“I could never be disappointed in you. You’re my sunshine.”
“What am I going to do, Grandma?” I sob and bury my face against her thin shoulder. “I’m not ready to be a mother.”
“Listen to me very carefully,” she orders in a stern voice. “God won’t give you anything you can’t handle.” She places a gentle kiss on my temple. “I have to go home now. But I’ll always watch over you and your children.”
I frown and lift my head again. “What are you talking about, Grandma? You are home.”
“Goodbye, my darling. I love you.”
One second she’s there, and in the next, she’s gone. I scramble off the bed and spin in a circle, but she’s not here. Where did she go?
“Grandma, come back!” I shout frantically. “Please don’t leave me! I need you!”
“Grandma!” I scream, waking with a start, my heart pounding in my chest.
“Fucking hell, Zilphia,” Sandman grumbles and pulls me into his strong embrace. “It was just a dream.”
I stare up into his beautiful blue eyes. “I miss her so much.”
It’s my first Thanksgiving without her. We didn’t always spend the holiday together, but we never missed a phone call. She died of a massive heart attack. It’s been a little over a month, but it still feels like yesterday. The paramedics tried to revive her, but it was too late.
I haven’t heard from my mother since. My texts and calls go unanswered. I thought she’d at least come to the funeral. Instead, she ran off with her married lover, leaving nothing but wreckage behind. I hate her so fucking much. Who skips their own mother’s funeral? Even Nolan showed up, though he barely spoke two sentences to me.
I live with Sandman now. Sheila wasted no time kicking me out. I don’t blame her, but I shouldn’t be punished for my mother’s sins. I carry enough of my own. But the lowest blow was not including any of our names in the obituary.
My grandmother had a few good years left—maybe more.But the hatred between her daughters wore her down. In the end, it killed her.
He sighs. “People die. It won’t get easier, but some days will be better than others.”
“I want her back!” I wail, crying my heart out. “I can’t make it in this world without her.” I’m so lost without her.
God, why did you take her from me?I just want to hug her one last time.Grandma!
“I can’t console you, Zilphia,” he tells me. “I’m not that man, but I can give you this.” He brushes his lips ever so gently against my own.
Sandman is still Sandman. My grandmother’s death didn’t soften him toward me. He’s less monstrous in a way, but I don’t know how much longer that’ll last. Every day, his control slips a little more.
Because I need to dull the pain in my heart, I thread my fingers into his golden strands and return his kiss. He yanks the comforter off our naked bodies and rolls me onto my back, settling between my thighs. I spread my legs wide for him, and he fills me in one fluid motion. He doesn’t give my body time to adjust to his invasion. In true Sandman fashion, he recklessly plunges in and out of my pussy.
It burns, but I need this.
I needhim.
There are a million different paths my life could’ve taken, but I ended up here, in his bed and completely under his control.
I cross my ankles at the small of his back and roll my hips upward, meeting his hard thrusts. I’m still hurting, but he gives me a different kind of hurt. A hurt that feels good. A hurt that overpowers my senses and makes me forget my grief, even if only for a little while.
Soon my body accepts him with little resistance, melting over his erection like liquid silk. Our sweaty bodies meet again and again, in tandem with our hungry lips and dueling tongues.
I score my nails down his back as the throb between my thighsintensifies with every passing minute. Sandman anchors my legs over his shoulders and intertwines our fingers, pinning my hands to the bed, then he pounds into me with a fierceness that thrills and frightens me. He trails open-mouthed kisses down my throat and along my collarbone. I turn my head and suck his earlobe into my mouth, twirling my tongue around his small hoop earring.
“Fuck, Zilphia,” he rasps, fucking me harder and faster than ever before.
I implode, succumbing to the white-hot sensations at the center of my pleasure. Sandman shouts his own release, pouring his seed deep into my convulsing walls. He settles onto his back, his semi-hard length resting on his belly, slick with my juices. The pain of my grandmother’s loss hits me like a wrecking ball, and all I want to do is cry.
“Please hold me,” I whisper.
Sandman pins me with his steel-blue gaze, and I know for certain he doesn’t want to provide the comfort I so desperately need.
