In Need of You

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The warmth of his body faded from the bed. Coolness touched the tips of her Sabrina's fingers as she stirred. She looked up from the pillow and stared at Elisha as he took another drag of nicotine into his lungs. His father, Kevin, Ava, Daniel. They all unnerved him, and it was taking a toll on his body. 

Placing a hand over her stomach, she glared at the ring on her finger and sighed. The man that she was about to marry was in a tornado that he couldn't shield himself from, mostly because of her, Sabrina thought. None of this would have happened if she would have never sent Jennifer and Madeline to the bookstore. Elisha would have had his meal and went on about his day. His father would have never tried so hard to ruin his happiness. But apparently, he was doing that anyway. Money turned that man on more than undulating tits and ass did. Still, she didn't want to see him suffer like this.

Sabrina rose from the bed and walked to the window, pressing her hand against it. She grabbed a pair of her old boxer shorts and pulled them on. Elisha's shirt draped over them like a too-short dress. She walked into the hallway, noticing Madeline's door was slightly opened from a distance. Daisy must have made her way in there. She tiptoed toward the door and peeked inside, seeing Madeline and Daisy snuggled together. She smiled. Those two were inseparable.

As she made her way into the living room, she saw Elisha still sitting in one of the lawn chairs next to the firepit that was still burning bright. She opened the door and stepped onto the warm concrete. The smell of burnt paper and tobacco lingered in the air. An empty cigarette package rested in his lap. It was getting worse, she thought. When they met, Elisha banned himself from smoking; he detoxed himself from it until his father reared his racist head.

Sabrina sat next to him and watched him stare off into the distance. "How many have you had?" She gazed at his brown hair flow in the breeze that played with it. Its strands were beginning to touch the nape of his neck.

He looked into her eyes and gave a slight smile. "More than I should have touched," Elisha replied. 

"Maybe a hot shower would do you some good." Sabrina placed her hand on top of his and caressed it. 

"Maybe." He looked away from her and back at the highlighted darkness. He inhaled, then released it slowly. " I'm so sorry I brought you into my mess. My father isn't one for seeing others happy but himself."

Sabrina looked away from him. Those very words brought back the screams and curses of her unhappy mother. Everything Daddy gave her she hated it. That woman always wanted more than she could afford, yet he gave her so many chances. She sighed. She was more like Daddy than she realized. "My momma hated my daddy for being so cheap in her eyes. He kept food on the table and lights on in the house," she said. "Daddy put that woman through school and paid for her to get a nursing degree which she never used."

Elisha glared at her and furrowed his eyebrows. "Why didn't she use it?"

"Because she was a bitch and too lazy to even move her own hands. Edward and I always ran to Daddy whenever we needed something. Momma didn't love us; she only put up with us because she opened her legs one night in a fit of lust."

Elisha sighed. He pulled another pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his sweat pants and rubbed his thumb across it. He tossed the package into the firepit, then ran his hand over his face. "How did you overcome what your mother did to you?" He glared into her eyes as he leaned closer to her.

"Grandma Zora," Sabrina spoke. "The night that Daddy came home with a bruised rib and black eye was the day that she stepped in. She always taught him to never hit a woman; that was her job."

Elisha smiled. "I love your grandmother. She reminds me so much of my grandmother and grandfather."

Sabrina placed her hand onto his bare shoulder and ran her hand up and down the muscles of his back. "You often tell me that this isn't my fault. I'm learning that now. It's a slow process, though," she said, chuckling. "But I am learning that it isn't. Your father honestly is an unfortunate product of hate and misinformation."