The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone (205 page)

“Jesus Christ” she huffed out as she stared at me with disbelief, “And us?”

I gulped, knowing I was once more risking Ava because of the route my lifestyle took. “I received a note telling me to let you go, you received the photos and . . . and a . . . I got another DVD.”

She reared back and stared at me in confusion, “Of?”

I lowered my face to the table, not wanting to disclose this bit of the story but knew I had to, to have no secrets between us anymore. “It was full of video clips of you.”

She frowned and I closed my eyes, “Just random clips of your daily life. You taking the kids to school, you shopping, you walking up the steps to NSC and some of you . . . you in the bedroom window . . . naked.”

She was silent and I let her be silent whilst she comprehended that she was being stalked because of me, always because of me and my fucked up life.

“I’m so sorry, Ava . . . I . . .”

She lifted her hand and halted me, “What does Rebecca specifically do?”

I frowned at her question, not sure where she was going with it but I humoured her. “She runs the place virtually. Sorts out the girls, sorts out bookings and stuff and when there is bad blood between any of them she sorts it out, stuff like that.”

She nodded and sighed, “Is Allure open just at night?”

“Yes.”

She nodded slowly before she downed her coffee and refilled it, wincing when she took another gulp and realising it had gone cold.

“Sack her” she demanded.

“Ava . . .”

She shook her head and held my gaze, “I’ll take it.”

“What?” I barked as I spluttered out my own coffee.

“Your girls need someone who can protect them properly until all this is over. Rebecca can’t do that and I won’t sit back and let the girls get hurt. Get her out and I’ll come in. This needs sorting now Mason, before any more people get hurt.”

Holy fucking Hell!

Chapter 20

Ava

I THINK I had gone mad but when Mason had told me what the girls were going through, all I could think of was what if it was Layla or any of the girls at The Black Panther. Just because they sold their bodies didn’t make them any less a person.

I knew I could defend them better than Rebecca and this was another way to get her out of our lives.

“Have you gone mad?”

I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes with a slight tilt to my head. “Mason, you know I could run the place blindfolded. I can protect the girls if need be and to be perfectly frank, I want your fuck whore out of our lives once and for all.”

“Holy shit, Ava. I dunno . . . fuck!”

He pulled in a deep breath and his cheek twitched as he rapidly chewed on it, his eyes still fixed firmly on me as he deliberated my request. “Baby, it’s . . . I’m not actually sure I want you in that environment.”

I laughed and shook my head in bewilderment. “After everything we’ve been through. I have killed people, I have been abused numerously and I have fought my side and for my family enough to take care of myself, Mason. You have dragged me into many of your
contracts,
your fights and your fucking business ‘meetings.’ I’m sure I can handle a few prostitutes and a fucking nutter.”

He hissed through his teeth and stared at me, his worry moving aside for his acceptance. “I need you to be sure, baby. Sure of what you’re getting into.”

I nodded firmly, “I’m well aware, Mason. A house full of people fucking is not gonna shock me. We need to find this bloody nutter and fast. I need to be there to protect them, I don’t want anything more to happen when I know I can prevent it but I want full carte blanche Mason, free rein to run it as I want. If I want to change things, then I will change them. If I think the girls aren’t getting the respect they deserve then I will make sure they get it. You understand me?”

His face darkened slightly but he nodded, “Okay. And Robert?”

“I’ll respect whatever you want to do with Robert but you get rid of Rebecca.”

He nodded once but his face softened as he smiled, “I fucking love you, Ava. I don’t deserve you, you know that. Jesus, you surprise me time and time again with your strength and I don’t just mean your physical strength. Your inner strength, baby. It’s bloody potent.”

“You need to share anything else?”

He shook his head as I lifted out of the chair and perched my arse on the edge of the table beside him. “I need to get George home then we sort out Allure and you need to come home.”

The relief that surged through his face made my heart skip and my soul dance as my spirit soared. “Thank you.”

I scrunched up my nose and shrugged, “I miss you, I’m being selfish, but . . . I just miss you.”

He palmed my cheek and stroked his thumb across my cheekbone tenderly, his eyes soft but glowing, “No you’re not, and after everything I have done I didn’t think I would ever be welcome back in your life again.”

He leant into me, placing his firm lips over mine and kissing me tenderly, lovingly and so slowly I thought I would explode. Jesus, this bloody glorious bastard owned me completely. His kisses amazed me time and time again.

A small soft moan left his mouth and tickled my tongue as I slowly wrapped it around his. I slipped my hand around his head and cupped it, holding him tight against me as I heard the front door open and close.

“Fucking officials . . .” Paola moaned, completely disregarding our sensual kiss as I heard her fill the kettle.

I pulled away and frowned, “Everything okay?”

Paola huffed but nodded, “It is now. Do you know how hard it is to find a bloody international funeral director in this bloody town? Near damn impossible but they wouldn’t release him until we had George’s . . . his death certificate signed by one and customs . . . ha, what a bloody mess they are . . . Jesus bloody Christ.”

I couldn’t help the smile that lifted my lips. “Now I see exactly what George saw in you Paola. Good god girl, you got guts and fire.”

She stared at me then a slight chuckle lifted her lips before a full on bark of laughter belted out. “And you Ava. I heard all your little stories from George. He was so damn proud of how strong you are, do you know that? He bloody loved you Ava, he said he was honoured to have you as his daughter, that he didn’t save you but you saved him.”

My chest thumped against my chest as the pain tightened my blood but Paola’s revelation swelled my heart. “He was my salvation, Paola. He rescued not just my body but my soul and I will forever love him, even though he is no longer with us, I will always hold him close.”

She smiled sadly at me, “and me, Ava.”

Her words made me smile. This beautiful Portuguese thirty year old woman was so British she seemed out of place in her own home town. “What will you do Paola?”

She sucked on her lips but shrugged, “I have absolutely no idea now.”

“You want to come back with us?”

She frowned and regarded me. “I can set you up in London. I can give you a job and you can be near your family . . . us.”

I knew she had no family over here. Her own parents had died after they had driven their car off a cliff in a freak storm three years ago.

She chewed on one edge of her lips but then cocked her head, “Why the fuck not. What do you have in mind?”

“You can answer a phone can’t you?”

She scoffed, “Well I should bloody hope so, I don’t hold many skills but I’m sure saying a hello into a phone is simple enough.”

I smiled, “Then you are now the current assistant manager of Allure.”

“Allure?”

“Allure. A high class fuck house, Paola, you okay with that?”

She barked out a laugh, “Can I sample the merchandise?”

I smiled ruefully as Mason laughed, “Hell girl, you can
sell
the merchandise if that’s good for you.”

“Then let’s fucking pack!”

“Thank you, Princess.”
I shivered as the soft echo filtered through my ears and into my soul.

I smiled and nodded faintly, ‘you’re welcome, George. I love you.’ I answered silently.

* * *

I sat beside the dome of soil and dirt, hating the fact that my ‘father’ was covered with earth’s shit. My hand was resting on the wreath I had decorated his coffin with, my fingers slightly stroking one of the white roses—George’s favourite flower.

The funeral party had descended to The Loft, Mason’s club, to start the party but I had remained back to say a private goodbye.

Mason was stood by the chapel doors, silently and patiently waiting for me, knowing I needed this final moment with George alone.

“George,” I started, needing to address him one last time. “I miss you” I choked out, my voice no more than a whisper in my grief.

I smiled and chuckled slightly, “Jesus, listen to me. I know you’d be scolding me if you were here . . . but you’re not. I . . . Jesus, I can’t do this without you, George. What the hell do I do now? Everything is a fucking mess . . . again. What the hell is wrong with me? I attract this shit like a bloody magnet and I’m not sure I can do it without knowing you’re there, on the other end of the phone to pull me back together. You were always there, always and . . . I . . . I love you, simple. What you did for me will never ever be forgotten, I will never forget your soft words and your gentleness that night and I will tell you now, it was that that made me into the woman I’ve become. You were the first person in nine years to hold me tenderly, to . . . to help me see myself, make me feel something other than pain, and to just selflessly do something for me without wanting something in return. If you hadn’t, I don’t think I would have ever looked at another person again without wondering what they wanted from me.” I sighed and glanced at Mason, stood silent, his hands in his pockets and his face dark and black with his deep worry for me.

“You brought my life back to me, George and you brought me to Mason and I . . . just . . . Thank you doesn’t even come close, you know. Doesn’t even touch how much I owe you. But I promise, I fucking promise, that I will live my life, I won’t waste what you gave back to me. Your grandbabies will honour you in every way possible and Paola, well she’s just solid, George. That woman astounds me and I see exactly what you saw in her. I’ll look after her, I promise.”

I swallowed past the lump that was threatening to choke me alive, the pain in my adam’s apple fit to bursting. “I love you” I whispered as I kissed my fingers and placed them back on the flowers, “so much George. Katie will look after you, I know she will. Give her a kiss from me. See you when I get there and get the vodka cooling ready, cos’ you never know, with all this new shit that’s kicking off, it might be sooner than we plan.”

I pulled in a breath, nodded to him and stood. Mason was beside me in seconds. “Okay, baby?” he asked gently as he tenderly wiped my tears away with his thumbs, the pain on his face making my heart ache all over again.

I reached up and kissed him softly, “I will be. I got you.”

He smiled widely, “Hell yes you do, Ava. All of me, baby and if I could stop the pain for you I would.”

“I know you would. Let’s go get shitfaced.”

Chapter 21

Mason

SHE WAS SILENT beside me in the car on the way back from the club, her gaze permanently fixed on the world outside as it sped past us. She wasn’t ‘shitfaced’ at all, she had decided to forego booze, saying it made her more depressed, and the slight twitch on her lips every now and then led me to believe she would be okay, she would survive. Hell, this woman would survive the second fucking coming and if she could take me on then she could take on the devil himself.

“I know you miss him, Ava but he’s still here. Still with us, in you, baby. And I will forever be grateful to that man for bringing you to me.”

She turned to me and sighed but it held a slight smile, “I know, I know.” Her hand palmed my cheek and I flicked her a glance but she stayed quiet and mute yet her eyes told me everything she wanted to voice.

I pulled into the layby that appeared and quickly unlocked her seatbelt clip and drew her onto my lap.

We remained silent, both of us locked on but not moving, not wanting to move or even needing to move.

This woman was my bloody world, the beat of my heart and the pulse in my veins. She was the reason I breathed, the cause of my life and the motivation to live.

Her supple lips hovered over mine but her eyes remained fixed but soft, “You are here now Mason and I know George was content knowing you are here for me but I . . . I need to say this and I need you to listen.”

I frowned but nodded as her wisps of life fluttered over my lips and into my mouth, giving me her life and her soul.

“Whatever happens with all this . . .”

I opened my mouth, shushing her when I knew where she was going with her words but she silenced me with a finger to my lips. “Listen to me. Baby, whatever, if anything, I need you to know that as much as George pulled me out of the darkness, you dragged me through to the other side and held the shit back. You still hold the shit back. George gave me life but you give me the reason for living it. You understand me, Mason.”

I ran a finger over the softness of her jaw and nodded before she rested her lips over mine, simply and innocently. Small tiny kisses were delivered across my lips, the gentleness to them closing my eyes in tranquillity, as she nudged her tongue between my lips and flicked the soft muscle against mine, encouraging me to wrap my arms around her and pull her closer.

Her kiss became more deep and urgent, her hips rocking slightly as she ground herself against my erection. Her faint little moans surged my blood south and had my cock as solid as iron. “Not here, Ava” I told her when I could feel the heat from her on my dick, the potent arousal of her burning straight through the material of my trousers, “Let’s go home.”

She moaned loudly and rested her forehead on mine, “Yeah, what time is your mum having the kids till?”

I gave her a wicked smile, my heart beat increasing with my own excitement, “Tomorrow.”

Her lips lifted naughtily as mischievousness lit her eyes, “You fancy giving Connor a call?”

My eyes widened as my brows lifted, along with my blood pressure, and my dick went from hard to fucking rock-solid but a thought filtered through my head and I cocked my chin as I held her jaw firmly between my thumb and finger.