Fortitude (Heart of Stone)

by D H Sidebottom

  I watched as her thighs started to quiver, a sign that her arousal was intense and potent. “They’re so fucking beautiful together,” Kade stated quietly beside me.

  I nodded a reply, unable to form words as I watched my wife being pleasured. “She’ll get through this, Mason. I promise we’ll get her through it.”

  I turned to him, begging him with my gaze to help me. He reached in and hovered his mouth over mine, “If I have to sell my fucking soul, then I will. She will grow old and grey with us, I swear to you, she will. I won’t let anything hurt you both.”

  He kissed me as the sob broke free, his mouth swallowing the torment from me as he gripped my head and pulled me hard to him. I allowed him to devour me, consume the pain from me as he controlled me under him. His touch didn’t allow for any other feeling than him, my complete attention absorbed by him until he was the only thing in the room.

  Both our tears were tasted and swallowed as we clung to each other for both support and solace, our kiss deepening until lust and need overpowered the sorrow.

  He pulled back when Ava and Grace dropped to their knees before us, Ava greedily ripping my zip down and unbuckling my belt at the same time.

  Her perfect pink lips wrapped around my hard dick before I had chance to take another breath. Kade moaned beside me as Grace mirrored Ava’s action and her mouth slid down his cock.

  I grabbed at Kade’s hair, pulling him to me again as my other hand yanked Ava’s long hair in my fingers and brought forth a groan of pleasure from her. My little warrior relished the pain, fed from it. I just hoped the pain that was about to grip her would be endurable for her.

  I broke from the kiss and lowered my eyes to watch my wife worship my cock, her own eyes full of desire and love as she slid slowly up and down, taking me to the back of her throat as her tongue tickled the underside of me and her finger rubbed the tight skin around my anus.

  I hissed and lifted my hips, forcing my cock further down her throat. She obeyed my silent command when she loosened her throat and took the extra I was giving her. “Take me, baby.” I groaned as her finger slid into my arse. “Shit, yeah that’s good.”

  I could feel the cum swirling angrily in my balls, threatening its release with an urgency I was struggling to hold onto. I grabbed the tops of Ava’s arms and dragged her up and over me as I slid down and under her until her knees were on the couch cushions and my face was directly under her exquisite pussy, my backside now on the floor below her.

  I needed to taste her desire, feed from the evidence of what I did to her and give her the intense pleasure that I knew would make her scream with ecstasy.

  She groaned loudly as my tongue swept slowly along her groove, her unique taste driving me wild along with her erotic echoes.

  Kade and Grace shifted and I gripped at Kade’s hair desperately when he slid between my legs that were outstretched before me and took my dick in his mouth. “Shit,” I hissed when his teeth grazed over my balls and his tongue swirled around my head.

  “Christ, I missed your cock,” he murmured before he took the full length of me down his throat and slipped a finger into me.

  Ava started to pant above me, her hips circling as she ground herself on my face. Her moans were muffled and I took my eyes off Kade to look up. “Fuck. That must be the best view in the fucking world.” I groaned as I watched Ava’s tongue flick and circle over Grace’s clit as she sat on the back of the sofa with Ava’s face buried between her legs. My teeth sank into my lower lip when Ava parted Grace’s swollen flesh and sank her thumb inside Grace’s pussy, driving a deep low rumble from her as her tongue continued its labour on her clit.

  “On your knees,” Kade ordered as he patted my thigh.

  I manoeuvred Ava slightly so I could still tongue fuck her pussy while I clambered onto all fours. “Lube?” Kade asked from behind me. I shook my head. I needed the pain, needed it to keep me sane and focussed on my wife’s pleasure.

  I accidently nipped Ava’s clit when Kade nudged slowly inside me, the burn driving a loud groan from me which also vibrated through Ava. She jolted and then pushed herself back down, demanding that I finish what I’d started causing me to smirk against her.

  “Wait,” Grace suddenly declared as she vaulted over the back of the sofa. “Don’t move.”

  We all froze as we watched her scurry up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

  “What the fuck?” Ava protested. “Carry on!” she said as she wiggled her hips.

  “I wouldn’t bother,” Kade laughed. “My wife’s orders need to be upheld unless you want your ass whipping.”

  “Well…” Ava debated causing us both to laugh.

  Grace rushed back down the stairs waving the brightest pink strap-on I had ever seen. We all stared at her with open mouths as she clambered into it expertly within seconds and took position behind Kade.

  “Hang on!” Ava growled over her shoulder. “I need to watch this.”

  She twisted around until she was facing forwards, her legs now straddled over my shoulders. “Right, carry on.”

  I stared at her then shook my head in amusement. She poked her tongue out at me before grabbing my hair and forcing my face back between her legs.

  Kade hissed and I knew we were back on as he pushed against me, an obvious sign that his wife was now inside him.

  “No!” Ava suddenly declared triggering a jerk of surprise and a frustrated groan from each of us. “It’s no good. You’re all inside one another. I need my pussy filling.” She slid down the sofa, her arse pushing past my face as she squeezed her body between me and the sofa. “Move back, make room for me.” She grumbled.

  We all sighed but shifted to make room, each of us silently chuckling at Ava’s antics. Her elbows rested on the sofa as her pretty little arse swung in front of my face. “Okay, I’m okay now.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yep,” she looked over her shoulder to smile at me then frowned. “But hang on, is that angle a little awkward with Kade in your arse?”

  Kade sighed heavily behind me and I lowered my face to hide my grin. “No Ava, love. Don’t worry, we’ll manage. As long as you’re comfy, sweetheart.”

  I rolled my lips when Grace let out a bark of laughter. “We could always move into a circle and make a daisy chain,” she mocked.

  “NO!” Kade and I shouted simultaneously.

  “No, I’m comfortable.” Ava smiled back at us.

  “Oh good,” Kade huffed. “Are we ready to fuck now?”

  “Are you angry?” Ava asked as she narrowed her eyes on him.

  “Nooo, I’m just making sure you’re all nice and cosy.”

  “You…”

  “For Christ’s sake” I cut in, “Just fuck me.”

  “Well, that’s what I’ve been waiting for too,” Ava sighed but then smirked and winked at me.

  She squealed when I bit her bottom and slapped it before sinking my cock to the hilt into her snug, hot pussy. “Christ, every time.” I hissed at the bliss that pulsed through every fibre in me. She groaned and pushed her bottom against my pelvis, forcing me even further into her heat and back onto Kade’s length.

  He grabbed my hips and pushed himself deeper until we were all so far in each other, there was no beginning and no end.

  My body was humming, electrified at all the different sensations storming my nerves and mind. Ava’s pussy grabbed at me, Kade’s cock rammed into me, Grace’s sexy little moans filled the air as we fucked harder than we ever had before. Sweat dripped down my face as my heart struggled to cope with the adrenaline and arousal surging through my veins. My brain shivered as pure rapture stole all sense and I swore I saw stars as my balls exploded so powerfully I bucked violently and sank my teeth too far into Ava’s shoulder.

  She screamed in pure ecstasy as her orgasm ripped her consciousness for a few seconds and her forehead hit the sofa. Kade yelled something I didn’t understand as he thrust into me fiercely when he came with a vengeance. And Grace, well sh
e just choked out an ‘I love you too, you soppy bastard’, so I presumed Kade had shouted he loved her.

  We all collapsed in a heap on top of each other, Grace, Kade and Ava laughing loudly. It wasn’t until Kade and Grace quietened that I realised Ava wasn’t laughing.

  Her sobs ripped through me with so much force the pressure tore my throat as I tried to hold onto my own cries as I bundled her up.

  I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to help her. I didn’t know how to make it all better. I didn’t know how I would get through this.

  And I didn’t know how to give my little warrior the strength to fight with. I didn’t know how to take all her despair and turn it into happiness.

  But I did know that I would be right beside her, all the way to the fucking end.

  Chapter Six

  Sacrifice

  Ava

  “Hey,” George smiled at me.

  I smiled in return, etching his handsome face to my mind as my heart warmed with his happy welcome. I had been nervous to visit him. After all, it had been two years and I was scared he would still refuse me any contact. “What are you doing here? It’s late.”

  I nodded and perched on the bed beside him, taking his hand and bringing it to my lips. “I just wanted to see you.”

  “Is everything okay, mom?”

  I nodded, “Everything’s fine. How are you feeling?”

  “I’m good.” He tilted his head and studied me. “Mom, I know you’re lying to me. What’s he done?”

  I chuckled softly and shook my head, “He hasn’t done anything. But I need a favour.”

  His face grew serious when he picked up on my struggle. “Anything.”

  “I need you to let him in.”

  “Mom…”

  “Please, George. It’s important to me.” I took his hand and held it between both of mine, clinging onto it for my life, silently begging for him to concede to my wishes. “I’ve never asked you for a single thing. I’ve supported you through everything, even when you got Etta pregnant.” He winced and I hated myself for doing this to him but I needed this so much. “But now I need you, George. Please.”

  He was quiet for a while, his face blank as his eyes roamed my face and tried to read me. Eventually he sighed and slid his fingers through mine, “I don’t know what the hell is going on here. It’s three in the morning, you turn up and beg me to see my dad. You’re the palest I’ve ever seen you. Your skin is cold, yet you’re sweating and flushed. I’m not stupid mom, I know when something’s up but I also know that I have never seen you this serious, that’s why I know how important this is to you.”

  He sighed but smiled, “I’ll see him for you, not him, but I can’t promise you anything.”

  “That’s all I ask, thank you.”

  He nodded. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

  “I…” I swallowed the lump that had forced its way up my throat. “I love you, George. I know life hasn’t been… easy for you, me and your dad saw to that…”

  “Mom…”

  I shook my head to stop him. “No, I know how hard it has been for you to accept the things of my past but you also need to know that your father wasn’t to blame for any of it. Things happen in life none of us can control, and the only thing to help us get through them is to find the courage to let them go. You need to do that now, or you’ll never find your peace, George. It will eat away at you until all that’s left is an empty shell that will crumble in the wind. Bury the hatred before it buries you.”

  He gazed at me for a while before he nodded, “Okay, I’ll try but you need to do the same.” I frowned at him in confusion. “Debora isn’t Rebecca, and Rebecca isn’t Debora.”

  I smiled softly at him. “You love her very much.”

  “I do,” he answered with a nod. “She loves me for all my faults. Her life hasn’t exactly been easy either but she’s strong, the strongest person I have ever known after you and the way she looks at me gives me the strength that I need.”

  “Then hold on to her, baby. Hold the fuck on as hard as you can because I can promise you, when you have that love, the love that feels like it could swallow you alive, then you need to absorb it into every single fibre of your body, because one day, when life drags you into hell, the only thing that will keep you fighting is that love.”

  His smile was soft as he gripped my hand hard. “And you found that love twenty years ago.”

  “I did.”

  And now it was my turn to hold onto that love as hell dragged me under.

  ***

  The cottage was cold but welcoming, the heart of her already embracing me and accepting how this new relationship would be. I smiled as though she could physically see me, as though she was already giving me back the happy memories.

  The children’s cries echoed in the silence, Mason’s laughter and his loving words whispered to me as visions of the past danced around me, their silhouettes saluting me and reminding me I was far from alone.

  I turned up the thermostat, forcing the chill away. The kitchen light flickered and the radiators gurgled but that just made this less painful. She was faulty, like me, but we would both take those faults and nurture them. Yet as a simple bulb would fix her, nothing would fix me. But she knew that, and she still comforted me.

  “Just you and me now girl.” I swiped the dust from the window ledge as I peered into the moonlit garden, “Right up to the end.”

  I walked up the stairs, smiling at the third step that still creaked and then stood in the doorway to the bedroom.

  He sat up and pulled me up so I was kneeling in front of him. “You are so beautiful, Ava” he told me. Unease surged through me as I saw his sad painful expression.

  “From your soft curls” he stroked his fingers through my hair. “To your smooth pale skin.” He trailed a finger across my shoulder blade. “To your delicious breasts,” he brushed his thumb over the swell of them. “To your striking green eyes.” He kissed each of my eyes. “To your remarkable heart,” he leant forward and kissed my heart and then sat back and cupped my face.

  “That is why I’m setting you free, Ava.”

  I fell to my knees, the shadow of my husband ripping open my soul and crushing it to dust beneath it. However much pain he had caused me, I had repaid tenfold. All he had ever done was love me too much, as I him.

  And now it was time to end the pain I gave him. It was time to let him go.

  “That is why I’m setting you free, Mason.”

  Chapter Seven

  Destruction

  Mason

  I shivered as the chill enveloped me then pulled the covers up under my chin and turned to seek warmth from my wife.

  “Aww,” I moaned when I found she’d already risen. The sun was barely up and Ava was already organised. I grabbed her pillow and pulled it against me, inhaling her sweet scent. Something tickled my nose and I eventually opened my eyes, squinting at the light as it burnt my retinas.

  I moved my head back to look at the white paper sticking in my cheek. The harsh whiteness of the envelope slapped at me when I realised what it was. I didn’t need to open it to know what it said.

  My heart rate was threatening to propel my blood though my pores as nausea swirled in my stomach, my gut bubbling as a huge surge of acid blistered the lining.

  “No.”

  I shot off the bed, staring at the envelope as though it would physically hurt me. My fingernails dug into my palm as I twisted my hands, not knowing what to do with them. I’d rather chop them off than let them open the thing sat on my bed mocking me.

  I turned and yanked open the curtains, cursing as the sun hit my face, its warmth taunting the chill that had seeped into my bones. “No.” I repeated. It was all I was able to say, other words had formed and disintegrated, the acid in my stomach gobbling them up as they slid back down my throat. “No.”

  My back slid down the wall when my legs eventually gave way. I drew my knees up and hugged them, forcing com
fort from them. If I curled so far into myself then maybe I wouldn’t have to deal with this shit. Maybe, if I wished hard enough I could turn back time and stay awake all night, watching her and readying myself to stop her leaving.

  Maybe, fucking maybe. That was all I had, maybe… maybe, fucking maybe.

  I needed to hit. I needed oblivion. I needed my fucking wife.

  Gritting my teeth, I reached out and snatched the letter from the bed. It seemed to literally burn the skin on my fingers as I stared at it, her elegant scrawl saying my name, her unique scent evaporating off it in waves and making my heart wrench.

  I closed my eyes when I opened it, like it would prevent the words from hitting me full force.

  I placed it on the floor beside me as I crawled across the room and dug into my jacket pocket, pulling the small bag from inside the lining of the pocket. Dipping my finger in and coating it with just enough to steady my nerves, I spread it over my teeth and waited for the slight tingle to hit my brain. I had promised myself no more but I needed it just this once, just to give me the strength to deal with this.

  The slight calm took over and I crept towards the item waiting to laugh at me. I pulled the paper from the envelope and drew a breath.

  Mason,

  My love, please understand what I’m about to do. I need you to be strong for me.

  I need you to let me do this.

  You are my world, my soul, my heart and you have to believe that this is hurting me more than is bearable. But, more than that, I don’t want you to witness this pain, nor do I want you to experience it.

  I would never forgive myself for taking your beautiful smile away, or for tearing your soul apart when you witness this evil eating away at me.