disclaimer: miss me?? not mine. everything's mine but Lee's name, & ze Joker. that fabulous, fabulous sniffle clown.
blacksilkrose123 ©2008
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It was hard to diverge where exactly she was.
Her head was buried against a pillow, body practically tied down to the bed with the mountainous covers twisted over and around her legs. Lee flexed her fingers but they were too numb to do much but twitch. Or at least, she thought they were twitching--she couldn't see a damn thing. Further movements of desperation revealed she was only in her bra and a fresh pair of holey jeans, clinging almost too tightly and making her feel trapped.
So someone had taken the liberty of undressing her.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
She reached up to tousle her hair hesitantly, when the smell from the pillow nearly drowned her head in him.
Lee was in his bed.
Quadruple shit.
She did a quick check to make sure all body parts and limbs were intact, before pulling herself up in the pitch darkness. Her feet padded lightly across the room to the door, or what she assumed was the door.
Her fingers had barely twisted the knob when he spoke up from behind her. "Gonna, uh, escape through the close-t?"
Lee whirled around, eyes searching blindly through the darkness to see where he was. She edged her shoulders up against the door, fingers still gripping the handle.
Joker was leaning wearily in a chair by the bed, facing the headboard, where she had been moments ago. He was bent over, knees spread, fingers templed at the bridge of his nose. Like he'd been there for centuries.
"How long have you been there?"
"Long 'nough."
She frowned. "Is…is our…is Christopher here?"
His shoulders slumped lower as he let out a low chuckle. "You think I'm stupid or somethin', Harley? If that…if my boy toy so much as, ha, sees you, he'll, ah, run to Mommy. He's not gonna…uh, listen to me, now is he? No, course no-t. You'll squeal, yes you will. Squeal like some pup in a rut. You'll tell him to run from the big…bad…ma-nuh…and he will. He will."
"I'm not going to let him near you, Josh. If he knew what his father was…" she trailed off, letting the burn sink in. "I just can't."
Joker pulled himself sharply to his feet, knocking the chair over in his haste. He advanced on her so fast, she barely had time to react, before jerking the door behind her open. Just as she nearly slipped in, his fist came down on it hard, slamming it shut and pinning her to the splitting wood. "Harley. Harley. Harley. I re-fuse…to be kept out. So…ha, little pig, little pig. Let. Me. In."
She jutted her chin out. "Not by the scars on your fat-assed grin."
And his lips were on hers. Pushing. Pulling. Taking. Like he'd always done.
Lee kept rigid. She hated him. Wished he'd choke on his own saliva--maybe even hers. Whatever worked. So long as he'd just fall limp at her feet and she could walk out that door for the last damn time. Never look back.
But that was a long shot dream.
She'd always look back for him.
His long, chilly fingers wrapped themselves over and around her ears and jaw line, pushing into her bones painfully, as if he were trying to get some reaction from her. His nails dug at her cheeks, pinching into them. Crimson, chafed lips pushed fiercely against her stone ones. But lips and hands were all that touched. The rest were hunched carefully away.
And he gave up.
His other fist collided angrily by her head, as he panted and giggled harshly in her face. "The slut's lost her t-ouch."
Her knee came up hard between his legs.
He barely flinched, hands choosing to grapple at her wrists and hold them high above her head as he squinted and cocked his head to the side, tongue lolling out. "Oooh, ooooh, you just don't give in, do ya? When. Will. Ya. Lear-nnnn?"
"Maybe when you actually teach me something worth-while. Like, how to kill."
His face melted into a pool of laughter. "So Harley wants to be like dear ol' Dad, huh? Well fine. Listen u-p. I'm gonna give you this," he trailed off, pulling sharply away from her to flick a knife out of his pocket and shove it into her hands, keeping them high up. "And I want you to kill…hmm, who shall we have kick, ah, the buck-et today?"
Joker leered in her face, glaring up at the ceiling as he thought.
"You for starters," Lee spat.
"Save the bes-t for las-t, Lee," he tsked.
Then he pulled back and rammed her into the door, grinning insanely into her face.
"I got it! How bout…that low bar man, hmm? Uh, I'm sure you'd love to wring his neck for touching mine. No? Well that must be me. But it would make such an interesting…ah, happily ever aft-er, don'tcha think?"
"No."
He giggled, slamming her head back into the closet door. "'No?!' What is it with you and this no? I mean, it's in the freaking Bi-ble for shit sake! What is it? Uhh, wives sub-mi-tuh. To their. Husbands."
"No."
"And there it is a-gain!" His laughter was harsh and grating now.
"I'm not going to do it, Josh." Her teeth clenched. "He was nice to me."
"Nice to you? Look, Harley, hun. There's no such thing as nice anymore. There's people who screw you over when you least expect it. And then…there's me." He flashed her a deadly smile. "I have my own category."
Lee rose an eyebrow quietly, rising up on her toes to relieve the numbness in her wrists.
"I am gen-u-ine. I'm not gonna change. I'll screw you over when you expect it, and when you be-guh for it. You," he giggled, "of all, ah, people…should know that best."
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I was freezing my ass off and suddenly living the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat'.
My bare feet had barely landed on the ground when I was flying through the air again, then being shoved on the wet grass with someone on top of me. Something was forced over my eyes, but the weight of him kept me from struggling. I mean, gaw, had that guy ever heard of Jenny Craig?
When he was done tying whatever the hell it was over my eyes, he pulled himself off of me, sweeping me off my own feet and up into his own arms.
"Put. Me. Down. Now."
"Ya really need to work on your orders. But, ah, your wish is my command."
I swear my ass fell off when I hit that ground.
Oh, but victory would be sweet…later.
He hauled me to my feet again, before wrapping one arm around my shoulders, and cuffing my wrists in his other. "Where are we going?"
"So many questions, so many answers."
"But that was my first que--"
"Ah, ah. Hush up."
And oddly…I did.
I listened as his shoes crunched on the gravel road, my feet slipping through the dewy grass. His breathing was soft and heady, but he smelled like danger, metallic and intoxicating.
The blindfold itched and I wrinkled my nose in some silly attempt to scratch it. He halted for a moment, leaned in, and scratched my temple with the edge of his nose. Sounds gross, I know, but I promise. It felt like my heart exploded out my butt. Which, again, sounds gross…so I'm gonna hush on the ooey-gooey details.
We walked for a good hour, and I told him he'd better plan on carrying me back. He'd just laugh and brush it off with a, "watch your step." And of course, being the generic klutz in my family, my foot would catch on air and into his arms I'd sprawl. But it was nice. I even contemplated tripping on purpose. I never was one for acting, though. Or lying.
But Josh?
"I talk out of my ass a lo-t," he giggled admittedly at one point. Verbal proof right there, folks. Good as writing, right? Wrong.
So I still fell for every stupid line he fed me. I gobbled it up like some chocolate-deprived little girl.
When my toenails brushed achingly against concrete, I winced. Water lapped nearby, and I half wondered if he'd taken me out here to drown me. Way to go, Lee. You fell for a serial killer and you willingly went with him to the slaughterhouse. Really. Standing ovation for that one.
"Where are we?"
"Shush, sssssh, sshhhhh!" he hissed madly. We climbed a few sets of asphalt stairs, and the more we climbed, the more I found myself leaning my weight into Josh, relying entirely on him for…well, everything.
And I got this sick feeling he enjoyed my dependency on him. The control.
And even sicker? More sick? …whatever?
I wanted to give him every ounce of it.
Let him take over my strings.
We stopped. Wind was whipping at my face. My body racked with chills and I could already feel the goose bumps settling in to claim their own miniature version of the Andes Mountains. I sniffed at the air. It was clean, so my nostrils burned when Josh leaned in closer to breath in my ear.
"Damn."
I licked my lips. "What?"
The blindfold was ripped off hastily, shredding my ears and pulling at my hair.
He repeated. "Damn."
I looked out, and nearly leapt in his arms. Fear raced down my spine, temporarily stopping my heart. I gazed out at a glassy lake, reflecting every single star. No moon. Just twinkling little dots littering the night. And I was standing on air. Nothing was below me but absolute darkness. But then nerves retraced and I was standing on something. Solid concrete.
My toes danced lightly on it for a moment before I released Josh, a sigh of relief escaping my suddenly dry lips.
"Oh," I laughed softly. "Dam. You said dam."
And then he was there. Like, right there. And his lips were on mine. And our arms were around each other. And we just…were. Nothing happened. We were just totally…us. Lips pressed, him holding, me trying to hold.
So I practically growled when he pulled away.
"No." He grinned, and even in the pitch blackness, I could see that stupid smile. "Damn."
And I was falling.
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Lee's eyes peeled back warily against the sun's wake-up call.
They roved over the backseat of her car, where she was curled up, hardly strapped in, with his purple suit coat draped across her torso. She nearly threw it off when realization dawned that it was practically the only modest thing she was wearing aside from jeans. So, stubbornly, she jerked it tighter around herself and curled up tighter, glaring at the now-gloved hand that twitched on the steering wheel.
His face paint was back, freshly caked and chapped. Those scars pulled taught as he opened and stretched his jaw repeatedly, like it was some pressured ear he couldn't quite make…pop. And then those black, outlined eyes were in the rearview, which was shifted to point directly at her.
It was just a glance.
And he was staring back at the road, slamming both hands on the wheel.
"Well, h-ello there, gorgeous. Really, ha, bed head does become you."
Lee anxiously jerked her fingers through the knots in her hair. She sat up. "Where are we? Where's Christopher?"
"Sh, sh, shhhh," his purple, leather finger tapped his lips. "Curiosity killed the Lee. Now. What say…you and, uh, I…go grab some, hmm, gru-b?"
"I'm not hungry."
He just giggled, twisting in his seat to stare at her gleefully. The car swerved closer to the passerbys in the next lane. "Course you aren't, you anorexic addict of me."
Lee just stared blankly out the window. "Watch it."
He reached back and tapped her cheeks with the back of his hand. "Oh, I'm watchin' it."
There was a thump, and the earsplitting sound of metal on metal. A horn exploded in fury, and the Joker whirled around and shifted the car back into its lane. "Woo, heee, ha, oh, nobody knows how to, uh, dur-ive. These. Days." His tongue buzzed before slipping out to worry his scarred cheeks.
He pulled out onto the next exit, somewhere in Tennessee. Speedway loomed overhead as he slid the car into park. His shoulders twisted awkwardly as he climbed through the armrest opening and practically on top of Lee in the backseat. Joker scooted over to the middle, giving her a little room before shakily plastering his hair down.
"Be a good-uh little pet, and tell Daddy what the rules are for this g-ame."
Lee kept her eyes trained out the window. People. They were everywhere. And Josh was dumb enough to trust her not to do anything stupid.
"H-ey, hello, there? Anybody. Home?" His hands grappled for her temples, before swiveling her head around to meet his fierce gaze. "This is, ah, just a pit stop before Shitty-nooga. Food. Bathroom. 'Nuthin' else? Ah," he counted off his fingers. "Keep your silly head down. Shut it. Get what ya need and go."
"Chattanooga? We're going to Chattanooga?" Lee searched his face for some explanation, but it was hard to break past the clown face and into Josh. She panicked.
"Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, I mean, yessss. I wanna…I wanna see my boy."
"I thought--"
Joker clucked his tongue admonishingly. "You assumed, Harley. Never ass. Uuuuume." His fingers dug sharply into her skull, pulling her nose-to-nose with him. "Ya so much as look at anyone other than me? And…well…ah, ah, ah, don't you lif-t that finger to me." He released one side of her head to snake around her finger. His tongue slid out as if to lick it, but then he appeared to change his mind as it exploded in pain.
He growled at her as she muffled her scream with her bit tongue. "Yer not gonna get very far, Harley. So run? And I'll rip your legs off. Scream? And I'll cu-t your mouth off. Frown? And I'll carve the prettiest smile you ever. Did. See."
"When hell freezes over," she snapped, jerking her head out of his grasp. Her fingers fumbled with the door and she slid out, slamming it shut in his face. He just opened it up, skipping out before locking it, and shoving her against the side of the car. He glanced around. Then glared at her.
"Harley, Harley. It'll freeze over when I tell…ah, it to freeze over."
Joker's fingers reached out to button up his coat around her. They must've looked awkward. His overgrown, sliced, purple coat around her practically bare skin, and him in his evergreen collared shirt, with purple suspenders and suit pants. No. Of course Lee wouldn't need to attract any attention. He would do that himself.
"Oh, and, uh, hun?"
Lee hastily cradled her released, broken finger, eyeing the swollen and bruised flesh. "Wha-t?"
"You sold your soul a…ha, long time ago."
She kept her eyes trained on the double sliding doors as Joker pushed her towards life or death.
"And it's, hmmm…time to. Pay. U-p."
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a/n: I had better get a bajillion reviews for this long chapter -- I worked on it on my GETAWAY. but…can't escape it. thanks to all those who ARE reviewing. keep it up, please, zey make me very, very h-appy! makes me feel wanted and writer-worthy! gaw, I move out on Monday for college OO so don't be surprised if chapters slow due to that. but as always, gimme a review and I'll give you an air hug! thanks for stickin with it thus far. if there's any suggestions, feel free to share. can't promise I'll change it, but I'm always willing to hear out my readers. enjoy your week! oh, and I've only seen the movie 3 times. I'm itching for a 4th soon though.
