We both collapsed in a heap, Steed rolling off me before he could crush me. I stared at the pillow as I lay immobile and vibrating in the aftershock.
We were both silent, the enormity of what we had just done hitting us now the arousal had died. “Shit,” Steed uttered as he pulled himself upright and sat on the edge of the bed. His hands raked through his hair in distress.
I climbed off the bed and pulled my shorts on, “Don’t worry. He won’t find out.” I muttered as I pulled on my heels.
“What?” he stared at me in confusion. “I’m not worried about Mason, I’m worried about you.”
“Why?” I shrugged as a numbness flowed through me. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” He whispered as he tenderly cupped my cheek. “You weren’t emotionally ready for this. And I took advantage of that.”
I laughed at him but pulled away and trotted down the stairs, swiping my bag from beside the front door. “Steed. Chill out. I won’t be back for seconds. I’m afraid you were there to be used, and I used you.”
I watched as shock covered his face. “Right.” He blinked back his stunned reaction to my honesty.
“I won’t plague your life by knocking on your door, and I won’t be asking for a repeat performance so you needn’t worry.”
“Ava!” he shouted as I opened the door and left him staring after me.
I was silently humoured by the fact that I had watched two naked men stare at me through my rear view in a single night.
But there was only one that had broken me. There was only one who had torn the remaining pieces of my soul apart. And there was only one who made me go home, get high and sob myself to sleep.
Again.
Chapter Seventeen
Roots
Mason
She had slid the chain on the back door to try and keep me out. That didn’t stand a chance when I kicked at it and it flung open, the force of it banging loudly in the silent house.
I took the stairs two at a time and slammed open her bedroom door. “Ava…” I froze when I found the room empty, the duvet still perfectly pulled over the bed and the many prissy cushions she always had scattered perfectly in place.
“What the…”
She should be home by now, she’d had a good thirty minutes on me. I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialled Steed. He declined my first call and I tried again. He picked up on the fourth ring, “Hey, Mase.”
“Are you with Ava?”
He hesitated and I frowned to myself when I sensed his unease. “No.”
“Well she’s not home and you get paid to fucking shadow her. So would you like to tell me why the fuck my wife doesn’t have a shadow at the moment?”
“I, ummm…”
The front door opened and closed with a quiet click. “Got her.” I told him and ended the call abruptly as I went down to find her.
As soon as I exited the bedroom, my face was squashed up against the wall, both my arms pulled behind my back and a gun crushing against my temple. “Ava! It’s me.”
“What the fuck, Mason.” She declared as she let me go. “You stupid bastard. I could have killed you.”
I grinned at her, my little warrior still had it. “Where the fuck have you been?”
She stared at me, her head tilted to one side. “Are you for real?”
“Yes,” I nodded to confirm her question. “You should have been home ages ago.”
“Get out!” she snapped as she pushed past me and flicked on her bedroom light, dropping her bag to the floor as she walked into the en-suite she’d recently had fitted and started the shower. “Go home, Mason. I don’t want you here.”
“I wanted to check you were okay.” I told her quietly, shame at my behaviour coursing through me.
She scoffed loudly. “You wanted to check up on me? Why?”
“Well because… you know…”
“Because I found you with that fucking whore again? AGAIN!” she suddenly screamed, her face flushing with anger.
“I…”
“You what Mason? You what?”
I was just about to answer her when I caught the mark on her neck. I swear something invisible hit me in the face and chest simultaneously. I gripped her face and moved her head aside to make sure I hadn’t imagined it. “What the fuck is that?”
She rubbed her finger over the mark as though she hadn’t been aware of it until I mentioned it. I watched her throat bob as she stared at me resolutely. “It’s a bite.”
I curled my fists into themselves as my brain started to fume and my gut hissed angrily. “Who?”
I didn’t want to know but my sick curiosity did and I closed my eyes as I waited for her answer. “It doesn’t matter who. You have your new fuck, well now, I have mine.”
I tried to control my wrath but it was spinning dangerously out of control with her coolness. “Ava…” I ran my tongue over my teeth. “I’m really trying hard to hold the fuck on here.”
I jerked when her hands hit my chest and she pushed me back harshly. “How dare you! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!”
I spun her round so fast, the air left her lungs in a hiss as her back thumped the wall. I pinned her hands beside her head and leaned into her. “You are mine. MINE!”
She glared at me, hatred and anger heaving from her in huge quantities. “And who do you belong to, Mason. Eh? It is definitely not me, it never really has been, has it? You’ve always been hers.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it.” I spat back at her as I pushed her further into the wall.
“Is it?” Her face was furious, her chest heaving angrily and her eyes glinting hatefully but then everything changed as devastation overwhelmed her, “Is it?” she repeated with a choked whisper. “Because she always seems to win, Mason. Whatever I do, she always wins.”
My heart broke at her pain and I rested my forehead against hers, breathing her in and shivering as my soul cried out thankfully. “She hasn’t won, baby. I will always belong to you.”
She sighed and inhaled heavily, getting her fix along with me but then she pushed at me again and slipped under my arms. “No, Mason. You have already proved that you were never mine. Go.” She turned away from me, her shoulders heaving as she tried to control her tears. “Go back to her. I told you, I set you free. You are free to fuck who you want, as am I.”
“NO!” I roared as I grabbed her arms and spun her to face me. “You will never be free. Your body belongs to me, as does your heart and soul and I will never let them free. I will never let you take them from me.” I leaned into her until I was hovering over her, “I will find out who he is Ava, and then he’s mine!”
I let her go just as abruptly and left her staring after me. If I didn’t leave then I would have trashed something and I couldn’t have guaranteed her safety.
***
“What the hell?” Steed glared at me when he opened his front door and I pushed past him.
“Get dressed.”
He widened his eyes on me to remove the sleep then squinted, “What? Why?”
“You have a new job.”
“Which is?” he asked as we walked into the kitchen and he flicked on the kettle after checking the water level.
“You are now my wife’s soul.”
“Eh?” He barked as he spun round to gape at me.
“She’s fucking someone. I want to know who he is.”
He froze and stared at me. “And… ummm, I can help with that how?”
“I told you. You stay with her at all times, you don’t leave her side. She takes a piss, then you take one with her. She works, you sit at that fucking bar… which by the way, thanks for telling me she was working there.”
“I… sorry,” he stuttered. “I didn’t think it was relevant.”
“Not relevant!” I scoffed at him. “My wife just found me in one of the privates, snorting coke with her nemesis.” His jaw dropped and he closed his eyes with a deep sigh as though something now made sense to him. “What?”
He shook his head, “Nothing.” He turned back around and spooned coffee into a cup. “Okay, I get it, I’m now your wife’s soul.”
“I mean it Steed, I want his name by the end of the week.”
He nodded as I turned to leave, then spun back round to him. “She’ll put up a fight at this, but you want to get paid, then you work around her stubborn side.”
He didn’t reply, just gave me a nod before I left him to his coffee.
Chapter Eighteen
Shadows
Ava
“What?” I stared at him as a bubble of laughter threatened to burst free.
“He wants me to watch you, and then report back to him who you’re fucking.”
I rolled my lips and rubbed at my eyes as I tried to hide the humour at the situation. Steed was staring at me with a stunned expression. “Okay, umm…” I couldn’t hold it in any longer. My laughter broke free loudly and hysterically. “Jesus… fuck…” I snorted as I held onto the kitchen table.
“It’s not funny, Ava!” Steed declared but I watched as his lips twisted. “It’s not!” He flung my blonde wig at me. “This was also on the back of the fucking kitchen chair while your bloody husband was dictating orders at me.”
My mouth opened and closed but then I was snorting yet again. “Ava, stop it!” Steed laughed with me as he flopped into a chair. “Fucking Christ. This is beyond surreal.”
“What are you two laughing at?” Kade asked as he stepped into the kitchen.
I spun round to glare at him. “I do have a doorbell you know.”
He smirked at me and nodded. “Need a word, sweetheart.”
Steed stood up and grabbed his coffee cup from the side. “I’ll give you some space. I’ll be right outside.” He narrowed his eyes on Kade as if warning him that any trouble and he was with me. I rolled my eyes as the testosterone flew around my kitchen and Kade grinned smugly.
“Yeah, you do that, we wouldn’t want you venturing too far now would we.”
Steed tipped his head and narrowed his eyes on Kade, “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” Kade pursed his lips and held up his hands. “Nothing at all.”
He sighed and pulled me into a hug when Steed left us to it. “You do know he’s had your car tagged, and your house is bugged?” He whispered quietly in my ear.
I pulled back and stared at him. He lifted a finger to his lips and flicked his eyes to the corner of the kitchen ceiling. My eyes widened as nausea flooded me but he shook his head before dragging me into the walk-in pantry at one side of the kitchen. “You’re fucking lucky I have the software connected to my laptop and it’s me he asked to monitor you.”
“Kade…”
“You’re walking on ice, Ava.” He glared at me, his eyes angry and heated. “He will kill him.”
“Then make sure he doesn’t find out. And while you are here, you can disconnect bloody Big Brother. How dare he? What the fuck is wrong with him?”
He stared at me and scoffed, “What the hell Ava, you are shagging someone other than him, maybe that’s a reason for him to go slightly off the rails!”
I narrowed my eyes on him and shook my head in disbelief, “He didn’t tell you, did he?”
“Look whatever he’s…
“He’s fucking Rebecca.” I lifted a brow at him when his knees buckled and he palmed the wall for support. “I guess that’s a no then.”
“What the fuck! Are you sure?”
“Mm-hmm, I found them together at the club.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” he whispered when my eyes filled up. His hand cupped the back of my head as he pulled me into him. “He’s a damn fool.”
I clung to him, using him for the comfort I had missed during the last six months of hell. He sighed heavily as he held me tighter, his lips brushing across the soft hair now growing rapidly on my head. He tipped my head back with a finger under my chin to look at me, “You’re both damn fools.”
I lowered my eyes and tried to fight past the pain engulfing me. “I can’t Kade… he…”
“He?” he prompted when I hesitated.
I smiled softly as memories surrounded me. “He loved my breasts, Kade. He adored them, it was one of the things he fell in love with and now…” I swallowed as the hatred once more chose to drown me. “Now they’re gone and all that’s left is hideous scars… more fucking horrific scars. I can’t let him see me like that. It isn’t fair, he deserves more.”
“He deserves his wife!” Kade bit back angrily. “Do you think he cares about how you look on the outside?”
“Yes! Yes, Kade. That’s what Mason is, he’s a man, a dominant man and looks are everything to him, especially for sexual stimulant. And now I’m…”
“You’re frightened he’ll reject you? Oh my God, Ava.” He shook his head with incredulity but his gaze softened. “He loves you, he could never see you as anything but beautiful, sweetheart. You aren’t just some… some piece of meat that he sticks his dick into occasionally.”
I blinked at his bluntness but he cupped my face and titled my head back. “Have you even asked him?”
I shook my head and looked away. “I can’t, I’m… I’m sacred of what he’ll see.”
Kade’s mouth hit mine with an almost painful kiss, his tongue fought to climb inside me, his lips bruised and crushed me as he pushed me back against the wall. “Right, now tell me that wasn’t a kiss that tells you how much I fucking desire you, how hard you make me?” He grabbed my hand and slammed it hard against his erection. “And I am not your husband, the man who fucking adores you.”
“Are you still…”
He shook his head in confusion when I paused and lowered my eyes.
“Still fucking Mason?” He bit into his lip and diverted his eyes but I grabbed hold of his hand. “No Kade, I want you to. Don’t stop because, well because Mason needs that. He needs… men as well and he’ll go crazy without it.”
He sighed and shook his head as his eyes flicked over my face sadly, “Jesus Christ. Why can’t you see what everyone else sees in you? How amazing you are, how perfect you are, how fucking stunning you are!”
“What the fuck are you doing?” Steed asked as he flung open the pantry door and stared at us.
“Talking about your dick,” Kade said as he walked back out. “Remember, Ava.” He shouted before he shut the front door behind him.
I laughed at the shock on his face and leant into his ear, “We need to be careful. The house is bugged.”
His face paled and I tapped his cheek, “Don’t worry, Kade’s sorting it and I know a man who can disconnect everything.”
He sighed in relief as I finished texting who I needed and pulled out food from the fridge to start dinner. “I presume, seems as though you are now attached at the hip, that you’ll want feeding.”
His lips twisted and just before it left his mouth I pointed to the ceiling alarm system sensor. He snapped his jaw shut and just nodded.
It was rather a shame I had already text Marv, an old friend of George’s who was a system expert and more importantly who Mason had no clue of, but it could have been fun watching Steed try and hold back on the innuendo.
Chapter Nineteen
Poltergeists
Ava
“I know they were in here, I’m positive they were.”
Grace huffed and rolled her eyes as she watched me scramble through the entire shoe cupboard looking for my red wedges. “Ava, just wear the white ones, they’ll go.”
“No,” I pursed my lips in frustration, moving numerous pairs out of the way. “I love the red ones. The white ones pinch.”
“Then wear the black flats.”
I stared at her with wide eyes. “I can’t wear black flats with a flowery dress, they won’t look right.”
“Jesus Christ!” She growled as she moved me out of the way and chose a white pair of kitten heels. “Perfect.”
I sighed, “I don’t wanna go anyway. I told Lay I wasn’t goin
g.”
“I know,” she said as she rearranged her hair in the mirror. “And I’m telling you that you are. It’s your friend’s wedding anniversary. You haven’t been out properly in an age and everyone misses you.”
I pulled a face at her, her lips quirking when she caught me in the mirror. “And I’m driving so at least you can have a drink.”
“Well don’t let me drink too much” I warned. “My medication doubles the effect.”
She smirked at me, “Nice to know, you’re fun when you’re drunk.”
***
“So,” I shifted my gaze through the car window as we made our way to the restaurant. “Have you seen much of Mason?”
She was silent for a moment and I turned to look at her. Her eyes were flicking between her rear view mirror and her side one, “What, sorry?” she blinked and glanced at me.
“Mason?” I asked again as I studied the black car behind us. “Do we have a tail?”
“Not sure yet,” she murmured as she shifted gears. “But there’s one way to find out.”
I kept my eyes trained on the car as Grace cruised along the street, at the very last minute turning the car into a side street. The other car flew past, braked then reversed.
“Shit,” she hissed as she hit her Bluetooth and sped up, rounding the next corner so sharp I fell into the window, my head bouncing off the glass harshly.
“Hang on, Ava,” she snapped angrily, her concentration making her sharp with me.
“Beaumont?” Liam’s voice filled the small interior of the car.
“Black Lexus LS, Reg TH14 YEW, currently pursuing us east on Raymond Street, roughly 89Mph.”
Fortitude (Heart of Stone) Page 8
