Free Fortitude (Heart of Stone) by D. H. Sidebottom Page B

aggressively.
     
    I snorted at the memory. We’d always had a special
connection during sex, always knew what the other wanted and always fed each
other’s dark side to bring the most amazing climax’s I had ever experienced.
    I missed her with my very soul. I physically ached for
her, my body yearned for its mate, for its other half and I fought the daily
struggle just to keep breathing without her.
     
    I took the stairs, stepping over the third step and pushed
open the bathroom door.
 
    I couldn’t remove my eyes from her as she soaped her
hands and slithered them round her neck, down her delicious breasts slowly,
circling around her nipples and then down and over her stomach and in-between
her solid thighs. She closed her eyes and moaned as she continued to wash herself.
     “Ava… please” I gulped.
    She opened her eyes and cocked an eyebrow at me. “Did
you want something, Mason?” She asked sweetly.
    I groaned and closed my eyes, fighting the arousal
burning inside me.
    She cast a quick glance at my groin, smiling wickedly
to herself as she saw my obvious hard erection. “I think you’ve got a problem
there, Mason.” She gestured to my crotch, “You better go and find another tart
to ease the pressure for you.”
    Everything boiled over and I bit my lip to control my
anger but it was too late. My hand swept across the vanity, scattering and
smashing the contents over the floor, glass shattered everywhere before I
turned and stormed off.
     
    I closed the door and proceeded along the landing until I
reached her bedroom door. It was ajar and I smiled when I heard her soft
snores. She had always been adamant that she didn’t snore. How wrong she was,
but I’d enjoyed teasing her over it.
    I blew out a breath and pushed open the door. My heart
soared in my chest just from one look at her.
    She was curled under the duvet, her hands tucked under
her chin. Her lips were twitching as though she was laughing in her slumber but
then her face tightened and she whimpered.
    I quietly rushed over to her. I didn’t want to wake her,
I wanted a moment of peace with her before she found me and all hell broke
loose.
     
    Her beautiful face was now thin and pale, marred by many
ruptured veins and blemishes. Her delicious soft curls were gone, a large scar
trailing across her head with the light from the moonlight. There was a layer
of downy softness sheltering the delicate skin over her skull and I swallowed
to stop myself from feeling it under my fingers.
    “You are so beautiful,” I whispered into the dark.
    Her suffering was evident and I swiped away the tear that
rolled down my cheek. I longed to take away all her pain, make everything right
again, crush all her despair and beg the God’s to give her back her life.
    But I couldn’t. I had to accept that she had moved on,
that she was taking the path in life that would destroy her, but while she was
hell bent on destruction, I had to back off and let her blow before I could
even think of getting her back.
    She believed she was no longer a fighter. I begged to
differ. She had fought the hardest battle of her life – alone. She had stepped
into the darkness isolated and unaided and my little warrior had fought.
    She needed to keep fighting now until she saw the light
again. Until she realised that whatever or whoever she had become, she was
still my beautiful Ava but I knew to let her find that again, I had to let her
go.
     
    A tear fell from my face and dripped onto her new hair as
I bent and placed a soft kiss on her head. “I won’t say goodbye, baby. I’ll
never say goodbye. But I need you to find your life again, I need you to grab
hold of something, anything, and use it to pull yourself out of this.”
    She grumbled but didn’t wake as I ran my thumb tenderly
over her cheek, the prominence of her bone triggering an ache inside. “I love
you, Mrs Fox. My monster of fortitude.”
    She sighed as I stepped out of the bedroom and quietly
pulled the door