He was stood gobsmacked, staring at me. “No, I don’t fucking love her!” he bellowed as he took a step closer to me and grabbed my arms. “How many fucking times Ava? I DO NOT LOVE REBECCA; I LOVE YOU AND ONLY YOU!” His grip was tight and his red furious face was a mere inch from mine.
“Then why do you keep going back to her?” I asked quietly. His eyes flashed with an emotion I couldn’t read but he loosened his grip and dropped his hands by his side.
“Because she’s easy when I need it,” he confessed as he closed his eyes.
I gasped as tears stung my eyes. My hand lifted of its own accord and I had slapped him harshly before I had even realised I’d done it. I shook my head in despair. “Is she another of your addictions, Mason?” I asked spitefully.
“It’s not like that Ava, but she’s always there when I wanna get obliterated or high. She’s the one that . . . that understands what I go through.”
I choked on a sob, the truth he felt to his words sliced my heart in two and I took a step into him. “So where was she when you went through withdrawal Mason? Eh? Was she the one that understood when you raped and pinned her up against a wall and just fucking took it because it was what you needed? Eh?” I slammed a finger into his chest.
“Was she the one that understood and sat for twelve fucking hours talking to you, trying to get you through the sickness and bowel explosions, tell me Mason, where was her understanding then? Eh?” I pushed him this time.
“Where was she when the tremors and sweats racked your fucking body? Was she the one rinsing the fucking towel every ten minutes to keep you cool? Wiping the tears away endlessly whilst you didn’t realise she was sobbing as she did it? Was she the one that held you hour after hour as pain tore through you? Was it her fucking arms and thighs that you bruised and fractured in your death grip against the pain?”
I slammed my fist into his chest. “And was she the one that broke and shattered in there with you? Was she the one that cried herself to sleep with the guilt of your withdrawal, night after night after night? Was she Mason . . . ? TELL ME?” I screamed as I erupted at him and knocked him sideways with my wrath as he squinted against the pain I was unleashing on him. His arms came up to protect his head as I laid into him, fist after fist after fist, my heart and mind finally breaking under the destruction and devastation he laid onto me time and time again.
I was pulled back by two pairs of firm hands gripping my arms. I struggled to free myself but when I realised they weren’t going to relent I spat at him, straight into his face. “In future when you get a fucking craving go and find her, I’m sure she’s more understanding than I have ever been! Now do you understand ME?”
He turned his head to me and I was inwardly pleased at the bloody split across his nose and the blood that trickled from his eyebrow. I wanted him to hurt; I wanted the pain to tear him in two like it was me. I wanted his whole world to end like mine had when he uttered that one sentence.
“Ava, sweetheart, calm down,” Greg said behind me but I kicked out at Mason.
“Get me away from him before I fucking kill him,” I cried. I saw Mason’s pained and remorseful eyes getting further away as Greg and Sam pulled me from the room whilst I struggled and kicked against them, my devastation and heartbreak vocal now the strangled cries erupted from my throat and I slumped against them.
They dragged me over to the sofa and Greg huddled me up, holding me tightly against his chest as inhumane sounds broke from my lungs and heavy sobs racked my body. I heard him say something to Sam but I had zoned out and curled into a ball on Greg’s lap, folding my arms over my head trying to block out the world and retreat into my own little bubble.
Greg rocked me back and forwards until I felt myself being lifted into another set of familiar arms and I broke down, completely and utterly let my mind and body release the pressure as I screamed and clawed at Nate; Mason’s betrayal and complete disregard for what I had gone through, in the garage with him, putting my heart and soul on the line for him.
Nate’s shushes in my ear got louder as I calmed down and I was aware of his strong hold on me. My mind cleared and I abruptly stopped crying and sat up.
“Enough,” I said simply. He nodded grimly as he scooped me up and carried me into the bedroom, where he gently lay me down and pulling my case from the wardrobe, he packed for me. I sat watching him in detachment and surrealism. I knew now that I could never be with Mason, could never have a straightforward relationship with him. I would always love him but there wasn’t any of my heart left to give him. He had shattered and pulverised every single part of it and there was nothing left to give him.
Nate’s worried glances made me smile softly at him. “I’m okay,” I assured him as I stood and approached him. “There’s something I need to do before we go, are you okay packing George and Katie’s things?” He palmed my cheek and nodded, knowing what I had to do.
“Do you want me to take them back to the cottage and meet you there?” he asked gently and I nodded, smiling softly as I turned away and walked to the door.
“Ava,” Nate choked out behind me and I turned round to him. He stood silent, his eyes deep and anguished but then he just gave me a nod of his head.
“I know,” I whispered.
Taking a deep breath, I descended the stairs and found Greg and Sam in the lounge. “I’m ready.”
They took a breath each and stood up. Greg held his hand out to me as he approached and I placed my hand in his, his fingers curled around mine immediately. “Let’s do this,” he said softly as he kissed my head and as we walked through the entrance hall Mason was stood by the front door waiting.
His eyes found mine and he held them as I got nearer. “I don’t need you there,” I said flatly and frankly. He swallowed heavily but nodded, taking a step to the side and letting us pass.
Greg’s hand squeezed mine as Sam opened the door. “Ava . . .” Mason choked out as I took a step over the doorway.
I turned calmly to look at him. The anguish and sorrow displayed back at me reflected mine but I shook my head at him. “There’s nothing left Mason. There’s nothing left for you to destroy. You’ll always own my heart Mason because you hold the pieces in your clenched fist. Don’t let the dust slip through your fingers,” I told him honestly as I slipped my engagement ring off and placed it delicately on the table.
He sucked on his lips as his eyes glazed over and then he turned to Sam. “Look after her,” he said and then turned and walked up the stairs and into the nursery.
I inhaled sharply then pulled my shoulders back and turned to the men. “Now let’s do this,” I said calmly and pushed Ava back and pulled the inner bitch forwards. I needed her now more than ever but I knew she wouldn’t let me down. I wondered if she would ever let Ava back to the forefront after tonight.
* * *
My lips curled when I took in the sight of an already beaten and broken Dane. The guy’s had already done a good job on him. He was hanging from a chain that swung from a metal beam in the centre of a disused warehouse. The metallic scent of old blood draped the already stale air and I shivered at the thought of how many men Mason and his friends had already tortured there.
“Be strong,” Sam whispered behind me, jolting me back to reality. I knew he sensed my anxiousness, the sweat dripping down the nape of my neck confirmed it to him.
Nodding, acknowledging him without words knowing I wouldn’t even be able to muster any, I took the few steps needed to reach Dane.
Slowly he lifted his head. I gulped. The half side of his face that had been mutilated already was pulverised, his cheekbone visible. Unable to concentrate I shifted my eyes to his remaining good eye.
“Have you any requests?”
He blinked at me, confused by my question. Tipping his head to one side, his face tightening at the pain it obviously caused him, he chuckled quite sinisterly. “Don’t tell me the famous Mason Fox isn’t accompanying you? You actually think you can hurt me?”
; I scratched at the itch just under my eye. My blood was pumping too quickly and I knew I had to calm myself down. I was truthful with myself. I needed Mason. However, it was time to toughen up. Looking back on my life before my man, I knew I should be proud of how I had pulled myself through. So why shouldn’t I take delight in hurting someone who had hurt my loved ones? Dane had not only killed my baby, but hurt Mason. He’d stabbed Greg. He’d hurt me.
“Don’t you think I will hurt you, Dane? After all you’ve done to me and my family. You think I’m going to sit in a corner and watch someone else do my job for me?”
He shrugged. “Well that’s the reason you’re with Mason isn’t it, so he will deal with your problems. He’s always put himself out there for you, Ava. Pushed everyone else away just so he can protect and serve you. Queen fucking Ava.”
“You sound jealous.”
“Jealous.” He scoffed and shook his head. “Do you even know how long Mason and I were friends before you came along? Twenty years, Ava. Twenty fucking years that he just crushed under his foot because of you. We were like glue once, friends that would kill for one another. We didn’t only share women but trust and a soul, a soul that you demanded for yourself.”
Gripping his chin tightly I moved my face an inch from his. “And yet you thought nothing about killing your best friend’s child and raping his fiancé? Hell Dane, you’re an awesome friend.”
He heaved heavily when I brought my knee up quickly and jarred him in the balls, the little blood left in his face draining with the pain. “I’m so glad those balls of yours never fathered a child because it would be cursed from the off.”
I circled him, smiling at the bruising already displayed on his upper torso. Greg stepped forward and handed me something that made my heart race. He nodded, encouraging me when I hesitantly took it from him. “You can do this, Ava,” he urged calmly. “Think of your baby. Think of Mason’s heroin withdrawal. Think of what he did to you in that house.”
The image of me hung from the chain, the mirror image to Dane right then caused the blood in my veins to heat. The scars on my back tingled as though encouraging and fortifying my nerves.
Pushing myself, I lifted my arm high then snapped it down quickly and harshly. Dane screamed when the whip cracked the sore skin on his back. Red marks appeared immediately and my eyes widened on them, picturing how hard Dane must have belted me to break the skin when I had driven it as hard as I could.
“Snap your wrist,” Sam instructed. “It gives more of a sharp hit.”
I gulped but did as he advised. A long slash broke the surface of Dane’s skin, blood bubbling along the tear. It was enthralling, watching it trickle down the paleness of his skin as it dipped into old wounds and new injuries. I closed off to the screams as I shut my eyes and began a relentless beating, my mind relishing in the riddance of the hatred that had ridden my veins since Dane’s first ever betrayal.
Mason’s eyes filtered into my head, the tears in his eyes when he had told me I had miscarried. The pain on his face when he had lifted me into his arms after Dane had raped me and his own struggle with hurting his friend, a friend that had taken Mason’s love and tossed it away.
A hand settled on my wrist and I stopped, opening my eyes to witness the thrashing I had forced upon my enemy. Skin hung from his back in strips, deep lesions pouring with blood from where my hits had dug deep into his flesh.
Dane was quiet, his head hung low. Walking round him, I took his hair between my fingers and snapped his face back up. “You want more? You want me to show you exactly what I am capable of?”
He opened his eye, a slow smirk spreading across his face. “Do your best bitch,” he dragged out.
I pulled in a breath. My mind had shut down, my morals left at the front door before I walked in. I knew I would have nightmares about this for a long, long time but they were nightmares that I needed to put the others to rest, nightmares that would allow my mind to stay sane.
My heels clicked on the concrete floor as I slowly strolled across the large space to where tools were hung precariously on a brick wall. It looked as though someone had previously used the building as a workshop, carpentry tools dangling from bent nails and more simple tools placed on a wooden bench.
I eyed the rusty saw before plucking a Stanley knife from the bench. Twirling it in my fingers I swallowed back the bile and turned. Dane’s eyes fell to what I was holding, they widened slightly but other than that he showed no emotion. He was tough, I’d give him that but then I supposed after spending a lifetime with Mason, who wouldn’t be, he’d witnessed more death and destruction than most.
His gaze lifted to mine when I drew near. “You think I’m going to beg, Ava?” he chuckled, the action causing him to cough until he hacked up a lungful of blood and spat it at me. I blinked, not giving him the satisfaction of wiping it away.
“I wear your blood with pride, Dane. It’s like a trophy.”
He frowned, a hint of fear flashing across his eyes when he finally realised he wasn’t getting out alive. Yet he nodded. “I envy you, Ava.”
I tipped my head, my brow creasing in confusion. “Why?”
He grit his teeth when I dragged the blade across his chest, the deep cut allowing his life to flow out quicker this time. “Because you always had something I never had.”
I lifted my eyes to his, regarding him. “Which is?”
“Mason’s love.” He stated it so frankly and easily that my heart, for a brief second pulled away from my chest.
Unable to watch his pain, I prowled around the back of him, pulling the knife across his skin and watching mesmerised as his skin parted like the red sea and displayed his bright crimson flesh to me, layers of fat making me study how the human body was put together like a biology lesson in school. He whimpered, his knees buckling with the pain but he straightened up again.
“You always had Mason’s love, Dane. Don’t you realise that? He hurt you but he couldn’t kill you. Did you never see that?”
“What”? He choked out, a spray of blood hitting the pale concrete in front of him. I knew he was dying quickly now but for some crazy moment I wanted to prolong his death. I didn’t want it clean and I didn’t want it quick. He jolted, hissing sharply when I dug the blade into his lower back, twisting it round to cause deeper pain due to the tiny length of the blade. I needed more so hunting in the tools, I returned with a screwdriver. Digging it in deep, I narrowed my eyes and smiled when I hit bone and Dane cried out.
“He couldn’t kill you, Dane. He burnt you to teach you a lesson but then he walked away. Did you not think why he did that?” Dane was quiet. I knew he wasn’t unconscious just unable to answer. “Because he loved you. Like a fool.”
I scoffed at my own words, pushing the screwdriver even deeper to see if it would actually come through his stomach. I was in a zone I relished in right then, my mind and soul awaiting somewhere else until I was ready to once again become the Ava Stone that wielded compassion and scruples.
I sucked in a breath then blew it out when I caught sight of the blowtorch by the far end of the workbench. A slow smile crept along my face when I gently picked it up, nursing it as though it were a timid puppy. A flicker sped across my head of Katie writhing in pain, her body burning as her screams slaughtered my soul.
Enough. That was something I would never come back from.
Placing it back down, I turned to Sam and held out my hand. He nodded and placed the gun into my palm.
Holding it to Dane’s forehead, I bent close and whispered, “Beg.”
His eyes flicked open for a moment, his soul facing me as he held my gaze. But he remained silent. Taking a step back, I aimed at his knee and pressed the trigger. His scream was high and piercing, goosebumps exploding over my skin with the pitch.
“FUCK!”
“Beg me! Beg me to finish it!”
He shook his head, his strength angering me. Blood and bone shattered from his other knee when I fired, his flesh and marrow spla
ttering my face but I left it there, wearing it to show him I wasn’t the weak little woman that he had taken so much from. I was Ava Stone. I was Mason Fox’s little warrior and fuck, if that didn’t mean anything else, it meant I was strong and ready for whatever life had planned for me now. With or without Mason, I no longer wanted to be scared. I no longer wanted to hide from my past or my future, whatever it held. I had to be strong, tough for my children and even tougher for my soul to remain intact.
“Beg me to die, Dane. Whatever you may think, I can do this all day. I’m not that Ava you met all those months ago. I won’t back into a corner anymore. I’ll face you fighting and kicking and screaming. I am going to kill you, it’s your choice whether it be quick or long.”
He screamed when I hit his right shoulder. Shaking his head as tears streamed down the open flesh on his face, he finally looked at me, weakness and defeat in his gaze.
“I was wrong,” he rasped. I nodded, gesturing for him to go on. A small smile curved his lips and I knew the next shot I took would end his life. “You are good enough for my best friend.”
My stomach clenched at the emotion in his voice. Placing the muzzle of the gun to his forehead, his eyes giving me thanks, I nodded reverently to him. “Would you like me to tell him anything”?
He stared at me for a moment, a slow lonely tear bursting over his long bottom lashes. “Tell him . . . tell him it was fun. Tell him he was my brother and I loved him.”
The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone Page 121
