Fortitude (Heart of Stone)

by D H Sidebottom

  His fingers dug into my shoulders as he held me down and took me like an animal, completely mounting me to grant him a deeper assault. His onslaught became frenzied as we both soared towards orgasm, our grunts and groans as loud as the flesh slapping in the silence.

  Everything seemed to slow down but at once speed up when a loud crack resounded in the room. Steed wheezed as his weight disappeared from my back and another thud filled the air around us.

  Steed’s grunts of pain were killing me as I struggled with my bonds, the handcuffs tearing at my wrists as I tried desperately to free myself and help him when Mason lavished strike after strike on him.

  “MASON!” I screamed, knowing he was far into his madness to acknowledge me. “You’re gonna kill him!”

  I pulled harder at the headboard, tears streaming my face when Steed became too quiet but Mason’s foray of abuse continued. “Mason,” I sobbed as I yanked and rattled my cuffs. “Please stop, please.”

  I froze when he was suddenly pressed against my back, his breath heavy on the side of my face as his dense pants tickled the short hair above my ear.

  “I told you, Ava.” He growled. “I told you, when I found out who it was that he was mine.”

  “You bastard!” I cried as I continued to fight against my restraints.

  His hand slid around the side of my face. “How could you?” he whispered as he trailed his fingers down the side of my neck and he pressed his palm into the groove of my spine as he traced every single ridge of my backbone.

  “Steed has nothing to do with you. Call an ambulance, Mason.”

  He ignored me, his hands still voyaging over my body until he brushed them softly over my sore bare buttocks. “I wasn’t talking about Steed, I was talking about this.” He swept his fingers gently over the belt marks. “Your beautiful body Ava, how could you devastate it like this?”

  “It’s already damaged Mason, what’s another few marks?”

  I gasped when my arms twisted and he flipped me over. He stared at me, his eyes dark but tender as he looked at me. I shook my head furiously when he seized the edge of my vest. “Please don’t,” I begged when he started to roll it up.

  I fought with him, my body flipping around as he straddled me and held me down. “Mason,” I sobbed, “Please don’t do this.”

  He kept his eyes trained on me as he rolled it higher until the material was tucked under my chin. I squeezed my eyes closed so I couldn’t see the horror on his face. My weeps were loud and crippling as they took my breath from me and ate at my soul.

  A long keening sound erupted from me when I felt Mason’s soft kiss across my chest, his tender lips worshipping the scars where my breasts used to be. He trailed over the wounds with his tongue, a choked sound echoing from him as he maintained his torturous idolisation.

  His hands slid up to my face as he cupped my cheeks and brought his mouth to mine. We both sobbed as soon as his lips touched mine with the most gentlest of kisses he had ever delivered, his love, adoration and heartache profound and powerful as he caressed my soul.

  “My love,” he whispered against me as he continued to brush my mouth with an abundance of tiny kisses.

  Steed groaned from the floor beside the bed, snapping me from my two minutes of insanity. “Mason, you need to phone an ambulance.”

  He narrowed his eyes on me as his fury once more surfaced. “Does he mean that much to you?”

  “Mason…”

  His teeth clashed together when his jaw tightened and he flung himself off me, his glare burning through my soul. He bent over me quickly, making me flinch but he shook his head, grasped both of my wrists in his hand then wrenched hard. The force of his pull broke the wooden headboard and freed my hands.

  “If he means that much to you, phone them yourself.” He barked before he stormed from the room.

  “Mason!” I shouted but he’d gone, the door banging loudly behind him.

  “Fuck!” Steed moaned. “Gimme a hand.”

  I sighed and grabbed the key for the cuffs from the bedside table with my fingers before dropping them beside him. “Let me out of these and I will.”

  He tried to look at me through each puffy eye, “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “You?”

  “Bouncing, darlin’, just bouncing.”

  I didn’t remind him that he’s actually been bouncing off Mason’s fist not five minutes ago, I didn’t think he’d appreciate the comparison.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Ignorance

  Mason

  I spotted Kade and Grace propped up at the bar talking to Owen as soon as I entered the Panther. They both turned to look at me when the door banged closed behind me, their expressions knowledgeable of my mood.

  I roamed the room, hunting for the redhead that I knew worked here. Her thick red hair always made me think of Ava, her large breasts always made me think of Ava, and the way she walked with a swing to her hips always made me think of Ava.

  And tonight I needed to fuck Ava.

  I spotted her, leaning against one of the poles talking to Misty. She gasped when I grabbed her hand and silently pulled her towards the stairs.

  Kade was out of his seat instantaneously, his long strides hurrying towards me. His fingers wrapped around my wrist when he reached me, “Don’t do this, Mason.”

  “Fuck off, Kade. Leave me be.”

  “No,” he snarled at me. He prised my fingers from the girl and tilted his chin to her, dismissing her.

  “You fucking arse,” I growled as I pushed against him and slammed him against the wall at the bottom of the stairs. “You have no right to do this.”

  “I have every right, Mase. I’m sick of watching you both self-destruct. It’s about time you both faced this.”

  “Oh, my wife is facing it alright,” I hissed as I leant into his face. “With Steed’s cock up her ass whilst he beats the shit out of her.”

  His eyes closed slowly before he sighed heavily.

  “You knew!” I shook my head at him. “Tell me, am I the only stupid bastard who didn’t?”

  “Mason…” he spat at me when he opened his eyes and glared at me. “She wasn’t fucking him until she found you with Rebecca. You hurt her, so much. How the fuck did you think she would react, clap and send you both champagne?”

  “I…” His words hurt, dug inside me and cut deep when their truth hit me. I knew going back to Rebecca would hurt her but originally I’d just done it to make her jealous, hoping it would slap some sanity into her and bring her back to me. But when I realised that that plan wasn’t going to work, the easiness to Bec, along with the coke highs was too effortless to turn around from. “I thought it would bring her back.” I answered even though my logic now seemed stupid and foolish.

  He shook his head at me, “Do you not wonder why she chose Steed? We all know how he likes to play, how he likes to inflict pain and humiliation.”

  “What?”

  “She chose to fuck Steed because he isn’t you, Mason. He hurts her, he makes her feel how she thinks she should be feeling. He turns her into the monster she thinks she is.”

  “Oh Christ,” I choked out. “But she isn’t that, she isn’t how she sees herself. She’s beautiful, she is the most amazing thing that ever touched me. Her strength is astounding, her resilience overwhelms me and…”

  “Mason,” Kade cut in. “I know this, you know this but it’s Ava that has trouble knowing it.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” I whispered as I fought to control my emotions.

  He tugged on my hand and flicked his head to Grace. She smiled and nodded before Kade pulled me up the stairs and into one of the privates.

  He took us straight over to the couch before pulling me beside him. His hands were on my face immediately, his thumbs wiping at my tears as his lips caressed my cheeks, his love swallowing each painful tear that left me.

  I moaned and slid my fingers through his hair, pulling him further into me as he continued to work me th
rough my heartache.

  His kiss touched my lips, his tongue forcing them to part so he could take my tongue with his and fight out my despair as his anger emerged and he yanked my head back with a fierce grip to my hair.

  I slipped my hand under his t-shirt, my fingers tracing each contour of his delicious abs, the grooves defined and enticing as I teased both of us.

  He grunted and gripped my own shirt, lifting it over my head before his mouth was copying my route and tracing the edges of my stomach muscles with his tongue as his fingers dug through my jeans and massaged my growing erection causing me to push my hips into his touch, demanding more as my lust intensified into a raw need, a craving I would never be able to pacify.

  My whole body shivered when I felt him lower my zip and slip his hand inside, his fingers hunting and seeking before they curled around my shaft and his palm massaged my cock, instigating my hips to pursue more of his touch and lift upwards.

  “Kade…”

  He replied with a moan before he was suddenly sucking on me, his lips soft as they slid down my dick, his tongue tracing the underside as his fingers cupped my balls.

  He slid to the floor on his knees to give himself better access as I lifted my hips and slid my jeans off, giving him more of me to pleasure.

  His hands braced the tops of my thighs, his fingernails leaving indentations in my flesh as his draws on me became fiercer and hungrier.

  “Not yet,” I told him as I pulled him to stand before me.

  He unbuckled his belt and slid out of his clothes as his eyes locked onto my face, his desire and longing darkening his gaze and shadowing the bright blueness to his eyes.

  I leaned towards him, taking his cock in my hand and stroked his length, dipping my thumb over his slit and making him hiss. “Fuck me with your mouth,” he demanded, his tone tight and squeaky causing me to grin wickedly.

  I obeyed immediately. This is how Kade and I played, how we fucked, his dominance controlling but pleasuring at the same time, taking away all my other thoughts until there was only him I was allowed to concentrate on.

  “That’s it,” he rasped as I sank down on him, shivering as his unique taste brought me home. “More, Mason. I wanna feel your throat on my cock, and your lips on my balls.”

  He pushed into me harder and harder as I worked him until he was panting and groaning, his grip on my shoulders holding me still so he could drive into my throat without restriction.

  I dropped him from my mouth and lifted myself off the floor then sat on the sofa, my cock hard and high as I devoured his glorious naked body with my eyes. “Let me fuck you.”

  His teeth clenched together, his chest heaving as his cock swelled even more. He took a step into me and slid his knees either side of my thighs so he was straddled over me. He positioned the head of my dick at his arse then slid down slowly, each inch I slipped inside him driving us both crazier and needier.

  He didn’t stop until my balls were squashed against his buttocks and my cock was completely sheathed inside him. His face was tight and damp, perspiration heavy on his skin as his teeth sank into his bottom lip with the pleasure riding both of us.

  “Ah damn,” he groaned when I shifted my hips and buried myself deeper inside him.

  He grabbed my hands, holding them against the sofa beside my head as his forehead rested against mine and he started to move on me. His moves were slow and steady, each rise and fall driving ecstasy into my veins and coursing pleasure into each section of my brain.

  He kissed me as he sped up, his tongue fucking my mouth as my cock fucked him, his fingers holding onto mine almost painfully as he took his pleasure from me.

  He dropped one of my hands and placed it on his cock. “Stroke me hard,” he whispered as his pace increased, his thighs thickening with each lift and fall on me.

  I squeezed his cock tight as he fucked me harder, forcing my head to fall back against the sofa as bliss took over and pushed away everything else until there was just me and Kade, fucking, groaning and pleasuring, until my cum swirled angrily and shot inside him, filling him as his shot across our bellies and he fell into my shoulder. “I love you,” he choked out as he lifted to look at me.

  “I love you.” I replied as I kissed him tenderly, pressing my lips against his to show him as well as tell him.

  He nodded and cupped my face as we both struggled to catch our breaths. “And now it’s time to fight for your other love. It’s time to battle this out with her. Show her that although she hates her disfigurements, you fucking adore them. Show her how much her inner beauty means to you, how much her soul turns you on, not just her looks.”

  I nodded, my chest heaving as a resilience empowered me, electrified each nerve inside me until I was panting with need to get to her, to tell her exactly that, to show her exactly that.

  It was time to show my little warrior just how much I could fight too.

  Chapter twenty Three

  Stolen

  Ava

  “And how’s the male students?” I asked Katie with a smirk as I balanced the phone between my shoulder and mouth to uncork the bottle of wine.

  “Well, what can I say,” she laughed. “Apart from Holy hell, I’ve already seen enough naked male flesh to last me through the whole of my four years study here.”

  I laughed with her, picturing the look on my quite prim daughter’s face with all the university and campus activity. “But you’re okay?”

  “I am, I’m fine mom, stop fretting.”

  I rolled my eyes at her tone, “Okay.”

  “And you and dad,” she probed finally. I knew she had been heading this way and had been eager to delve. “Are you okay?”

  “We’re fine.”

  She paused and sighed, “I take it by that you mean you’re both still being stubborn.”

  “Katie,” I warned fiercely when she started her usual reprimand.

  “Mum, listen to me,” she cut over me. “You are beautiful. Dad loves you with hair or no hair, why can’t you accept that?”

  “Katie…” I sighed as I rubbed at my temples in exhaustion to her persistent push. “Your dad is… well, he’s your dad but he’s also a man, a man that…” I cringed, talking about something like this with your daughter wasn’t exactly nice. “A man that has desires and expectations.”

  “What?” She scoffed. “Are you telling me you don’t meet his expectations because you lost your tits?” I blinked and shook my head at her bluntness. “Are you saying that your husband, and although he’s my dad and this stuff freaks me out, that your husband doesn’t desire you after twenty years of barely keeping his hands off you just because you lost your hair and feminine curves?”

  “Well…”

  “Well,” she spat at me through the phone. “That tells me more about you than it does dad. Christ, mother, he adores you. He would die for you. And believe it or not, sex is not the be all and end all of a relationship.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you?” she huffed. “Because from where I’m looking in on all this, you pushed away a man that would ride hell for you just because of the physical side to your marriage. I can tell you without a doubt that my dad would love you if you never made love ever again. He would cherish you if he never felt that connection ever again because you two have the most amazing relationship I have ever seen. You’re bloody soul mates, mom. Don’t drive each other away because of something neither of you can control.”

  I fell into a chair and stared at the wall. It was all such a mess. A stupid, twisted mass of horrors and foolishness. My daughter was right… as always. Mason loved me despite our turbulent sex life, even when he wasn’t inside me, he showed me love and adoration that went beyond any physicality or sexual gratification.

  We pleasured each other in more ways than sex, from the moment we woke and started the daily routine of life, from the sweet kisses as we both went on our usual paths that day, to when we would laugh and talk over dinner, to being laid out together on the sofa w
atching something on TV that made us laugh, and to just holding hands as we strolled along the beach, talking, laughing and loving.

  “Mom?” Katie whispered.

  “I’m here,” I whispered back. “I’m here, baby.”

  “Then go get him.”

  “I can’t, it’s too late.”

  “No,” she whispered back, her voice gentle but full of authority. “It’s never too late. It was never too late. It’s time to begin again.”

  “He… he found me with someone else.” I told her and winced, readying myself for her anger.

  “And you found him with Rebecca…”

  “How do you know about that?” I gasped.

  “It doesn’t matter how I know, what I’m saying is, you found him with Rebecca, yet you still want him. You’re sat there, readying yourself for getting him back. I can guarantee, even if you slept with the devil himself, my dad will want you back just as hard.”

  “I’m not so sure, Katie.”

  “Well I am.” She said urgently, “Don’t let the doubts ruin this. Don’t let the what ifs destroy your chance at happiness, mom. You deserve this, you deserve to be happy, and you deserve my dad a lot more than you think you do.”

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  “Okay?”

  “Yes, okay.”

  Her sob clenched my heart making me realise just how much I had put everyone through because of my denial. “Go, go.”

  “I’m going,” I laughed as I stood up and pulled on my pumps. “I’m going.”

  “I love you!” she shouted before she disconnected our call.

  I was still laughing as I pulled open the front door, but that ceased pretty quick when I found who was stood on my doorstep.