Fortitude (Heart of Stone) (9 page)

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.

“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.”

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.”