The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone

by D H Sidebottom

  I closed my eyes and pulled in a deep breath to calm my rage. “Tonight, baby. Kerrie can have the kids and me and you are fucking talking. Make sure you don’t make plans.”

  “I’m going out tonight” She replied quickly and I frowned. It was rare Ava went anywhere at night. She usually stayed in with the twins whilst I did the rounds of the clubs and other stuff.

  “No, baby. You’re not listening.”

  “For Christ’s sake Mason, it’s you who isn’t listening, I am going out. You can watch Katie and Georgie for a change. I have a life as well.”

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  She exhaled heavily as her eyes fired angrily, “Me? You need to learn to respect me, Mason. After eight years you still treat me like one of your damn men. I have made arrangements, deal with it.”

  Enough.

  I grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them above her head. “Enough! Now!”

  She knew she had gone too far when her gaze dropped to the floor and she nodded slightly. “I’m sorry.”

  I relaxed my hold on her and palmed her cheek before I slid my hand round into her soft curls. “We need to talk, Ava. I won’t let our relationship slip away until we have a huge problem. We talk, tonight.”

  She sighed but nodded, “Fine.”

  “Good girl, now kiss me.”

  Her lips twitched as she fought the smile. I didn’t fight mine as she reached up to me and planted her soft pliant lips over mine. I let out a small groan as I always did when she kissed me, I couldn’t help it, it was involuntary; the same as my blood always sank to my cock simultaneously.

  “I love you, baby” I whispered against her mouth.

  She nodded and palmed my cheek, “I know you do, Mason.”

  She planted a small kiss on my lips before she turned and descended the stairs.

  I watched her retreat and I didn’t miss the fact that she hadn’t returned my words.

  * * *

  “You know what confidential means Lucas?”

  He stared at me as we entered the building, “Yeah Mason, I know what confidential means and funnily enough, I’m okay with that. Why I would want to discuss this with anyone is beyond me.”

  I narrowed my eyes on him, “You have a problem with this?”

  He barked out a sarcastic laugh. “No” he relented with a slight shake of his head.

  The foyer was full of angry women and I frowned as I walked into the middle of them and turned to Tracey. “What the fuck is going on?”

  “Wendy’s buggered off.”

  “Fuck!”

  I looked at Olga and tipped my head towards Lucas, “Take him up to my office.”

  She nodded once and gestured for Lucas to follow her as I held my hand up to the enraged assembly. “Shut—the—fuck–up!”

  They all quietened and looked at me and I turned back to Tracey. “Any excuse why she went?”

  She raised her perfectly manicured brows at me and I sighed and nodded. There was only one person who could fill in her position and I fucked myself inwardly for what I was about to do. “I’ll sort it within the end of the day.”

  Tracey nodded and I trusted her to pacify the girls. “And the other situation?” she asked with a cringe.

  I understood her worry and I smiled at her and held each of them at my attention “That’s sorted too. Security will be moving in tonight so don’t worry, okay?”

  They each nodded but I could still read their hesitancy and I was with them all on this. “Don’t worry girls, the protection I’m bringing in are professional and highly trained. Nothing more will happen here.”

  They seemed more placated with this and I could hear their mumbles as I entered my office down the hallway.

  Lucas eyed me sceptically as I walked in. I nodded to Olga who returned my nod and disappeared through the door.

  “I want you to access CCTV and any e-mails that were forwarded from here and then deleted. I need you to find if anything suspicious is happening within these four walls. Look through the bookings or request logs and see if you find anything that looks dodgy, then I need you to set up firewalls, new passwords and any other security on my internal tech stuff.”

  “That’s all fine but I need something to work with Mason, anything you can tell me that will help my search and what it is I’m even looking for.”

  I debated how much to tell him. Lucas’s wife and my best friend, Layla, was close to Ava and if this got back to her, my marriage was over.

  “You don’t need to know anymore. Just anything that pops out as unusual or something repetitive that doesn’t seem right.”

  He sighed heavily and rolled his eyes but nodded, “Fine, but cos’ I don’t exactly know what to look for it could take a while.”

  I nodded, “That’s fine, Nate knows I have you here and he’s good with it. For some reason he says he has a new tech guy going in for a few weeks so he doesn’t need you.”

  Lucas frowned and pursed his lips, “That must be why Kade’s in then.”

  “What?”

  He frowned at me. “Didn’t Ava tell you? Kade’s in, that’s why she’s resigned.”

  What the fuck!

  I didn’t give him chance to say anymore, I was out of the door and climbing into my car within the minute.

  My wife had some serious explaining to do.

  Chapter 4

  Ava

  “PERFECT” OWEN SMILED proudly at me as Courtney clapped from where she was propped up at the bar in The Black Panther, hiccupping with a smile after taste testing my many attempts at various cocktails. “You see, Ava, you got the hang of it. You’ll mostly be waiting tables but it will help if you can serve as well.”

  I nodded happily and smiled as William approached us with an equally wide smile. “Ava, sweetheart, you do know the uniform is compulsory don’t you?”

  I nodded and grinned with excitement as William held up a Black Panther uniform in my size. “And Mason will be okay with you wearing this?” he asked sceptically. He knew my husband inside out.

  I shrugged, “I need the job William, so . . .”

  He grimaced but nodded. “I’ll let you tell him then” he laughed and I smirked at his cunning. “Can you start tonight?”

  Mason’s demand bounced around the obedient parts of my brain but the defiant part smiled in glee, my excitement at my new job pushing me to accept. “Sure, what time?”

  “6?”

  I nodded happily as I took the uniform from William and studied it. Mason would freak if he saw me in this. I looked at Courtney, “Can I come to yours from here?”

  She nodded and clapped her hands. “We haven’t done an afternoon together for ages.”

  I grinned in return. She was right. I missed my best friend and our time together but it wasn’t always that easy to find time together when we both had families.

  I needed to sort out childcare on a regular basis and a thought popped into my head.

  “Kerrie” I greeted Mason’s sister when she answered her phone.

  “Hey, sweetie” she smiled down the phone.

  “How do you fancy a job? Fulltime.”

  She was silent in her confusion so I filled her in on my new job and she accepted immediately. “God, I would love to. You know I enjoy spending time with them.”

  “Can you start today?” I asked hesitantly but she accepted and told me she would pick Katie and George up from school.

  Perfect.

  * * *

  “Something funny is going off with our men” Courtney said as she narrowed her eyes in thought and I frowned.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Haven’t you noticed how they’re whispering and hiding stuff? Mason called an emergency meeting this morning and everybody went running.”

  My mind wandered back to his scolding when I walked into his office without knocking.

  “Come to think of it, he did disappear this morning without telling me and he proper shouted at me for entering his
office during a meeting. He doesn’t usually bother. I know his lifestyle and business choices now so . . .” I told her as I watched her paint my toe nails a funny grey colour. I wasn’t sure I liked it but I would refrain from telling her.

  It was unusual for Mason to be so secretive and he did seem quite stressed when he came back home. He’d told me he’d had a morning from hell but I hadn’t questioned it. I should have.

  “Well, I’m telling you, they’re hiding something and I dunno about you, Ava, but I’m determined to find out what.”

  My phone trilled inside my bag and Courtney reached over and pulled it out for me whilst I remained immobile with wet toes. “Mason” She informed me and I sighed as I took it from her and answered.

  “Where the fuck are you?” he growled at me and I gasped.

  “Hello to you too Mason, I’m getting pretty sick and tired of your bloody attitude towards me.”

  “And I’m getting sick and fucking tired of your fucking lies, Ava, so I guess we’re even.”

  I gulped and stilled, “What?”

  “Where are you?”

  Shit!

  “Uhh, I’m out.”

  He barked out a loud scoff. “Well that I do know, what I want to know is where you are” he repeated slowly.

  Courtney was staring at me with wide eyes as she caught Mason’s anger through the receiver, his loud voice sifting into the quietness of the room.

  “It doesn’t matter where I am but I need to tell you Kerrie is picking the kids up and I won’t be home for tea.”

  He was eerily silent before he spoke slowly and levelly. “Do not fuck me off any more today, Ava. You’re already down for reprimand tonight, don’t make it worse.”

  “What the hell, Mason. I’m not a child.”

  “Well don’t fucking act like one then!”

  “You’re barking and swearing at me down the phone, but it’s me who’s acting like a child?”

  I heard his severe inhalation and I could picture him gripping something tightly in his fist as he tried to control his temper. “I’m gonna ask you one more time, baby. Where the fuck are you?”

  “Out” I replied as I ended the call.

  Courtney gawked at me, her eyes huge and round as she digested my bravado with Mason. “He’s gonna be knocking on my door in roughly seven minutes, babe. You wanna go hide somewhere?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her. She chuckled slightly then full on laughed with me, “Fuck, Ava. He’s gonna shit his innards’ with you.”

  I laughed even more, “It save’s me buying laxatives to teach him who’s boss.”

  Her eyes widened even more before she laughed harder. “I do not envy you right now.”

  “Ahh, he’ll get over it” I told her with a wave of my hand.

  We both quietened when the front door flew open and Greg walked in with a boiling Mason.

  “Make that four minutes and twenty six seconds” Courtney whispered humorously and I choked out a bark of laughter.

  What the hell was wrong with me? I had a death wish.

  He stood glaring at me as Greg cringed beside him, “Out!”

  I raised my eyes to his and wobbled my head from side to side as if contemplating his command. “Nah!” I smiled with a scrunch of my nose.

  I’m sure I saw steam blow out of his ears as Greg and Courtney both gasped at my rebellious denial.

  His eyebrows lifted as he smirked at me, “What?”

  “I said, No, baby.”

  He nodded slowly. “I thought that’s what you said.”

  His confident tone had my internal alarms on high alert and I watched him warily.

  He took two steps towards me, placed his hands around my waist and hoisted me over his shoulder.

  “Get off me!” I shouted as I thumped his back hard.

  “Uhh . . .” Courtney stood swiftly, deliberating if she was brave enough to come to my assistance as Mason stomped through the front door and down the path towards his car, where he opened the door and flung me inside.

  I grabbed the handle when he shut the door but he flicked the lock before I had chance to escape.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” I stormed at him as he slid in the car beside me.

  “Your fucking husband who is sick and tired of taking your shit lately, Ava.”

  I swallowed heavily. He knew; I could see it in his eyes as he glowered at me.

  “Whatever!” I relented as I turned my glare to the moving pavement.

  He was quiet throughout the ride home and all I could think about was how I was gonna make it back to Courtney’s to collect my uniform before making it into work without my car.

  The man beside me would be the death of me. There was dominant then there was controlling and then there was Mason’s level of controlling and I sighed heavily as I rested my forehead against the window. The bumps and ridges in the road were giving me the headache I had lied about this morning but I was too despondent to lift my head so I rode each bump with the car and remained sullen and silent beside Mason.

  I kept catching glances of his glances towards me but I didn’t acknowledge them or him, I was too damn mad with him to care.

  I wanted a life, I needed a life. My parenting skills were currently the only thing I had to show for my life, especially now that I had lost my job at NSC and I wanted more. Hell, I was entitled to more.

  We pulled up the driveway and Mason killed the engine but didn’t move. I could feel his eyes on me for a while and I still didn’t react to him.

  I was sad; sad, upset and lonely. I knew I shouldn’t be feeling this way. I had a, fair enough controlling husband, but he was still loving, attentive and absolutely adored me. I had good friends, a wonderful surrogate-father in Portugal and I had the most amazing children. But there was just something that I couldn’t put my finger on and now, right at this moment, my emotions and uncertainties were hitting me hard.

  “Baby, talk to me.” Mason said softly beside me.

  His words and the way they were said were the trigger to the liberation of my tears. I turned my face further into the window as they relentlessly streamed down my face, their persistent torrent taking my breath and I was suddenly struggling to breathe with the force of them.

  “Hey, hey, baby” Mason soothed as he flicked the release catch on my seatbelt and pulled me across the console and onto his knee.

  His strong arms wrapped around me as I buried deeper into his comfort and wept harder. “Shush, Ava. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  I shook my head into his chest. “It . . . its n. .not you, M . . . Mason” I spluttered as I fought with my sobs.

  His hand soothed my hair comfortingly as I wiped my nose on his shirt. He tutted loudly and I smiled to myself.

  I eventually calmed down and Mason slipped me back over into my seat as he climbed out of the car and came round to get me. He scooped me up, kicked the car door shut and carried me into the house.

  His eyes flicked down at me as I smiled up at him. “You take care of me so well.”

  He sighed and frowned. “I also grieve you so well.”

  I rolled my lips as he gently lowered us onto the sofa with me still in his lap. “It’s not you.”

  He frowned at me before he placed his lips on my forehead and sighed, “Talk to me, Ava, please. I can’t help if you won’t tell me what’s wrong.”

  “You can’t help anyway; I dunno what . . . what’s wrong with me. I’m just . . .” I shrugged, feeling stupid at my emotions without being able to pinpoint a reason for them.

  He was quiet for a moment and I cringed when I knew what was coming. “Why didn’t you tell me about Kade?”

  I closed my eyes and tried to figure out how to say what I needed to say without him getting defensive. “Because you’re you, Mason.”

  He scoffed and nodded, “Yeah.” I didn’t need to explain further and Mason knew this.

  “I resigned, I won’t work with him.”

  “I k
now” he answered quietly as he exhaled loudly. “You should have told me, Ava. We could have worked something out. It hurts that you can’t talk to me.”

  “Mason,” I shuffled round on his knee so I could face him. “Whether I spoke to you or not wouldn’t have changed the outcome, so there was no point in upsetting you.”

  “But it’s upset you, so it upsets me.” He swallowed and blew out a large breath as he closed his eyes, “If it’s saddening you this much then I . . . I’m okay with you working with him.”

  Holy crap!

  I smiled up at him with adoration before I palmed his cheek. “Thank you,” I whispered, “It means a lot for you to tell me that, Mason.”

  The anguish over all this flashed through his eyes and I reached up to kiss him. He growled as was his usual reaction to my kiss whilst his hand slid in my hair to hold me in place as he devoured me.

  I circled his nose with my own when he pulled away. “I’m not going to be working with Kade, Mason, but thank you.”

  He smiled in relief but at least he had offered.

  Here goes.

  “I have a job at the Panther.”

  I swallowed when after a couple of minutes he hadn’t acknowledged my words. “Mason?”

  His jaw was clenched and his unique twitch in his cheek was prominent, both signs of when his temper was close, and I gulped as I went to move from his lap.

  His hand shot out and wrapped around my forearm as his blazing eyes swung to mine. “Hold it.”

  His chest was heaving as the tic got wilder and I tried to pull my arm free. “Mason, you’re hurting me.”

  He relaxed his hold a little but it was still firm and I was starting to worry slightly over his calmness.

  “Just repeat what you just told me, Ava, cos’ for an insane moment I could’ve sworn you said you had a job at the Panther.”

  I slipped my free hand up to my mouth and started to nibble furiously on my fingertip. “Mason, calm down. I’m only working behind the bar and waiting tables, I’m not gonna be stripping or entertaining.”

  I was suddenly pinned beneath him on the sofa, his hard body pressing against me as my arms were held over my head. “Damn, fucking right you won’t be entertaining, baby. You–are—mine!”