He turns away to put things in the refrigerator, and I stare at his back. How could he drop that kind of bomb? One that should have already occurred to me, but in all fairness, I don't have a lot of stable thoughts at the moment.
I press my hand to my stomach but quickly pull it away when Edward turns back around. He grabs my plate before I can try and do it myself, so I thank him and hop down from the stool. I make a show of grabbing my things and getting ready to go outside, but the second Edward slips from the kitchen area, I bolt over to the door and pick the lock.
"Yes," I whisper to myself. The excitement over my victory quickly fades as the reality of what I need to handle hits me right in the face.
With each step I take toward the cellar, I can't help but wonder if I'm betraying my own husband. Then again, Joey says it’s all bullshit because I'm not married and still a virgin. That's one of the reasons I don’t believe Joey. I'm horny all the time. At this point, I can't even sleep without an orgasm. I think about Salvador and I'm turned on. I must have been a nympho before I hit my head.
When I get to the vault door, I key in the code, and it pops open. Joey quickly sits up on the mattress, and I can see the relief written across his face.
"Thank god you’re back. I thought he'd kill me before you had a chance to figure it all out." He sounds so confident, which only makes him that much more believable.
"Don't get excited; he was able to answer all my questions."
"Please, Salvador is a career criminal. Lying is like breathing to him.”
“And it’s not for you?” I ask, and he gives me a coy smile.
"So you are remembering." His teasing is light and playful, and it makes me draw closer. I'm still far enough from him that the chain will keep us separated and he won’t be able to grab me.
"No, not yet, but what you’re saying is making it hard to figure out what is real." I wring my fingers together in front of me.
"You're leaving me down here to die, aren’t you?"
"What if you’re the bad guy? What if you chop up animals or something?"
"Jems, that was one time, and it was an accident."
"What?" I whisper more to myself than to Joey. Then I have a flash of memory of him sitting across from me at the diner calling me Jems.
"It was a joke," he says, and I nod.
I do know him, and I don’t feel a rush of fear with the memory. If anything, it's worry that hits me, but now I don’t know if it’s for him or me.
"Why did he do this to you?" I ask.
Am I already trying to plan a defense for my husband? Yes. It's terrible because I don't have all the facts, but I think I love him.
"He doesn't need a reason."
"Joey," I say while rolling my eyes at him, and the gesture feels really freaking familiar. "There has to be a reason."
I can't see Sal tossing people into his basement and cutting off fingers without a reason. The man has more important things to deal with, like me.
“You really don’t remember what he’s done to me.” Joey’s shoulders drop with defeat.
“Hey now,” I say and step closer. Guilt is once again weighing heavily on me. “If you didn’t really do anything, I can?—"
My words are cut off as Joey lunges for me. I try to move back quickly but end up stumbling over my own feet. When I fall back on the concrete floor, it knocks the air out of my lungs. Thank fuck I don’t hit my head.
“Got you.” Joey smirks as his hand wraps around my ankle. Before I get away, he yanks me over to him.
“It was all a lie?” My voice squeaks when his hand closes around my throat.
"No." His whole expression morphs to pure anger. “But you gave Salvador what belongs to me.”
“What?” I choke out, completely confused. I don’t have shit to my name.
"You,” he grits out as his hold around my throat tightens. “But I suppose you’ll still be useful to me after all.”
