The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone (213 page)

He stared at me, his expression puzzled and slightly watchful before he inhaled a deep pull of air and licked his lips. “You have my word on that but I still don’t understand what it is you’re actually saying.”

I shuffled closer to him, needing to feel the warm puff of his breath on me and feel the beat of his heart through his chest as I covered his hard body with my soft one, “I’m saying that you are who you are and I’m proud that
you
can accept what you are, Mason. You’re the most alpha male I know, the most masculine man I’ve ever known and admitting your sexuality to yourself can’t have been easy.”

He nodded but still surveyed me with slight trepidation. “I am saying I accept this part of you as well, but your hunger for male sex can only be sated with a man. I know this; I understand it as I acknowledge it. You need a man, then I am right there with you, right beside you and fully supportive of it.”

His eyes widened before he blinked slowly and his jaw dropped slightly, “You . . . you’re saying that you
want
me to fuck men?”

I chuckled as I slid my leg around him and rolled him until I was straddled over him, his firm solid pecs under my hands as I stroked my fingers around the contours of his defined hard muscles. “I’m saying I want to watch as you fuck a man, I want to join you fuck other men. I want to see that picture of pure ecstasy on your face whilst you fuck a man. But you only ever do it with me there. We can’t fight this, Mason, so we both need to accept it and enjoy it.”

“Jesus Christ” he whispered as his hands fenced my hips and slid me down his stomach until I felt his erection press into my lower back.

I smiled lewdly, “Why Mr Fox, you sure know how to change the subject.”

He smiled back with that sexy smile of his, the one that stroked my clit as it constricted my vagina, “Why Mrs Fox, you sure know how to make me want to change the subject. I can smell your juicy pussy flooding, Ava. I can feel the heat from your cunt and it’s driving me fucking insane.”

“Then I think we better change the subject” I moaned as I lifted over him, positioning his rigid cock beneath me before I sank down and drove hard onto him.

He managed to change the subject but I knew we’d be broaching it again soon.

If I was honest with myself, the thought of him fucking Kade excited me. The visions in my head of my husband and my past lover joining together in a frantic hard fuck had me riding Mason harder than ever. A frantic need coursing through my blood and clenching my pussy saw my drives and plunges powerful and wild until we both came hard and loudly, our love making severe and intense before we held each other tight for long minutes, both of us sated and exhausted and each of us finally accepting that our sex life was soon going to hit new heights, new extremes and hopefully new delights and explorations.

Chapter 29

Mason

I LIFTED MY sleeping wife onto the sofa and pulled a thin blanket up around her delicious naked body before I pulled my trousers back around my hips and zipped up. Finding some paper I left her a message that I had some business to attend to and I would meet her at home later.

I glanced at her as she curled up on the dingy couch, her hands slipping under her cheek as her knees bent upwards. Her foetal sleeping stance made me aware that she was solid, heavy in her slumber and I smiled as I raked my fingers gently down her beautiful face.

I would never understand God’s mercy at bringing this amazing woman to me. She was fucking miraculous, created by the heavens just for me. She was the most incredible woman ever created; a bright light in this dark fucked up world, calm in the storm of my life and a fantasy in the haunting nightmares.

Her easy acceptance of me, each time I threw something at her that changed everything, had me in awe of her strength and tolerance.

I owned her and that possession humbled me every damn day. The fact that I knew she was mine, body and soul, swelled my heart but it also frightened me to death, knowing it could so easily be snatched away from me.

This bastard, whoever he was, was beginning to play dirty, upping his game to a new level, to a dangerous and fatal intent.

Ava was unaware of the bomb Wes had found under her car this morning. The shock had sent waves of a fury so potent through me that I had visited the warehouse and smashed the place to pieces just for some release. I had torn the place to shreds, ripping each corrugated metal sheet from the walls, pounding into the concrete columns with an iron pipe I had wrenched from the wall and taken the small washroom apart with my bare hands in a rage so intoxicating that I had screamed through the entire two hours of destruction.

She wasn’t aware that I had placed security on her, the constant terror that froze my blood as to her safety was chilling and petrifying.

My wife was my life, simple. She died, I followed. I wouldn’t ever take another breath without her beside me; the pain in my heart would swallow me whole as my mind would self-destruct from the inside.

Katie and George thought their new minder was a friend of Kerrie’s. I had informed my sister of the events and she had instantly welcomed Tony for protection. Her account to Ava was he was a friend staying with her and he had a phobia about being left alone, so he was following her and the twins everywhere. I had thought the story would be too implausible for Ava to swallow but god damn it; she had smiled warmly at him and welcomed him into her house, her trust in Kerrie quashing any doubts she would have.

How she would react when she found out about Wes would be another matter.

Ava craved privacy after Dane and his twisted fucking administrations on her. The need for solitude sometimes drove her into the small summer house we’d had built especially for her. Everyone knew that when Ava descended to the peaceful little log cabin at the bottom of the garden she needed lone time, time for her soul to regenerate and her spirit to heal.

She was still tortured with night tremors, terrorised by closed doors and still wouldn’t allow the restraint of her wrists even six years after his death. A death she instigated, a death she had actually relished in, a death she had dealt with conviction but without me by her side and that forever haunted me, knowing that I wasn’t there for her still ached my soul and made my heart bleed.

I cast another glance at her before I pulled the door shut and bumped into Gabe on my way out. “Shit Gabe, you scared the shit out of me.”

He smiled and chuckled as his huge frame bounced with laughter, “Sorry boss, I was just looking for Mrs Fox.”

I tipped my head at the door, “She’s sleeping at the moment. Can I help?”

He shrugged, “Nah, it was just to inform her that the decorators can see her tomorrow and the new security guys have arrived.”

“Already?” I asked with a stunned expression.

He grinned again, his yellowing teeth cause a rippled shudder through me for some reason but I shook it off. “Yeah, Mrs Fox works fast, boss. You want me to deploy them around the building?”

I nodded at him as I pulled my ringing phone from my pocket and frowned as Nate’s name displayed on the screen, “Can you hold on a sec, Nate?” I asked him as I answered.

I turned back to Gabe after Nate’s confirmation. “Yeah, Ava will tell them where and what when she wakes. Keep your eye on her Gabe, some strange shit happening at the moment and I need her watched intently, you get my drift?”

Gabe’s whole face puckered in question but he still nodded, his loyalty with me demanding anything of him. “Sure boss, anything I can help with?”

I sighed as I glanced at the door as though I could see through it and view Ava’s sleeping form on the sofa. “No, not yet, just stay near.”

He nodded and took stance beside the closed door, “I’m not moving until she wakes.”

I smiled at him and patted his shoulder, “Good, thank you.”

He nodded again as I diverted my attention back to Nate, “What can I do for ya’ mate?”

“Is Ava with you?” he asked and I tensed as I sensed the worry in his voice, his tone tight and slightly choked.

“She’s here with me at Allure, why?”

He exhaled heavily, his heavy breaths causing static through the phone and I frowned harder, “You need to get over here, Mason. Don’t leave her on her own though.”

I frowned as I detected both anger and fear from him, “Gabe is outside the office door and Wes is hiding somewhere around. I’ll be twenty minutes.”

I ended the call abruptly and scanned the corridor again. Gabe was still stood firm beside the office door, Wes nodded to me from his position outside the store room but there was a slight unease surrounding me and I flinched when I couldn’t nail the feeling down.

I was missing something, I knew I was and my uncertainty had my phone to my ear again as I exited the building. “Elijah, I need a tap and a tracker fitting.”

* * *

“Holy fuck Liv, are you okay?” I gasped as I knelt before a bruised Liv.

Nate was trembling with anger from beside me, his rage and fury smoking the room heavily, his wrath was potent and physical around us.

“I’m fine.” She cast a heated glare at Nate before she turned back to me, her swollen eye and split lip becoming purpler with each passing minute. “You need to watch her Mason, these . . . these bastards hate her, they . . .”

My body tensed with her words, her fear and anguish for Ava bringing forth my own apprehension, “They what, Liv?”

Her eyes shot to Nate who nodded to her firmly before she swallowed and turned her frightened eyes back on me, “They said some real bad stuff Mason, stuff they . . . they are gonna do to her . . .” her voice trailed off to a quiet terrorised whisper with her last words and my gut clenched at the horror displayed openly in her eyes.

Liv was petrified for Ava, their words and actions filling her with the fear of God for her friend. “What Liv? You’ve got to tell me, sweetheart. I need to know otherwise I can’t nail this bastard.” I fought to keep my voice soft but I knew Liv had heard the promise, the threat, and the pure physical hatred in my words.

She swallowed heavily before a choked rasp echoed in her throat, “Liv, listen to me. I will
not
let anything happen to Ava, I promise.”

Her teeth were nibbling furiously on her bottom lip as her eyes pooled with tears, “They said . . . they called her some real awful stuff but it was his promise that frightens me, Mason, he meant every fucking word that came out of his mouth.”

Her eyes flicked to the floor before she said her next words, her whole body vibrating with dread before she looked back at me. “He said he had a message for you and I was to pass it on.”

I nodded in encouragement, my hand slipping into her shaking one as I tried to feed her my confidence. “He said–You’re gonna pay for the blades. I’m gonna make you pay so painfully for the blades. Listen to your loved ones’ breaths tonight, relish them cos’ they won’t be audible for long, they’re mine, each single fucking breath belongs to me.”

Her wide eyes watched my reaction as a sob choked its way up her tight throat. My entire blood system shrieked in anger as my heart beat rocketed with pure undiluted rage. My eyes glazed, a white mist blocking my view as each muscle in my body screamed in pain at the force of my revulsion with this fucking cunt. My nerve endings squealed as each hair on my body stood to attention, my gut clenched so tightly it caused a spasm in my bowel and my fists tightened in readiness for the fight ahead.

I pulled in a calming breath, the cool air flowing into my hot lungs and relaxing me enough to dissect the information Liv had divulged.

It didn’t make sense, what fucking blades? I didn’t remember any fucking blades.

“Are you sure that’s what he said Liv?” I barked at her a little too sternly. Nate growled at me as he seated himself beside her and I closed my eyes to regain a thread of composure. “Sorry,” I rubbed my hands over my face and battled to pull my brain into gear. I took control of my voice and smiled as warmly as I could, “Are you sure those were his exact words?”

She nodded, “He made me repeat them and if I didn’t get it right he . . .” she pointed to her lip and eye and I nodded in understanding.

I blew out a breath, my brain still sorting through my memories like a computer software program as it raked through past and long gone recollections.

I stood and cracked my jaw back into place, Liv’s message had seen it clench so tightly my teeth had cracked under the pressure. “I’ll get Sam round; you need to tell him as much as possible about this prick.”

She nodded firmly, she knew how it worked, “Then I’m gonna get someone posted on you and the kids.”

She shook her head, “No Mason, its fine. He won’t bother me again; you need to focus on Ava.”

“Oh don’t worry, she’s taken care of. You and Layla, god help me when she finds out, will take the protection Liv, no arguments. Understand?”

She nodded knowing it was a waste of breath arguing with me. “Nate.” I gestured towards the front door to speak privately with him.

“Be right back, Angel” He whispered as he kissed the top of her head then followed me onto the porch.

“I’ll get someone onto it but keep your eye out until he’s posted.”

He nodded and grabbed my wrist as I turned back to my car, “Mason . . .”

I turned and my chest tightened at the fear on his face. Nate loved my wife almost as much as I did, their friendship had stood a lot in a long time and I knew he worried about her. “I’ll get him, Nate. Don’t worry, the bastard is mine, he won’t get to her, he’ll have to go through me first. Not a word to Ava, you get me?”

He nodded as he turned back to the door, his hand rested on the handle as he glanced back at me, “You make him pay for this Mason. Liv . . . I . . .”

“I understand. He’s sorted. Slow and painful” I gave him a malevolent smile as my lips twisted with images of the slow torture I was going to administer to this fucking arsehole.

He sighed then went back inside to console his wife.

What the fuck was happening? I had nothing—
nothing
on this prick. Not one trace of an idea or hint as to who was doing this, or even why. I knew from Liv’s message that it was personal, something I had done to upset him. The blades reference still didn’t come up with any hint, still didn’t snap a clue as to what this was all about.