“Talk to me.”
I shook my head. “You know, you know how it is, Steed.”
And then I moved him away and left him staring after me as I climbed into my car and sped away.
Three
Ava
“You okay, Ava?”
I blinked out of my daydream and smiled at Kath when she squeezed her huge body onto the bench beside me. Katherine Keegan had already been inside for five years, with another twenty to serve, for killing the boy who had murdered her daughter. Unfortunately, her grief had overcome her and she’d hunted the bastard down and stabbed him to death in the middle of a shopping centre – with hundreds of witnesses and the centre’s CCTV. I’d known her from years back and was surprised when I found her in the same block as me. If I was honest I appreciated both her companionship and her allegiance. She was well-liked, and although my name was already recognised by most of the other inmates, it was good to have Kath on my side.
I gave her a half-nod and sighed as I pushed the lumpy shit, which was apparently mashed potato, around my plate as anxiety twisted my stomach and made the food inedible.
“Come on, tell Aunty Kath.”
I smiled and slid her my food which she took appreciatively. I trusted Kath – well as much as one could trust anyone in this place – and I leaned towards her to hide our conversation from the bored women that loved any juicy gossip that their ears could get hold of. “I’m worried about Mason.”
Kath was well aware of who Mason was, as was everyone else in this shit stinking place. I was already growing bored of their frequent questions about our love life – in specific, Mason’s cock and his notorious bedroom qualities. It did remind me what a man-whore my husband used to be before I had met him, and my mind was often wondering if any of the women locked up with me had had a piece of him. And that didn’t settle well in my gut. I needed to get out of here, and quickly, before I went crazy.
“Is that something new you’re experiencing?”
I chuckled, loving her humour. “Not particularly.”
She nodded knowingly and scooped a pile of the potato substitute into her mouth. “Thought not. What’s bothering you, chick?”
“He’s done something, and I have a feeling the come-back from that is going to be astronomic.”
She nodded, again knowingly, and continued to eat, her attention on me and her eyes on her food as if we were talking in general about the weather. “Sugar, your man is a man, do they ever do anything that doesn’t have astronomic reverberations for us little women by their sides? They shit and the stench from that can last decades, and it’s us that has to spray the god damn air freshener after them. Their behaviour is never to be any different.”
I smiled at her choice of comparison. “But this time I have a feeling the stupid man has crossed a line that can’t be rubbed out and re-chalked further along.”
Kath looked at me, a small frown on her face. “I know you know him better than me, he’s your hubby, not mine. But I’m also aware of Mason Fox’s ‘antics’. He’s always had a quick temper and has never followed the path others have set.” She frowned deeper. “But I sense this time is different?”
I nodded. She didn’t need to know the specifics, and I also knew that she didn’t want to know either, but she sighed and nodded, her jaw opening and closing religiously as she made an effort to chew the leathery meat they actually tried to pass off as beef.
“I hate that I’m not there, Kath. I hate that I know he’s struggling without me. I hate that I can’t sort this fucking mess out from in here. And I know he’ll shit an even bigger pile of crap if I’m not there to stop him.” I growled to myself, frustrated. “Bloody man!”
“He do whatever he do for you?” Occasionally her Jamaican slang slipped in and I always loved the sound of it, it was something that made me smile.
“He did, that’s why I can’t be mad at him. But shit, Kath, sometimes this damn pedestal he puts me on, I swear it gets higher and higher each time.”
“The man loves you. They have no control over their actions when they’re in love. There not like us, Ava. They give you their heart and they give their brains away at the same time. They have two things that control them, a beautiful woman’s pussy and their own dicks… And maybe another man’s dick while they’re at it. That’s all they know, and that’s all they live by.”
I laughed and she nudged me, grinning back after she’d brought me a smile. Her white teeth were glaring against the backdrop of her brown skin but it only made her grin wider and more vigorous. Right then, even if it was unthinkable in this place, I leaned over and hugged the woman.
She winked. “You know I tell the truth, Ava Fox. You just have to take his shit and pile it at the side of the road and keep on going. I swear they’d all die without us.”
“And that right there is what I’m scared of,” I added, sombrely.
“He got a mark on his back?”
Chewing on my little finger, I nodded slowly. “Around five or six of them.”
“Shit, chick.”
I tensed when I saw Sharon Carver stroll into the dinner hall. Kath noticed her too and placed down her cutlery on her plate. Shifting around, the vast size of her making it difficult to manoeuvre herself out of the bench easily, she leaned back against the table and stretched her legs in front of her, therefore turning her back on Sharon and her few cronies. “I heard a little rumour that the crow is gonna flap her big fat wings this afternoon and spray the shit all over the laundry room.”
Keeping my eyes forward, I focussed on the door to the room. “This afternoon?”
“Yep. Just thought I’d warn you, chick.”
And with that, Kath pushed herself up and grabbed her tray, leaving me wondering if my life could get any fucking worse.
♡
Blowing out a breath when from behind me I both heard and sensed Sharon come in to the laundry room, my shoulders sagged in lost hope. The air shifted when the other women working with me moved out, sensing the approaching fight.
Continuing to fold the dry, hot sheets, I kept my back to her. “I was hoping you would have gone for the wise option, Sharon.”
“And that would be?” Her voice was close to me, but it was the press of something sharp in my back that told me she was now right behind me.
“To let this shit lie, and leave it alone.”
Her hot breath rippled over the side of my neck when she dropped her mouth to my ear, causing me to shiver with the proximity. “Tell me why I would do that? You owe me a heartbeat for what your daughter did to my Jimmy.”
I shook my head in disappointment. “Why do your family take out revenge on the family members of those at fault? You’re taking me on in revenge for your husband. Your husband took his revenge out on my daughter-in-law and my grandbaby. What’s up, you afraid of the ones you actually have beef with?”
“Afraid?” she scoffed as she pressed the shiv, a makeshift blade made from a toothbrush and a razor blade, deeper into my flesh. “Of Katie Fox?”
I rolled my eyes. She obviously wasn’t aware of Katie’s reputation. “Honestly, Sharon. I’ve not even been on trial yet. And now I’m already gonna have to slay some dumb bitch before I’ve even been fucking sentenced.”
She laughed behind me. “You seem confident about that, Ava.”
I nodded, slowly shifting myself into place. “Last chance, Sharon. Think of your own grandbabies before you do something stupid. They’ve lost their grandad cos’ of his utter stupidity, and now it seems their grandmother holds the same amount of brain cells as her husband.”
“You fucking….”
Just as I spun around to snap her fat fucking neck both Sharon and I froze when PO Travis walked into the room.
Sharon moved away from me quickly, slipping the blade into a stack of folded towels.
Travis eyed us both suspiciously and turned to me. “Everything alright, Fox?”
“Yep, hunky-dory,”
Her eyes s
aid she didn’t believe me but knowing I wouldn’t grass, she sighed and nodded. Travis was one of the decent ones. Many prison officers were on the take, bringing in shit for a high price. I hated those bitches. Prison life was hard enough as it was without having to watch your back with the screws as well.
“Governor Bell wants a word,” she said to me before she narrowed her eyes on Sharon. Everyone in C Block knew how short-tempered and vicious Sharon was. Sharon thought her reputation was great, but the silly bitch didn’t seem to comprehend that when shit went down she would always be the number one suspect because of it. The best thing to be in here was to be clever, hidden away and distanced from any speculation. Yet some of the women only had their reputation to back them instead of actually being as hard as they made out.
“Now?”
“Now, Fox.”
Shrugging, I turned to Sharon. “Saved by the ‘Bell’. Never mind, hun, we’ll talk later. Oooh and don’t forget to rewash those towels, wouldn’t want the women complaining how rough they are. Cut your ass to bits when they haven’t been softened.”
She glared at me and I chuckled as I followed PO Travis out of the room.
♡
I gawped at Governor Bell. She wasn’t happy, her stern face puce with anger as the tight line of her mouth pressed hard against the edge of her teeth. Governor Bell was a big woman, and her character was as nasty as the huge, hairy wart on her chin. She didn’t like me, and the feeling was mutual. When I’d first come in she had dragged me in to her office to belittle me as often as possible. What she hadn’t liked was my eager cooperation. I smiled happily at her every time she ordered a cavity search, and every time she planted the rough jobs on me I accepted them with enthusiasm. Eventually, working out she couldn’t torment me like she did all the other new arrivals, she’d backed off a little.
And this latest bit of news had gone down like a lead balloon.
“Just like that?” I asked warily.
“Apparently so,” she spat, pushing her glasses back up her long nose when they slid down with the amount of perspiration slicking her stretched skin.
I was speechless. I had been expecting it but I’d also anticipated a lot more time and paperwork.
“Collect your shit and go.”
Collect my shit and go?
Travis grinned at my astonishment from where she stood on sentry beside me. “You’re free to go, Ava,” she validated quietly with a soft nod. “Just a little paperwork to sign and you’ll be home in your own bed by tonight.”
“I’m sure you’ll be back, Fox,” the Governor jeered spitefully but I was still too stunned to retort with anything.
Nodding, I mutely followed Travis out. It all seemed surreal. My heart was already thanking my amazing glorious bastard. However, I also knew exactly what this meant. My deal had been broken. An unspoken contract had been retracted, and in the underworld that only meant one thing. Death.
Four
Mason
My foot had been tapping to the same silent tune for the last hour, the gravel that had initially been under my shoe when I’d first climbed from the car to wait for her now brushed away to leave a smooth section of concrete. I knew every crack, every groove and every scuff mark in the side door of the prison building.
The clouds had broken in the last twenty minutes, interrupting the rain and allowing for the sun to finally break free, its pleasant rays already warming the air as if heralding my wife’s return.
Only when the door finally opened and my eyes landed on Ava did my heart start to beat once again. She was dressed in the same black skirt and sage green blouse she’d gone in in, and her long, thick hair moved in the slight breeze that had developed while I’d sat waiting for her. She was like a priceless painting that all the best thieves wanted to steal. And she was mine. All of her. Her beauty, her huge heart and her perfect body belonged to me, and every day that I took a breath I was grateful and amazed for that.
She blinked, squinting against the bright sun, but then her anxious gaze found me. The rush of emotion on her face made me step forwards and hold out my arms.
The prison officer that had escorted her out smiled widely when Ava broke into a run and lunged at me. Her arms flew around my neck and her little legs wrapped around my waist as her mouth crashed against mine. Her kiss was the only thing that could settle the raging storm that forever lived inside my soul, and as soon as her lips connected with mine, my dick shot to life. Nine weeks without the touch of her body was a hell of long time, especially when Ava and I used sex as an outlay for our emotions. We were both as passionate with each other now as we had been twenty two years ago. Sex to others was just an extra that came with relationships, yet to us it was the backbone of our marriage, the foundation that held us up and made sure we remained as close as any couple could be.
The pain in my cock was so bad that I was debating tearing off her clothes and slamming her against the car bonnet, right here, in the prison carpark, in front of anyone who wanted to watch.
“Mason,” she breathed against my skin when she buried her face into the crook of my neck and took a deep breath of me.
I hugged her closer, closing my eyes and cherishing the feel of her in my arms once again before I carried her around the car and sat her in the passenger seat.
The prison guard lifted her hand to me when I climbed in the driver’s side and pulled away from the place that had held my wife hostage for the last nine weeks.
Ava was staring through the window as if she hadn’t seen the outside world before and I couldn’t help smiling to myself. “You okay, baby?”
She nodded, turning to give me a smile. I reached across and squeezed her hand, lifting it to my mouth to drop a quick kiss to her knuckles. “How come they let me out so quickly?”
I shrugged, checking my mirrors for tails but found the road empty. “You were the most recent of Delaney’s charges, I guess. Plus, there wasn’t any evidence for them to trawl through and verify.”
“But I’d have at least expected our solicitor to authorise my release.”
“He doesn’t need to, only the high judge can do that.”
She barked out a laugh when I gave her a sly wink. “Ahh, now I understand. Carrie?” Carrie Duke was a friend of ours, and the highest judge in the crown judicial unit. She had been only too willing to sign the paperwork for Ava’s discharge.
Answering her with a grin, she lifted my own hand and returned my kiss.
She was quiet for a while, returning to look out of the window. I could read the unease in her and I knew what was troubling her. “Ava, there’s been no comeback, and there won’t be. Stop worrying.”
“You know there will be, Mason.” Her eyes were full of dread and I looked away, unwilling to acknowledge what we both knew.
“I don’t care, baby. I’d be dead anyway if they’d have locked you away inside that fucking building any longer. I can’t live without you, you know that. This way, at least I get to touch you, hold you and love you before…”
She tensed, her eyes closing as her teeth sank into her bottom lip. “Don’t…”
“It won’t come to that. Anyone tries to take me on they’ll get something they weren’t planning on.”
“Which is?”
I chuckled, casting her a shrewd smirk. “You.”
The grin that broke on her face, the one that always made my heart beat quicker, made us both relax. She glanced around our surroundings and frowned. “This isn’t the way home.”
“I know.”
“Where are we going?” I could see her looking for road signs and I rolled my eyes, always impatient was my little warrior.
“I booked us a cottage in Somerset for a few days.”
The look of excitement on her face was contagious and I beamed back at her.
Then her smile dropped and she twisted her lips in thought. “But won’t the others wonder where we are?”
“They will,” I agreed with a firm nod. “They are all curr
ently waiting at home with a welcome home party ready.”
“So why are we going to Somerset?”
I tutted. “If they think that after being away from you for nine weeks that I’m about to share you then they’re thoroughly mistaken.”
“Yeah, but…”
“I plan on spending seventy two hours buried deep inside you, keeping my cock warm and your pussy wet.”
She paused, and then nodded in agreement. “Well, when you put it like that. I’m sure they’ll wait.”
“They don’t have a choice.”
♡
She stood in the middle of the room, staring at me with so much adoration that I was struggling to control myself. Stepping towards her, she gasped when I fisted the silk of her blouse in my hands and tore the material from her. Buttons shot everywhere as I snapped the clasp of the mastectomy bra she always insisted on wearing and threw that across the room.
The sight of her scars made my dick throb in anticipation. She didn’t understand how the loss of her breasts could turn me on like it did, but to me there was nothing more erotic than the evidence of her fight for life, the fight for her family, the fight to keep alive for me. It was proof of her love for me, the fact that she had accepted the mutilation of her body to keep breathing, for me.
Pushing her skirt down over her hips, I couldn’t get her naked quick enough. I needed to be inside her before I lost control and came in my damn boxers.
Sliding my hands into the back of her knickers I cupped her backside and kissed her. The sound of the throaty moan that came from her had me giving in and yanking them off her also.
She stepped back and I frowned when she covered herself with her hands. She looked mortified, her cheeks red with shame. Fear caught my breath with the potential reasons for her panic. “Ava?”
She grimaced. “I haven’t shaved.”
Decay (Heart of Stone Book 13) Page 4
