The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone

by D H Sidebottom

  The relief that surged through his face made my heart skip and my soul dance as my spirit soared. “Thank you.”

  I scrunched up my nose and shrugged, “I miss you, I’m being selfish, but . . . I just miss you.”

  He palmed my cheek and stroked his thumb across my cheekbone tenderly, his eyes soft but glowing, “No you’re not, and after everything I have done I didn’t think I would ever be welcome back in your life again.”

  He leant into me, placing his firm lips over mine and kissing me tenderly, lovingly and so slowly I thought I would explode. Jesus, this bloody glorious bastard owned me completely. His kisses amazed me time and time again.

  A small soft moan left his mouth and tickled my tongue as I slowly wrapped it around his. I slipped my hand around his head and cupped it, holding him tight against me as I heard the front door open and close.

  “Fucking officials . . .” Paola moaned, completely disregarding our sensual kiss as I heard her fill the kettle.

  I pulled away and frowned, “Everything okay?”

  Paola huffed but nodded, “It is now. Do you know how hard it is to find a bloody international funeral director in this bloody town? Near damn impossible but they wouldn’t release him until we had George’s . . . his death certificate signed by one and customs . . . ha, what a bloody mess they are . . . Jesus bloody Christ.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that lifted my lips. “Now I see exactly what George saw in you Paola. Good god girl, you got guts and fire.”

  She stared at me then a slight chuckle lifted her lips before a full on bark of laughter belted out. “And you Ava. I heard all your little stories from George. He was so damn proud of how strong you are, do you know that? He bloody loved you Ava, he said he was honoured to have you as his daughter, that he didn’t save you but you saved him.”

  My chest thumped against my chest as the pain tightened my blood but Paola’s revelation swelled my heart. “He was my salvation, Paola. He rescued not just my body but my soul and I will forever love him, even though he is no longer with us, I will always hold him close.”

  She smiled sadly at me, “and me, Ava.”

  Her words made me smile. This beautiful Portuguese thirty year old woman was so British she seemed out of place in her own home town. “What will you do Paola?”

  She sucked on her lips but shrugged, “I have absolutely no idea now.”

  “You want to come back with us?”

  She frowned and regarded me. “I can set you up in London. I can give you a job and you can be near your family . . . us.”

  I knew she had no family over here. Her own parents had died after they had driven their car off a cliff in a freak storm three years ago.

  She chewed on one edge of her lips but then cocked her head, “Why the fuck not. What do you have in mind?”

  “You can answer a phone can’t you?”

  She scoffed, “Well I should bloody hope so, I don’t hold many skills but I’m sure saying a hello into a phone is simple enough.”

  I smiled, “Then you are now the current assistant manager of Allure.”

  “Allure?”

  “Allure. A high class fuck house, Paola, you okay with that?”

  She barked out a laugh, “Can I sample the merchandise?”

  I smiled ruefully as Mason laughed, “Hell girl, you can sell the merchandise if that’s good for you.”

  “Then let’s fucking pack!”

  “Thank you, Princess.” I shivered as the soft echo filtered through my ears and into my soul.

  I smiled and nodded faintly, ‘you’re welcome, George. I love you.’ I answered silently.

  * * *

  I sat beside the dome of soil and dirt, hating the fact that my ‘father’ was covered with earth’s shit. My hand was resting on the wreath I had decorated his coffin with, my fingers slightly stroking one of the white roses—George’s favourite flower.

  The funeral party had descended to The Loft, Mason’s club, to start the party but I had remained back to say a private goodbye.

  Mason was stood by the chapel doors, silently and patiently waiting for me, knowing I needed this final moment with George alone.

  “George,” I started, needing to address him one last time. “I miss you” I choked out, my voice no more than a whisper in my grief.

  I smiled and chuckled slightly, “Jesus, listen to me. I know you’d be scolding me if you were here . . . but you’re not. I . . . Jesus, I can’t do this without you, George. What the hell do I do now? Everything is a fucking mess . . . again. What the hell is wrong with me? I attract this shit like a bloody magnet and I’m not sure I can do it without knowing you’re there, on the other end of the phone to pull me back together. You were always there, always and . . . I . . . I love you, simple. What you did for me will never ever be forgotten, I will never forget your soft words and your gentleness that night and I will tell you now, it was that that made me into the woman I’ve become. You were the first person in nine years to hold me tenderly, to . . . to help me see myself, make me feel something other than pain, and to just selflessly do something for me without wanting something in return. If you hadn’t, I don’t think I would have ever looked at another person again without wondering what they wanted from me.” I sighed and glanced at Mason, stood silent, his hands in his pockets and his face dark and black with his deep worry for me.

  “You brought my life back to me, George and you brought me to Mason and I . . . just . . . Thank you doesn’t even come close, you know. Doesn’t even touch how much I owe you. But I promise, I fucking promise, that I will live my life, I won’t waste what you gave back to me. Your grandbabies will honour you in every way possible and Paola, well she’s just solid, George. That woman astounds me and I see exactly what you saw in her. I’ll look after her, I promise.”

  I swallowed past the lump that was threatening to choke me alive, the pain in my adam’s apple fit to bursting. “I love you” I whispered as I kissed my fingers and placed them back on the flowers, “so much George. Katie will look after you, I know she will. Give her a kiss from me. See you when I get there and get the vodka cooling ready, cos’ you never know, with all this new shit that’s kicking off, it might be sooner than we plan.”

  I pulled in a breath, nodded to him and stood. Mason was beside me in seconds. “Okay, baby?” he asked gently as he tenderly wiped my tears away with his thumbs, the pain on his face making my heart ache all over again.

  I reached up and kissed him softly, “I will be. I got you.”

  He smiled widely, “Hell yes you do, Ava. All of me, baby and if I could stop the pain for you I would.”

  “I know you would. Let’s go get shitfaced.”

  Chapter 21

  Mason

  SHE WAS SILENT beside me in the car on the way back from the club, her gaze permanently fixed on the world outside as it sped past us. She wasn’t ‘shitfaced’ at all, she had decided to forego booze, saying it made her more depressed, and the slight twitch on her lips every now and then led me to believe she would be okay, she would survive. Hell, this woman would survive the second fucking coming and if she could take me on then she could take on the devil himself.

  “I know you miss him, Ava but he’s still here. Still with us, in you, baby. And I will forever be grateful to that man for bringing you to me.”

  She turned to me and sighed but it held a slight smile, “I know, I know.” Her hand palmed my cheek and I flicked her a glance but she stayed quiet and mute yet her eyes told me everything she wanted to voice.

  I pulled into the layby that appeared and quickly unlocked her seatbelt clip and drew her onto my lap.

  We remained silent, both of us locked on but not moving, not wanting to move or even needing to move.

  This woman was my bloody world, the beat of my heart and the pulse in my veins. She was the reason I breathed, the cause of my life and the motivation to live.

  Her supple lips hovered over mine but her eyes remained fixed but s
oft, “You are here now Mason and I know George was content knowing you are here for me but I . . . I need to say this and I need you to listen.”

  I frowned but nodded as her wisps of life fluttered over my lips and into my mouth, giving me her life and her soul.

  “Whatever happens with all this . . .”

  I opened my mouth, shushing her when I knew where she was going with her words but she silenced me with a finger to my lips. “Listen to me. Baby, whatever, if anything, I need you to know that as much as George pulled me out of the darkness, you dragged me through to the other side and held the shit back. You still hold the shit back. George gave me life but you give me the reason for living it. You understand me, Mason.”

  I ran a finger over the softness of her jaw and nodded before she rested her lips over mine, simply and innocently. Small tiny kisses were delivered across my lips, the gentleness to them closing my eyes in tranquillity, as she nudged her tongue between my lips and flicked the soft muscle against mine, encouraging me to wrap my arms around her and pull her closer.

  Her kiss became more deep and urgent, her hips rocking slightly as she ground herself against my erection. Her faint little moans surged my blood south and had my cock as solid as iron. “Not here, Ava” I told her when I could feel the heat from her on my dick, the potent arousal of her burning straight through the material of my trousers, “Let’s go home.”

  She moaned loudly and rested her forehead on mine, “Yeah, what time is your mum having the kids till?”

  I gave her a wicked smile, my heart beat increasing with my own excitement, “Tomorrow.”

  Her lips lifted naughtily as mischievousness lit her eyes, “You fancy giving Connor a call?”

  My eyes widened as my brows lifted, along with my blood pressure, and my dick went from hard to fucking rock-solid but a thought filtered through my head and I cocked my chin as I held her jaw firmly between my thumb and finger.

  I could feel the sudden increase in her heartbeat through my shirt as I empowered her, my dominancy always feeding her arousal, and her eyes darkened with desire as I licked my lips. “You ready for both of us?”

  Her eyes skimmed over my face, slight confusion marring her beauty as she tried to read my words. “You mean . . . ?”

  I nodded slowly as I gripped her chin harder and tipped her head slightly so she was directing her beautiful eyes into me, “You wanna feel so full that when you come it blows every other orgasm to smithereens baby, the pleasure so intense you’ll feel us inside you for the next week?”

  Her breathing had sped up to tiny little pants as her heart drummed a hard rhythm against the cotton of her dress. “But I want to please you, Mason.”

  I smiled widely at her, always everyone else before her. “But watching you writhing in ecstasy between us will pleasure me, Ava. I know . . . no, I trust both you and Connor and I feel secure enough to do this now. I wanna blow your mind, baby, you deserve this. You deserve to be blown from this fucking planet in a pleasure so extreme you’ll see stars, hell, even take a touch at heaven, baby.”

  I thrust my hips up and rammed my cock against her hot pussy, “You feel that, Ava? You feel what even thinking of this does to me? I want this deep in your ass whilst Connor fills that sweet, sweet pussy of yours.”

  She swallowed harshly but her throat thundered with a moan, a deep dark groan that rumbled through my core and sparked a desire so intense I knew if I kissed her now I wouldn’t let her go without filling her cunt with me, ramming so deep and hard that I knew I would hurt her, not that Ava didn’t like a bit of pain, she needed it in fact.

  “Home.” She demanded as she slid back into her seat and buckled up quickly.

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her eagerness, “Don’t you think you ought to phone Connor first, Ava?”

  “Oh shit, yeah.” She chuckled as she pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts.

  I hoped she didn’t realise there was a number missing from her phone, one less for me to worry about whilst I concentrated on this shit. One less arsehole for me to deal with.

  I think I needed words with Kade; I needed to tell him exactly what I thought of his persistent texts to my wife . . . MY fucking wife!

  * * *

  “He’s meeting us here in an hour” Ava informed me as I tapped the control on the dash to open the front gates to our home.

  I nodded as I pulled up to the house and rolled my neck against the ache of the day. “You okay?” she asked as I climbed from the car and strolled to the front door, Ava behind me fiddling with something in her bag.

  “Mmmm, just tired. Been a bit of a shit day.”

  I planted one foot in the entrance hall then spun round and grabbed the tops of Ava’s arms and shoved her back outside harshly. “Mason?” The tone in her voice wary when she saw the horror on my face.

  “Get back in the car.”

  She just frowned at me as she tried to peer past me and look into the house, “NOW!”

  She jumped but nodded when she sensed my urgency and climbed back into the passenger seat, “Driver’s seat” I barked at her.

  She gasped but clambered across the console and adjusted the seat to accommodate her tiny legs until she could reach the pedals. She opened the window as I appeared at the side of her and slipped her the keys, “Go to Courtney’s and tell Greg to get over here.”

  “What’s wrong?” her voice was quiet with her fear but I shook my head firmly.

  “Go, now.”

  She nodded frantically and rammed the keys into the ignition, firing the engine loudly but she didn’t pull away. “Go, baby, now.”

  “Mason . . .”

  “Now, Ava.”

  She exhaled heavily and sucked in her lips, her fright clenching my fists and secretly vowing to kill the bastard that would put such a sight on my wife’s beautiful face. “I’ll ring you later, just go.”

  She nodded again and pulled off this time but I saw her gaze in the rear-view mirror the length of the driveway until she disappeared onto the road.

  “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I hissed as I dragged my phone from my pocket and dialled Sam.

  He answered after two rings, “I need everyone at mine . . . like now!”

  “Okay, what’s up?”

  “Shit, that’s what’s up. Fuck mate, serious shit. Get onto Heidi, I need a full clean up.”

  He mumbled a response before he ended the call and got down to what Sam did best, rallying the fucking troops.

  “Shit!” I ground out as I pulled the neck of my shirt over my nose to protect my lungs from the stench.

  “Fucking shit.”

  The bile surged up my throat but I swallowed it back as I stared at the sight of my house.

  Blood covered every single surface, from the floor to the ceiling, from the stairs to the door, from mine and Ava’s wedding photo adorning the wall to the huge mirror decorating the opposite wall.

  I blinked a couple of times; desperately trying to make the image of Ginny, one of my girls, disappear. She was strung from the bannister, her horrified eyes open as her broken and slashed body swayed gently against the stillness of the room.

  I blew out a rancid breath as I pulled the Glock from the back of my waistband. I had been expecting trouble all day but not this; shit, not this.

  I heard Sam’s jeep pull up, its familiar rattling fan belt alerting me to his arrival, as I scoped out the rest of the house.

  The silence had my hair standing on end as I moved quietly from room to room. Everything seemed okay but I couldn’t fight the feeling that I was missing something important. The fact that I had a dead prostitute hanging in my foyer didn’t help the nerves, but I still hissed when nothing jumped at me and calmed the intuition.

  “Mase!” Sam shouted from the front door, a slight wobble in his tone letting me know he was as spooked as me.

  He lifted a brow at me as I descended the stairs whilst Brad and Trevor entered behind him.

  “Holy fuck!” Brad decla
red as Trevor baulked and shot outside to retch into the flower bed. Ava was gonna be thrilled with that deposit, it had taken her months to get the bloody things to flourish.

  “One of yours?” Brad asked as he circled under Ginny, looking up at her and expertly dissecting any information he could pull from the scene before we took her down.

  “Yep, newish girl. She left to work at the Panther, and then came back to us last week after Rebecca offered her a better incentive.”

  Brad blew out a breath, “Bet she wished she hadn’t accepted now.”

  I nodded sadly, trying to not look at the poor cow but not being able to look away.

  Sam came to stand behind me, “Where’s Ava?”

  “I sent her to Courtney’s” I divulged as Heidi’s van pulled up to the front door and I stalked over swiftly halting her. “Give us ten, Heidi. Need to deal with the body first.”

  She nodded once, the nose to ear chain flicking her face as she smiled, “Blood?”

  I grimaced; I was sure this very masculine woman had a thing for life’s sustenance. She seemed to relish the idea that my house was splattered top to bottom with the red stuff. “Yeah, lots of it too.”

  “Don’t worry, Mr Fox. By the time me and my guys have finished there won’t be a single drop left, even for forensics” she added with a lift of her brow.

  I gave her a tight smile and nodded before making my way back inside, my stomach turning as soon as my foot hit the hallway and the smell overpowered me.

  Brad and Sam were already in the process of lowering Ginny down and onto a large grey tarp, Trevor immediately wrapping the body when it hit the ground. His mouth was covered with a towel as his eyes shut tightly against the fact he had to wrap a dead woman in a blanket.

  “I’ll do it, Trev.” I told him. He didn’t need telling twice, he moved fast and out of the way before she had completely come to rest on the ground before us.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket, alerting me to a text and I pulled it out.

  Ava:

  Hope everything’s ok. I messaged Connor and put him off until 9ish. That ok or you want me to cancel? Xxx