The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone

by D H Sidebottom

  I rolled my eyes but groaned deeply when he rammed back in and ground his hips against me, his cock then stretching my pussy deliciously, “Oh God, yes, again.” I begged, unashamed of my pleas as my arousal dominated all my inhibitions and let me take everything.

  He pulled out so slowly my arse followed him as I tried to keep his cock inside me for as long as possible but he manipulated all of my movements when he pushed me flat into the mattress. “Are you ready for it hard?”

  “Yes!” I virtually screamed at him. My senses were becoming overloaded as my brain frazzled under the deluge of pheromones coursing through my blood. Every single hair on my body was stood on end as they anticipated the energy to fire around my body and my pussy clenched around his cock ready for his onslaught to begin.

  He started to move, rhythmically but slowly at first, and then he increased both the pressure and the pace until he was fucking me so hard my whole body was shifting up the mattress with each of his hard thrusts.

  He gripped my hair and pulled my head back until his mouth was on my neck, “Hard enough?”

  “No!” I shouted. “You know how I like it. Give it me.”

  My wrist and ribs were screaming at me but not as loudly as my need for release and I bucked back against him, “Harder Kade, make me scream.”

  All I could hear was his laboured breathing as he grabbed my hands and forced me to hold onto the headboard before he brought his whole body above me and mounted me completely. “You asked for it, Grace, so you’re gonna get it.”

  “YES!” I screamed as he drove into me so hard, the pain from the force of him erupted with tiny lights behind my eyes and I yelped in surprise, “God yes! More!”

  He was grunting and moaning hard and as he enclosed my hands with his own, the position drove him so deep I choked on the groan that was being forced from my throat with every thrust.

  His cock pounded at me fiercely as we both let go and became almost feral. He bit me as I moved my hands over his, digging my nails into the back of them and closed my teeth on the flesh of his forearm. He shifted his hands to the middle of the headboard for protection when my head started to bounce off it and I surprised myself when I started to growl savagely.

  “Come on baby, let me feel your cum.”

  I didn’t think it would be possible for him to thrust any harder but he did and on his deepest push I exploded wildly under him.

  “Oh Fuck . . . Oh yeah . . .” he cried out as I felt him jerk inside me and we came hard together, both our bodies shaking and juddering violently.

  “Grace . . . Fuck, Grace . . .” he snarled as he continued to climax brutally whilst my orgasm gripped me aggressively and I let out a silent scream, my whole body constricting cruelly.

  “Grace, Grace, Grace . . .” He breathed into my ear as his body came down from the high. He manoeuvred me until I was curled into his side and he wrapped my tightly in his arms, “Fuck, I love you.”

  I chuckled at his harsh tone but then placed a kiss to his chest, “Shit, I love you more.”

  He laughed but brought his mouth to my forehead and held his lips softly against me. “Impossible,” he whispered seriously.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Kade

  I WATCHED HER whilst she slept, the rise and fall of her chest mesmerising my eyes as her tranquil state made her beauty all the more effortless. Her long blond hair curled around her elegant neck and her eyes flicked back and forth behind her lids as she dreamt beside me.

  She moaned faintly and her brow creased as something her imagination was expressing disturbed her but she settled down quickly and let out a deep sigh.

  I shifted from under her, laying her back down on the bed gently so not to disturb her and pulled on my jeans. I glanced back as I opened the door and my body involuntary relaxed when my eyes feasted on her.

  She had told me she loved me. She had said the words I had never ever expected to hear from her. Grace was very much the independent, self-reliant woman and I had feared she wouldn’t let that side of her free, but damn when she had, the whole of my body had exploded in a shiver so extreme my heart actually stuttered inside my chest and my soul seemed to electrify inside me.

  I couldn’t seem to get a handle on why this . . . why Grace, felt different to Ava. Yes, they were both beautiful women but with Grace there was something that seemed to . . . God, I couldn’t explain it, nor could I understand it but it was hugely distinct and like nothing I’d felt before. It was like my soul felt her, like the inside of me connected with her; as though she had been created specifically for me, just for me.

  She was mine.

  I wandered around the dark of the large house as I tried to find the kitchen but my ears pricked when I heard a familiar voice.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  Mason was smiling at Ava when I entered the room and they both turned to look at me, “Everything okay?” Ava asked as she stood up and started to fill the kettle.

  “Yeah,” I returned her smile and turned to Mason. “What are you doing here?”

  He inhaled heavily and rubbed his fingers across his forehead as he pursed his lips, “Marcus has gone missing.”

  “What?”

  He shrugged and took the cup Ava offered him as I took mine and smiled gratefully. “Grant phoned me. He didn’t want to handle Grace on his own when she found out.”

  I scoffed and nodded but then grimaced, “Fuck. She’ll blame me for this.”

  “Why?” Ava asked as she sat opposite me and looked at me with a slight sadness.

  “Because I told her he’d be fine whilst I . . .” It felt wrong to tell them and I halted mid-sentence with a grimace but Ava smiled and reached across the table and covered my hand with hers.

  “Kade, I’m . . . we’re happy for you. I know you love her and I . . .” She sighed heavily then gave me a soft smile, “I hurt you so much, Kade, I know I did and you have no idea how much that pains me, even now.”

  “No, Ava . . .”

  She held up her hand to silence me before she carried on, “I took from you without thinking of how our relationship would hurt many people. I am lucky, so bloody lucky that Mason forgave me for what I did but you, I need you to forgive me now, Kade. But most of all, you need to forgive yourself and take what Grace can give you.”

  The pain in her face was torturing and I nodded as I took her hand and gave it a small squeeze, “Ava, you know I will always love you . . .”

  Can someone please tell me why life always decides to throw you to the dogs when everything finally seems to be going okay?

  Mason coughed and as I lifted my eyes I saw Grace stood in the doorway chewing on her lip rapidly as she watched me. I knew the action was to stop her tears when she had heard what I had said to Ava.

  “Please finish, don’t let me stop you.” Her voice was raspy and choked and I stood up quickly.

  “Grace, that wasn’t . . .”

  She laughed bitterly, “No, it never is.”

  “No,” I said more sternly as I moved towards her. “It really wasn’t. You didn’t let me finish that sentence.”

  She smirked but it was full of agony and I reached towards her but she flinched and moved back, “Don’t. And you don’t need to now change the ending to that sentence. Please, continue. I’ll leave you to it.”

  She turned and walked off but as I tried to follow, Mason grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. “Leave her for a while until she’s calmed down. She won’t listen to you until her anger has subsided.”

  “But . . .”

  “Mason’s right, Kade. Let her head tell her what she properly heard before her imagination blows it out of proportion.”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I groaned as I pinched the bridge of my nose and told myself to take a deep breath.

  “Is it real?” Mason asked quietly and I turned to look at him.

  “Very.”

  He nodded with my answer then grinned at me, “Good.”

&n
bsp; Something clicked between the three of us then. I wasn’t sure what it was, acceptance maybe, respect. Who knows but our relationship needed it, needed the final nail in the coffin so to speak.

  “Right,” Mason said as he took a deep breath. “Let’s find this fucker.”

  * * *

  I tapped lightly on the door but when she didn’t answer for the third time I pushed it open and halted in my tracks. She was on the balcony with her back to me, arguing with someone on her phone and I crept into the room so not to disturb her.

  “No, it’s not a threat. I don’t do threats, you should know that. I only promise and I promise I will hunt you down and make it very fucking painful if you hurt him.”

  I frowned and my stomach knotted as I watched the whole of Grace’s body tremble with either anguish or anger, maybe both. Her back was heaving as her rage took control of her breathing and frantically tried to calm her down.

  “You can have it; you can have it all but not that. It was Dad’s last wish to me, and I would never betray him.”

  She scoffed and shook her head, “Surely there’s enough with the house and all the assets, why do you need it? It won’t bring you anything.”

  She ran her hand through her hair in agitation but then she stiffened abruptly and I watched in near horror as the wrath I had witnessed before came back tenfold. It was choking as her chin lifted slowly; her shoulders relaxed and her body took stance. “I swear to God, if it is the last thing I do, I will take you down. You—do—not—touch—him or I will make you regret every single breath you have taken in the last forty four years.”

  She grabbed hold of the railing and I took a step towards her, knowing instinctively that something was very wrong. “Don’t do this, please don’t do this.” She was practically begging and I tried to rush ahead but my legs wouldn’t carry me quick enough.

  I died right there with her when I heard a sharp explosion through the phone. The tortured scream that she released filled the air and plagued everything in its wake, its grief fracturing all that that it touched as it persecuted and brutalised my soul. I had never heard a more stricken cry in my entire life, and I knew I would never hear one like it again.

  I watched as the phone crumbled in her fist, parts and pieces of it falling around her feet as her body took on a new posture—a tight, hard and malevolent posture.

  She turned and I gasped at the carnage in her eyes. They were lifeless and dull but so full of vice that I grabbed hold of the dresser to support myself under the threat of death.

  She walked past me as though she hadn’t seen me and I gawped in horror as she pulled out a bag from under the bed and took several items out. Her head tilted to the side as she checked her gun over then slid it into the back of her jeans.

  “Grace . . .”

  She pulled out two knives, one long and fierce which she placed into a sheath and attached it to her belt loops and a small, malicious looking one with a curve at the tip which she tucked into her boot. She took several other items out and filled the pockets, both inside and outside of her jacket before she rolled her head around her neck and took a long sedate breath, closing her eyes slowly as though letting the tranquillity of promised bloodshed take her to the corrupt place she needed to be.

  “Grace, don’t do this” I urged as I came to stand before her.

  Her expression never faltered as she stared straight through me. She wasn’t there, she was some place sinister and I placed my hand gently on the arm. “Please, let Liam or Baxter handle it.”

  “Move.” Her voice was level, cold and hard; the vehemence in it caused me to shudder and still she didn’t look at me. “Move, now,” she repeated slowly but I brushed off her words.

  “Listen to me, Grace.”

  She lifted her hand slowly and I frowned as she cupped the side of my neck. Her eyes cleared for a moment and she saw me, “I have to do this.”

  It was all I heard before she pressed a finger against a section of skin just below my ear and everything went black.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Grace

  THREE. I COUNTED three as I let my eyes veer across the expanse of the front lawn. A large fountain was lit up, the water dancing merrily around as if in celebration of Marcus’s death.

  He would pay. He would pay deeply and it was all I could think of as I sneaked further towards the house from behind the stretch of hedgerow lining the outer garden.

  I caught glimpses of movement behind the front windows so I worked my way further back towards the high iron gates that led to the rear of the house.

  A shift in the shadows by the side wall grabbed my attention and halted me. I scoped out the length of the wall and smirked to myself when a tall guy kitted out in black stood flat against the brickwork, his fingers rapidly flicking on his phone as he typed a text. I shook my head as I made a mental note to remind Will to choose more observant guards next time.

  He was down the second my knife speared the side of his throat, the faint gurgle of his blood was only heard by me as I retrieved my weapon of choice from his corpse; always so quiet and quick, a friend as well as an ally in this dark world.

  I scaled the gates, dropping silently on the other side as I pressed against the wall and hid from cameras and eyes. I was quite stunned by the lack of security Will had but then again he had always been an arrogant fuck. His arrogance let him down this time though and I scuttled under the window and moved around to the back patio.

  The house was in darkness on this side and I tutted loudly as I tried the sliding door and it opened with a slight squeak. “You fool,” I whispered as I stepped into the house.

  Loud laughter was coming from somewhere in the house and I tipped my head as I looked around the room and frowned. It was lit only by the moonlight that streaked through the window and my heart seemed to bleed as I caught sight of the family photo on the mantle, my Mother smiling at Will as her hand rested on her large round belly. I was sat on my Father’s knee, his fingers tickling me to make me laugh for the photo.

  I smiled and sighed as I picked it up and ran my fingers across their faces, “Where did it all go wrong?”

  “When he lied to me” A voice said blandly behind me and I spun around. Will was sat in a chair, his head tipped as he regarded me with a small scowl.

  He shook his head when I reached for my gun. He nodded to the side of the room and I hissed when I saw the glint of two pieces trained on me. “I knew you’d come.” He shrugged to explain the welcome party as he gestured with his hand for me to take the chair opposite him.

  “I told you I would.”

  He pursed his lips and smiled, “No, you told me you would hunt me down and make me pay for Marcus’s death.”

  His nonchalance angered me and I bit into my lower lip to control my rage, “Why? There was no reason for you to kill him.”

  He smirked cruelly and I clenched my fists before I got myself killed and went for him. “Grace, Grace, you know when something happens to you, the assets go straight to him. I couldn’t risk that. He was a waste of space anyway . . .”

  I shot out of my chair and flew for him. “Ah, ah Grace, that’s not a good idea” he mocked as I felt a gun press into the side of my temple. “Sit down.”

  I stared at him for a moment before back-stepping and resettling myself in the chair. “But I told you, you could have it all Will. Why?”

  “I know it’s in the house Grace, I know it. But just handing everything over to me isn’t enough. You both need to pay for what you did.”

  I scoffed angrily, “What we did? Jesus Christ, Will. You slaughtered our parents in front of Marcus for God’s sake.”

  He laughed loudly now, tears spilling from the corner of his eyes in his amusement, “Our parents? Oh, come on Grace, even you know that isn’t true.”

  He stood and strolled across the room to me, bending into me and bringing his face a mere inches from mine. I could read the hatred in his eyes as well as the ache but I had no sympathy for hi
m, only pity.

  “They were good parents Will, you know that.”

  “She was . . . but him . . . he was far from the perfect Father, Grace. You never saw it, never saw the way he treat her, the way he blasphemed their marriage.”

  “No, Will. You chose to see that when you discovered all the lies. He loved you, you know he did.”

  He chuckled and shrugged before turning back around and walking over to a table containing drinks in the corner, “Whisky?”

  I shook my head. I needed to stay alert and I slid my eyes stealthily around the room as he poured. One on each side of me and one behind, not easy but far from impossible.

  “You worked it out then?” He asked as he sat back down and leaned towards me, resting his elbows on his knees as he sipped his drink.

  “No, Grant told me.”

  He nodded and flicked his eyebrows upwards, “But you knew it was me that murdered them.”

  “Yes. I’ve known for six years.”

  He frowned and exhaled heavily, “Six years? Yet you did nothing to avenge their death. Not quite the loyal daughter they had you for then, eh?”

  I smiled and shook my head sadly, “But they knew precisely, Will. My Father even asked me not to hate you.”

  He barked out a bitter laugh and downed the contents of his glass, “Then he was a fool. You should hate me Grace because I’m finishing his betrayal.”

  “You’re finishing his betrayal?” I scoffed with incredulity, “Do you even realise how wrong you have all this?”

  “But it was all lies Grace, all of it.”

  “Yes,” I agreed. “Yes it was but it wasn’t a cruel lie, Will. Your mother was a skank!”

  He flew for me and smashed his fist into my cheekbone, his spit splattered across my face with his vehemence and his hand wrapped around my throat until he had me pushed back against the chair harshly. “Don’t you ever speak of her.”

  I peered into his eyes and gasped as it all clicked into place, “Oh my God. She’s back isn’t she?”

  He smiled and the vice in his grin caused my blood to freeze as something quite sinister took over his expression. “She never actually left me though did she?”