The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone (277 page)

“He isn’t my damn husband anymore, he proved that tonight.”

He turned to me with a perplexed expression, “Eh?”

“He was all over my friend. He has obviously moved on.”

He nodded slowly, his eyebrows twitching with my disclosure. “And you?”

“Me?”

“Have you moved on?”

I paused before finding the courage I needed. “Yes.”

He sucked air through his teeth as he pulled up outside my cottage. “See, I’m not sure you have.” He said when he flung the bag of coke at me. “Not if you need to eradicate all thoughts with this shit.”

“Fuck you, you self-righteous bastard!” I spat as I yanked open the car door and stormed up the path. I lifted the plant pot on the porch and took the key from the underside and let myself in.

My back hit the wall, the air rushing from my lungs in a single swoop as Steed’s mouth crushed mine. His lips dominated me, forcing me to kiss him back with as much fury. His arms slid around my back, pulling me into him as he hardened the kiss and dragged a moan from me. I hadn’t felt this alive in months, arousal lit my body up and I shivered at the intensity of it as my body ached with need.

“Fuck!” He hissed as he pulled back. He stared at me for a moment, then left, slamming the front door shut behind him.

“What the hell,” I choked out as I touched my swollen lips.

Everything was spiralling out of control again within hours of Mason turning back up. I was ashamed for wanting Steed but I was also relieved that someone still found me attractive, even with no hair and a flat chest. He seemed to bring out a primal urge in me. An urge to fuck. I didn’t want a relationship, as I knew he didn’t, there was something between us, a spark of need, and an animalistic hunger to screw each other’s brains out, hard, painfully and violently.

But we could never concede to it. By the looks of things, Steed now worked for Mason and that in itself was trouble, never mind risking everything just for the sake of pain and pleasure.

I needed to completely cut myself off. I needed to build a life again and the best way to do that was to take control once more. I needed a diversion from the waiting for my next test. The next one was in three months and I knew the wait would be agonising, so I needed something to occupy my days instead of my lonely thoughts.

I needed a job. And I knew just the man.

Chapter Fifteen

Shame

Mason

“OPEN THE DAMN door Ava!” I shouted as I pounded on the door.

“Mason . . .”

I spun round and narrowed my eyes on Steed. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

He seemed nervous and I followed his study of our surroundings as his eyes scanned the area furiously. Alarms blared in my head when I noticed he kept his hand on his hidden piece the whole time. “We were followed.”

“What do you mean you were followed?”

He stepped closer to me and lowered his voice as he kept his back to me and faced out into the dark street, “2012, Black Ford Kuga. I’ve forwarded the reg to Sam but just as I realised he was there, he clocked me and left.”

“Anything since?”

“No, I’m gonna give it a few hours before I leave.”

I nodded to him, my eyes furiously scoping the area. “Okay, I’m going in.”

He lifted his brow at me and smirked, “Are you sure that’s wise?”

“No,” I shrugged as I scaled the side gate and dropped over the other side. “You should know me by now. I don’t do wise.”

He shook his head and strolled back to his car as I removed my keys from my pocket and flicked open the little tool, inserting it into the lock. I sighed happily when the door clicked and I pushed it open, memories of Ava’s kitchen assaulting me immediately.

I grinned at the old kitchen table. She’d pulled everything out of storage, all the original furniture she had acquired over the years.

Her hands gripped my shirt and yanked it open, pinging buttons all over the kitchen floor as I grasped the neckline of her top and tore it open.

We fumbled frantically with each other’s trousers, yanking them and our underwear down each other’s legs. I spun her round to bend her over the table then impaled her with a brutal thrust.

“Oh God! Yes Ava” I hissed as I plunged right to the tip of her. I pulled back and speared her violently again. She screamed in a mixture of pain and pleasure as I yanked her hair back so I could latch on to her neck as I pounded into her relentlessly, ruthlessly and roughly.

“Fuck Mason, I’m coming” She yelled loudly as I thrust once more and joined her in her ferocious orgasm, both of us crying out each other’s name as our climax tore through us aggressively.

I snorted at the memory. We’d always had a special connection during sex, always knew what the other wanted and always fed each other’s dark side to bring the most amazing climax’s I had ever experienced.

I missed her with my very soul. I physically ached for her, my body yearned for its mate, for its other half and I fought the daily struggle just to keep breathing without her.

I took the stairs, stepping over the third step and pushed open the bathroom door.

I couldn’t remove my eyes from her as she soaped her hands and slithered them round her neck, down her delicious breasts slowly, circling around her nipples and then down and over her stomach and in-between her solid thighs. She closed her eyes and moaned as she continued to wash herself.

“Ava . . . please” I gulped.

She opened her eyes and cocked an eyebrow at me. “Did you want something, Mason?” She asked sweetly.

I groaned and closed my eyes, fighting the arousal burning inside me.

She cast a quick glance at my groin, smiling wickedly to herself as she saw my obvious hard erection. “I think you’ve got a problem there, Mason.” She gestured to my crotch, “You better go and find another tart to ease the pressure for you.”

Everything boiled over and I bit my lip to control my anger but it was too late. My hand swept across the vanity, scattering and smashing the contents over the floor, glass shattered everywhere before I turned and stormed off.

I closed the door and proceeded along the landing until I reached her bedroom door. It was ajar and I smiled when I heard her soft snores. She had always been adamant that she didn’t snore. How wrong she was, but I’d enjoyed teasing her over it.

I blew out a breath and pushed open the door. My heart soared in my chest just from one look at her.

She was curled under the duvet, her hands tucked under her chin. Her lips were twitching as though she was laughing in her slumber but then her face tightened and she whimpered.

I quietly rushed over to her. I didn’t want to wake her, I wanted a moment of peace with her before she found me and all hell broke loose.

Her beautiful face was now thin and pale, marred by many ruptured veins and blemishes. Her delicious soft curls were gone, a large scar trailing across her head with the light from the moonlight. There was a layer of downy softness sheltering the delicate skin over her skull and I swallowed to stop myself from feeling it under my fingers.

“You are so beautiful,” I whispered into the dark.

Her suffering was evident and I swiped away the tear that rolled down my cheek. I longed to take away all her pain, make everything right again, crush all her despair and beg the God’s to give her back her life.

But I couldn’t. I had to accept that she had moved on, that she was taking the path in life that would destroy her, but while she was hell bent on destruction, I had to back off and let her blow before I could even think of getting her back.

She believed she was no longer a fighter. I begged to differ. She had fought the hardest battle of her life—alone. She had stepped into the darkness isolated and unaided and my little warrior had fought.

She needed to keep fighting now until she saw the light again. Until she realised that whatever or whoever she had become, she was still my beautiful Ava but I knew to let her find that again, I had to let her go.

A tear fell from my face and dripped onto her new hair as I bent and placed a soft kiss on her head. “I won’t say goodbye, baby. I’ll never say goodbye. But I need you to find your life again, I need you to grab hold of something, anything, and use it to pull yourself out of this.”

She grumbled but didn’t wake as I ran my thumb tenderly over her cheek, the prominence of her bone triggering an ache inside. “I love you, Mrs Fox. My monster of fortitude.”

She sighed as I stepped out of the bedroom and quietly pulled the door closed behind me.

The anger and hatred erupted as soon as I blocked connection with her.

I needed to get drunk.

I needed to get high.

I needed to fight back.

I needed to fuck.

Chapter Sixteen

Enemies

Ava

Four weeks later

“NOOO!” I LAUGHED and shouted at George as I whipped the bar towel at him. “There are some things a mother does not want to know!”

He grinned at me over the bar, “Mom, I’m nineteen.”

“I don’t care if you’re forty bloody six,” I scowled at him. “I do not want to know!”

Debora laughed and took a huge bite from her sandwich. “I agree with Ava. I sure as hell don’t want my mom knowing what my sex life entails.”

We all lifted a brow at her and she shrugged, “Okay, I don’t want to know what my mother’s sex life entails.” She shuddered and I smirked at her.

Over the last four weeks, my son’s girlfriend had been a godsend. She had made it her mission for me to get back on track, and although she was only young and her heart was in the right place, she had no idea. However, the way she loved George broke my heart. They were the replica of Mason and me, from the way they looked at each other, to the way they touched and laughed together, and although it physically hurt to watch them, it made my heart swell so damn much.

“Room six,” Owen smiled at me as he handed me a tray of drinks.

“Well, we’re off,” George grinned when he took Debora’s hand. “We have a room booked.” He dragged her across the room and up the stairs to the privates.

I cringed when Steed smirked at me from his stool on the opposite side of the bar. “Yeah, I can get that’s a bit weird.”

“You have no idea,” I sighed as I walked down the corridor towards the entertainment room. “Steed,” I sighed as I felt him follow me down the corridor. “You don’t have to follow me everywhere.”

“I’m good,” he drawled through a huge yawn.

I stopped, sighed and turned to him. “Go home. I’ve only just started my shift half an hour ago, there’s still at least six hours left.”

He pursed his lips and stepped into me. “Fine. I’m going home. I will be back at midnight for you. Do not leave without me, do you understand?”

“Good god, Steed. It was a random stolen car. I haven’t seen or heard anything funny in the last four weeks. I will be fine. My car is here, and I have been given the all clear for driving you know.”

I bit into my lip when his lips curved into a wicked grin and he forced me backwards until my back rested against the wall. The tray wobbled in my hand and I struggled to keep a hold of it when his face came so close I could smell his damn toothpaste.

“For one, I will leave you when I deem it safe.” His mouth moved up the edge of my jaw until it brushed my ear, triggering a shudder to rip through me. “And secondly, I have been taking you home for the last three weeks because I can guarantee one day you will invite me in, strip me naked and sink that delicious mouth of yours around my cock until I come right down your elegant little throat.”

He smirked at the whimper that left me, then patted my face softly and winked. “See you at midnight.”

I stared after him as he strolled down the corridor, his arrogance controlling his gait as well as his personality.

He’d been trying to bed me for weeks and I was finding it harder and harder to resist him. The way he spoke, so openly and bluntly, ignited a fierce lust in me and I knew he would fuck me like I liked to be fucked. But I couldn’t give in. For one, I was still in love with my husband and for two, my body was a mutilated hideous heap of scars and wounds that no one would ever be allowed to see again.

I gulped back the lump in my throat and entered room six, nudging the door open with my hip as I balanced the tray on my shaky hands.

“Damn you,” I whispered to myself when the aftereffect of Steed left me a trembling mess.

The room was dark, the only light coming from a few sconces around the room. Music was playing quite loudly and I groaned when I caught the two girls writhing in ecstasy on the podium.

I looked around for the occupiers and groaned louder when I found them bent over a small table, both of them snorting lines of coke naked.

“Just put the tray over there,” a voice said as he pointed to another table in the corner.

The tray finally slipped from my grasp as vomit rushed up my throat. I only just managed to hold onto it when Mason turned round and frowned at me. “You okay, love?”

Realisation hit him with a force when he disregarded the blonde wig and the false breasts disguising me. “Ava?”

I stared in silence when the brunette turned to face me. “Well, hello Ava.” Rebecca sneered.

Everything I had hung on to, everything I had fought for these past six months disintegrated in a heap around me. My heart and soul burst open in so much agony that I would forever feel the pain.

“Why . . .” My jaw opened and closed as I took in their bare bodies, condoms littering the floor and the lines of snow decorating the table.

“Ava . . .” He stumbled to his feet, his high causing him problems when I backed off and he couldn’t reach me quick enough.

I shook my head at him as I fell through the door, snatched my bag from the restroom and raced out of the building, Mason’s cries of my name echoing around me as I clambered in my car.

I watched his naked body sprint after me in the rear-view mirror until I floored the accelerator and disappeared around the corner.

* * *

I banged on the door, my fists hurting with the force of my knocks. “Come on damn it.”