A/N: On we go to the next chapter.
~Doctor says don't fight that feeling
But my head is stuck to the ceiling
I can't get it off, you superglued it on
It's like I'm a bad scene stuck in a wet dream~
~YungBlud~
Joker watched as his girl walked into the room. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
She smiled at him, "I own the place."
He watched her walk to the desk and sit in the very comfy looking chair. Maybe he needed a chair like that. He shook himself mentally to get back on track. He watched her with what must have looked like confusion on his face. She started to explain.
"I had planned on telling you. Technically, we own this place. I figured it was only fair since I used your money to buy it." She said.
His bark of laughter made her jump slightly in her chair. Once he calmed himself, he smiled at her. "Why would we own a titty bar?" he asked.
She smiled at the vulgar name. "It's a gentleman's club. It was a sound investment." She said, the calm returning to her quickly.
She stood up, walking to the side of the desk. "Here sit, I will explain it." She said pointing to the chair.
Joker stood still, he really wanted to sit in the chair. He was conflicted, she might think she had pull over him if he sat. She already takes too many liberties with him. The need to sit in the chair won. He plopped down ungracefully in the super soft chair. He would definitely get himself one of these.
He turned back to her and frowned at the large smile splitting her face. He gestured for her to talk, not trusting himself to speak at the moment.
"I used to work here, as a bartender. It was a shitty, hole in the wall bar." Joker narrowed his eyes at her profanity. She would never learn. "You had a 50/50 chance of getting stabbed." She stopped. Looking at the ceiling.
"After a bit of time learning the ropes, I got Ace to get me a few IDs and used one, along with your name and we bought the place and remodeled and that's about it." She said.
Joker hadn't taken his eyes off of her. She fidgeted with her hands while he decided how to handle this. He took a deep breath and spoke.
"So, I own a titty bar, with you. You stole from me to buy said bar, and forged my name on the paperwork." He watched as her face turned the prettiest shade of red. He let her stew in her worry for a minute. "You did all of this, and the only help you had was Ace getting you a fake ID?" he asked.
She nodded. Her face void of any expression.
"Impressive." He said. She laughed in relief. "What? You thought I was going to be mad?" he asked, reluctantly getting up from the magnificently comfortable chair, to walk over to her, causing her laughter to stop. He smiled. She was smart.
"Honestly?" she paused, "I thought you'd kick the shit out of me."
He stood next to her, then without warning grabbed her face. His vicelike grip pushing hard enough into her cheeks that he could feel her teeth beneath the squishy flesh. She winced at the pressure.
"Peach, we've gone over this before. Ladies shouldn't say such ugly words." He squeezed again then pushed her face away roughly.
Her hand raised to rub her face, trying to ease the ache. "I am not a child anymore." She said.
His eyes cut to her, "I am painfully aware. But manners are manners." He said lightly.
She let loose the strangest scoffing noise. He watched her, he could see the emotions run across her face. She turned and walked to the desk. She sat on the edge of it, her back facing him. Joker was getting annoyed.
"I named it for you. I thought you'd find it funny." She said still not looking at him.
He laughed. "That's what caught my attention." He frowned after he said it. Was he that predictable, or did she just know him well enough? That idea would drive him crazy, either way.
She had turned and locked her two tone gaze on him. He could feel his pulse in his ears. The rhythm audible to him.
"I thought you were in school?" He said loud enough he drowned out the pulsing in his ears.
Her eyes narrowed at him and she crossed her arms. "How do you know about that?" she asked.
He thought about not answering. He licked his lips, making a popping noise before he spoke.
"I had to get my phone. Then I was bored, so I snooped." He said.
"I have nothing to hide." She said dismissing the entire thing. "I was bored and needed to do something. You left me with nothing to do. I had no real education. So I made some choices. I'm going to school for my own reasons." She stopped talking. She moved from the edge of the desk and walked up to him again.
"You weren't here. I had to do it all. I asked Ace for a bit of help and took charge from there. You told me I was a survivor, like you. You don't get to be mad at me for doing that. I survived." Her voice softened as she spoke. The last of it barely above a whisper.
Joker let her finish, "You aren't going to cry about it, are you?" he asked, watching as her soft eyes hardened. "That's better, stop whining, I was just curious. I'm not sure I like this," he paused looking her up and down. "Crybaby, emotional thing you have going on." He said, reaching up to flick her nose.
She smiled up at him and he felt sick. His stomach felt hot and queasy. His eyes were fixated on her mouth. His mind flashing back to his bout of temporary insanity. He had to have lost it for a second to kiss her like he had. He forced his eyes away.
"You make good money here?" he asked to change the subject.
"Yep." She said. "The house gets a small cut from the girls' tips and the bar. That alone wouldn't be enough to run the place. These are the money makers." She pointed at the monitors.
Joker moved to stand in front of the screens. His eyes flicked from screen to screen, taking in the very clear pictures. He looked back at the girl.
"We take a larger percentage from the 'Giggle Box' area." Joker made a strange noise at that name. The girl continued. "We record all activity. We delete the boring stuff, and we have a nice archive of some pretty important people doing naughty, dirty things." She said.
Joker could hear the pride in her voice, he turned to look at her. The sugar sweet smile was gone, replace with a much nicer smile. He liked this one so much better.
"You don't play fair." He said.
"I learned from the best." She said.
That horrible chirping from his phone sounded again. He growled as he pulled it from his pocket. Ace had sent him a text saying the first group of recruits would be in the ware house the next day. Good. He didn't reply. No need, Ace knew his job and did it well. He didn't need a pat on the head.
"Good news?" Peach asked.
"New guys coming in tomorrow, it's gonna be a busy day." He said turning to leave.
"Wait for me." It wasn't a question.
He froze, he would wait, but he refused to turn and look at her. She moved to his side, sliding her delicate arm around his. He felt his body go rigid. The thumping was back in his ears again. She just stood there, waiting for him to move.
He started walking. They left the club out of the service door, not the front. It took him a second to get his bearings, then he started walking.
"You walked here?" she asked.
"Yeah." He said, not slowing his pace.
"Of course you did." She said, keeping up.
She fell silent and Joker was better. At least he didn't have to listen to her babble the entire way back to the apartment. He walked, keeping his eyes forward, listening to the now mostly deserted streets. The trip home had been pleasant, he had calmed down his racing thoughts. He didn't even mind her small hand on his arm anymore.
He had no clue what time it was, and Peach was holding onto his arm with his watch. The streets were deserted so it had to be pretty late. The lack of traffic and relative silence soothed his mind. He was moving, the nervous energy that had been plaguing him lately was under control, allowing him to really think.
They were a few blocks from the apartment when the night got even better. They passed a narrow dead end street, hearing what sounded like a bottle hitting pavement. The sound was not out of the ordinary here, but was enough to pull him from his thoughts. He could hear the heavy breathing of someone to the left of them. He slowly move his hand into his pocket, wrapping it around his knife.
He couldn't help the smile that spread on his face. He waited, he could feel the potential violence in the air.
"Give me your money and I won't have to hurt you or your pretty girlfriend." A slurred voice said.
Joker felt her hand tighten on his arm, an encouraging squeeze maybe? Then she let go, turning to look at the large man standing to their left. Joker turned to look at the man and felt, envy? This fat disgusting man held a beautiful Bowie knife. The blade clean, with the serrated edge on the back side. Oh, he wanted that knife.
The man pulled back the Joker's attention when he shouted.
"You deaf? Huh?"
Joker looked at the man's face. This man was extremely intoxicated, the dark red flush of alcohol staining his cheeks and nose. This would be fun. Joker let go of the knife in his pocket and moved his hands up like he was surrendering. He could hear Peach making little whimpering sounds. Playing the victim perfectly, maybe too well. The excitement from the knife he wanted and her noises mixed in his brain, sending blood rushing to his cock.
That was the last thing he needed at the moment. He watched the man in front of him. The drunk took a step forward and Joker moved. One hand came up under the man's wrist, twisting his hand outward. The drunken man dropped the knife. Joker's other hand caught the beautiful blade.
Joker dropped the man's arm, causing him to stumble and fall. The groan escaped from the drunk man as he rolled onto his back, breathing heavily. Joker had eyes only for the knife in his hand. The weight of it was good, but he frowned as he inspected the blade.
It was extremely dull, that just wouldn't do. He knelt down and clicked his tongue at the man. He put the blade up where the man could see and watched the fear fly across his face.
"What, exactly, were you going to do with this? Hmm?" Joker asked.
"Nothing man, it was a dumb joke. I didn't mean it, keep the knife just let me go." He begged.
Joker smiled. "A gift? For me?" he said. "Well, geez, I didn't get you anything." He said thoughtfully.
The man didn't move. Joker sat there for a minute then looked back at the man smiling. "I got it, Peach, do you want to give our friend here a gift?"
Joker stood and watched his girl. She smiled and started pulling her skirt up a bit. Joker was confused, he thought she would pick up on his game, not flash the man. He smiled again when she pulled a small pistol from a thigh holster. His gaze locked on her raised skirt, the shine of the small .22, the flash of thigh, the look on her face. His mind was in a frenzy.
She raised the small gun and shot the man in the thigh. The drunk man screamed, then began to cry and whimper on the ground. She looked up at Joker. He looked away before their eyes met, he didn't trust himself right now. He instead looked down at the crying man.
"What should we do with him now?" her soft voice asked.
Joker handed the dull Bowie knife to Peach and reached for his own sharp blade. "You're lucky I like my gift, I will make this quick, as a heartfelt thank you."
Joker squatted down, the man looked like he was going into shock. That was too easy. Smiling, Joker knelt on one knee. That knee just happened to be on the man's bleeding thigh. The drunk wailed in pain as Joker leaned forward to start on his masterpiece.
The man's eyes were large and full of tears. Joker leaned in close. "Now, I know I don't have my face on." He gestured to his scars with the knife. "But you think a guy could get a little recognition around here." The man's wails started back up. "Boy, did you pick the wrong person." He chuckled.
Joker reached for the man's face. Holding him steady by the lower jaw. "Don't worry, I will make sure you remember."
The man started to struggle, trying to free his face from Joker's hand. His grip tightened, joker touched his blade to the man's cheek. "Hold still, you don't want my knife to slip, it could put out an eye." Joker laughed at the man. He pressed the very sharp blade into the flesh. It cut through like butter.
Joker pressed on, pushing through the other cheek. The man had stilled, eyes clamped shut. The sight was hilarious. Joker smiled, he gave the knife that was pushed through the man's face like a skewer, a small tug. The man instinctively bit down on the blade, his eyes now wide open and full of panic.
"Ah, Ah, that's only gonna make things worse." He chided. The man finally unclenched his jaw and tears flowed down his face. Joker gave a good tug, the knife slid through the rest of the muscle and tissue easily.
The man screamed, the cuts seemed to tear a bit further with the action. Joker stood and watched as the man slowly asphyxiated on his own blood. The deep red bubbled from his mouth splattering his neck and face. Joker watched until the very end.