“Me?” I scoffed, “Where the fuck are you, Mason? You’ve become a pussy!”
The air left my lungs when my back hit the floor and Mason’s imposing frame imprisoned me. “Right, I warned you. I don’t know what the fuck has happened to make you suicidal, but no more, baby. You’re out!”
“What?”
“Go home before it isn’t Oswald that ends you.”
I glared at him as the bubble erupted in my stomach. Fire raced through my veins and exploded in a fury as I laid into him. He tried to catch each of my fists before they connected with him. “Ava, stop it!” He cried as he struggled to contain my rage. “What the fuck are you doing? You’ve lost it!”
I screamed at him as I pummelled him harder. Days of horror and devastation and despair surged from me in a torrent of violence. Sam tried to take hold of me when I rolled until I was straddled over Mason, but he couldn’t pull me back from the insanity that had overtaken me.
I was relentless and furious as I rained blow after blow upon Mason. His hands eventually covered his face as my abuse refused to subside.
I kicked out when arms wrapped around my waist and Sam dragged me back. Mason clambered up and pulled out his phone. “I need you,” he hissed into it before he disconnected just as abruptly.
His chest was heaving, his nose poured with blood and his cheekbone was already brandishing black bruising. I smirked when I saw his eye already closing up. He was an inch from me, his furious face stern with rage. “I’ll deal with you at home.” That was all he said to me before Neo appeared. “Knock her out.”
“What?”
He shook his head as his sad eyes gazed at me. “I know you’re hurting, Ava. But you have given me no choice.”
I glared back at him, “No Mason. You promised me I could do this, you swore it would be me.”
“And you swore to abide by my rules!” He roared at me.
I blinked back the tears as I tried to shrug out of Sam’s hold. “You do this and we’re done.”
He shook his head slowly, his expression full of so much pain with my behaviour but I couldn’t seem to pull back my hatred. It was burning inside me, the sear of it too agonising to hold inside. “And you do this . . .” he sighed, “then we’re all done.”
I hissed when I felt the scratch just above my elbow. “I will never forgive you for this, Mason.”
He nodded as he started to blur, “I know, baby. But you will.”
I shook my head as my legs gave way and my eyes rolled back, “No. . . . I won’t.”
Chapter Fourteen
Mason
“BABY,” I WHISPERED as I brushed the wild copper curls from her face. She murmured under her breath but didn’t move. “Ava.”
Her eyes slowly opened but the usual deep green had gone, they were dead and muted. The familiar twinkle had disappeared and had been replaced by a lifeless haze. “Hi,” I said softly as I ran my thumb across her cheekbone.
She didn’t speak. She stared at me, her eyes blinking slowly as though she was too tired of life to even give me a response. “I have news.” I swallowed at her despondency, she had given in, it was written all over her. “George woke up and he’s fine. They’ve done all the checks and everything seems okay.” She nodded but didn’t react to the news as I thought she would have done. “And Oswald has been removed.”
She dropped her eyes and nodded again before she turned her back on me and curled within herself. “Baby, please.”
I watched as her back lifted and fell rhythmically with each breath she took. I wouldn’t back down on this, I was grateful that her breakdown had happened before we had stormed the place, if it hadn’t I wouldn’t be watching her lungs inflate and deflate with her life force. “You need to understand why I wouldn’t let you go in, Ava. You were a hazard to everyone. I’ve always told you that you need to be alert and also calm on a takeout. You were crazy.” I reached out and pulled her hair behind her shoulder. Her eyes were open but she stared at nothing, her eyes not even focussing on the wall she was looking at.
“Do you have a death wish?”
She scoffed and I frowned at her reaction. “Yeah,” she whispered despondently.
I hated to see her like this. It was killing me along with her. I couldn’t help but worry that she would slip into the same episode that had haunted her after the Dane incident.
I slid my arm around her waist as I settled in behind her, my groin snuggling against her pert little bottom. “I remember the day I first saw you. I so desperately wanted to laugh at your wild hair but then you lifted your eyes to me. I swear the world stopped fucking turning and my heart actually stopped. You were the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.” I smiled to myself as I pictured her nervous eyes scanning the room, her fingers flicking rapidly against each other as her chest had heaved in that tight little stripy blouse she had worn.
I chuckled to myself. “Then I remember your little arse stuck out of the freezer and you banged your head on the lid when I made you jump.” I snorted and pursed my lips, “In fact, you were always banging your head on things when I was around.”
I nuzzled my nose into the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply. “And I also remember the day I told you that I would take care of you. That whatever I did, it was always to keep you safe and protect you. Well, I meant it Ava and I have kept my word ever since.”
I placed a tender kiss below her ear, “I need you to hear that again. You need to remember that whatever I do, the things I still do, it’s always for a reason, never to hurt you.”
She stiffened. She knew I was heading somewhere and the pit of my belly twisted when my nerves got the better of me. “I need you, baby. I need you to hold my hand whilst I do this. Because I don’t think I can do it without you.”
“Do what?” She asked eventually as she shuffled her body around until she was facing me.
I smiled at her. She was so utterly beautiful that she stole my heart from under me with every flick of her eyelashes, with every scrunch of her nose, with each nibble of her lower lip. “Come with me.” She frowned at me but didn’t move. “Please.”
She swallowed heavily before she closed her eyes. “Mason . . .” She hesitated and I watched as she physically struggled with her words. “I . . .”
“What is it?”
She gulped then shook her head. “Nothing, what do you need me to do?”
Her despair ate at me. I knew I had to trust her to tell me whatever it was when she was ready. There was nothing I could do but trust her now. “Just . . . meet me downstairs, and bring Courtney.”
She narrowed her eyes on me. “Please don’t tell me you’ve bought her a bloody puppy Mason, cos’ really . . .”
“No,” I chuckled. “No puppies.”
I stood up but she reached for me and snatched at my hand. “I . . .” Her eyes filled with tears but she shook her head again and smiled. “I love you.”
“And me, you my little warrior.”
She nodded. “Okay, go. I’ll go get Courtney.”
I didn’t miss the sob that she virtually spat out as soon as I closed the door. My heart clenched at the sound but I knew what I was about to do would hopefully bring the life back to her eyes. Either that or this would finish her. I prayed that it was the former, I couldn’t cope with the latter.
Chapter Fifteen
Ava
“TWO MINUTES,” MASON said as he disappeared through the front door. I swore to god, he brought in a puppy and I would floor him—again.
“What’s he doing?” Courtney asked.
“Fucked if I know, hun.”
She squinted at me and cocked her head, “Are you okay?”
I shrugged. “Yes, no. You?”
She snorted. “It’s good news about George, babe.”
I nodded and smiled. “One less thing to worry about.”
“Ava . . .”
“Right!” Mason said as he came back in but left the front door open. He sighed and looked at Courtne
y. “Greg asked me to give you something when something happened to him and . . .”
“Wait!” Courtney cut in. “Greg knew?”
Mason sighed and nodded. “Yeah. He knew he was a target and he knew that he only had a limited amount of time before . . . well before they got to him.”
“Mason?”
He smiled sheepishly. “He was undercover. Kerrie had sent him into the middle of Oswald’s circle to gain info on him.” He pulled out a white envelope from his inner jacket pocket and looked at it. “He asked me to give you this when the time was right.”
Courtney gasped beside me and I grabbed her hand. We both knew what it was. It was a goodbye letter. I could literally hear her heart splinter inside her as her eyes locked onto the piece of paper Mason was running his fingers along the edge of. “I should have given it you days ago but well, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
Her eyes snapped up to his. “You . . . you had this the whole time and you . . . you kept it from me.”
“I . . .” he squirmed under Courtney’s furious glare. “I honestly didn’t do it to hurt you but . . .”
She suddenly screamed and flew across the room for Mason. I wrapped my arms around her waist and tried to pull her back as she slapped at him, her cries torturing me and breaking my soul to pieces.
“Courtney!” a stern voice bellowed behind us.
I swear to god I thought I had died. The room stilled instantly. Courtney sagged in my arms and I slung her round a little too roughly as I spun round towards the voice.
The breath in my lungs turned material and scattered as the world stopped turning. Courtney persisted to rely on me for support as a small whimper left her own lungs. My legs buckled and I took us both to ground as we continued to stare at the ghost before us.
“Hi,” he whispered as his eyes remained fixed on his wife. Courtney’s body slumped even further against me as her whole form crumpled in shock. “Sweetheart,” Greg murmured with a hiccup.
My skin shrivelled with the cry that left my best friend. Her screams pierced my soul as her devastation turned to disbelief then acceptance and then finally, elation.
Greg snatched her from me and scooped her into his arms as he held her so tight I thought he might break her.
“Ava,” Mason whispered as he lifted me into his own embrace and carried me up the stairs, leaving my friends to just touch each other.
He didn’t say anything as he propped me on the toilet seat and started to run the bath. I stared at the wall in shock, wondering if I had actually dreamt it. “He’s real,” Mason said as though he could read my mind. I nodded at him. “It was the only way, Ava. I’m so sorry.”
“I know.” He frowned at me and I smirked at him, “I don’t always disagree with the things you do.”
He narrowed his eyes as he appeared to debate my words, “Yes actually, you do.”
“Yeah, I do,” I laughed with him. His face it up when he heard my happiness. “Please tell me again that he’s real.”
He smiled at me, his eyes twinkling with delight at my own joy. “He’s very real. Greg is very much alive and probably at this very minute already inside his wife.”
I laughed loudly as my head flung back. Mason joined me as he picked me up and dropped me in the bath still in my joggers and t-shirt. I squealed and splashed water at him but he climbed in with me fully dressed also. “You mad bastard,” I snorted when he sunk his face into my very wet breasts.
He looked up at me with a serious expression. “You understand why I didn’t tell you?”
“I do, don’t worry.”
“If they had the slightest idea, they would have tortured you for the info Ava and I couldn’t risk that with any of you, even Sam.”
“Mason,” I shushed him as I trailed my finger along his chin. “I understand.”
He nodded as he fisted his hands in my shirt and lifted it over my head. I shivered as his eyes dropped to my chest and darkened, “You are so fucking sexy. Your body drives my cock wild, Ava.”
“I need you rough, Mason. I need you to take me hard.”
His chest heaved as a groan caught in his throat. I fisted his thick hair and dragged his face to mine. His mouth crashed over mine immediately as his kiss became feverish and hard. His own fingers grabbed my hair until my head was pulled all the way back and he glared at me, “You still need to be taught a lesson, Mrs Fox.”
I nodded, pulling my hair taut in his hands. We both lifted an eyebrow when Courtney’s wild erotic moans bounced around the house. “Fuck, that didn’t take long.”
Mason grinned at me then pulled at my leggings until he began to struggle against the weight of the water.
“Get out.” He ordered. My lips twisted as my core blazed with heat.
“Nice to have you back, my glorious bastard.” I did as was demanded and stepped out of the tub.
“Take off your clothes.” His tone was stern as he remained in the water and I secured his gaze as I wrenched at my clothes until they slapped the cold floor tiles beside my feet. I stood still as his hungry gaze roamed over me.
“Open your legs slightly.”
I obeyed and shuffled my feet further apart until I was open to his eyes. He climbed from the water then pulled his own clothes off before perching on the rim of the bath. I shuddered when he slid a single finger along my groove. He lifted his finger to my mouth and I opened immediately for him to slide it over my tongue. “See how beautiful you taste. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how fucking amazing you taste, baby.”
I took his hand in mine and directed his fingers back between my thighs, making sure he collected more of my arousal before I brought his hand back to his lips. He smirked at me as his tongue circled around my finger, his eyes closing when he tasted me on him.
“Turn around and hold onto the sink.” The deep timbre of his voice excited my belly when I knew I would be getting the hard fuck I needed.
“Mason, I need . . .”
“What?” he asked when I paused. I didn’t turn round when I felt him move behind me.
“I need you to make me pay.”
“For what?” he breathed over my shoulder as his fingers moved around and he pinched my nipples roughly.
I gasped as my brain vibrated in pleasure with the pain. “For hurting you.”
“You could never hurt me, Ava. I love you too much for that.”
I squeezed my eyes closed but remained silent as he pushed into me. We both moaned at the union, as always. His cock filled me limitlessly, each of his ridges brushing against me until he was balls deep inside me. My fingers tightened on the edge of the sink when I felt him slide a finger into my arse. “Better?”
I nodded as I started to pant. He didn’t move his cock only his finger, swirling it round and round until I was open and prepped for him.
Then he fucked me how I wanted to be fucked, right in my ass.
His hands yanked at my hair as he pulled me back onto him. His moans were loud and sexy as my arousal slid down my thighs. His fingers entered my pussy, “Play with your clit, baby. I wanna feel you go wild.”
My body was strumming tightly, my nerves on the edge as each nerve in my body coiled like a spring ready to snap. “More?”
I nodded and slammed back on him, showing him that I was ready for much more.
“Yeah?” He growled as he pressed me hard into the sink and fucked the living daylights out of me. “This what you want, Ava? Hard and deep?”
“Fuck yes!” I choked out as he smacked my hand away from my clit and replaced it with his own fingers. I exploded uncontrollably when he pinched my clit harshly and his teeth sank into my neck. “Fuck me, Ava” He cried when I bucked violently. He came so hard his teeth sank in a little too far and he drew blood.
“Shit, baby, sorry.”
I shook my head at him, telling him without words that I was fine when my lungs refused to fuel my voice box.
“Jesus fucking Christ.” He puffed as he fell back and his
arse landed on the toilet with me still attached to his lap. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you.”
“Oh, I’m sure you will.”
“Never,” he sighed happily as his chin rested on my shoulder and he smiled at me through the mirror. I smiled back at him, etching each of his handsome features into my mind.
“I’ll never stop loving you.” I whispered as I rested my head against his.
“You better not,” he growled playfully at me.
I shook my head and lifted my hand until my palm rested against his cheek, “Never.”
And I never would.
Chapter Sixteen
Mason
I RUBBED AT my wet hair with the towel. Ava had agreed to let Debora see George. It had come as a shock but like she had said, life was too short and as long as George was happy then so be it.
I walked back into the bedroom and frowned when Ava stood with her back to me, looking out of the window with her arms wrapped around her. “Ready for home, baby?”
She turned to me and I stilled at her expression. My heart sped up and I grabbed at the towel around my hips just for something to hold onto.
“I’m not going home, Mason.”
“What?” I asked as I cocked my head at her in bafflement. “Why?”
Her throat bobbed but she remained solid before she pulled in a heavy breath and locked my gaze. “Because I need to be here.”
I shook my head at her, “Why?”
My heart was beating right out of my chest when her eyes saddened and a tear walked down her face.
“Because I have cancer.”
The towel dropped from my grip. My knees buckled and I fought to control the cry that left me when she uttered the words that destroyed me.
“I’m dying, Mason.”
The end
For Joan Hopkinson
A huge Heart of Stone fan and friend
who sadly lost her life to cancer during the writing of Fortitude.
And to all the many thousands of people cancer has touched.
My heart is with you all.
Cancer.
That’s all I need to say to fill us all with horror and heartache. Just that one word causes so much destruction, not only to the body but to hearts and souls. It isn’t just an illness, it’s an evil, vile malevolence that eats away at everything it touches. It debilitates, breaks and consumes within seconds of touching us.
The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone Page 213