The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone

by D H Sidebottom

  “That’s . . . sick.”

  She laughed and her eyes twinkled with humour, “No Kade. In Grant’s line of work he can’t afford to start changing his mind about what should be shown as a warning to others, he’d look soft and then where does it end? He did me a favour, I did him one.”

  I nodded in understanding but that didn’t mean I thought it was right, “Is Grant the man your father told you to get in touch with?”

  She nodded and stretched her back so I shuffled behind her and started to undo the cinches and knots. The pattern left by the Shibari was amazing and I gazed at the design I had created, the blush of her skin demonstrating the complex signature I had composed on and around her. It was stunning but more than that, it enhanced and exhilarated the subtle softness to her skin as she wore something of me.

  She started talking as I unravelled each wrap and I remained silent as she finally opened up.

  “Around six months before my Father died he came to me with the combination to the safe and made me memorise it. He wouldn’t write it down, too risky he said and at the time I thought he’d gone a bit loopy, with him being tired and working hard. He said if anything happened to him, I was to take the contents and run, just run, he said. Of course, the last thing on my mind when I found them was to do as he had asked. Plus, Marcus was so small and needed me.”

  I started to massage the muscles along her arms and she sighed contentedly, initiating a small smile to curve my lips with the sound of her easiness. “Okay?”

  She nodded and smiled at me over her shoulder. “Yeah, surprisingly I am. I thought it might hurt more but it’s a bit of a relief to finally get it out really.”

  I leant towards her and wrapped my arms around her waist as I placed a gentle kiss on her shoulder, “Good.”

  She turned her head and kissed my cheek. The gesture filled me with a weird feeling but I swallowed it back and let her carry on, my arms still holding onto her as though I could help her through the painful task of recounting something that must be crippling her heart.

  “Did he ever tell you what he was working on?” I asked as I moved my fingers onto her back and started to rub her softly with my thumbs.

  “My God, that is so good” she moaned slightly and I shifted to accommodate the slight rise in my cock as she resumed. “Yes. He was working on a new program for the government, the defence sector or something. I was fourteen so not much of it sank in at the time but what I did garner from him was that they had finally after working on it for years, developed an intelligent worm that could and would perforate any intricate firewall within milliseconds.”

  “What the . . .”

  She turned towards me and shrugged. “I don’t understand that much of it. Is that good, bad, or what?”

  I snorted and stared in shock at her, “Do you realise how . . . delicate a process it is to pierce a multifaceted firewall, especially within fractional seconds? It is damn impossible.”

  “Well anyway, it wasn’t the fact that it could penetrate the firewalls that made it so ‘prime’ it was the fact that it could also read complicated and multiplex codes whilst having no side effects as my Dad called them. The worm was invisible and nobody would ever be able to know it was in the system.” She shrugged again, “Or something like that anyway.”

  My God, she didn’t seem to realise how huge this was.

  “Bloody Hell, Grace.” I scoffed in disbelief but she just pursed her lips casually. “But, what has this got to do with Will?”

  She stiffened and sighed before closing her eyes. I knew she was gathering strength for the last part of the story and I held her a little tighter, feeding her as much support as I could.

  “This is where it gets out of hand.” She turned so she was facing me and my heart clenched at the grief on her face. “My father discovered what the government actually wanted to do with this software. I don’t know what it was because he wouldn’t tell me, but it made him change his mind about giving it them.”

  I frowned at her but she shook her head, “He told them he hadn’t at the time finished developing what they wanted.”

  I nodded and took her hand which was fidgeting with the other as she grew more upset and started to run my fingers along hers in a calming action.

  “By this time Will had got involved with some . . . well, some not nice people really. His and my Father’s relationship was virtually non-existent, and he needed an in with the right people to get him places.”

  My stomach was beginning to clench with where I thought she was going but that thought was way too fanciful so I swept it off and waited for her to finish.

  “You know the rest of the story, well you do until I stared working for Liam. He knew what I enlisted for; he could see it in me daily. The need to find out what happened to my parents, the hunger for revenge and it took me eleven years to follow the trail to the end of the line.”

  “Grace . . .”

  She pulled a deep breath and pulled away, standing in front of me and I cringed when I heard the rupture of her soul with her final words. “It led me back to Will.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to hold myself together as her fury radiated round us like an enraged storm. Her wrath annihilated every bit of oxygen in the room as she physically morphed into something sinister before me. Her body tightened, her jaw clenched and her eyes misted with a white haze as her breathing became heavy and laboured. She looked—evil; pure, raw and dangerously ruthless.

  “Grace!” I called as she seemed to transform right in front of me. I suddenly saw the rage and hatred that fed her veins, the corruption and malevolence she used to fight with and the sheer fortitude she flourished with.

  I grabbed the tops of her arms and shook her until she blinked at me. “I . . .”

  “What the hell just happened?”

  “I . . .” she screwed her face up and physically wrestled with herself until her eyes cleared and she relaxed in my hold.

  “Bloody hell, what—the—hell—just—happened?”

  Her eyes swam with tears and I cursed myself for my harsh tone. “Grace, I . . . Christ!”

  “I’m sorry, okay, but I . . . I got angry.”

  I scoffed and shook my head in bewilderment. “You got angry? You got angry? I’d say you got more than angry. You were damn feral.”

  Her face darkened and I could literally feel the anger in her glare, “Well I’m sorry, okay. It just . . . upsets me when I talk about it.”

  My eyebrows hit my hairline and I laughed in amazement, “It did more than upset you. You looked . . . wild, Grace.”

  She shook her head rapidly as her own eyebrows rose with her indignation. “Look Kade, it’s not exactly the easiest of subjects to talk about. My brother killed my parents just so he could climb the ladder in some dire criminal gang. You want me to laugh about it? Smile and just say hey ho, shit happens? But he didn’t just kill them, Kade; he fucking slaughtered them while Marcus watched from the bloody cloakroom.”

  “Ahh shit!”

  “Precisely,” she spat back. “So now you also know that part of my story. Why my younger brother feeds his veins with shit so he doesn’t have to repeatedly replay his parents murder in his mind.”

  She scoffed and reared into my face, her own face twisted with both rage and exhaustion. “It took me eleven years to find him Kade, eleven long, excruciating and gruelling years to find my parents murderer. And do you know what I did when I found Will?”

  “No” I whispered quietly because I knew her revelation was going to tear me in two.

  “I laughed.”

  Well I wasn’t expecting that.

  “I laughed because if I hadn’t I would have broke. It would have finally finished me. After all the years of dragging myself from person to person, hunting and killing each and every one, I finally reached the end and it felt like God had stuck two fingers up and said ‘Deal with it now bitch!’ and I knew, no matter how much their death haunts me, I wouldn’t be responsible for his.”
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  I grabbed her and pulled her in to me as she did, at long last, break. Her choked gasps for air tore through her hatred and in the end gave her the release she craved for as she fell into me and held on for her life.

  She wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my shoulders as she clung to me and I walked us backwards to the bed so I could support her devastation and not crumble under its intensity.

  She sobbed into my neck as she tried to bury herself inside me and find her peace with both herself and the shit life had thrown at her, but I just held on tighter and drew it all from her as her tears soaked not only my clothes but my spirit. How much more was there? She had suffered for years and I silently promised her that she wouldn’t experience any more hurt or hatred.

  She needed to let go once and for all, and the only way to do that was to forgive herself for the years of carnage she had left in her wake as she sought retribution and justice.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Grace

  KADE HELD ME tightly. It was strange, I’d never been held like this before but that was probably due to the fact that I never let people hold me like this.

  He smelt good, warm but fresh and I swallowed as a heavy throb pulsed in my belly. He was soft, which was rather surprising because even though he sported some serious muscles, his body was lean and trim.

  His arms enveloped me further and I nuzzled into the crook of his neck and for once took what was offered. His hands pressed into my back and I abruptly remembered I was still naked and I clenched my fists, taking the material of his shirt in my grasp.

  I noticed the rate of his breathing increase a little and my arousal matched it, the throb now spreading between my thighs and pulsing with demand.

  I couldn’t help myself as I opened my mouth and tasted his skin, the salt of my tears mixing with his unique taste as I slid along his neck and sampled more of him. He groaned weakly when I traced the edge of his jaw with my tongue and made my way further towards his mouth.

  His hand rose and he took hold of the ponytail he had given me and yanked my head slightly back. I gasped as my eyes found his and they blazed with arousal and need. “Kiss me” he demanded harshly when he pulled on my hair and bought my mouth to his, “Kiss me, Grace.”

  I obeyed with a fevered passion as I gave him what he wanted. His lips were firm under mine but they moved freely as he worked me and took over completely as he claimed me dominantly. His tongue slid into my mouth and wrapped around my own until we were both moaning and grappling with each other. He possessed me expertly as I started to slide across the erection in his jeans and attempt to alleviate some of the pressure building inside me.

  “Wait!” he ordered as he pulled away from me and I gasped as I suddenly found myself face down on the mattress.

  His hand came down with a sharp crack on my backside and I growled over my shoulder at him. “Fuck me, damn it, I need you.”

  He shook his head slowly and smirked at me as he boxed me in underneath him and his mouth settled at my shoulder. “When you are naked and under me, you are mine, Grace. You take what I give you but you will learn some damn patience.”

  His words slammed through the very centre of me and starved me more, my whole system was alight with both expectation and need but I knew this was how we both needed it. He knew my life had been one long fight and burden so he set me free and took control, giving me the abandon and renunciation I craved for.

  His teeth grazed along my shoulder blade until his mouth reached the nape of my neck and he bit down gently.

  “Oh God.” I was struggling for breath as my arousal flooded the whole of my body and tightened everything within me. “Please, oh god, please.”

  His lips ventured down the groove of my spine and I shuddered each time his tongue flicked against my skin and brushed the sweat starting to form as my body blazed intensely.

  I lifted my bottom towards him when he cupped it in his hands and kissed over the rise of each cheek. “You have the most amazing arse I’ve ever seen.”

  To be honest, I didn’t care, I just needed something—anything from him and I pushed upwards and peered down at him, “Take it.”

  I didn’t miss the smile that lifted his lips but he unexpectedly pushed against me and lifted my backside high in the air.

  The long groan I released was feral when he licked at my anus and I shivered when he wet his tongue further and continued to moisten me in readiness. I whimpered when he moved but then flinched in surprise when his lips wrapped around my clit and he started to suck gently. He slid a finger inside me and started to smear my juices around and up to my bottom as he began to flick relentlessly at my nub.

  My body was juddering forcefully with each brush of his tongue and I lowered my face into the mattress as I just let him carry me towards the edge. “Ahh fuck!” I growled when he slid his little finger in my anus and another finger in my pussy.

  “Oh yeah. So tight, Grace.”

  He started to work me harder, both fingers pushing and pulling harder and faster until I could see the horizon start to form behind my eyes and my muscles tightened in preparation for the tremor that would soon take over.

  And then he pulled out completely.

  “What the fuck!” I gasped as my lower lip trembled and my body screamed in agony.

  “On your knees.”

  I stared at him as I tried to distinguish between what he had asked and why he would just leave me on the edge. “What?”

  “On—your—knees, sweetheart.”

  My mouth was opening and closing like a damn guppy’s but I started to shift myself until I was knelt on the mattress before him. He remained still as he just gazed at me and took his erection in his hand. “Do you want my cock, Grace?”

  What sort of bloody question was that?

  He leaned further towards me when I didn’t answer him and took my chin in his grasp, tilting my head harshly backwards until I was locked onto his eyes. “You want my cock, then you work for it. I told you, patience is a virtue, Grace. Learn some and you will be rewarded.”

  I licked at my lips when the scent of his cock filtered through my senses and made my pussy weep with want.

  “But . . .”

  He placed a finger at my lips to silence me, “I told you before, I command mercilessly. You want to feel good, you want to hit the heavens with pleasure then I will give you that but only when I say so and only if you deserve it.”

  I nodded in answer as my body surged in lust and dark carnal thoughts. I wanted to be good but I also wanted to be bad to see what my punishment would be. I needed him desperately and I clenched my thighs to provide the slightest stimulation to my clit.

  “Yes.” I would say yes to anything right now as his cock rested inches from my mouth and his hand worked his foreskin slowly up and down.

  He made me watch him for a while as he masturbated in front of me, causing my arousal to start dripping down the inside of my thighs. I had never been so damn horny in my life and I swore if he sunk inside me right then, I’d have come on the spot.

  The flare in his eyes alerted me that he was ready and I kept my eyes trained on him as I dropped my jaw and opened my mouth for him.

  He hissed between his teeth when he plunged straight to the back of my throat and I wrapped my lips around him. His hands came to my head and he fisted my hair as I started to goad him with my tongue, teasing his shaft with light little touches but nothing more.

  He pulled out completely and as I inclined forward to keep him there he shook his head, “Play nice.”

  I smiled wickedly at him and he brought his crown across my lips, smearing me with a copious amount of pre-cum. “Taste me, sweetheart.”

  I put my tongue out and he flicked his cock up and over it, treating me to his delicious flavour without allowing me too much due to my teasing. “Are you going to behave now?”

  “Yes sir.”

  He smirked and chuckled but then bit his lower lip as he drove inside my mout
h once more. This time I sucked him like he deserved; my plunges deep and firm but then relaxing as I withdrew. I took his balls in my hand and tickled them with my nails as I cupped and massaged them. His head tilted back as he started to drive harder into me, his hips rocking hard and when I slipped a finger across his perineum, he shifted his legs further apart, inviting me to play with his ass.

  “Fuck” he snarled when I started to entertain his tight hole with my finger, teasing it and softly rubbing against it.

  “I want to fuck you” I told him as I looked up at him with pleading eyes.

  He cupped my cheek and smiled lazily, “Soon, but right now I’m going to fuck you.” He bent towards me and took the lobe of my ear between his teeth, “Hard, until you forget who you are and beg me to scream your name.”

  I nearly passed out.

  “Lie on your stomach and put a pillow under you to protect your ribs.”

  I did as he asked, pulling the pillow from the top of the bed and bringing it under me for protection. I had a feeling I was going to need it.

  I shivered with expectancy as I heard him rip open a condom packet and then settle above me. “I’m going to take you hard, Grace. Perhaps we will need that safeword after all.”

  “Nah, just fuck me.”

  He snorted then lifted my bottom high again and slammed home. His long, wide cock filled me completely but I was so wet he slid inside me easily and we both groaned simultaneously when the joining brought a wave of bliss coursing through us.

  “Fuck sweetheart, you’re burning.”

  “That’s cos I’m hot.” I winked at him over my shoulder but gasped when he slid out and smashed back in, his pelvis hitting my clit head on and firing a shot of ecstasy through my system.

  “Shit!” I pushed back as he retreated slowly, my body involuntary begging for more when he took away my pleasure.

  His hands grasped my hips and held me still, “Patience, Grace.”