Free Ashes to Ashes (Experiment in Terror #8) by Karina Halle

you are strong
and right now you are weak. You’re succumbing to worry and
insecurity.”
    “ That’s me,
like ninety-nine percent of the time.”
    “ Darling,
please. I wish I could offer you more than just a feeling but you
have to take it to heart. Go home. Go back to Seattle. Go be with
Dex and concentrate on your life there.”
    “ But the show
is my life, at least for now. It’s just a few days of filming,
we’ve done this a million times before. When this is done, we will
go back to Seattle. After we stop by my parents first. I’ve
apparently got a lot of explaining to do.”
    Her eyes widened with
intensity, her mouth becoming tight. “No. No, don’t do that.”
    My heart started thudding
around in my chest at her sudden change in tone. She was starting
to freak me the fuck out. “No? What do you mean, no? It’s my mom.
Your daughter. I haven’t seen her or my dad or Ada for months.”
    She shook her head. “No. I
don’t know why but I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s...too
much. It’s too easy. Everyone in the same place, all the eggs in
one basket.”
    Now she was starting to sound
like Creepy Clown Lady. “You’re not making any sense.”
    “ I know I’m
not making sense. But it’s wrong. It’s wrong. It’s bad.”
    “ And the show,
filming here, that’s not the problem anymore?”
    She shook her head still, her
thin curls flinging around. She started wringing her hands
together. “No. It’s all wrong. You need to go back home.”
    “ Just tell me
why!” I exclaimed, almost stamping my feet.
    “ I don’t
know!” she yelled back. Her eyes dropped to the ground.
    A light ticked on in my head.
“Are you afraid of my mom and I making up?”
    She didn’t say anything for a
long time, just staring at the grass beneath us. Another breeze
blew past, my nightgown billowing around me.
    “ Are you
afraid that if my mom and I make amends, that you’ll lose an ally
in me? That I’ll turn against you?” I asked, studying her face. I
took a step forward. “You know I’ll never forget what my mother did
to you.”
    I tried to reach out and touch
her but she yanked herself out of my reach and stared up at me with
frightened eyes. “Don’t go. It’s too much in one place.”
    She still didn’t make
sense but it didn’t matter. She was worried that my mom and I
might make up. She probably feared that I would shun her or that my
mom would do the same to me as she did to her. It explained why she
looked so frightened.
    “ Pippa,” I
said slowly, hoping to convince her not to worry. I knew what was
best for myself. But my grandmother was already fading before my
eyes.
    “ Too much, too
easy,” she said, her voice croaking and then lowering itself until
it was just a shadow of what it was. “Too much. Too
easy.”
    And then she was gone.
     
    ***
     
    I woke up to Dex’s warm hand
sliding up underneath my shirt, teasing at the soft area underneath
my breast. I smiled and relaxed into it, momentarily forgetting
about everything that happened. I pushed the thoughts of Uncle Al,
of his warnings, of my dream, all the way to the back of my head.
They wanted me to think about them, to weigh down my heart with
worry, but I wouldn’t give in.
    I’d only give in to the naked
man beside me.
    “ Good morning,
sunshine,” he whispered into my neck, his lips gently trailing down
to my collarbone.
    I lazily reached up and ran my
hand through his thick hair. “Morning, baby.” I glanced around us
for a clock, seeing only framed horror movie posters. The twins
must have decorated the room. “What time is it?”
    “ No idea,” he
said, and from the way his teeth grazed the outside of my ear, I
could tell it didn’t matter. “I think everyone else is up. But then
again, so am I.” He took my hand in his and placed it under the
sheets, right on his cock. No surprise, it was hard as stone and
felt hot beneath my touch. He groaned in response, the sweetest
sound to my ears.
    I gave him a