Fortitude (Heart of Stone) (18 page)

The doctors weren’t too impressed with that promise when
they had me to contend with during the operation to remove the bullet from her
shoulder.

But fuck them.

I was Mason Fox.

And life didn’t get any better.

I smiled at her as I re-puffed her pillow, her beautiful eyes
smiling back at me. “Love you,” I whispered happily as I planted a quick kiss
on her forehead.

“I know,” she whispered back as I slipped onto the bed
behind her and curled an arm around her waist. “And me, you.”

“Hey,” I asked suddenly. “Will the consultant come here
with your test results tomorrow?”

She shuffled round to look at me, her brow creased in
confusion. “Why would Dr Franks come here?”

“Well, because you’re bed bound.”

“I’m not bed bound Mason.”

I knew she thought I was being a mother hen since she’d
come home two hours ago. Her shoulder had healed perfectly, another scar to add
to the collection but anyone would think she had just tumbled over the curb the
way she was behaving.

“Yes, Ava, you are. The doc said you needed to take it
easy.” I argued as I narrowed my eyes on her.

“Mason,” she grinned at me, her eyes teasing me brightly.
“Since when did I ever listen?”

“Exactly,” I reprimanded with a tone that told her not to
argue. “So this time you’re gonna do as you are told.”

She nodded firmly and saluted me with two fingers. I smirked
and shook my head. “Still, after all these years you can never master the
salute.” She quirked a brow at me but I smiled and ran a finger across her jaw.
“Do you remember that night?”

She groaned as the memory of her hangover came crashing
back to her.

I saw her as soon as I entered the club. I also heard
the perfection of her laugh. I was just relieved I had found her, after our
argument and her state of mind, I’d been frantic.

She was laid out in the middle of the dance floor, her
legs bare from her thighs downwards, her feet kicking drunkenly in time to the
beat of the music as her heels slipped from her shoes and they hung on to her
toes precariously.

The anger bubbled in my gut. She was way past the drunken
stage, she was slaughtered… and making a fool of herself.

I stalked slowly over to her, people in my path moving
aside as they felt the storm brewing around me. She had her eyes closed, her
hysterical laughter filling the air around me as he arms lay out either side of
her.

Her friend quirked one eye open and then squinted at
me. “Oh dear,” she whispered.

Ava moaned and opened her eyes slowly. She gaped at me
then her lips twitched and she was giggling deliciously, the sweet tone to her
warming my belly. However, she needed to learn that she couldn’t just walk out
on me and disappear.

“Hey, baby.” She slurred as her arms came up to reach
for me. “Your little warrior is a little blotto.”

I sucked in a breath and bit down on the inside of my
cheek. Was she for real? Did she not think I’d kind of sussed that out? “Get
up, Ava.”

Her laughter erupted again. Obviously I was hilarious.
Not for long.

“Sammy!” Ava screeched when she spotted Sam behind me.
“Did you bring Mr Cross?”

Mr Cross? Mr Cross? Jesus holy Christ. I was gonna be
on the News at Ten for torturing a drunken woman in the middle of my own
nightclub with her own damn shoes.

“I said...” I tried to bite back my fury with her.
Everyone was looking at her, at us to be precise. “Get up Ava.”

I watched seriousness cover her face. “Yes, Sir!” she
brought her hand up to her forehead in an effort to salute me. However, I
managed to hide the smirk when she poked herself in the eye, her brow creasing
as she grumbled. “I would be fucking useless in the army.”

For once, I agreed with my woman!

She grinned up at me, her perfect lips parting into a
beautiful smile. She was stunning and I found myself wondering how the hell I
had managed to make her mine. She was hurting right then, I knew she was. Her
heartache was potent, even when she was trying to overshadow it with laughter,
but I could see it in her stunning eyes, the dullness and grief dimming their
usual brightness.

“Are you gonna join me on the hard floor Mason?” Her
lips formed a kiss and she waggled her little finger at me, a reminder of the
mind blowing orgasm she had given me this morning.

Fuck, my dick did not just throb.

“You know you want to.” She finished with an
exaggerated wink.

I fought against the smile that was dying to surface.
Fuck, she was adorable. I just wanted to pull her in and hold her forever,
scoop her up in my arms and shield her from every shit thing in her life.

“Will you get up!” I grated out as I frantically tried
to stop her declaring any more about our morning fun.

“Aren’t you gonna be my armour in knight and...” Her
brow creased as she stared at me. “No, that’s not right. My shining knight…”
she frowned again.

Fuck me, my heart leapt at how much I loved her. I
wanted to scream it at her, shout from the fucking roof that I loved my woman
but she was still in so much bloody trouble.

I loomed over her, keeping my gaze away from her face
so I didn’t alert her to my humour at the situation and hoisted her over my
shoulder in a single movement. She squealed in delight as my hands
accidently
landed on her perfect arse.

“Woohoo!” she cried when I carried her across the
dance floor. “My hero!”

She shouted something to Sam as I ploughed through the
storm of people staring at us. Fuck them; it was my club and my woman.

I jolted when Ava slapped my arse. Shit, that fucking
came keen, she had quite a harsh slap and I sank my teeth into my lower lip.
“Did you see that, baby? Kim ejaculate… no it’s not that, she uhh, what did she
do Mason?”

I rolled my eyes and blew out a steadying breath as I
looked around us. There were still witnesses.

“Spunked?... no that’s not it either… spanked! That’s
it, she spanked all over Sam’s shoes... no…”

Give. Me. Fucking. Strength!

“Mason,” she grumbled. “What’s the word I need?”

Death?

I flung open the car door and bent forward, sliding
her onto the back seat gently, making sure to cover her head so she didn’t
whack it on the roof…. Although… my God, so tempting, that would quieten her
down. I turned my back on her, cursing my wicked side as the enticing idea
seemed a little too alluring right then.

“Aww, baby, you’re so gentle with me.”

It was a good job my back was turned. She therefore
did not witness the humorous smirk covering my face. I was so lucky she
couldn’t read my thoughts.

“Mason,” she whispered as she tugged on the back of my
jeans. “Mason.”

I turned to her, glowering as she grinned at me. I was
having so much trouble keeping mad at her, she was utterly the most loveable
drunk I had ever known, and I was seriously having trouble resisting scooping
her in my arms and smothering her in tiny little kisses.

I leant towards her when she crooked a finger at me.
“I fucking…. Wait,” she frowned with a twist in her lips as she tried to
concentrate, her cute little tongue poking out of her mouth. “What was I gonna
say?”

So tempting. I was considering visiting the sex shop I
knew was around the corner just to buy a bloody gag… and maybe a whip.

“Mason,” she persisted. I closed my eyes for a second
and pulled in a fortifying breath. “Psst, Mason.”

“What Ava?” I sighed as I spun back round to her,
pumping my fists to try and rid some of the excess adrenaline running through
my system. She once again crooked her finger and I once again bent towards her.

“Mason, come here.”

I really thought I was
here
, but apparently not
here
enough for my annoyin… sorry, adorable woman.

“I… love… you…” She grinned happily, very proud of
herself. “Yay, you see I rembermember…. ooh I can’t say that word. That’s a
hard word Mason, can you say reremememb… oh fuck it!”

My lips betrayed me again but this time I didn’t hold
it in as I slipped my palm over her cheek softly. “I love you too, Ava. Even
though I am so pissed at you right now.” Her eyes widened to large orbs as she
pleaded forgiveness humorously, reminding me of the cocker spaniel we’d had
when I was a child.

Oh Christ, she so knew how to play the game.

“Aww baby, you can’t be mad at me, I’m really, really,
really wanting your cock tonight.”

Ahh Christ. All the humour evaporated and my heart
ached for her. She’d just lost a baby, yet her mind was building walls and
blocking it out. I couldn’t blame her really. I’d give anything to change the
last week, give her back what she desperately wanted.

“Don’t be sad, it’s good that I want your cock. It’s a
very nice cock I might add.” She grinned.

Of course it was. I was glad she’d noticed, I was
rather proud of it myself.

“I know what you’re smiling about,” Ava laughed as she
poked me in the ribs, pulling me from the memory.

I smirked at her, “And that is?”

“You’re face shows your pride, so you have to be thinking
about your cock.”

I stared at her. Was I that fucking obvious?

She nodded, “Yes, it’s that fucking obvious.”

“Christ, we’re turning into one of those old married
couples, those that can finish each other’s sentences and knows what the other
is thinking.”

She laughed loudly, her eyes twinkling happily, “Nah,
it’s my soul telling me what your soul is thinking.”

I gazed at her for a long time as her soft eyes loved me
but then sorrow engulfed her and her eyes dipped. “What is it?” I asked as I
ran my thumb softly over her short silky hair.

She seemed troubled as she took my hand and gripped it
firmly. “I know, Mason.”

“You know? You know what, baby?”

“About the children,” she sighed. “Why did you never tell
me, Mason?”

I frowned at her; completely lost which course her mind
had swerved her towards this time. She was sometimes difficult to keep up with,
her brain kicking her in many different directions as swiftly as it changed
course again, leaving me behind many times.

“Ava, I haven’t the foggiest what you’re on about.”

She tightened her grip on my hand and pulled it to her
mouth, kissing each finger gently. “It takes more than blood to be a father,
and you have proved it for many years. You took on another man’s children and
loved them as your own.”

I stared at her as my heart seemed to fire electrical
shots around my veins, each one causing a ripple effect through my muscles as
each one seized up one after another until I was frozen to the spot and staring
at her. “Are you saying…?” I swallowed at the lump that had formed in my
throat, “Umm… are you telling me that the twins are… Kade’s?”

She stared at me silently as I started to break down
slowly from the inside. “WELL?”

She flinched but her brow furrowed. I was struggling to
hold everything back. Twenty years. Had it all been a lie?

Okay, now I was confused. Rebecca had been certain. I
knew we weren’t friends but I was damn sure she hadn’t been winding me up, the
horror on her face when she had disclosed the secret had been very real.

“Umm.” I sighed and scowled at him, “Change the fucking
face, mister. I’m as confused as you.”

His eyes popped wide at my audacity, his mouth falling
open as his forehead creased and his lip curled in confusion. “Baby,” he stated
quite sternly. “Forgive me, but you have just insinuated that Katie and George
aren’t mine. Would you like to tell me how I’m supposed to look right now?”

“Well, looking like a bloody cod hoisted from the North
Sea just as the holiday season hits isn’t the right look, right now.”

I beamed at him when he growled and slipped onto my
knees, cupping his face and planting a huge smacker on his lips. “I love your
reaction to what I just insinuated, it tells me you haven’t a bloody clue what
I’m on about.”

“Oh you got that, huh?”

“Chill out and let me explain, although it still doesn’t
make sense.”

“Really?”

I sneered at him then sighed. “Why did you tell Rebecca
you couldn’t have kids?”

He frowned at me then recognition covered his face and he
sighed in relief. “Ahh…” His face flushed and he looked sheepish, “Because when
Rebecca got pregnant, I couldn’t have children and I was infertile.”

“Oh, okay.” Could you go from being infertile to fertile?
Fucked if I knew but apparently it was so.

He sighed and rolled his lips, the memory of a time with
him and Rebecca obviously hurting him. “I presume Bec told you about…us?”

I nodded and smiled, giving him courage and my okay to
how he was feeling. “Well, we’d been together… a while and you know me, Ava, I
bloody hate condoms, when we first got together I never bloody used them.”

“Mm-hmm, even though you used to swear to me that you
did!” He grimaced when I quirked a brow at him.