Atonement (Heart of Stone)

by Sidebottom, D H

  I nodded as I pulled up to the house and rolled my neck against the ache of the day. “You okay?” she asked as I climbed from the car and strolled to the front door, Ava behind me fiddling with something in her bag.

  “Mmmm, just tired. Been a bit of a shit day.”

  I planted one foot in the entrance hall then spun round and grabbed the tops of Ava’s arms and shoved her back outside harshly. “Mason?” The tone in her voice wary when she saw the horror on my face.

  “Get back in the car.”

  She just frowned at me as she tried to peer past me and look into the house, “NOW!”

  She jumped but nodded when she sensed my urgency and climbed back into the passenger seat, “Driver’s seat” I barked at her.

  She gasped but clambered across the console and adjusted the seat to accommodate her tiny legs until she could reach the pedals. She opened the window as I appeared at the side of her and slipped her the keys, “Go to Courtneys and tell Greg to get over here.”

  “What’s wrong?” her voice was quiet with her fear but I shook my head firmly.

  “Go, now.”

  She nodded frantically and rammed the keys into the ignition, firing the engine loudly but she didn’t pull away. “Go, baby, now.”

  “Mason…”

  “Now, Ava.”

  She exhaled heavily and sucked in her lips, her fright clenching my fists and secretly vowing to kill the bastard that would put such a sight on my wife’s beautiful face. “I’ll ring you later, just go.”

  She nodded again and pulled off this time but I saw her gaze in the rear-view mirror the length of the driveway until she disappeared onto the road.

  “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I hissed as I dragged my phone from my pocket and dialled Sam.

  He answered after two rings, “I need everyone at mine… like now!”

  “Okay, what’s up?”

  “Shit, that’s what’s up. Fuck mate, serious shit. Get onto Heidi, I need a full clean up.”

  He mumbled a response before he ended the call and got down to what Sam did best, rallying the fucking troops.

  “Shit!” I ground out as I pulled the neck of my shirt over my nose to protect my lungs from the stench.

  “Fucking shit.”

  The bile surged up my throat but I swallowed it back as I stared at the sight of my house.

  Blood covered every single surface, from the floor to the ceiling, from the stairs to the door, from mine and Ava’s wedding photo adorning the wall to the huge mirror decorating the opposite wall.

  I blinked a couple of times; desperately trying to make the image of Ginny, one of my girls, disappear. She was strung from the bannister, her horrified eyes open as her broken and slashed body swayed gently against the stillness of the room.

  I blew out a rancid breath as I pulled the Glock from the back of my waistband. I had been expecting trouble all day but not this; shit, not this.

  I heard Sam’s jeep pull up, its familiar rattling fan belt alerting me to his arrival, as I scoped out the rest of the house.

  The silence had my hair standing on end as I moved quietly from room to room. Everything seemed okay but I couldn’t fight the feeling that I was missing something important. The fact that I had a dead prostitute hanging in my foyer didn’t help the nerves, but I still hissed when nothing jumped at me and calmed the intuition.

  “Mase!” Sam shouted from the front door, a slight wobble in his tone letting me know he was as spooked as me.

  He lifted a brow at me as I descended the stairs whilst Brad and Trevor entered behind him.

  “Holy fuck!” Brad declared as Trevor baulked and shot outside to retch into the flower bed. Ava was gonna be thrilled with that deposit, it had taken her months to get the bloody things to flourish.

  “One of yours?” Brad asked as he circled under Ginny, looking up at her and expertly dissecting any information he could pull from the scene before we took her down.

  “Yep, newish girl. She left to work at the Panther, and then came back to us last week after Rebecca offered her a better incentive.”

  Brad blew out a breath, “Bet she wished she hadn’t accepted now.”

  I nodded sadly, trying to not look at the poor cow but not being able to look away.

  Sam came to stand behind me, “Where’s Ava?”

  “I sent her to Courtney’s” I divulged as Heidi’s van pulled up to the front door and I stalked over swiftly halting her. “Give us ten, Heidi. Need to deal with the body first.”

  She nodded once, the nose to ear chain flicking her face as she smiled, “Blood?”

  I grimaced; I was sure this very masculine woman had a thing for life’s sustenance. She seemed to relish the idea that my house was splattered top to bottom with the red stuff. “Yeah, lots of it too.”

  “Don’t worry, Mr Fox. By the time me and my guys have finished there won’t be a single drop left, even for forensics” she added with a lift of her brow.

  I gave her a tight smile and nodded before making my way back inside, my stomach turning as soon as my foot hit the hallway and the smell overpowered me.

  Brad and Sam were already in the process of lowering Ginny down and onto a large grey tarp, Trevor immediately wrapping the body when it hit the ground. His mouth was covered with a towel as his eyes shut tightly against the fact he had to wrap a dead woman in a blanket.

  “I’ll do it, Trev.” I told him. He didn’t need telling twice, he moved fast and out of the way before she had completely come to rest on the ground before us.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket, alerting me to a text and I pulled it out.

  Ava:

  Hope everything’s ok. I messaged Connor and put him off until 9ish. That ok or you want me to cancel? Xxx

  Ahh, shit. I had forgotten about Connor. Good job Ava hadn’t or the man would be walking in on something that would be a little difficult to explain.

  I took a glance at the clock and was relieved to find it was only a little after 4 o’clock. That should give Heidi enough time.

  I wasn’t cancelling tonight, Ava needed a bit of fun and attention and hell, if a threesome didn’t give it her I don’t know what would.

  Me:

  9 is fine, baby. I’ll give you a call in an hour. Love you xxx

  Ava:

  And me, you xxx

  She hadn’t asked, but then again, I knew she wouldn’t. She understood my life, her life as well now, but I don’t know what she would have done if she had seen...

  I blew out a breath and continued in my mission to shroud Ginny. I just hoped it had been quick for her, but looking at the gaping wound across her neck, I knew, I knew she had suffered.

  “Holy fucking Christ!”

  I needed this bastard. I need to find him fast, and damn, what I was gonna do to the prick when I found him; nice and slow came to mind and I smiled malevolently as an image of my claw knife and his cock came to view.

  Chapter 22

  Ava

  “What the hell is going on?” Courtney asked as she wiggled out of her black skirt. I sat on her bed watching her change out of her funeral clothes as I sipped the coffee she had made me after I had burst through her front door.

  I blew out a heavy breath and she narrowed her eyes on me and pointed one of her long talons in my face, “You know more, indulge me.”

  “You know Mason owns Allure, well… I’m gonna be running it from now on.”

  Her eyes widened to saucers as she stared at me with disbelief, “What the hell, babe. With Rebecca?”

  It was my turn to widen my eyes as the mouthful of coffee I had just swallowed found its way back up my throat and erupted from both my mouth and my nose with a forceful torrent.

  “Christ Courtney, do I look like bloody Mother Teresa. No way in hell am I a good enough person to forgive that bitch, as for working with her, yeah, that’d work.” I choked out a laugh as I pictured Rebecca’s face when Mason would tell her she would be answering to me.

  My br
ow lifted and my lips bowed with the idea, “Ooh but…”

  Courtney’s head slipped from side to side as she read my thoughts and glowered at me, “No, you’ll end up killing her.”

  She shimmied out of her shirt but continued with the death glare as she pulled on some joggers and a plain white Tee.

  “Yeah but wouldn’t that be fun. I could place her with the oldies that have no teeth and smell of fish shit.”

  She pursed her lips but her eyes lit with her laughter, “You are such a bad person.”

  I nodded gleefully, “I know.”

  She sighed and disappeared through the bedroom doorway and down the stairs. I followed and sunk into one of her kitchen chairs as she refilled the kettle and flicked the switch. “Carry on” she gestured with her hand for me to continue as she spooned coffee granules into fresh cups and I rolled my head around my neck.

  “Someone’s targeting Allure, beating the girls, even killing one and I can’t, as Mason’s wife, let anything more happen. Rebecca is out and I’m in.”

  She nodded as she placed the steaming mug on the table in front of me and settled opposite, her eyes still thin but inquisitive, “And today?”

  I shrugged as I blew the hot liquid with eagerness at tasting the amber nectar, and took a sip, “We got home, Mason stepped through the door and then shoved me out of the way. Got me in the car and told me to come here. That’s all I know as yet. Something had happened in the house, I know that much, but what? I have absolutely no idea.”

  She frowned deeply; faint laughter lines creasing the skin at the side of her eyes as her brow puckered and I suddenly realised how down and weary my friend looked. “You okay, hun, you seem tired.”

  She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Greg and me… we’re… having a few problems.”

  Jesus Christ, how did I not see this? She was my best friend, she needed me and all I had given her was more bullshit from my own fucked up life.

  I slid a hand across the table and cupped her slightly trembling one. Her eyes rimmed with tears and I climbed round the table and crouched before her, “Tell me.”

  The tears spilled in shallow rivulets down her pretty face as she sucked in a hiccup and gulped before her guilty face scrunched tight. My intuition racked up a slight concern and I suddenly found myself glaring at her, “Courtney?”

  “I… I’m sorry, Ava, I…”

  I reared back at the guilt in her voice and regarded her, “What? Tell me.”

  “I, uhh…” She palmed the table and pushed herself upright, her body stiff but resigned as she turned and gazed out of the window. “I didn’t mean it to happen, Ava but… I… Fuck, I love him Ava, more than god damn life. I couldn’t help it, I’m so sorry.”

  I rolled my lips and stood behind her, my heart beating frantically, whilst I waited. Silence encompassed us for what seemed like forever before she turned to me and closed her eyes, “Kade.”

  “Oh, wow, I wasn’t expecting that.”

  How did I feel? I didn’t know to be honest.

  “But, since when?”

  I was stunned, not sure what to say or how to feel. I was angry with her but I tried to filter through the other emotions and came up blank.

  “The cottage - Mason’s birthday weekend. We… invited him to… and well, I felt something there that I have never felt with Greg. It was like… like he fit me perfectly.”

  “I bet he did” I scoffed bitterly.

  “Ava, please, I… I wanted to tell you but…”

  I snorted, “But you were what Courtney? Frightened I would lure him away? Just… fuck!”

  Her face paled and she swallowed harshly as she reached out to me but I shook my head and held a hand up to her, “I… Jesus, I dunno what to say. Does Greg know?”

  “He knows I’m seeing someone else but he doesn’t know who. It will kill him when he finds out it’s Kade, it was his idea for Kade to join us and I know he’ll blame himself.”

  I needed to get out of there, away from the hurt I felt. What Kade did or whoever he saw had nothing to do with me but… just, Shit!

  I hoisted my bag off the floor and walked out, desperate for solitude and silence. My brain screamed in frustration as my heart thumped a slow ache.

  I floored the accelerator in anger, the screech of the tyres on the ground feeding my resentment as I manoeuvred expertly between the slow moving traffic in my sleek Porsche, well Mason’s Porsche.

  Why was I feeling like this? I didn’t love Kade - did I?

  No, I knew I didn’t, I loved Mason wholly and entirely, but… Christ, why did it hurt?

  I pulled through the gates to the house as a van with Heidi, one of the cleaning crew that did the clubs, pulled out. She waved and smiled and I lifted a hand to her but returned her smile with a frown.

  What the hell had happened if we needed a cleaner?

  I couldn’t deal with this shit now.

  I slammed on the brake and stormed into the house, avoiding everyone who hovered around and went straight to the freezer and pulled out the vodka. I downed the first then refilled my glass and took a sip as I palmed the counter and looked out to the garden.

  “Ava?” Mason queried my mood quietly and hesitantly.

  I plastered a smile on my face and turned to him, “Hey.”

  “Hey” he echoed as his lips landed gently on my forehead. “You okay?” His face was a mask of suspicion but his eyes held fear.

  Why did his eyes hold fear?

  “I’m okay, you? Something you need to tell me?”

  He frowned deeply but I didn’t miss the glint in his eye, “You know better than that, Ava.”

  “What the fuck, Mason. This is my bloody house; if some shit has happened here I think I have a right to know.”

  He moved forward and into me, each of his firm thighs flanking my own as his stare pinned me down. “If I thought you needed to know then I would tell you.” His fingers gripped my chin and he tilted my head back and scrutinised me intensely, “What happened?”

  “Nothing.”

  “A bit quick and blunt there, baby. Tell me.”

  “Nothing’s wrong, I just… I just…”

  Greg caught my eye as he walked through the doorway and into the kitchen. His eyes held me, silently questioning me as to what I knew and I gulped, my heart hurting profoundly for him as I read the heartache in his gaze.

  I returned my eyes to Mason and softened my stance, “Can you give me a minute with Greg?”

  He frowned and flicked a quick glance at Greg before he backed off from me and turned, “Greg?”

  Greg rolled his lips and shot a look from Mason to me then back to Mason before he nodded with a faint grimace and a slow blink.

  Mason frowned and cocked his head at his friend before he took a step towards him, “You need to talk?”

  Greg sighed heavily but shook his head as he gestured towards me with his chin.

  Mason shot me a confused look but honoured Greg’s wishes and left us to it after he gave him a pat on the shoulder, silently supporting him and offering his friendship as an emotional crutch.

  “You know then.” Greg voiced sullenly as he sank into a chair at the table. I nodded as I slipped out another glass from the cupboard and filled it for him. He picked it up and downed it in one before tipping it towards me in request for another.

  “Yeah.” I sighed and enveloped his hand with my own. “I… shit Greg, I dunno…”

  He shrugged and laughed bitterly, “My own fucking fault Ava, I should never have invited him into our bed.”

  I gasped and he frowned at me, “You did know about Courtney and Kade?”

  “Yes I knew, but I didn’t realise you knew it was Kade, Courtney doesn’t know you know who it is.”

  He scoffed and shook his head, “I’ve known since the onset.” I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he scratched his eyebrow, his desperation to hold back the tears gripped my throat and threatened to rip out my heart.

  “I can’t reprove her, G
reg, hell I made the same mistake, but that doesn’t mean I agree with it. I…”

  “She says she loves him, Ava, what… how can I compete with that? Does Harry or I even come into the equation? She… shit Ava…”

  His tears and desolation hit like a tornado, his hot tears spilling forth and threatening to take his last breath as he sobbed uncontrollably, his face contorting with each rapid draw of breath he tried to take.

  I slid on the floor beside him and he immediately slid his arms around my neck and held on to me so tightly I thought he would crush me. I held him, frantically trying to take the hurt for him, steal his ache and pain as he finally accepted what was happening.

  What the hell was my best friend playing at, in fact what the hell were they both playing at? Was my affair with Kade not enough for him that he had to get involved in another woman that was unavailable? Did he live for this sort of relationship, seeing which marriage he could smash to pieces next?

  I held onto Greg for a long time, whilst he poured out his despair and devastation. Mason came in once then immediately turned back around to give us more space.

  “You gonna be okay?” I asked when he stood and drained his glass.

  He shrugged but nodded, “Yeah, I’ve booked into a hotel for tonight.”

  “No, stay here.”

  He shook his head and scrunched his nose, “Thank you but I… need to be alone for a while.”

  I nodded and gave him a final hug before he kissed the top of my head then left. I stared at the door for long moments until it opened and Mason walked through, his face full of confusion and worry for his friend.

  “Is he okay?”

  I pursed my lips and shook my head, “No, not really. Courtney is having an affair.”

  “Holy shit.” His eyes widened in shock before they narrowed, “Kade.”