The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone (278 page)

The hallway light illuminated and the catches shifted until he opened the door and stared at me in just his shorts. “Ava?”

I pushed him back and instantly dropped to my knees before him. “Although you didn’t invite me in, I can still guarantee this is the night you sink your cock down my throat and fill it with cum.”

“What the . . .” He hissed when I yanked his shorts down and promptly sheathed his already hard cock with my mouth. “Fuck . . .
Fuck!”

His unique taste tingled on my tongue as I lapped down his shaft and cupped his balls with my teeth. He grabbed my hair and pulled off my wig before he clasped my head and started to direct my movements. “Shit . . . more . . .”

He thrust into me and I accommodated him by loosening the muscles in my throat, before I slid back up him and circled his swollen head with my tongue. “I’m not gonna last darlin,’” he growled as he held my head still and started to fuck my mouth hard and furiously.

I took everything he gave me, flicking my tongue on him and tightening my lips when he started to tremble. His fingers dug into my scalp when he shot his load into my mouth, a huge torrent of sweet cum lining my throat and charging into my belly with force as he groaned loudly through his orgasm.

I was yanked upwards and then scooped up into his arms as he took the stairs two at a time.

He stood me in the centre of his bedroom and knelt before me, yanking at my work shorts until he tapped my foot and I stepped out of them. My hands immediately covered myself, self-awareness at another man’s eyes on me flushing my body with shame.

Steed took my hands and shifted them to my sides as he glared up at me, “Never be ashamed of your body, Ava. You are fucking beautiful.” He was angry but I nodded faintly. “Now apologise and hold your hands behind your back.”

I stared at him. He pinched the inside of my thigh causing me to gasp. “I once told you I fuck with pain, Ava. This is your last chance to pull your shorts back up and walk away.” I chewed on my lower lip, my mind swinging left and right as I fought with the yes and the no. “You stay,” he continued with a dark gaze on me. “Then I fuck you like you’ve never been fucked before . . . my way.”

My chest was heaving as we both waited for me to decide.

I pulled my hands behind my back, holding onto each wrist with the other hand as I looked down at him. “I’m sorry.”

His lips twisted into a cruel smile before he placed a hand on my stomach and pushed me backwards until my back hit the bed and I was staring at the ceiling.

I closed my eyes when Steed grabbed at my knees and forced them apart. “Open up for me, Ava. Let me see you.”

My eyes shot open when he pinched my clit roughly. “Open your fucking eyes.”

“Sorry,” I whimpered. “I thought you meant my legs.”

He winked at me but kept his eyes fixed on mine when his mouth slowly lowered between my legs. “Oh fuck!” I groaned as my fingers dug into the sheet covering the bed.

Explosive shocks detonated in my veins when his tongue circled my clit, his teeth grazing slightly as a finger slid inside me. “Fuck darlin,’ you’re drenched. Is this what I do to you, Ava? Do you think I can make you beg?”

I couldn’t answer him as his tongue slid inside me alongside his finger. One of his hands pushed against my pelvis when my back arched with pleasure and I lifted off the bed. “Keep still,” he growled at me.

He continued his assault, driving me higher and higher until I was only hanging on by a thread. The thread severed when he slipped his thumb into my arse and sucked hard at my clit. I struggled to breathe through the intense orgasm as it took control of my lungs and brain, its powerful hold ripping at my nerves and firing every single fibre of me into nirvana.

I was flipped over and I swallowed heavily as I heard the rip of a foil packet. I shook my head furiously when he pulled at the hem of my top. “No, it stays on.”

“What? Why?” he asked with a furious frown.

“Just . . . no. It’s the only thing I demand. You can do anything you want to me but my top stays on.”

“Ava,” he sighed when I flattened myself further into the mattress. He knew why, he could read it in me, my shame at the way I looked.

I stared at him over my shoulder. “You either fuck me or I leave.”

His face grew furious as his chest heaved. He grabbed my hands and held them in one of his huge ones above my head. “Do not fuck me off.”

“Why?” I smiled cockily at him. “You wanna fuck hard, then fuck hard. Fuck me with anger because that’s what I need.”

I gasped when he impaled me in a single thrust, the width of him burning my walls, stretching me unforgivingly after months of nothing. “That’s what I deserve,” I finished under my breath when he started to move.

His hands gripped my shoulders firmly as he pounded into me. He fucked with so much anger and hatred that as soon as his fingers circled my throat I was coming violently and loudly.

Each of his hard thrusts shifted me further and further across the bed until I was literally hanging off the edge, the palms of my hands on the floor to support myself.

He clutched my shoulders and yanked me back until we were both kneeling with him behind me. “Ride me, Ava. Show me how fucking hard you fuck.”

We were both sweating liberally, our bodies wired and strumming with pleasure as we groaned and grunted together loudly. I worked him so hard I swore I would be bleeding when we finished. But I didn’t care, I needed the pain his fingers and cock offered. I deserved it. I warranted every single agonising jolt of pain that he gave me.

He pushed me forward until I was on all fours. I yelped when his palm connected with my backside so hard the sting made my eyes water, but I came like a fucking animal, growling and snarling through it.

Steed yanked at my hips, pulling me onto him even further when he roared out my name and climaxed as brutally as I did. His hips bucked and jerked, forcing his cock even more cruelly into me as he fell onto my back and sank his teeth into my neck, generating another orgasm to shudder through me faintly.

We both collapsed in a heap, Steed rolling off me before he could crush me. I stared at the pillow as I lay immobile and vibrating in the aftershock.

We were both silent, the enormity of what we had just done hitting us now the arousal had died. “Shit,” Steed uttered as he pulled himself upright and sat on the edge of the bed. His hands raked through his hair in distress.

I climbed off the bed and pulled my shorts on, “Don’t worry. He won’t find out.” I muttered as I pulled on my heels.

“What?” he stared at me in confusion. “I’m not worried about Mason, I’m worried about you.”

“Why?” I shrugged as a numbness flowed through me. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” He whispered as he tenderly cupped my cheek. “You weren’t emotionally ready for this. And I took advantage of that.”

I laughed at him but pulled away and trotted down the stairs, swiping my bag from beside the front door. “Steed. Chill out. I won’t be back for seconds. I’m afraid you were there to be used, and I used you.”

I watched as shock covered his face. “Right.” He blinked back his stunned reaction to my honesty.

“I won’t plague your life by knocking on your door, and I won’t be asking for a repeat performance so you needn’t worry.”

“Ava!” he shouted as I opened the door and left him staring after me.

I was silently humoured by the fact that I had watched two naked men stare at me through my rear view in a single night.

But there was only one that had broken me. There was only one who had torn the remaining pieces of my soul apart. And there was only one who made me go home, get high and sob myself to sleep.

Again.

Chapter Seventeen

Roots

Mason

SHE HAD SLID the chain on the back door to try and keep me out. That didn’t stand a chance when I kicked at it and it flung open, the force of it banging loudly in the silent house.

I took the stairs two at a time and slammed open her bedroom door. “Ava . . .” I froze when I found the room empty, the duvet still perfectly pulled over the bed and the many prissy cushions she always had scattered perfectly in place.

“What the . . .”

She should be home by now, she’d had a good thirty minutes on me. I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialled Steed. He declined my first call and I tried again. He picked up on the fourth ring, “Hey, Mase.”

“Are you with Ava?”

He hesitated and I frowned to myself when I sensed his unease. “No.”

“Well she’s not home and you get paid to fucking shadow her. So would you like to tell me why the fuck my wife doesn’t have a shadow at the moment?”

“I, ummm . . .”

The front door opened and closed with a quiet click. “Got her.” I told him and ended the call abruptly as I went down to find her.

As soon as I exited the bedroom, my face was squashed up against the wall, both my arms pulled behind my back and a gun crushing against my temple. “Ava! It’s me.”

“What the fuck, Mason.” She declared as she let me go. “You stupid bastard. I could have killed you.”

I grinned at her, my little warrior still had it. “Where the fuck have you been?”

She stared at me, her head tilted to one side. “Are you for real?”

“Yes,” I nodded to confirm her question. “You should have been home ages ago.”

“Get out!” she snapped as she pushed past me and flicked on her bedroom light, dropping her bag to the floor as she walked into the en-suite she’d recently had fitted and started the shower. “Go home, Mason. I don’t want you here.”

“I wanted to check you were okay.” I told her quietly, shame at my behaviour coursing through me.

She scoffed loudly. “You wanted to check up on me? Why?”

“Well because . . . you know . . .”

“Because I found you with that fucking whore again? AGAIN!” she suddenly screamed, her face flushing with anger.

“I . . .”

“You what Mason? You what?”

I was just about to answer her when I caught the mark on her neck. I swear something invisible hit me in the face and chest simultaneously. I gripped her face and moved her head aside to make sure I hadn’t imagined it. “What the fuck is that?”

She rubbed her finger over the mark as though she hadn’t been aware of it until I mentioned it. I watched her throat bob as she stared at me resolutely. “It’s a bite.”

I curled my fists into themselves as my brain started to fume and my gut hissed angrily. “Who?”

I didn’t want to know but my sick curiosity did and I closed my eyes as I waited for her answer. “It doesn’t matter who. You have your new fuck, well now, I have mine.”

I tried to control my wrath but it was spinning dangerously out of control with her coolness. “Ava . . .” I ran my tongue over my teeth. “I’m really trying hard to hold the fuck on here.”

I jerked when her hands hit my chest and she pushed me back harshly. “How dare you! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!”

I spun her round so fast, the air left her lungs in a hiss as her back thumped the wall. I pinned her hands beside her head and leaned into her. “You are mine. MINE!”

She glared at me, hatred and anger heaving from her in huge quantities. “And who do you belong to, Mason. Eh? It is definitely not me, it never really has been, has it? You’ve always been
hers.
”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” I spat back at her as I pushed her further into the wall.

“Is it?” Her face was furious, her chest heaving angrily and her eyes glinting hatefully but then everything changed as devastation overwhelmed her, “Is it?” she repeated with a choked whisper. “Because she always seems to win, Mason. Whatever I do, she always wins.”

My heart broke at her pain and I rested my forehead against hers, breathing her in and shivering as my soul cried out thankfully. “She hasn’t won, baby. I will always belong to you.”

She sighed and inhaled heavily, getting her fix along with me but then she pushed at me again and slipped under my arms. “No, Mason. You have already proved that you were never mine. Go.” She turned away from me, her shoulders heaving as she tried to control her tears. “Go back to her. I told you, I set you free. You are free to fuck who you want, as am I.”

“NO!” I roared as I grabbed her arms and spun her to face me. “You will never be free. Your body belongs to me, as does your heart and soul and I will never let them free. I will never let you take them from me.” I leaned into her until I was hovering over her, “I will find out who he is Ava, and then he’s mine!”

I let her go just as abruptly and left her staring after me. If I didn’t leave then I would have trashed something and I couldn’t have guaranteed her safety.

* * *

“What the hell?” Steed glared at me when he opened his front door and I pushed past him.

“Get dressed.”

He widened his eyes on me to remove the sleep then squinted, “What? Why?”

“You have a new job.”

“Which is?” he asked as we walked into the kitchen and he flicked on the kettle after checking the water level.

“You are now my wife’s soul.”

“Eh?” He barked as he spun round to gape at me.

“She’s fucking someone. I want to know who he is.”

He froze and stared at me. “And . . . ummm, I can help with that how?”

“I told you. You stay with her at all times, you don’t leave her side. She takes a piss, then you take one with her. She works, you sit at that fucking bar . . . which by the way, thanks for telling me she was working there.”

“I . . . sorry,” he stuttered. “I didn’t think it was relevant.”

“Not relevant!” I scoffed at him. “My wife just found me in one of the privates, snorting coke with her nemesis.” His jaw dropped and he closed his eyes with a deep sigh as though something now made sense to him. “What?”

He shook his head, “Nothing.” He turned back around and spooned coffee into a cup. “Okay, I get it, I’m now your wife’s soul.”

“I mean it Steed, I want his name by the end of the week.”

He nodded as I turned to leave, then spun back round to him. “She’ll put up a fight at this, but you want to get paid, then you work around her stubborn side.”