Page 141 of Wicked Sins

Mom.

If I’d known our last meal had been just that, I’d have savored every last bite. Screw it, I wouldn’t have bothered to eat. We could have talked instead, sat up all night, and relived those brief glimpses of heaven scattered through our hell.

She wasn’t perfect, but neither was I.

And I know I’ll never see her again. There’s a dull ache coming from the back of my head. I’ve pieced a few things together now. Wayne knocked me unconscious while I was kissing Joah. While Joah was kissing me.

I have no reason to believe Joah’s still alive. After all, Wayne found it easy enough to let Emma drown. Or he drowned her, does it matter?

“Wh’ Jo?”

Wayne stops rubbing me. I think he knows I like to look at the painting while he defiles me—he’d often lie to one side so I could do just that. Maybe it freaks him out when the kid he’s molesting maintains eye contact.

Wish I’d tried that sometimes.

But yeah, I didn’t have any control over the situation.

Still don’t.

Not yet.

But soon.

Soon.

“You say something?”

His smile is crooked. He’s taken off his glasses, and squints a little as if he’s struggling to make out my features.

I guess everything’s a blur to him too right now.

“Jo’ah.” I struggle to articulate the consonants, but I manage well enough. “Where’s he?”

Wayne laughs, but the sound cuts off bitterly. “You in love with him now?”

I shudder.

“Yeah, you like that, don’t you?”

“No.”

His fingers stop. Relief washes over me.

I’d said no before. He’d never listened. So why now?

“Where is he?”

A finger taps against my temple. “Forget about him.”

A pair of fingers stabs into me, and I gasp at the flash of pain. My eyes are drawn to my tormentor, perhaps to plead with him again, even if it will only get me a moment’s respite.

A line appears between Mr. Bale’s eyebrows. I used to think they were so proud, those bushy lines. That they made his eyes seem so regal.

Now they turn that gentle gaze into a hawk’s fierce scrutiny. “What the hell were they giving you in that place?”

He pushes away from me, a blur before he disappears.

To get more drugs.

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