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At least by now my DNA is hopefully burnt up. Good thing Eli removed the dead guy this morning.
Neither Maddie nor I say another word as we keep walking. Finally, her car, the one I helped her buy even though shedoesn’t have a license, comes into view sitting parked on the shoulder of a highway.
The passenger door is unlocked when I grab the handle and slip inside while Maddie goes to the driver side. I don’t trust my feet enough yet to handle pressing pedals.
Once she closes her door and I close mine, she presses the button to lock the doors and we both heave a relieved sigh.
“I’m sorry, Jordan,” she says again before she cranks the car and pulls off the shoulder onto the highway.
“Stop apologizing. It’s not your fault. You saved me.” I don’t mention that I feel like a gigantic pussy for having my wife come to my rescue but...yeah, I do. Which reminds me… “We never got married the night we met in Vegas, did we?”
“What?” Maddie glances at me so hard, even the car swerves to the right, the tires touching gravel before returning to the road again.
“Eli said...”
She shakes her head, her long brown hair that looks stiff and greasy like it hasn’t been washed in a few days barely swaying. “No, we’re not married. I’m sorry that I lied to you, but I-I was desperate to get out of Vegas.”
“You were desperate to get out of Vegas, sure, I get that,” I tell her. “But once we got to Rockland, you could’ve told me the truth.”
“And then you would’ve kicked me out! Your mom probably would’ve had me dragged through the city.”
“No, she wouldn’t have.”
“Josie hates me, Jordan. Especially now, after you went missing…”
“She doesn’t hate you, but whatever. Stop using her as an excuse for lying to me.”
“Fine. Maybe…I thought at first that maybe you were only with me because of the marriage.”
“I wouldn’t have kicked you out of the apartment,” I tell her honestly. “I was a goner for you the second I woke up on that plane and saw your face. I may not remember much of the night before that...Did you drug me?”
“No, you got drunk and blacked out all on your own.”
Right. I do remember being tipsy when I met Maddie in that Caesar’s Palace bar. The reason I intended to get drunk was because my last night in Vegas, away from the rest of the Savage Kings, I was going to try to hook up with a guy, to get it out of my system, off my mind, once and for all.
Then Maddie sat down beside me wearing a baseball cap, nearly passing for a guy before she turned her face toward me and smiled.
Clearing my throat, I say, “Okay. What else?”
“What else what?”
“What else did you lie to me about?”
Her fingers tighten on the steering wheel. “So, um, my real name is Madison not Madalyn. Did Eli tell you who my father is?”
“Dante Salvatore or something, an Italian mobster in Vegas, right?”
“Yes. And it’s Salvato.”
“And Eli works for your father?”
“Yes.”
“So, he came here to bring you back to Vegas?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to go back with him?” I ask her.
