The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone

by D H Sidebottom

  I brought up the rage that I had been managing to control since Katie’s revenge, bubbled it up inside me and felt it course through me and empower me.

  Bringing my knee up sharply into his groin, I grabbed his hair and slammed his face into the heavy porcelain toilet cistern and smashed it again for good measure.

  He roared at me and I sprinted to the door but as I opened it he slammed it shut from behind me.

  Fuck!!

  He grabbed my hair and dragged me over to the sink unit, pushing me against it and bending me over.

  “NO!” I shrieked as he held my head down on the vanity by the back of my neck and started lifting my dress at the back. I was wearing a thong and as soon as he got my dress over my hips he chuckled merrily.

  “Merry fucking Christmas, Tom,” he praised himself.

  I was struggling and trying to ram my shoe heel into his leg but he gripped both of my legs between his thighs, clamping my legs tightly between his as he ran a finger up me, his intimate touch turning my stomach.

  “NO!!” I screamed.

  The door opened and a startled Courtney froze, wide eyed in the doorway. “Courtney, get Mason,” I yelled.

  She screamed, “SHIT!” as she flew out of the door.

  Tom wasn’t waiting for no-one, he unzipped his fly and I fought and thrashed as he tried to enter me. “Keep fucking still bitch!” He grabbed my hair and held my head down further into the unit just as Mason charged through the door, closely followed by Greg and Sam.

  He froze in the door and Tom whined at the sight of the pure vehemence and ferocity displayed on Mason’s face, Hell, even I whimpered.

  Mason stood very still and closed his eyes against the scene before him. “Let. Her. Go” he said slowly with an eerie calmness, but the level of ice, vehemence and malevolence in his voice froze every single drop of blood in my body, my bones cracked under the sheer wrath rolling off him. I stand corrected; it was this man who was the epitome of evilness.

  I swallowed heavily. Everything in the room appeared to still as the air seemed to be sucked from the room under the rage and pure fury of my man.

  Mason opened his eyes slowly. I recognised the white haze over his eyes, the twitch in his tight jaw, the white knuckles in his clenched fists and the rhythm of his ultra-steady heavy breaths.

  Oh Fuck!

  He took one step forward, his cold eyes rooted to Tom, who was still stupidly holding me against the vanity. Mason took another step forward and I heard Tom gulp.

  Greg and Sam were now blocking the toilet door, hands fisted by their sides and feet spread apart. I now realised why these men were the most feared men in London. Even I was terrified and they were near enough my family.

  “I said—let her go,” Mason repeated and I begged for Tom to release me but it seemed the senseless man had frozen to the spot.

  Mason shook his head slowly from side to side and took another step. He placed his hand over the one Tom had on my hair and wrapped his fingers around it.

  I winced as I heard Tom’s bones crunch under the sheer force of Mason grip.

  Tom started making a high pitched rasping noise as the crunching went on and on until he started screaming.

  “Go!” Mason snapped to me without even glancing at me, his eyes fixed hard and cold on Tom. I nodded quickly. Sam held the door open for me as I hurried through to find Courtney and Marcy on the other side of the door.

  My knees buckled and Courtney caught me as Greg exited the bathroom and stood at the door in guard mode again.

  I swallowed the bile as I heard Tom’s piercing squeals.

  “Take her back to the table,” Greg told Courtney. She and Marcy held an arm each and practically dragged me back to the table. We weren’t getting any funny looks so I didn’t think anyone had noticed anything.

  I was numb, scared and nauseous and after about ten minutes Greg came over to the table. “There is a limo picking you up in five minutes. We’ll meet you back at the cabin,” he informed us.

  I frowned. “Why aren’t you coming?”

  “Mason wants to take care of him.”

  I sighed. “No Greg! He’s not worth the risk,” I pleaded, highly aware that they got caught then it was over for Mason. “You can’t . . . not in a nightclub toilet for God’s sake.”

  He narrowed his eyes on me but shook his head. “Mason will take care of it Ava, he has to take care of it.”

  “For God’s sake!” I raged and snatched up my bag and made for the exit.

  “Ava!” Greg shouted. I turned to him, eyes blazing and my fists clenched painfully by my side. “If he doesn’t do this he won’t be worth living with, do you understand?”

  I shook my head. “But here? Right in the middle of a God damn nightclub?”

  He shook his head. “No, he’ll be taken elsewhere.”

  I still shook my head in anger. “This is fucking suicide,” I declared but turned and left, my own rage still swirling my veins at rocket speed with Courtney and Marcy trundling along behind me.

  I slammed my fist into the wall and then did it again and again to get rid of some of the adrenaline, my knuckles cracking and crunching under my own strength.

  “Come on, babe,” Courtney begged, her eyes full of pain and worry. I sighed and nodded then clambered into the car. All of us were silent on the ride home, all of us thinking about our men, but in the end, I knew which man it would be that finished Tom; just for revenge that the sick bastard had dared to touch his woman.

  CHAPTER 17

  I CURLED UP in bed three hours later after a slug of much needed vodka and a swift apology to my babies. Courtney and Marcy had gone to bed a couple of hours earlier but the men still hadn’t returned and I was sick and tired of waiting for them. I had curled up in the bedroom chair two hours ago waiting for Mason to return but after waiting for three long hours I climbed exhausted into bed.

  I was hurt, upset and angry that he wasn’t here for me; I needed him desperately, to hold me and tell me everything was okay, to stroke my hair and tell me he loved me.

  I had sat looking in the mirror at the purple bruising around my neck; the desperate need to get clean had me scrubbing nearly all my skin raw in the shower and all I wanted now was my man.

  I tossed and turned for at least another hour but was stirred from my chaotic dozing sometime later when Mason climbed in behind me and pulled me tight.

  He nuzzled into my neck. I could smell whisky on him as his hands slipped around me and down into my shorts. He slipped a finger into my groove as he pressed a raging erection into my back.

  What the Hell?!

  “Move them, now!” I snarled and he froze behind me.

  “Ava? What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.

  I swallowed heavily and sat up. “Are you fucking stupid?” I was gobsmacked at his audacity.

  His eyes narrowed on me and I realised from the look of him that he’s had much more to drink than I thought. “What did you say?” he demanded angrily, his eyes blazing brightly as his breathing steadied out.

  “I asked if you are fucking stupid.”

  He shot out of bed and snapped the light on then his eyes widened as he spotted my throat. “Jesus Ava,” he breathed as he shot towards me.

  I reared back and held my hands up and he stilled, regarding me warily. “Don’t touch me Mason.”

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  I shook my head in frustration. “You really have no idea do you?” I scoffed sadly. I swung my legs out of bed and walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out a blanket that was stored in the bottom.

  “Where are you going?” He huffed with confusion written all over his stern face.

  “To sleep on the couch,” I informed him.

  His hand grabbed my arm and I flinched but he didn’t remove it. “WILL YOU FUCKING TALK TO ME!!” he roared. I bit my lip in shock and hurt at his insensitive attitude towards me after being two seconds away from being raped.

  Tears flooded my
eyes and I held his eyes. “I needed you Mason, I needed you to hold me, I needed you to make me feel safe, I needed you to stop the tears and tell me everything was alright. I needed the comfort of your words and your love and tenderness. I just fucking needed you tonight but . . .” I stopped shouting at him to just stare at him. “But YOU needed to sort your feelings out first and then have the fucking nerve to come back, roaring fucking drunk, coked up and expecting to fuck me after I’ve been nearly raped!” I whispered with a sob.

  He glared at me. “What the fuck do you want me to do? I finished him! What more do you want?” he raged.

  I laughed bitterly. “Did you finish him because he hurt me or did you finish him because he’d dared to touch your property?”

  His mouth opened then snapped shut and I nodded. “I thought so.” I sighed heavily and turned to the door.

  “Don’t you dare fucking leave this room. Don’t treat me like fucking shit because I’ve killed somebody, so have you Ava . . . twice,” he shouted, slamming the door shut before he spun me round, trapping me in his frame against the door, his glare fierce.

  “Yes I have Mason. I killed Dean for Katie and I killed Lee for you Mason, not for me!” I screamed at him.

  “Bullshit Ava, you killed Lee because he raped and stalked you!” he scoffed. I shook my head with both sadness and ire.

  “No Mason, I killed Lee for you because of how much he hurt you when he sent you those photos . . . not for me. FOR YOU! Whatever he did to me, it wasn’t enough for me to kill him, until I looked in your eyes in that warehouse and I knew he’d killed you inside by showing you, by forcing those images into your head! That’s why I shot him, because of how he hurt you! YOU Mason!”

  His hands remained on the door but his eyes widened at my words. “Move,” I warned. I was gulping for breath. I was so mad I thought I might kill him if I got my hands on him.

  “No, not until we have talked . . . Do you know what it did to me to see you . . . like that? Bent over in some fucking toilets while that . . . that fucking animal had his . . . his fucking dirty, filthy fucking hands all over you?” he cried.

  “Yes Mason and you finished him because of how he made you feel, not for how he had made me feel,” I bit back. His eyes darkened, the fury building. I had to get out, get away from him. “I—said—move,” I lowered my voice just a fraction to forewarn him of my rage building. He continued to glare at me. The fire and anger in his eyes didn’t frighten me, it saddened me.

  I cupped his highly ill-timed erection in my hand and squeezed. “I told you to move,” I whispered coldly, still squeezing.

  I could see a drop of sweat on his forehead rolling down towards the bridge of his nose. “Ava . . .” he warned but I continued crushing and twisting. He bit into his lower lip, flinching against the pain. “Shit Ava, stop.” He winced as I carried on and raised my eyebrows in question.

  “For fucks sake, Ava!” he bellowed and stood aside as he slammed his fist against the wall.

  “Thank you!” I snapped and left the room, traipsing downstairs glumly.

  I curled up on the couch, pulling the blanket over me and stared at the remaining embers glowing in the fire. He had hurt me so much tonight. He didn’t finish Tom for what he had done to me, only for himself, to make himself feel better, to ease his suffering and rage.

  Even Greg had admitted this when he said ‘He HAS to take care of it Ava, he won’t be worth living with if he doesn’t’ and then to go out and get bloody drunk before returning to me when it should be obvious that I would need his support was just unbelievable. What the hell was wrong with him?

  I shivered as I pictured Tom’s snarl, his hands around my throat, squeezing the life out of me. My face stuck into the vanity as he raised my dress. What the hell was wrong with me? Why me, all the time?

  A tear slipped free and then another, until I was sobbing quietly into the cushion. I couldn’t free the images from my mind, bringing back the memories of that night 5 years ago; being held against the wall with a hand around my throat, being taken from behind, the hard grip of my hair, the feeling of filthy paws all over me, touching me and taking from me.

  The nausea rose again and I flung the blanket off and darted for the bathroom, just making it as I vomited and tremors racked through me.

  “Fuck!” I spluttered into the bowl again. I couldn’t stop the damn images from swarming my thoughts, the feeling of his hands on me and the sensation of his finger swiping up my most private parts. The vomit came again as I felt somebody pull my hair back and Courtney whispering shush to me.

  She pulled me against her and stroked my back as I wept, the tremors still flooding me. “I need to clean him away,” I told her as I couldn’t stop shaking.

  “Ava, babe, I’m here. Come on let’s get you in the bath,” she said softly as she started to fill the tub and then settled beside me again.

  “I heard you rowing with Mason,” she said softly and I snorted.

  “Oh yeah, he’d rather go and get blind drunk than come back and comfort me,” I said sadly, hugging my knees in front of me. “When did Greg get back?” I asked as an afterthought.

  She shrugged. “About an hour after we returned, why?”

  “Was he drunk?”

  I looked at her and she cringed under my scrutiny. “No,” she answered slowly.

  “Mason came back thirty fucking minutes ago, smashed!” I fumed, “So where the hell has he been?” Fresh tears flowed at his apparent emotional distance and that hurt more than anything else that had happened tonight.

  Courtney tipped her head sadly at me. “Come on babe, baths ready.” She pulled me up and stripped me down, helping me into the bath and sat on the floor beside me as I cried and scrubbed and cried and scrubbed at my crawling skin, still heaving and shaking as I tried to remove all evidence of Tom’s hands.

  “Shush, Ava” she whispered as she stroked my hair.

  The door opened and Mason stood in the doorway, his eyes narrowed on me but then softened and filled with love and regret.

  He pulled a large towel off the radiator and held it out. “Stand,” he demanded bluntly but softly. I did. He wrapped the towel around me and lifted me into his arms, carrying me tightly against his hard and solid body to the bedroom without uttering a single word.

  He set me down in the middle of the room and proceeded to rub me dry, never taking his eyes off mine.

  When I was dry he retrieved his soft blue t-shirt from his drawer, the one I had claimed before and slipped it over my head and lifted me again, laying me gently onto the bed.

  The bed dipped as I felt him climb in behind me and pull me tight against him again. “Sleep,” his said softly as he stroked my belly and pulled my hair to the side so he could rest his nose in the crook behind my ear.

  I sighed, relaxing against him. This was all I needed, not a revenge killing, not a screaming match, not his drunken fury but simply his arms around me, protecting and holding me.

  “I’m sorry baby, I’m so sorry,” he whispered in my ear. I didn’t answer but snuggled deeper into him and nodded as he placed a gentle kiss in the dip behind my ear. “I love you.”

  He was really trying and my heart softened. I truly hadn’t took into consideration how he must have felt, walking into that bathroom and finding me bent over a sink, my arse on display and a fucking animal trying to rape me. It must have tortured him. Mason was a strong willed man and had the deep need to protect me. I know he had thought he had failed me but it was really my fault for getting myself in that situation by humiliating Tom at the booth.

  I sighed heavily. “Thank you,” I whispered to him.

  He stilled slightly, his firm chest pressing deeper into the arc of my back. “What for?”

  “For saving me.” I replied and he exhaled heavily.

  I could read him like a book.

  “You didn’t fail to protect me, Mason. You saved me just in time. It was my fault he did what he did.” He turned me onto my back and loomed
over me, sliding his hand into my hair behind my ear.

  “No Ava! Don’t ever say that!” he insisted as his eyes flicked over the desolation on my face, his own despair at my words clearly displayed.

  “But it was, I was in a mood and should have just ignored him but I humiliated him in front of his friends.” I sobbed and he wrapped me tight. “He touched me, Mason. He put his fingers on me.” I shuddered and I felt him tense and take a calming breath.

  “It’s okay baby, it’s over now,” he soothed as he pulled my head into the crooked of his neck.

  “I love you,” I said and I felt his smile.

  “I love you, my little warrior,” he breathed. “Now go to sleep or Santa won’t come,” he scolded. I chuckled and snuggled in to him.

  “Ava” he whispered.

  “Mmmm,” I hummed against my deepening content and drowsiness.

  “Merry Christmas, baby,” he kissed my head.

  “Merry Christmas, Mason.” I replied softly and planted a kiss on his chest.

  CHAPTER 18

  “MMMM” I BREATHED, wriggling my bum into the pressure that was forming inside me. My eyes were still asleep but my body was humming with stimulation. “Oooh, yeahhh” I moaned again, my hips gyrating of their own accord. The throb was building rapidly, the sparks zapping my nerve endings throughout my body.

  A quick flick against my clitoris and my eyes shot open to find Mason’s beautiful face between my thighs. “Oh fuck!” I moaned as my orgasm exploded through me at the erotic sight of his tongue working feverishly at me.

  “Merry Christmas, Gorgeous!” I grinned as he looked at me through his long lashes and gave me lazy grin.

  “And a very Merry Christmas to you too, baby.”

  I stroked his face as he climbed up the bed and rested his forehead against mine. “I didn’t in my wildest dreams expect to be here with you on Christmas morning.” I sighed earnestly as a happy tear pooled in the corner of my eye.

  Mason leant down and kissed the tear, transferring it to his lips. “No tears today, baby.” He placed another small kiss on my cheek and then another at the corner of my mouth as his knee nudged my legs open and he slowly entered me, inch by inch, slowly and oh so very gently.