The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone (146 page)

“Seriously?” he cocked his head and I grinned and nodded.

“Will you?” I asked and he barked out a huge laugh.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Of course I will.” He sat up, pushing his hands through my hair and cupping my head. “God Ava.” He brushed his lips over mine, gently and lovingly as I grasped his hair.

“Own me, Mason,” I whispered and he gasped but his tongue stroked across my jaw, down my throat and over to my shoulder where I had no wounds. He sucked in my flesh, biting and sucking it harshly and I tipped my head back as I pulled his mouth further into my skin. “More,” I demanded and he satisfied my need, delivering his trademark signature along my shoulder and down onto the swell of my breast.

He shivered against me and I clung onto him as he groaned at the approaching abuse. I pulled the blanket around us as he laid us back down. We clung to each other for the next five hours as he shivered and broke out in goosebumps or burned up and sweated heavily, alternating between the two frequently and suddenly, moaning and groaning in fits of sleep and then bouts of torturous consciousness as I gently sang to him, hummed a rhythm or just told him about things we would do when this was over until exhaustion and fatigue claimed me and I drifted away for some much need peace and respite.

CHAPTER 26

IT HAD BEEN two weeks since I locked Mason behind the garage door and he was slowly reverting back to his own previous happy, caring and fun self. His shakes and sweats had subsided and he was starting to manage small amounts of food, one being a craving for my apple and cinnamon muffins which he was currently trying to take humungous bites out of while playing on the Xbox with Sam and Greg.

My patience was being thoroughly tested at the moment; whenever these three urbane, mature and tough men played Call of Duty they seemed to turn into very angry, sulky little girls.

They were all sat on a sofa in front of the huge flat screen Mason had insisted was brought in while he remained in his ‘prison.’ I was sat on the armchair that had also been dragged in so I could get some work done at home on my laptop and be beside Mason at the same time.

“Oh yes, prepare to die . . . nine kill streak!” Mason declared excitedly. I raised my eyes from my own screen to theirs to watch the match.

“Score streak dickhead . . . It’s not kill streak anymore!” Greg declared, “Get it right guys if you’re gonna play!”

Sam and Mason’s head turned slowly towards Greg. “Very sorry Mr COD expert,” Mason laughed and elbowed Greg in the ribs as Sam barked out a deep laugh.

Greg was losing by a massive nine kills and Sam was grinning at Mason’s excitement. “Bring it on, Mase!” he teased.

Greg groaned and shook his head, “For fucks sake, gimme a break here!”

I chuckled at Greg. “Come on Greg, slaughter the bastards!” I smirked and shook my head at his efforts to shoot Mason, missing him by a mile.

“Here come the grenades . . . eat shit motherfuckers!”

Greg reached over and tried to grab Mason’s controller and within another few seconds Sam had took another kill on each of them. “Come on guys, I’m thrashing you here,” Sam announced.

I groaned, trying to concentrate on the boring spread sheet I was currently working on, making my eyes flash and drop closed as my mind wandered and I dozed.

“OH—MY—FUCKING—GOD!!” Greg screamed and I jerked upright, now wide awake with a headache fast approaching. “Gimme a chance guys!” Greg cried grumpily as Sam punched the air with his fist and laughed loudly.

“I’m spinning up the death machine . . . you are so fucking dead!”

Greg flew off the sofa and flung his controller across the room, narrowly skimming my head.

“For fucks sake Greg, watch Ava,” Mason growled and cursed as Sam racked up another two kills.

I regarded Greg who was stood angrily watching Sam increase his lead and I felt quite sorry for him, he never won.

I shook my head in exasperation and stood up; bending down to pick up Greg’s controller and went and sat next to Mason. Him and Sam turned to look at me and smirked. “And what are you gonna do little girl?” Mason laughed.

I hid my smile and shrugged, “Just thought I might be able to get a shot in for Greg.”

Mason smirked at me and side hugged me as Sam scoffed loudly. “Awww babe, this here is the fire button, this one moves you and this one is your aim button,” he told me as he pointed to various buttons on the controller.

I bit my lip, supressing my grin and nodded seriously at him. “Okay, I’ll give it a whirl” I smiled innocently.

Mason turned back to the screen as I rolled my shoulders, cracked my knuckles and began to play. “Hey bastard, that was my care package,” Sam yelled as I aimed and took him out, turned, found Mason in my sight and shot him in the head, ran round towards the spawn point and took them out again with a single shot to the head as they spawned.

By another eight minutes I had thirty kills and declared the game over.

Mason, Sam and Greg all stared at me, eyes wide and jaw’s dropped, “Oh my fucking God!” Greg laughed. “You both got beaten by a girl,” he chirped.

I stood and patted him playfully on the cheek. “Well done Greg, you won!” I winked and walked back over to the laptop as he grinned widely at me.

“I love you, Ava,” he declared.

“Where the hell did you learn to play?” Sam asked astounded.

“Me and Nate play in our lunch hour!” I shrugged as I clicked onto another document. The room was silent for a while and I basked in the peace. When I eventually looked up all three men were sat on the sofa, heads down whilst they each fiddled with their fingers, sulking. I smirked to myself . . . round one to Ava!

“Wanna rematch, guys?” I asked as I bit the side of my cheek to stop the snort from erupting out of my nose.

They all shook their heads rapidly. “No, No, I got things to do, not that I couldn’t slaughter you, Ava.” Sam narrowed his eyes and I nodded.

“Of course, I was just lucky.” I shrugged and then laughed when the snort broke free. “You guys are so lame!”

* * *

I stretched my arms out to the side and rolled my head around my neck as I finally shut down the laptop and looked up to see Mason sat watching me from the sofa where he was perched watching some reality TV series he had become addicted to while he had been held in the garage.

“You okay?” I asked and he shrugged.

“Just going a bit stir crazy,” he revealed and set his attention back to the screen.

I frowned and watched him for a while and pursed my lips. “Fancy a walk?” I asked and his head shot round, his eyes wide.

“What? Around the garage or in the actual sunshine?” he asked hopefully and I smiled.

“Well seems as though it’s a shit day out there I can’t promise the sunshine but I can promise some fresh air.”

He shot off the sofa and came to pull me up. “Come on baby, I’m getting excited here,” he chuckled and I laughed as I stood up but then regarded him seriously.

“Promise me, Mason.”

He understood and nodded. “I’ll be good,” he whispered as he cupped my cheek. I grinned and nodded as I took his hand and knocked on the door.

It opened to a frowning Sam, whose eyes shifted from me to Mason and then back to me in query. “We’re gonna take a short walk,” I told him as I pulled Mason through the door.

“You need me to come with you?” Sam asked but I shook my head.

“I trust him,” I said over my shoulder as we went in search of shoes and coats and as we walked through the front door Mason took a huge intake of air.

“Oh god!” he sighed happily. I smiled and squeezed his hand as we ventured down the driveway and through the massive gates that led to the road.

We walked in silence for a while as we made it down onto the canal side and walked along the path, smiling at some amorous couples who regulated this stretch of the canal to make out.

“Have you met with Gary yet?” Mason asked as he put his arm around my waist.

I shook my head, “No, I need you with me for that. I just told him you had glandular fever and I would arrange a date later.”

He nodded and then frowned, “Any news on Dane?”

I shook my head again. “No, I can’t work it out, it’s been a few weeks since Frank’s death and it seems to be too quiet,” I worried and Mason’s grip on my waist tightened.

“Mmmm.” His brow furrowed but he didn’t say anything else.

He smirked and caught my eyes as we walked past a panting and moaning bush. “Must need water,” I chuckled as we carried on. Mason led me to a bench that was free and pulled me onto his lap as we sat quietly watching the water ripple and the barges bob on the water.

“I’m so proud of you, baby,” I said quietly as my head rested on his shoulder.

“It’s been hard Ava and I still get cravings but, you know,” he shrugged and I tilted my head back to catch his eyes.

“I don’t think the craving will ever subside but you’ve gotta learn to control it cos’ I don’t ever wanna repeat the last two weeks. Watching you suffer like that nearly broke me Mason and I know I can’t . . .” He broke the sentence with one of his hot, smouldering kisses as his fingers wrapped into my hair.

His mouth hovered over mine. “I promise Ava, I don’t ever wanna see that pain and hurt in your eyes ever again,” he whispered then came in for another kiss.

I pulled back eventually. “You’re not getting much fresh air here, only my air.” I chuckled and he laughed.

“I’d take your breath any day of the week,” he said softly and I palmed his cheek.

“You take my breath away all the time, Mason.” He smiled and pulled my head back against his shoulder.

“My little warrior,” he breathed into my hair.

I frowned as I saw a man in black clothing settle on the bench on the other side of the canal, a newspaper open and resting on his lap but he wasn’t attempting to read it. His hand sneaked under the paper as his eyes lifted to mine. I froze as I saw him slowly pull his hand back.

“GET DOWN!” I screamed at Mason as I pushed him off the bench, onto the floor and rolled over him as a gunshot sounded and a bullet marginally whizzed past my ear.

“FUCK!” I rolled over and dragged him behind the bush near us. I looked to my right and sighed in relief when I noticed the bushes lead all the way along the canal. I drew my phone from my pocket and pressed the icon for the emergency situation.

It rang back immediately. “One white male across the canal firing at us!” I declared as soon as I answered.

“I got him, Ava,” Elijah’s voice came over the line. “Carry on along the canal behind the bushes. He’s got to go all the way around to get to you. I’ve got two guys on route to you.” Mason and I crouched and ran along the muddy path behind the greenery. “When you get to the end of the bushes you’re gonna have to make a run for it Ava, he’s following you from the other side, gun trained in you.”

Mason had gone in front of me and was scanning our surroundings constantly. “I’ve got Neo at the entrance of the canal waiting for you,” Elijah told me as Mason put his hand out to stop me.

There was a wide gap in the bushes and it would bring us into his sight for a few seconds. “We gotta run baby, you okay?” Mason asked and I nodded, my adrenaline was holding back the fear as he counted to three and then we dashed across the gap, Mason’s hand in mine as he pulled me behind him. Another gunshot rang out and people screamed and started to panic. “Good, they’ll help us,” Mason declared as a mass of people ran towards the exit.

“Come on.” He dragged me behind him and pulled us into the middle of the crowd. “Keep your head low,” he shouted to me as he bent his knees to disguise himself in the crowd.

My heart was pounding too quickly and my head spun as my blood surged through my body while we went with the flow of people until the steps we needed to take came into view.

“You ready?” Mason glanced at me and pulled me in front of his wide frame, protecting me from the shooter. I took a breath and nodded as more gunfire filled the air.

I could hear Elijah shouting more instructions into his other phones as I took a deep breath and sprinted across the open area towards the steps.

We crouched lower as a bullet skimmed Mason’s ear. “Fuck!” he hissed.

“You okay?” I shouted as I stooped lower and sped up.

“Yeah, keep going!” he shouted back.

“HE’S DOWN AVA, HE’S DOWN!” Elijah shouted in my ear and I bent over and grasped my knees, fighting to fill my lungs.

“They got him,” I told Mason who then sagged in relief and dropped to the floor, trying to control his own breathing.

Neo came down the steps two at a time and ran over to us. “You okay?” he asked as his eyes still scanned the area. We both nodded. He pressed his earpiece and said something I couldn’t hear over the pounding in my ears.

“Jesus, this isn’t what I had in mind for a quiet stroll along the canal,” Mason smirked at me and I laughed.

“The exercise will do you good after two weeks on your arse,” I panted.

He rolled over onto his back and laughed heartily. I did the same as we both regained our breathing and our composure.

Mason sat up and took my phone, “Any clue who he is Elijah?” He asked and frowned to himself. “Nah, don’t think so.” He looked at me. “Peter Youlgrave?” he asked me and I shook my head.

“Nope,” I breathed back.

He spoke for a while longer and then pulled me up. “Let’s get you home, baby.” He pulled me into his embrace as he held me tight and I could feel and hear his heart pounding rapidly in his chest under my ear.

Neo nodded and walked in front of us up the steps as Mason held me close. “You saved my life again, Ava,” he whispered into the top of my head and I shook mine.

“Nah, he was aiming for me,” I told him. He stiffened but didn’t say anything however he refused to let me out of his hold until we were safely back in the house.

Both of us slumped on the sofa in the lounge, me with a glass of vodka and Mason with a whisky as we sat in silence and watched the flames roar in the open fire that Sam had lit to warm us up as the shock penetrated our bones.

Mason placed his glass on the table and took mine, placing it beside his as he leaned across and straddled my thighs, framing my face with his hands as his forehead rested on mine.