Decay (Heart of Stone Book 13)

by Sidebottom, D H

  Fear turned to confusion. “What?”

  “It was awkward,” she said quietly. “Bathing with ten other women, it was a bit difficult to groom… that part of me.”

  I coughed to clear the frustration from my throat. “Ava, if you think a bit of hair is gonna stop me from fucking you into next week then you are going to be shocked when I bend you over that fucking sofa and drive deep inside you.”

  Slowly she removed her hands and I couldn’t help but drop my eyes.

  “Jesus Christ!” I gasped, “That is one hell of a bush!”

  “Mason!” she scolded, slapping me on the chest when I laughed.

  Dropping to my knees, I showed her exactly how much a tuft of hair didn’t bother me. Parting her with my thumbs, she moaned loudly when I leaned in and ran my tongue over her swollen clit. She was already wet, her pubic hair glistening with her arousal. Her hands found my hair and she held on as I ate her out with a hunger we both felt deep.

  How I’d missed the taste of her on my tongue, her unique addictive essence a balm to the wild need in me. She parted her legs for me and held on to me more firmly when I slipped a finger inside her, the ridges of her walls a guide for my touch.

  “God, yes,” she whimpered when she started to ride my fingers and tongue. “I missed you so much.”

  I snorted, “Your pussy missed me.”

  “It did, it really did.”

  I could feel her clenching, the fight for her climax becoming excruciating. She deserved an orgasm after what she’d gone through, so moving my mouth from her clit, I softly kissed the inside of her thigh and then sank my teeth into her flesh. Her orgasm burst with a scream, her pussy gripping my fingers tightly to keep them right where her body wanted them.

  Waiting until her heartrate had settled, I stared at her. “Turn around, baby. I can’t wait any longer.”

  She leaned up on her toes and placed a swift kiss to my lips before she did as I asked and turned to the sofa, propping her hands on the cushion as she pointed her delicious arse at me. A rough groan escaped me the moment I sank deep inside her.

  “Fuck, yes!”

  She nodded, looking over her shoulder at me. There was so much awe, so much love in her eyes that for a moment I couldn’t move, didn’t want to move. She gazed at me as though she was drinking me in, filling herself with me once again. She needed that, and so did I. It had been so long that our souls needed to replenish and once I felt the trickle of her slide into my veins again I started to move.

  She pressed back against every one of my slow drives, our bodies realigning with the feel of each other as we joined in the only way we knew how. Her warmth encouraged me to speed up, the pleasure with each thrust making my jaw vibrate.

  “You know this will always be mine, Ava.”

  She nodded, unable to answer me verbally as bliss rode her.

  “Even when I’m gone, this is mine.”

  She didn’t answer me and I felt her body tense with my declaration. I knew it wasn’t because she hoped to take another lover after my death, it was because she didn’t want to accept that I was going to die. But we both knew it was coming now. I wouldn’t lie, she didn’t deserve lies.

  Making her forget, I leaned over her and bit into her neck. Like clockwork, her orgasm took her breath and freed my climax. I knew it wouldn’t take me long, but three minutes was ridiculous. Yet the ecstasy that stormed me when my balls emptied deep inside her had us both forgetting how quick it had been.

  Her body shuddered underneath mine when she felt my cock throbbing inside her. Neither of us wanted to leave the other but begrudgingly I pulled out of her and lifted her into my arms.

  Then I carried us to bed and repeated the last three minutes all over again.

  Five

  Katie

  I coughed as dust flew everywhere when I yanked the curtains apart. Sun filtered in, highlighting the dirt and the dust wafting around. Pushing open all the windows I took a huge gulp of fresh air. “Christ, Georgie. It’s been three months now.”

  He just glared at me from his position on the sofa. Beer cans, pizza boxes and takeaway cartons littered the floor around him and I grit my teeth as I shook open a large black bag.

  “I know you’ll never get over it, but bloody hell, you should have at least started functioning by now.”

  “Katie, fuck off.”

  I rolled my eyes, snatching at the mass of shit lying around and thrusting it angrily into the bag. “You need to get a bloody life again.”

  He shot off the sofa and I allowed him to grab my throat. Anger was the only thing that would get his heart beating again so I took his fury easily.

  His eyes blazed like sheets of steel and my heart warmed. He was so much like my father it was uncanny. Yet George, in a way, was nothing like my dad. Whereas his looks were identical to the younger version of our dad, his character was the total opposite. He hated violence with an abhorrence that was as ferocious as my hunger for it. He blamed Dad for everything that had hurt our mother, even if she was constantly telling him that it was only due to Dad she was still breathing. Georgie blamed Dad for everything, from the way our lives had turned out, to the fucking weather. I would go as far to say he hated him and it was becoming a growing problem. I felt like piggy in the middle all the time and the burden of it was dragging me down. I had my own problems, and now I had to take on my brother’s too.

  “A life?” he hissed but just as quickly as he’d turned on me, he dropped his grip. His face showed every bit of the devastation that rocked him, recognition of what he was doing filling him with shame. “You think after my wife and daughter have been slaughtered I have a life left?”

  Shaking my head in frustration, I couldn’t hold back my own temper. “Debora and Becca died, not you, Georgie.”

  He screwed up his face, staring at me with utter disgust and shock. “How can you stand there and say that without showing the slightest bit of remorse?”

  “Because it’s the bloody truth! You think Deb would want you to slowly rot away like this?”

  He turned away from me and for a long moment he stood rigid in the middle of the room, his eyes to the floor. Then, as if by magic, he took a black bag and started to clear the room with me. Silently, I worked alongside him not daring to speak in case his emotions got the better of him again.

  Picking up a can and sliding it into his bag, I heard him sigh loudly. “I miss them so much, Katie.”

  The sound of raw emotion in his voice made my heart clench tightly. He stood looking at me, despair and horror glaring back at me through the ache in his eyes.

  “I know.”

  He nodded, his throat bobbing up and down as he tried to hold back the tears. “I know she wouldn’t want me to be like this, I do, but there’s nothing left for me now. I can’t find the energy to keep going without them.”

  “But you have to.” I hated that I was being the bitch but he needed to get control back, to start living again. Grief took our souls and crushed it and only inner strength could get it back again. Wallowing would never let that strength begin to fight, and as much as I wanted to hold him while he broke I knew it would do him no good.

  Perching on the edge of the sofa he just nodded. “How’s Mum?”

  I smiled then. Whereas I always leaned closer to my dad, George and Mum’s relationship was solid. He loved her with the whole of his soul and I knew she would be the only one who could drag him out of this self-destruction.

  “Well that’s what I’m here for.”

  He frowned, finally giving me all of his attention as diversion shifted his grief to the side.

  “She’s out.”

  He stared in shock, confusion making him blink rapidly. “What? How?”

  “Dad.” I didn’t tell him anything else, how Dad had set an avalanche of shit into motion, or how he’d gone and made my job a damn site fucking harder. Besides, it was rare George wanted to hear about our dad anyway.

  For the first time ever the hatr
ed in his eyes softened. “Good.”

  Although he blamed Dad for everything, even George couldn’t deny the love our parents had for one another. I could only dream of ever finding a taste of their connection. Wincing to myself when Steed filtered forbiddingly into my mind, I shook myself off and ventured into the kitchen.

  A groan left me. It looked like a tornado had hit, the sink full and overflowing with dirty dishes making my stomach curdle with disgust, and the thickness of grime covering the floor and sides making my teeth vibrate. “Christ!”

  My phone rang, and pulling it from my pocket, I couldn’t help but smile a little as Steed’s name danced across the screen. My heart fluttered and then anger took over at that feeling. Why the hell the man had this much effect on me, I couldn’t understand. I wasn’t one for relationships. A fuck every now and then suited me just fine. I didn’t rely on anyone; I didn’t want to. But there was something about Steed that calmed the rage inside me. His harsh touch lit a part of me, his rough ways a balm to the pain that always engulfed me. But it wasn’t just that. Steed was the only one that I could talk to, that I enjoyed talking to. His smile was soothing and exciting at the same time, his laugh the only sound that could pull a smile from me. His amazing body not only made me hot, but was also a security blanket that cocooned me from the ever-living danger that surrounded me. When he would wrap me in his arms I always felt safe, protected from the world I lived in.

  But we were both aware that we could never allow our relationship to take hold. Dad hated him with a loathing bordering on crazy after he’d slept with my mother while working for him. He saw it as the ultimate betrayal, especially after he’d trusted Steed enough to put him on watch over my mother - and all the time he was screwing her.

  Mum was careful of her relationship with Steed. In reality she had no beef with him, but she was aware of Dad’s feelings and she respected them.

  The night when Nikki, my friend, had been attacked and I’d brutally murdered the guy, Mum had phoned Steed and asked him to come and help me. She knew any of Dad’s men would have felt it their duty to alert him to what went off, and at the time I wasn’t dealing with the truth of what I was very well. But Steed had stepped up and gently pulled me through the worse time of my life. We’d developed a relationship and at first we just gave in to the crackle of lust between us, but it was now turning into something deeper. I couldn’t allow it; I wouldn’t allow it. I needed to cut ties with him altogether, and as much as I’d been trying to do that for the last few months, something inside refused to let go.

  “Hey.”

  The sound of his gruff voice made my soul settle and I couldn’t help but wince at the feeling.

  I didn’t know what to say as I fought with the overwhelming forbidden emotions engulfing me, and knowing why, Steed sighed.

  “You okay? Just thought I’d check on you since you practically ran screaming from me last night.”

  “You have to stop ringing me. I don’t want you to ring me anymore. I don’t want you, full stop.”

  There, I’d said it. What should have been a proud and relieved moment felt like death had curled around inside my body. I gripped the edge of the countertop, steadying myself when the shake in my legs became too much.

  He was quiet for a moment and I squeezed my eyes closed.

  “You fail big time at lying, sweetheart.”

  I jerked when my teeth pierced my bottom lip. “I’m not lying. You were just a fuck, you know that. But now I’m bored. It’s time to leave it alone.”

  My life made me hard, it prohibited any soft emotions. Emotions were for pussies and could cost you your life. The amount of times my dad had had to fight for my mother because our world knew just how much she meant to him, and vice versa, was unreal. And if your enemy sensed that sort of softness inside you they would use it to slaughter you. So I had made myself cold and detached, made myself this bitter bitch that had a reputation as the coldest cunt in the criminal world.

  Yet as I stood there, the cold around me filtering into my bones and making me tremble, for the first time ever I hated my life. I hated what I was, what I have had to become. I hated that I would never be loved like my mother was, or that I wouldn’t ever feel the tender touch of an adoring husband in the first light of day.

  “Still don’t believe you,” Steed answered casually. “And what’s more, if it were the truth, you think I would allow you to just shove me aside like that? You know damn well that there’s more to this than just a fuck. And to be honest, I’m getting bored of your refusal to accept that.”

  I concentrated on the tick of the kitchen clock, willing my anger to bate. “Steed….”

  “Uh-uh,” he mumbled, denying me any chance to talk him down. “You want to finish this then you do it to my face. But you only do it if it’s actually what you want. Fuck your dad, Katie. There’s three of us in this relationship and I’m growing tired of sharing you.”

  “Then don’t!” I hissed. “I’m trying to end this for your sake as much as mine. Why won’t you just accept that?”

  “Because you’re only doing it cos’ you think it will protect me.”

  “Because we both know what my dad is capable of, and what he’ll do to you, to both of us, when he finds out.”

  His laugh made me vibrate. “Katie, you think whatever your dad does will stop me from loving you…”

  His declaration had my heartrate escalating into dangerous territory. I couldn’t seem to breathe as my lungs started to close in with shock. My head shook from side to side as his words echoed around my head. “No,” I choked out before stabbing the end call on my phone. Quickly I switched it off, knowing he would try calling me again.

  Dropping my face into my shaking hands I gulped for breath, panic making every function almost impossible.

  “What the fuck are you doing, Katie?”

  My head snapped up and I stared at George from where he stood looking at me with horror from the kitchen doorway.

  “How long have you been there?” My voice was choked as I started to hyperventilate.

  “Long enough.” He groaned and shook his head. “He’ll kill you and Steed for this, Katie.”

  His statement was the truth but it didn’t stop the nausea from twisting my stomach. “Do you think I don’t know that?” Sagging against the worktop, I groaned and looked at him. “What the fuck am I gonna do, Georgie?”

  He stared at me for a long moment before he dropped his eyes and shook his head sadly. “The only thing you can do. Pray.”

  Six

  Ava

  For the first time in a while my mind was peaceful. A light covering of snow had settled overnight and the tranquil location Mason had picked was soothing to both my thoughts and my body. After being cooped up for so long the openness of the forest that surrounded the cottage was pure heaven, a balm to the hardness of the previous few months.

  Mason’s hand clasped mine tightly, our joined hands swinging freely between us as we strolled in harmonious silence, both of us savouring the perfection of the quiet haven. The wisps of our heated breaths in the cold air blew before us as if guiding us along. Streaks of sun filtered through the occasional break in the trees and the infrequent chirp of happy birds lulled us both into a place I never wanted to leave.

  Mason sighed loudly but contentedly. “You think anyone would notice if we never went back?”

  I laughed, recognising his hope as one of my own. “Wouldn’t it be nice?”

  He shrugged, giving my hand a tight squeeze. “We could just buy the cottage and never tell anyone where we are.”

  I nodded, going along with his fantasy. “We could live on squirrel shit and ‘lurve’.”

  He chuckled. “You always have to spoil the dream.”

  “Do I?” I glanced at him. “Care to tell me what’s wrong with squirrel shit?”

  He narrowed his eyes on me, wondering once again if I was being serious. After all our years together he’d become accustomed with my bipolar com
ments. I nudged him and grinned, “Joking. I prefer badger shit, so much meatier.”

  He laughed loudly, his head tipping back. “Do you remember the badger that cornered you that time?”

  I puffed out a breath and shuddered, “I don’t think I’m ever likely to forget it, especially after you saved me then threw me in that huge pile of horse shit!”

  Nodding with another hearty laugh he slipped his arm around my shoulder and hugged me close to his side. “Damn, we’ve had a good life, Ava.”

  I smiled, agreeing with him as he dropped his arm from my side and turned his back to me. When he patted his backside, I jumped onto his back and wrapped my arms and legs around him.

  Turning his head, he pursed his lips and signalled for a kiss before he started along the dirt track again and headed back towards the cottage with me clung to his back piggyback style. My man was strong, the ease at which he held me always left me full of astonishment. I wasn’t the slimmest chick out there but Mason never showed any struggle when I clung to his back.

  “Now I have you are you finally going to talk to me?”

  He tensed under me and I hugged him tighter, dropping another kiss to his neck when I felt his unease.

  “You think after all these years that you can still protect me?” I sighed. “This is a joint relationship, Mason. A marriage.”

  “Doesn’t mean I have to frighten you with what ifs.”

  I clenched my teeth, my temper rising with his reserve. “It’s not the ‘what ifs’ that scare me, it’s the ‘whens’. Be honest with me. You know I can handle it.”

  I gasped when he suddenly turned and my back hit a tree trunk. Gently lowering me to my feet he turned around. The glare in his eyes made me blow out a frustrated breath. “Ava. You also seem to forget that I can handle myself.”

  I nodded but the frantic beat of my heart refused to subside, leaving me a little breathless. “I know you can, I’m not arguing that fact. What I am saying is that I have a right to know what threats have been made and what we plan to do about them.”