The second we get into bed, Gunner yanks my shirt over my head, and I pull off his shirt while we kiss. Before I know it, he has my hands pinned above my head and is thrusting into me so hard I feel it in my stomach. This sex is different than any other time—it’s intense and filled with despair and loneliness. I don’t care if he uses me tonight. If he wants my soul, he can have it. When he kisses down my throat, I feel his hot ropes of cum spurt inside me, and after the last stroke, I come all over his erection.

“I need you to tell me how much your heart weeps, so I can make it stop,” I say as he rolls off me. I slide myself on top of his semi-hard erection and kiss his drunken lips.

“There are some things you can’t help me with, Rainbow.” His words sting, but he’s right. I want to crawl into the hole in his heart and sleep there.

When he comes inside me again, I collapse on his chest and fall asleep.

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Gunner

Today I have a big fish to fry. That fish is Cora, so I’m swinging by her house to pick her up. I don’t want to keep my promise to Cora about meeting Alana, but I can’t keep feeding her lies. I should have told my family and Gia that I am bringing Cora to meet them, but I figure if they are caught off guard and I explain everything to them they will be accepting of her.

I decide to skip my morning run and throw on a gray sweater with black denim jeans. September is not my favorite month because the weather becomes fucking confused. It gets cold in the morning and by afternoon, I’m suffering from heatstroke. I head downstairs to the kitchen. Gia’s wearing a pale yellow sweater with white jeans and her wavy hair is damp. She stuffs a green bean casserole into the oven. Plates of mac and cheese, steak, sweet peas, mashed potatoes, and lemon pie litter the counters. She got up at the ass-crack of dawn and slaved over a hot stove for my family. And they better eat every fucking drop of her food, or I’ll shove it down their throats. Normally, my ma does all the cooking at the family events, but a few days ago, Gia had me call her and tell her she’d be doing all the cooking. Ma gushed about Gia like they are best friends.