and I can guarantee you, the Fox family will take a step away from the arms business and let you take precedence over it.”

I watched the knowledge soak into his brain as his eyes glistened furiously. “Complete precedency?”

I nodded, “You have my word, Mr Barlow.”

He sighed heavily and pursed his lips as if contemplating my offer but I knew he wouldn’t knock back an opportunity like I’d offered him.

He held out his hand to shake, “Then consider yourself armed well enough to take out Asia, Ms Fox.”

Chapter Ten

Mason

I CLOSED COURTNEY’S bedroom door, leaving Marcy and Liv with her. I was angry at Ava for not being there for her best friend. Courtney needed her and I knew without a doubt that if Courtney abandoned Ava at a time like this, Ava would be pretty distraught about it.

Nate smiled at me as I walked into the room. I nodded when he held up a bottle. “She’ll be back, Mason.”

I scoffed at him, “You sure about that, Nate? If she’s gone gung ho and taken on Oswald by herself, it won’t just be Greg’s funeral we’re attending.”

He sighed as he sat down beside me on the sofa. “And how are you coping?” he suddenly asked.

I blinked as I stared at the floor before bringing the glass to my lips and devouring the entire contents. I couldn’t word exactly how I was feeling. My emotions were all over the damn place, yet I knew he needed something from me. “I’m okay if Ava’s okay.”

He nodded in understanding. “And you?” I asked as I turned to him.

“Like someone stabbed me in the heart,” he answered simply. “It feels like there’s a piece of me missing, not any physical piece but something inside me that made me whole.”

“Yeah.”

“Liv said it all earlier.”

I turned to him and swallowed at the sorrow he displayed. This was hard on all of us but as the oldest in our group, I knew Nate felt partly responsible. “What was that?” I asked as I refilled our glasses.

He smiled then closed his eyes. “When one in our family dies, we all die with him.”

It was so simple but so heart-breaking that I ground my teeth together to stop the guilt and the pain from eating me alive.

I covered my mouth with my hand and blew out the heavy breath. “It’s not your fault, Mason.”

I laughed bitterly as I looked at him with honesty. “Yes, it is. All this pain we’re all feeling. It is entirely my fault.”

“No, you can’t say that. Greg knew how this family worked, and he accepted that one day it may cost him his life. Don’t feel guilt for giving him a life . . . and love Mason. We all take that on, we all know and consent to its details. And so did Greg.”

I nodded as I slid my fingers into my jacket pocket and once more touched the item I couldn’t bear to give to Courtney. It was cruel. It felt wrong to break her anymore, yet it also felt wrong to keep it from her. Maybe there was something in it that could give her comfort, maybe her husband’s words were what she needed, yet I still couldn’t bring myself to give it to her.

“I just wish Ava would . . .”

The front door opened and I swear I passed out for a second when Ava strolled into the house as calm as fuck. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to strangle her or kiss her fucking perfect lips.

Her eyes snapped towards me and I knew from the look in them that she was aware of my wrath that was bubbling away beneath the surface.

“Baby,” she greeted coolly. “I want you to meet Dane Steed.”

I lifted an eyebrow at the fucking egotistical scrote stood way too close to my wife but then lifted another as a person I would never have expected to see within a mile of me walked in through the door behind them.

“Oh and Frank Barlow,” Ava added when Barlow gave her a sweet smile.

“What—the—fuck–is–going—on?”

Ava snapped her teeth over the tip of her tongue, a habit she had when she was trying to supress her anger. “Don’t be rude, Mason. My friends offered to help.”

“Friends? Help?” I scoffed at her, “Help with what exactly?”

Her body stiffened when I stepped towards her. “Don’t be awkward, Mason. Not right now, wait until we’re alone for that. You usually do.”

She flinched when I growled at her. “Ava,” I warned as my wrath banged against my skull and told me to spank the living fuck out of her.

Her phone rang in her bag and she held up a finger to me when she checked the caller’s name. I frowned when she paled, “I uhh, I have to take this. I’ll be right back.” Without another word she disappeared into the kitchen and out of the back door, her fingers wrapping around the doorframe to support her when her legs wobbled.

What the hell?

“Where do you want them?” Barlow growled at me.

I winced as his breath hit me full in the face. “Want what?” I barked at him, annoyed that he wouldn’t allow my pursuit after Ava.

“Your order.”

“What fucking order? Jesus Christ!” Were they all fucking simpletons?

He took a step towards me then took one back when I sucked air through my teeth angrily and curled my lip at him. “Look Fox, don’t shoot the delivery boy. Just gimme a clue as to where you want them and I can get the fuck out of your miserable face.”

“Barlow!” Steed warned.

I snapped my head towards him and narrowed my eyes. I was slowly losing the ties that were holding my rage back. “Did you touch her?”

Steed gave me a perplexed expression and just shrugged. The back of his head bounced off the wall just under the wedding picture of Greg and Courtney as my hand wrapped around the arseholes throat. “I asked if you touched her?” I repeated slowly.

“Who?” he choked out as his eyes widened on me.

“My wife, you fucking idiot!”

“What the fuck! No!”

“MASON!” Ava cried at me as she appeared beside me and placed her fingers gently around mine as she tried to prise them off. “Get off him, he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

I scoffed at that. Steed? Done nothing wrong? That would be a first. He was a fucking leech where women were concerned and his taste in the kink was way beyond what Ava would ever be able to handle.

“He was helping me out, helping
us
out.”

“And what could he possibly have that would be of any benefit to us?”

“Men, your fucking militia what you always wanted.” She retorted, “You wanted an army Mason, well I have just fucking bought you one.” She spun round and held an arm out to Barlow. “And I have just secured us enough firepower to take out the fucking Taliban, so don’t you dare insult or even hurt . . .” Her voice broke as her legs gave way and she sank down the wall until she was in a broken heap, staring up at me. I hadn’t noticed before but her eyes were black and her whole body was shaking. Her skin was almost translucent and yellow, and her chest heaved as though she was having a panic attack.

“Ava?” I crouched before her and cupped her head, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

She continued to stare at me, her eyes wide as they silently screamed at me for help. “Baby, please. What is it?”

She shook her head and stuttered as though she couldn’t phrase what she was desperately trying to tell me. “I . . .”

I waited as patiently as I could. Nate squatted down beside me, “Sweetheart, what is it?”

She continued to shake her head as a choked sob rumbled away inside her but she refused to let it out as I watched her physically order herself to get it together.

“Nothing!” she eventually said as she pushed on her hands and lifted herself off the floor. “Nothing.” She gave a simple nod and a fake smile as if confirming her answer before she turned back to Barlow. “Just get the men to bring them in and dump them over there,” she gestured to Barlow with a point of a finger.

“Ava, we need to talk.”

She nodded but refused to look at me as she turned to Steed. “Bring ’em in.”

Something was wrong, something was very, very wrong. My little warrior was acting like a beaten victim. The false smile, the artificial bravado and the frenzied way she flicked her thumb against her finger alerted to me to more than what she was letting me see.

This was more than Greg. And I had the awful feeling it was
worse
than Greg.

Chapter Eleven

Ava

I PALMED THE cold tiled wall in the shower and turned up the power on the shower until the strength of the spray beat against my sensitive skin.

I wouldn’t allow the tears to come. They would do no good, they wouldn’t bring Greg back, they wouldn’t fix Courtney’s heart, they wouldn’t help me and Mason through the next journey our lives were about to take.

“Why?” I asked no one through clenched teeth. “Why are you doing this?”

I felt him before I heard him when he slipped in behind me. Mason’s arms immediately snaked around my waist and I snuggled back against him, letting the water drench my face and wash away the tears that had liberated themselves without permission.

“Talk to me, baby.”

How could I talk to him? This would break him, finally destroy him and I couldn’t—
wouldn’t
do that to him.

“This isn’t you.” He continued as he reached for the shampoo on the shelf. “You’re too hard, too tough. I like you soft.” He nuzzled my neck and poked me in the stomach humorously.

“This is me now, Mason.”

He sighed behind me as he started to massage a quantity of cherry foam over my hair. His fingers twisted down the length and I shivered every time his fingertips brushed against the top of my bottom. “No Ava. We’ve been to hell and back in the last twenty years, but you always stayed true to yourself. You always kept what was in your heart open and free, but now . . .”

“Now?” I asked as I closed my eyes and swallowed back my despair. My heart was crumbling inside me, the specks of dust swirling down the drain with the suds and water.

“Now, you’ve lost who you are.”

I turned to face him and took his beautiful face in my grasp. “Whoever I am or whoever I have lost, I’m still yours Mason. I will always be yours. You never
ever
forget that . . . Ever!”

My jaw trembled and Mason caught me as I sank to the floor. “Ava?” he asked almost desperately. “Please . . .”

I climbed onto his lap, needing to be as close to him as was physically possible. He felt my need and drew me in deeper as his arms almost caged me in and he pulled at me. “Tell me what’s wrong, Ava.”

“I need to do this, Mason. Greg wasn’t just my friend, he was in my soul. He was there, when I was at my lowest. When Dane . . . when Dane . . . Well, Greg, he got me through it. He made me look at him and only him when Dane was doing those awful things.” I couldn’t control my sobs as Mason held onto me for his life. “Greg took the pain and made it his own. We shared something that day, something that only he and I have ever shared and now . . . now it’s like it’s all been given back to me.”

Mason’s hands were as fluid over me as his kisses. I didn’t just break, I shattered over the one person who had the ability to kill me in more ways than anyone. “I . . . I don’t know what to do other than this. It’s all I can see and all I can feel inside me. It’s like the hatred is eating me up and the only way to stop it is to hurt and wound.”

“I get that, Ava, honestly I do. But you can’t do this all by yourself. I won’t push you out, you know I won’t, and when I decide the time is right, then you’ll be right there beside me. But we’re a team, baby. We’ll always be a team. You need to let me in.”

I nodded into him, “I know. I wouldn’t have gone against Oswald alone.”

He reared back and gripped the tops of my arms. “But you went into
bad
territory, Ava. I’m so angry with you for what you did alone. You never have to do anything alone, baby, never. I’m here, you share it with me.”

“Why is life so hard?” I asked quietly as I became drunk in the beauty of my husband’s face. He was so damn handsome. He made me, me. He was my breath and my soul. As I was his, and that’s what would make this so difficult.

He blew out a heavy breath and tapped the tip of my nose, “Because if it was easy, you would be bored to tears.”

I shrugged and smiled, “Yeah.”

I looked up at him as he continued to watch me, his eyes soft but strong on mine. “Are you always horny?” I asked when I felt his erection throb against my bare thigh.

His lips twitched, “You can feel that, huh?”

“Mason,” I pursed my lips as I tried to control my humour. “It’s pretty hard not to know about something when it’s stuck in you.”

I rolled my eyes when he laughed, “Oh baby, you’d know about it if it were stuck in you.”

He grinned at me when I chuckled. “Good god, you’re a monster. Do all of our discussions have to end in sex?”