A sharp headache had begun to form behind the Joker's left eye and a low pounding noise in his ear was beginning to gain intensity as he stood at the edge of the garage with his arms folded over his chest, glaring at nothing. The sun was particularly bright that day so he squinted slightly out at the driveway as he leaned against the new and improved Escalade, although it looked the same as it ever did- big and solid black, with dark limo-tinted windows and chrome, modest rims. However, the Cadillac now carried a complete inner shell of bulletproof metal and all the glass had been refitted with thick, impenetrable plastic. Pride flowed through Joker's veins like fire as he stood next to the first tank in his arsenal.
Now Tre's huge truck lay in pieces in the middle of the driveway and the three stooges he had 'hired' were having a rather heated discussion about how best to line the bed. Joker's eyes shifted over to them slowly. He definitely didn't care what they were saying but that their voices were recognizably the source of his newborn headache. Arguing wasn't going to solve any problems but he did know of one thing that would…No, not yet...
He sighed through his nose instead, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, wondering if it was safe to go inside yet. When he had come downstairs to go outside, Jayde had been laying on her stomach along the couch but he had continued quickly on his way without pausing to take a long look at the two dimples on her lower back, just above the line of her low-rise jeans. This was somewhat of an improvement from a day or two before when he and Tre had sat across the room from her for almost twenty minutes, watching her absentmindedly eat ice cream with a very long spoon. Joker grinned to himself, remembering the disgusted look Dotcom had thrown them when he came downstairs to find them practically drooling on themselves.
However, over the past few days, Joker had been relatively good about avoiding close contact with Jayde although admittedly, he was somewhat obvious about it at times. Before ending their mushy gushy times, Joker would often enjoy watching her come down the stairs toward him. He couldn't really explain why but there was just something so sexy about it. But recently, if he was in the house when he heard that door open in the morning or late at night, he had developed a habit of finding a spot high up on the wall and staring at it until she had left the room or went upstairs. Tre was usually near by to laugh at him.
Luckily, after several days of giving her a wide berth and countless hours of training his mind to not think of anything remotely sexual involving Jayde, Joker felt as though he were finally recovering from some sort of mental illness. His dreams had even gone back to normal…Well, normal for him, at least.
It had been so unlike him not to be able to have power over himself and his mind and it was very rare that he completely lose control, which was partly why having visions and dreams about Jayde rattled him so. He knew it was time to really reign it back in and go a little further to…tighten security tenfold in his daily goings-on. She was a girl, for Christ's sake, not some evil entity that gained brain control if he got too close. Once he convinced himself of this, it became easier to just forget about her and the way her thighs didn't completely touch when she stood up straight.
Joker's teeth clenched together tightly and he ground them hard for a few seconds when Matt's increasingly irritating voice raised momentarily from over by the truck, pulling him from his thoughts. It seemed as though he had been gone, mentally, for several minutes but had now returned to find his hired idiots still bickering pointlessly. A low, irritated growl threatened to escape him but a second later, a voice caused him to look over quickly with a slight jump.
"Wow, they're kinda annoying, huh?" Jayde asked, glancing up at him as he scowled down at her after glancing around.
"Jesus, Jayde. Where the fuck did you come from?" he asked rudely and Jayde made a face of disgust up at him.
"Damn, well, it's nice to see you too." She replied, rolling her eyes. Silence descended between them when Joker did not respond, both now distracted by watching the three guys argue amongst themselves. A somewhat disappointed sigh escaped Joker when he stood to his full height from leaned against the Escalade and Jayde glanced up at him, but did not speak when he walked away, into the garage and then into the house. She rolled her eyes, shaking her head slightly. Joker was still acting a little strange around her and for near on a week now, Jayde had been trying to figure out why. Of course, upon asking him, Dotcom had answered that he thought Joker was starting to slip in his decision and maybe regretting it a little, but Jayde knew better than to ever believe that was true. Joker was just being himself around her now, moody and elusive, avoiding eye contact with her most of the time. By now, Jayde had come to accept it as the way things were just going to work from then on but could not think every once in a while about the way he used to look at her…and the way he used to kiss her. Hell, she would even give a lot for him to just touch her in any way at this point.
The guys were still arguing but Jayde was beginning to notice that they were finally making some headway and it seemed as though, after listening momentarily that they had just decided to pack up the truck for the time being and figure it out a different way. Matt, the tallest of the three disappeared into the driver's seat of the huge truck and started it, inching it forward slowly until it moved into place, just next to the Escalade inside the garage.
Jayde had moved out of the way but now found herself awfully close to these people she did not know. Joker was still inside and a strange sense of awkwardness overcame her when the two guys she did not even know the names of walked past her at the back ends of the two large vehicles. They paid her no attention however, and were now back out in the driveway, about to continue their conversation when Jayde decided it would probably just be better to disappear inside now; it did not seem as though Joker was returning.
She had just turned to start walking between the two trucks when the garage door opened again, surprisingly, and Joker stepped out briskly, tucking something into the back of his jeans as he went. The hood of the truck was rather high, hiding the bottom half of Joker from the waist down until he came around the edge of it and Jayde was just about to turn to ask where he had gone when she noticed the outline in the back of his shirt. She paused for him to reach the edge of the trucks before walking over slowly to crouch down, out of sight from the other three guys. It seemed her heart had gone into overdrive within the past few seconds and she was now slightly breathless as she watched Joker stalk out into the driveway.
It all happened so quickly- both Matt and the younger of the two guys were shot first at near point blank range in the back of the head as they had been the two standing with their backs to the Joker. However, the third guy had spotted Joker drawing his gun from behind his back and had taken off running down the driveway…Unfortunately, Joker was an excellent marksman. One loud bang later, the younger of the two strangers was shot in the back, fell face forward into the gravel at the end of the driveway and he moved no more. Joker took a deep breath in before exhaling heavily with a groan in a way that Jayde had only heard him do right after he came and pulled out of her to lay down.
Out in the driveway, Joker was now walking down toward the end to grab the third guy's ankles and drag him up the gravel until he joined the other two bodies, giggling quietly to himself as he went. At some point, Tre had come rushing outside and was now pushing past Jayde as she remained somewhat frozen to the side of the Escalade.
"Damn, Ki!" he shouted, looking up from the corpses to Joker who wiped his hand down his face, smearing the tiny droplets of blood along his skin, now grinning wide enough for his scars to touch his ears.
"What?" he barked suddenly at Tre. "They wouldn't shut up and they already showed us how to finish the truck so…I put 'em down." With a shrug, he went on, stepping over Matt's body to walk over to the garage. "Plus, besides you, me, Jayde, Dotcom and Linman, no one knows where this place is…and I plan on keeping it that way, see?"
Hours later, the three bodies had been disposed of in the graveyard he had created in the wide field behind the house, and Joker now found himself upstairs in his office, once he had showered and changed into comfortable clothes. That headache from earlier had miraculously disappeared the moment he pulled the trigger the first time but his eyes were now beginning to ache from the fine print he had been reading for the past hour. He groaned as he closed them, bringing up two fingers to rub them deeply.
Upon opening them a few moments later, his gaze fell onto the calendar just next to his computer screen and for several long seconds, he stared at that day's date- February 28th. For some reason, he could remember something significant about this day but could not place his finger on what it had been. A confused frown melted onto his face as he sat there, staring at the small white box labeled '28' for nearly a full minute before he suddenly remembered- February 28th was the day before March 1st…the day Audrey was supposed to be coming to town. A sly grin took the place of the confused frown as Joker wondered whether even Jayde had remembered.
After reaching out for his phone, Joker leaned back in the swiveling chair to flip through the small black notebook he had taken from the drawer and after finding the name titled 'Maggie', he dialed the number below it. Pressing it to his ear, Joker waited for several long seconds while it rang and rang until finally a thick New-Yorker type accent answered on the other end.
"Hello?"
Joker's scars stretched in a wily grin as he crossed one ankle over his knee. "Ah, yes, Maggie. I was just flipping through my list of beautiful women and I just happened across your name…" he practically sang in a very charming, smooth voice and that grin turned into a laugh when the older woman on the other end of the phone squealed.
"Jay-baby! How ya been, sweetie pie?" she asked loudly and Joker rolled his eyes, picking up a random pen lying on the desk to twirl it between his fingers.
"Can't complain." He answered. "Been missin' you, though, Mags. Thanks for that green dye you saved me, by the way."
She squealed again, obviously thrilled with Joker's charming abilities. "Oh! You know I'm always here to help ya, Jay." She answered finally and Joker nodded; he was getting where he needed to go now.
"Of course you are, Maggie-May, which is why I have a tiny favor to ask of you…"
Jayde groaned irritably at her reflection the following morning, dropping her arms to her sides in defeat when her mass of tight curls refused to stay back in the pins she was using. Her hair was being exceedingly stubborn that morning since she had unwisely decided to fall asleep with it wet the night before and was now paying richly for her laziness. After five attempts to pin it back with no avail, she gave up, huffing exasperatedly to herself as she left the bathroom to get dressed.
Nearly an hour earlier, she had woken abruptly to several loud bangs, that despite their distance, still managed to rattle the whole house and she had rolled her eyes as she turned onto her back; apparently, Joker and Tre were doing something that required them to be up at eight o'clock in the morning making tremendous noise. So she had risen from the bed groggily to go brush her teeth and that was when she noticed her hair. So after finding a thick, t-shirt material headband in her top drawer, she slid it onto the front of her hair, keeping most of the frizzy curls away from her face.
Downstairs in the kitchen, Jayde found Dotcom pouring himself a cup of freshly brewed coffee that perfumed the entire bottom half of the house. She rounded the bar, taking deep breaths with her nose in the air. After offering her a mug, Dotcom leaned against the counter, watching her pour herself some of the strong coffee.
"So are you excited for-…" he began, but stopped and both looked over when the garage door opened. The Joker stepped inside a second later, pausing on the threshold to frown around at the house until he noticed Jayde and Dotcom watching him from the kitchen. He turned slowly to Jayde, the frown on his face dissolving quickly into a cheeky, 'I know something you don't know' type of grin. Her eyebrows raised.
"So you guys just figured there was no problem with firing guns at eight this morning?" she asked immediately, placing one hand on her hip to tilt her head to the side. Joker shook his head with a shrug and a confused expression.
"Yeah." His raspy voice replied and Jayde rolled her eyes at Dotcom; apparently the topic was now closed. However, Joker was now stepping over to her and hee squinted down at her, bending his knees slightly to be more at her level. "I'm guess you forgot what day it is."
Jayde's face relaxed as she looked up at him, momentarily distracted when she noticed inwardly that this was the first time he had made full eye contact with her for more than a few seconds in over a week. She hesitated in her answer, trying to take as much time staring at the chocolate brown color there as she could. Joker was still waiting for an answer when she blinked a few times, frowning slightly.
"Uh…"
"Uhhhh…" Joker mocked her, leaning down even further. "Well, today is March first…" Suddenly, Jayde gasped and he tossed his hands with a generous roll of this eyes.
"Oh my god! Audrey and our hair appointment!" she cried and immediately took off toward the stairs but squealed when Joker reached out to catch the back of her bushy hair in a tight fist. She staggered backward as he pulled, forcing her back into the kitchen.
"Ah, ah, ah…Listen." He instructed, his hand still clenched tight around the back of Jayde's hair, forcing her to stand still long enough so he could speak. A grin slowly attacked his face when he noticed her cringe slightly from his grip. "I've already taken care of the appointments, alright? Just go get ready and come back down here." Joker paused, then let go of her hair with a slight push, suddenly realizing how long it had been since he had done that. "-Now." He added and Jayde took off running up the stairs and into her bedroom.
Twenty minutes later, Jayde stepped out into the garage, glancing around until she noticed Joker and Tre standing at the back end of the huge truck. She was about to ask Joker if he was ready to 'brief her' on the plan that he had obviously formulated just for Jayde and Audrey to do something as simple as get their hair done, but she realized quickly that neither Joker nor Tre had heard the door open. They were still talking rather quietly between themselves so Jayde inched a little bit closer until their voices became clearer.
"-How are you going to do that, though? There's no way you can infect that much of Gotham with-…" Tre was saying but Joker shook his head, interrupting him.
"It's not impossible, Dotcom knows a whole list of people in that industry. It's just a matter of-…" Joker was saying but he turned his head at the last second, changing the direction of his voice. Jayde frowned and was about to inch closer when he suddenly looked over his shoulder, directly at her. Jayde straightened up quickly but it was too late; Joker was already smirking. "Eaves-dropping, are we? Hm?" he asked and Jayde shrugged from the other end of the truck.
"I didn't want to interrupt." She made up a lame excuse for her rudeness but she knew Joker wasn't buying it. He would not have forgotten her eagerness to hear his plans. "I just called Audrey. She wants me to pick her up at her hotel and-…"
At the other end of the garage, Joker held up his hand. "Hold that thought." He said, glancing at Tre before back to her and he motioned for her to pass between the two massive trucks toward them. A second later, Jayde stepped forward at the same time he did and both turned sideways to pass each other between the trucks. However, it just so happened that they had turned the same direction and reached the thinnest area between the SUVs at the same time, leaving Jayde to squeeze by him with her back to his chest.
Joker had not foreseen this happening when he had just planned to go inside the house but now he found himself wedged between the Cadillac and Jayde with her ass inconveniently pressed against his lap. Before he could stop himself, his hands instinctually reached out to rest on her hips but instead of pulling them back against the front of his jeans like his body told him to, he moved her to the side, murmuring a falsely polite 'well, excuuuse me'.
An electric shock of some sort had shot up Jayde's spine at the touch of his hands and for a split second, she had quickly debated on arching her back and resting her head against his chest behind her. His voice in her ear like that was enough to make her weak and she stared after him rather stupidly once he had squeezed past her. Joker did not look over his shoulder however, and disappeared into the house without another word. Goosebumps had broken out like small mountains all over her skin at some point and she rubbed her forearms vigorously as she walked over to Tre.
"Where was he going?" she asked of the tall black guy once her knees had stopped trembling. He shrugged, taking a long drag from the cigarette in his fingers.
"Went to get you the keys to the Escalade."
Moments later, Joker had returned seemingly out of thin air, causing Jayde to jump slightly when he rattled the keys in her face loudly. "Alright, Jayde. Listen carefully."
Finally, after another long set of instructions from the Joker about where and exactly what she was supposed to do, Jayde was on her way to Gotham and blaring the radio so loudly, she was certain Joker and Tre could hear it back at the mansion over three miles back up the road. She had called Audrey upon leaving the gravel driveway and was now reflecting on their squealed conversation as she drove along with a silly grin on her face. It had been almost four months since she had seen her best friend and to someone like Jayde, that was a very long time to go without seeing the one person she felt knew her better than anyone on earth. She could not wait to see her.
Before she left, Joker had explained to Jayde that he had gotten it set up through some connection that she and Audrey now had appointments to have their hair done at a rather posh salon in downtown Gotham…for free. When Jayde had given him a skeptical look, he laughed and went on to explain that his friend 'Maggie' owned the place and that she had agreed to keep things off the record. Jayde rolled her eyes now as she pictured some tall, skinny and pretty blonde girl on the phone with Joker, giggling and flirting with him and she was honestly a little surprised to feel a small flutter of jealousy in the pit of her stomach. A second later however, she mentally smacked herself; it was the Joker for crying out loud, who on earth would be flirting with him?
After nearly a half hour of trying to locate the right parking lot for the hotel that Audrey had said she would be staying in for the night, the girls had hugged and squealed excitedly at the sight of each other and now Jayde and Audrey were both laughing and chatting loudly. The Escalade bounced slightly as they crossed an intersection and finally, Jayde realized they were cutting it close with their appointment times. It was only nearing one o'clock but Joker had told her back at the house that Maggie would be expecting them between one-fifteen and one-thirty.
"So what salon are we going to? I need some serious highlights…" Audrey said rather air-headedly and Jayde laughed, glancing in the rear view mirror as she moved to change lanes.
"Um, apparently its this fancy salon with a French name down on Fifteenth." She answered and was so concerned with not putting any dings in the Joker's 'new truck' that she went on without thinking. "Jo-…" she caught herself. "My friend said it's really good and we should check it out. Plus he knows the lady and I think she's going to give us a good deal."
Luckily, Audrey had not noticed Jayde's near slip up and was just grinning with excitement as she watched the tall buildings pass by on the right.
It was not long from then before Jayde noticed the chic white exterior of the salon, punctuated with huge picture windows on either side of two large glass doors. Through the windows, she noticed several young women working on clients and at first, Jayde wondered if she had come to the right place, being that the salon was so open but after consulting the sign a third time, the name matched the one that Joker had given her so she got out and locked the car behind her. On the sidewalk, Audrey was practically pulsating she was so excited and even giggled at Jayde as they stepped inside the shop.
Off to the side, just inside the entrance, stood a tall, light colored hardwood reception desk and just behind it, the tall, skinny, and pretty blonde girl she had been imagining in the car on the way to the city. She looked up and smiled warmly as Jayde walked over somewhat uncertainly.
"Hi! Are you Jayde?" she asked brightly a second later and Jayde paused to blink before grinning in return.
"Yeah!" she answered. "Are you Maggie?"
The girl laughed, shaking her head and Jayde felt a bit of that pointless anxiety leave her body. "Oh, no. I'm Sarah. Maggie is back in the office, c'mon."
Jayde glanced at Audrey and Audrey, at Jayde as Sarah led them past all the occupied chairs and stylists, down a long hallway, lined with several doors before she stopped at the last one and knocked.
"Yes?" came a voice from the other side and Jayde swallowed when small butterflies began zooming around inside of her; she wasn't sure why she was so nervous all of a sudden.
"Jayde and her friend are here!" Sarah called through the wooden door, followed shortly by a squeal before the door swung open so forcefully, the blonde's hair moved in the breeze.
The woman standing there in no way resembled what Jayde had been imagining and instead resembled something of a bullfrog with her short stature and rather rotund figure. She seemed perfectly friendly as she ushered Jayde and Audrey inside though and closed the door behind them to place her glasses on the top of her modern, spiky haircut with a content sigh.
"So!" she began, sitting down behind her desk to lean forward slightly and squint at Jayde with a warm smile. "You must be Jayde." She went on, nodding at the darker haired of the two girls. "Jay told me you were pretty but I had no idea you were so striking!" Jayde laughed courteously but glanced at Audrey, who by now was just grinning rather awkwardly at the short, rather squat woman across from them.
"Well, thank you!" Jayde finally answered but found that her curiosity outweighed her desire to be polite. "So how um…How did you meet him?" she asked, sincerely hoping that Maggie would choose to be rather discrete about the subject of their conversation and she held her breath when the woman inhaled, leaning back in the chair as if trying to recall how long it had been.
"Let's see…It must have been about five years ago now, but I met him when he first moved to Gotham." She began, now removing her glasses from the top of her head to set them down on her cluttered desk. "It was the middle of December, so the weather was just awful and I was just leaving the bus station when I saw him trying not to fall asleep on a bench outside." At this point in her story, she paused as if for effect; either that, or for Jayde to give some sort of saddened expression. She went on after a few seconds. "I thought he was so cute so I went over and asked him if he had a place to stay for the night and he said no, so I brought him home with me!" She then exclaimed happily. "Well, come to find out, he was quite the, er…special young man and before long, he was paying half of my rent in return for a room to stay in for a few months. I even dyed his hair for the first time for him right before he, er…Well, you know, so ever since then, I've helped him in return for a couple little favors here and there…"
By now, it was starting to all make sense to Jayde and for the first time, even after meeting Tre, she felt as though she was beginning to understand why it seemed that Joker was almost 'nice' to a select few people. He knew that it would be impossible to do everything himself and it seemed as though he had hand-picked the perfect people to be allowed into his inner circle. A small smile played with her mouth when she realized quite suddenly that she too had been selected as one of those perfect people.
Thirty miles away, Joker was in the middle of biting on his bottom lip anxiously and reflecting back on the way it had felt to have his hands on Jayde's hips again when he heard Tre cough from across the table and he looked up to accept the lit blunt from him. It had taken a little persuading at first, but finally Tre had convinced him that smoking a little weed would probably put him in a better mood. After storming around for most of the morning, Joker had finally settled down around noontime once Jayde had left the house and was now trying to think back and figure out what had put him in such a foul mood in the first place. However, upon second thought, Joker remembered that most of his bad days were not usually caused by any one thing in particular…he was just a moody guy, what could he say?
Surprisingly, the weed was helping a little and Joker was beginning to feel overcome by that warm, fuzzy sensation that spread through him like he had just climbed into a running dryer. His scars twitched when he imagined a miniature version himself tumbling about in the midst of warm clothes and clean socks and he could not help but chuckle to himself before handing the blunt back. Across from him, Tre was watching, honestly a little intrigued.
"Ya know, Ki, I'm actually kind of surprised you've stayed this long with the whole 'not fuckin' around' thing with her." He commented off-handedly after a few minutes and Joker looked over with a slight frown. "I'm kinda proud of you, bro."
For a moment or two, Joker considered telling Tre how difficult it had been, how he still continued to struggle with it every day, how one out of every two nights he had a fairly graphic dream about her and about how he could not touch or be near her at all without feeling as though he were a second away from ripping her clothes off. But luckily, it was getting slightly easier so he figured that he would just nod and reply 'thanks, Tre' instead.
Fifteen minutes later, the blunt had gone out and Joker leaned back in the chair, rubbing his eyes deeply with a groan. If he were being honest, he was feeling pretty high and although he had admitted to himself that he kind of wanted to see Jayde's hair when she got home, a quick nap sounded leagues better than teasing himself again so he stood up, stretching his arms over his head to look up at his watch and groan again. It was already four o'clock and she still wasn't back…He rolled his eyes when he brought his arms down…Girls…
Luckily, Tre was standing up from the chair across the table and was about to walk inside so Joker went ahead of him, immediately moving toward the stairs. From below him, he heard the far-off sound of Tre's door closing and with Dotcom still doing god-knows-what in his bedroom, the opportunity for a nap was too perfect to pass up. So he took a right into his bedroom, closing his door behind him to walk over and collapse on his bed. Within seconds, his foggy mind had shut down temporarily and the Joker was fast asleep, on his back.
The garage door squeaked much more loudly than Jayde had meant it to and she was now sliding it open slowly to poke her head around the edge, peering in at the dark bottom floor of the house. The entire ride back from the city, Jayde had hoped and prayed that no one, namely Joker, would be downstairs, giving her the opportunity to really floor everyone, namely Joker, with the sight of her perfect new hair. Fortunately, the coast was clear so she tiptoed across the marble floors to the stairs where she trotted up as quickly and quietly as she could.
The white door closed silently behind her and Jayde sighed, immediately walking into the bathroom to flip on the light and comb her fingers through her temporarily straightened hair for the one-thousandth time. A proud grin appeared, stretching her scar slightly as she imagined the look on the Joker's face when he saw the way her new honey colored highlights accented her face and made her normally blue eyes look a little more electric. But seeing as to how it was only five-thirty, Jayde had over an hour to get ready to go back and meet Audrey for dinner before hitting the club. As she sat down on the bed to watch tv for a few minutes, she silently hoped to herself that Joker would just so happen to be downstairs when she emerged wearing that oh-so-tight turquoise dress.
By the time Joker had woken up, come around and visited the restroom, it was already nearing seven-thirty and the entire house had been filled with some sort of amazing scent that forced him downstairs and into the kitchen. He found Dotcom there, leaned over something bubbling away on the stove but he did not ask what it was, only because he didn't care; he was going to eat it, no matter what it was.
Across the room, Tre was seated at the table, flipping through a magazine. As Joker approached, he picked up the smell of cigarettes and figured that he had just come inside from out on the patio. He looked up when the chair across from him scraped the floor as Joker pulled it back and sat down with a sleepy groan, combing some of his unruly green hair away from his face.
"You, uh…" Tre began but was stammering somewhat awkwardly when Joker looked over, raising an eyebrow slowly. "You uh, seen her yet?"
At that moment, Joker was just about to ask just what the fuck Tre meant by that when the sound of Jayde's door opening upstairs tore his attention from the conversation at hand to look up, before he could even put two and two together.
Apparently, someone had come in and switched Jayde with some sort of supermodel…either that, or a Playboy bunny…he wasn't quite sure yet.
Joker felt a strange sensation start to sneak up on him when this fake-Jayde tossed her curtain of sleek, shiny, straight hair over her shoulders, revealing to he and Tre that the tiny, tight turquoise dress she was wearing did not have straps and seemed to be just barely supporting the weight of her absolutely exquisite breasts. The longer he watched her, now walking carefully and yet seemingly floating down the stairs toward them, the more he realized that something else was different about her. Sure, there was a new color tucked into her hair in certain places but that wasn't what he was noticing. To his surprise, Jayde was wearing makeup and not just that, but it looked really good on her. He wasn't usually a fan of elaborate makeup on women and just viewed it as a failed attempt at looking like him, but the way Jayde had applied hers that night was dark, smoky, sultry and above all, sexy.
Her silver heel clicked lightly on the marble as she stepped down off of the stairs, and she glanced over at him but Joker did not look away. He had realized somewhere in the past ten seconds that he didn't really care if she saw him. In fact, he was almost positive, as he noticed the satisfied smirk on her face, that she had been hoping to have that exact sort of affect on him. If that were the case, then she had definitely gotten what she wanted; Joker was about ready to pounce as she strutted past him. A second later, he frowned slightly, glancing at Tre. Was she doing this on purpose? Had it been her goal all along to torment him and make him regret his decision? His eyes narrowed as he turned his head, now eyeing the tightly knit back of Jayde's dress and how it only just came to the middle of her thighs. Oh, so we're gonna play dirty now…
Dotcom was saying something about how her makeup looked flawless and Jayde was just about to step out with the Escalade keys, when Joker rose from the chair abruptly, to walk over and place his hand on the top of the garage door, holding it shut. A sharp, snarling grin turned up the corner of his lips when Jayde turned slowly to find him looming over her when she had discovered the door was stuck. It seemed she wasn't sure what to say and obviously, the look on his face was enough to make her slightly apprehensive. Perhaps she knew that she had been caught?
"When can we uh…expect you back tonight?" he asked, now leaned against the door as Jayde shifted her weight from one heel to the other, glancing down at her feet.
"Um, probably not until after one. I have to drop Audrey off at her hotel then I'll be coming back here." She finally explained and as badly as Joker wanted to warn her not to drink and drive or do anything stupid, he was suddenly distracted by the somewhat thick layer of foundation she had nearly slathered over the thin scar on her left cheek. His eyebrows practically met in the middle as he brought his thumb to his mouth, moistening it with his tongue before reaching out to grip her face. His wet thumb traveled down her cheek, taking with it the layer of makeup, exposing the noticeable scar underneath. At first, Jayde had tried to pull away from his grip but he held tighter until he was satisfied that the scar was completely visible. With a smirk, he tilted his head to the side, grinning down at Jayde as she glared in return. But a second later, he had leaned down, pressing the side of his face against the side of hers, connecting the scar on his left cheek with the matching one on hers. He heard her take a quick surprised breath and in some random wave of insanity, he reached up, allowing his fingers to go gliding through her impossibly soft hair.
"Just remember where your loyalties lie, kid." He murmured against her ear in a voice that only she could hear, and with that, he pulled away, opening the door to let her out. He watched her go but could not help the pleased, accomplished feeling he got when she turned to glance at him over her shoulder uncertainly.
Jayde could feel her eyes vibrating slightly when Audrey handed her the vodka cranberry she had ordered and she took a sip, only to cringe slightly. Across from her, Audrey's eyes widened slightly when Jayde turned to look at her with a suspicious glare.
"You got me a double tall?" she practically shouted over the loud music, only to laugh when Audrey shrugged, looking away pointedly.
At first, upon arriving and struggling through the crowd of people, Jayde had been feeling rather awkward and almost as if she didn't really want to be there. She had even thought quickly back to her comfy bed at the house over thirty miles away but now that half of her strong drink was gone, she was pleased to find that her mind was beginning to relax a bit and she was just about ready to squeeze into a nearby throng of people with Audrey, when someone came up alongside her. For a split second, Jayde had thought fleetingly that she was about to look up and the Joker would be standing there, smirking down at her, but it was not. In his place, stood a young guy about her age, but only a few inches taller than her, in heels. He was smiling in a friendly sort of way but Jayde noticed immediately when his eyes flickered downward to the top line of her dress. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes and turn away rudely, Jayde smiled back at him.
"Hey, I'm Kelly." He introduced himself loudly, but still Jayde wasn't sure if she had heard him right. Leaning forward, she squinted at him slightly with her ear turned more toward him.
"Sorry, did you say-?" she went to ask in a something of a shout but he laughed, taking a step closer to sit down the barstool next to where she stood. He nodded a second later, glancing at the scurrying bartenders.
"Yeah, I'm Kelly." He repeated, grinning a little shyly up at her. "Kind of a weird name, I know." Jayde shrugged, taking the last sip of her drink, thinking to herself that his name was actually kind of hot. It was unusual but unique and Jayde had always been partial guys with strange names…kind of like the name Kieron…Her eyes had drifted off to the gyrating crowd of people but Kelly leaned forward again, his voice raised over the music. "You forgot to tell me what your name is, miss."
Jayde looked over again, then turned to lean against the bar with one of her hips, tossing her hair with a little more flirtiness than she had meant to; she couldn't help it. The alcohol was beginning to have an affect on her and she suddenly noticed that this 'Kelly' guy had a really stunning set of green eyes. "Jayde," she finally told him, grinning. "I'm Jayde."
Before she even knew what had happened, Jayde and Kelly had spent nearly three songs chatting, or shouting rather, and when she turned to find Audrey, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. It seemed as though the bumping and grinding mass of people had swallowed her up and she was now gone, but Jayde wasn't worried yet; Audrey was probably pretty drunk by then. She always managed to get a lot of attention from guys since she was truthfully very cute, but Audrey did have a nasty habit of making mistakes that she later regretted. Jayde turned back to Kelly, still seated in the bar stool next to her.
"Did you see where my friend went?" she asked him, leaning forward slightly but jumped a second later when he placed his hand on her hip as if this was going to help him stand up from the stool to look around. Normally, this cheap attempt at copping a feel would have bothered Jayde but surprisingly, she didn't really care…In fact, she kind of liked the attention she was getting from this guy. He seemed taller now as he looked around the room, his fingers still curled around her hip and now, with him so close, Jayde could smell the cologne on him and see the top of a tattoo across his upper chest.
"I think she's over there." He was saying, so Jayde allowed him to take her hand and lead her over into a thick crowd of people over by the stage, where they found Audrey a few minutes later, dancing incredibly suggestively with some guy. When she spotted her, Jayde let go of Kelly's hand to wiggle her way over until Audrey noticed Jayde approaching and broke away from her dance partner.
"Hey!" she practically screamed, tossing her arms around Jayde's shoulders for a drunken hug. "Dance with me!"
By now, Jayde was about two and a half drinks in, so of course she found no problem with dancing at the moment…that was until two hands rested on her hips from behind, pulling her back slowly until her body met his. A slight shock ran up her spine at that instant and suddenly, Jayde's mind was back at the mansion when Joker had done that exact same thing to her, seemingly months ago. Before she could think twice, Jayde's body had melted to the front of Kelly's and they were suddenly grinding deeply with each other.
As hard as she tried to wish that the man behind her was the Joker, Kelly was proving to be an excellent dry-humping partner and Jayde couldn't help but groan a little when his hands squeezed her hips. The song had changed into a slightly slower, more bass-heavy song but Jayde wasn't really listening and instead, was wondering how angry the Joker would be if she were to go home with this Kelly person. A slight shiver wracked her entire body when she imagined the look on his face and his raspy whisper in her ear from earlier returned to echo in the back of her mind.
Just remember where your loyalties lie, kid.
What loyalties? Jayde asked herself savagely a moment later and with that, she finally let go and really let Kelly take this song.
By the time the wheels of the Escalade bounced from the street onto the gravel driveway, the time on the radio was nearing one forty-five in the morning and Jayde's feet hurt incredibly bad. When she and Audrey had left the club almost an hour before, she had taken them off and the silver heels now sat abandoned in the passenger seat next to her. She glanced at them, trying to decide if she was too tired to bring them in or not, but a moment later, she figured that Joker would probably be mad if she left them in there. So she reached out, grabbing them one-handedly with a groan as she slid out of the driver's seat once the garage door had gone down.
The house was completely pitch black upon opening the door as quietly as she could, but Jayde had known it would be that way; her eyes had flown to the windows of the house as she came over that last small hill. A huge sigh of relief had escaped her when she noticed that everything was dark. Luckily, it seemed as though the Joker had already gone to bed…otherwise, she might have been in trouble for her tardiness.
With the door to the garage now shut and locked behind her, Jayde blinked around at the absolutely pitch black interior of the house, surprised to find that not even the moon from outside was providing her with any vague light. And since she had a few drinks at the club, Jayde had a feeling it would just be smarter in general to go and turn on the light, thus preventing a nasty slip and fall on the stairs.
She rose onto her tiptoes, slowly creeping across the kitchen to the light switch that controlled the small accent lighting up on the second floor, the small portrait lights that softly illuminated the walls of the upper hallway. The switch gave a nearly inaudible click as she flipped it on, only to turn and gasp quietly.
The Joker had not gone to bed yet.
In fact, he was wide awake and sitting on the top stair, leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, a very unfriendly sort of half-scowl, half-smirk rested on his dimly illuminated features. It had taken a fair amount of restraint not to scream when she saw him but she was now grinning, hoping she could smooth out Joker's next words with a little good old fashioned girlish charm. This seemed like a good idea at the time.
"Hey, you." She practically purred, now standing at the bottom of the stairs with her hip cocked to one side and her head to the other. Her eyes felt a little heavy with her fading buzz but she did not see the point in trying to open them more; the half-lidded look was just adding to the appeal. Joker's hands were up in front of his mouth as he rested his chin in them but one of his eyebrows raised when the corners of his eyes wrinkled slightly so Jayde assumed he was grinning and advanced up a few more stairs toward him. However, the closer she got, the more time had passed since she had greeted him and still Joker did not reply, but instead watched her from behind those chocolate brown, glossy eyes. Jayde frowned slightly once she had reached the top step and was about to sit down when Joker stood up, clearing his throat slightly as he did.
"What's wrong?" Jayde asked somewhat innocently at his lack of a response, now closely watching his face as he laughed somewhat breathlessly, rolling his eyes to the ceiling, squinting as though trying to remember something.
"What's wrong…" he repeated, those eyes now rolling back down to focus on hers. "Let's see…what's wrong…Oh yeah," he suddenly remembered and Jayde let out soft squeak of pain when Joker's left hand suddenly flew to her neck, his fingers immediately tightening around her throat. A moment later, her back met the wall of the hallway with such force, she felt the thin plaster crack a little behind her. Her hands immediately grabbed for his wrist as he held her pinned to the wall by the neck. His face was now inches from the side of her head and as scared as Jayde tried to feel by his lightening fast reactions, she could not ignore the way her whole body began to vibrate when he moved so close to her, his belt now pressed against her bellybutton. A slow, staggered breath escaped Jayde when his clowny, raspy voice spoke in her ear.
"So I've noticed lately that you've been a little carelesssss, Jayde." He growled, lingering slightly on the '-s' with a soft hiss. Jayde would have interrupted to ask what he meant, but she was too busy hoping he wouldn't notice the goosebumps now coating her arms and shoulders. "In fact," his voice raised again to a normal level. "I've even noticed you seem to think I'm stupid, hm?" At this, Jayde did open her mouth to speak but immediately clamped her lips together when the blade of Joker's favorite knife caught the moonlight and her insides disappeared altogether; it had been a while since she had seen that particular item in his hand. "Ah, ah," he cut her off when he noticed her start to speak and was now towering over her with one hand still around her throat, the other allowing the tip of the knife to drag along the soft mounds of cleavage that dress managed to create. His eyes were following the movement of the knife until he seemed to remember that he was supposed to be threatening her.
"Don't think I haven't seen the way you look at me," he snarled suddenly, tightening his left hands grip on her neck when he snapped back into the right frame of mind. Jayde stared up at him, her eyes wide. "that way you lick these lips…" the tip of the knife now rested on the middle of Jayde's bottom lip, separating it slightly from the top one as Joker watched it, his eyes dilated and practically reflective from the glossiness. "I don't appreciate it, Jayde. Not. One. Bit." His voice dropped slightly with each word he spoke until the tiny hairs all along Jayde's arms stood on end and she shivered slightly as he continued to hold her pinned against the wall; the cracked plaster behind her felt as though it had been replaced with ice. Finally, Jayde seemed to be finding her tongue, now that she understood what he was talking about.
"Joker, I honestly haven't been trying to-…" she began but Joker bristled like an angry dog, giving off waves of livid energy that Jayde could practically feel burning her skin as he gripped her neck tighter.
"Don't. Lie. To me." he growled, his shiny eyes mere inches from Jayde's as he glanced back and forth between them a few times. "Consider this an official warning, Jayde. If you play with fire, you're going to get burned. Sooner, than later," he threatened darkly, glancing down at the tip of the knife now rested gently just under the side of her jaw and his hand slowly moved downward, gliding the dull edge over that extra sensitive spot on her neck that he had not forgotten about. The corners of his lips turned up in a sly grin when he noticed her eyes slide closed and she shivered slightly.
"So let's just play nicely, hm? You probably wouldn't like me very much if we decided to really play dirty…"
Finally, Jayde opened her eyes to look up but before she could comment or ask what he had meant by that, the Joker released her throat, pushing her roughly down the hall toward her room. His back was hunched slightly as he turned his head to watch her go, glancing over her shoulder every few paces until she reached the door to her room and slipped inside quickly to shut it behind her. Had the lock been on the inside of the door, she would have done that too, but it didn't seem as though he would be following her in there, although…she kind of wished he would.
She knew he had just done that to scare her and at first, he had succeeded, but now as Jayde lay there in the dark room, watching the tv without really seeing it, all she could think about was how much she had missed the feeling of his hand around her throat and the way he felt when he stood that close to her. It seemed as though the Joker had caught on to her little scheme and a wiry grin slid onto her face when she realized it had worked; she had rattled the bars of Joker's cage and as she slipped off to sleep, she visualized a bristling, angry lion pacing back and forth, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. All Jayde had to do now was unlock the cage and wait.
A/N: Thanks to everyone for the support on that last chapter. I really appreciate it. I tried to get everything into this chapter but it just grew far too long and I didn't want it to be taking you three days to read it. So I'll just save the first climax in the sequel of this saga until the next chapter…you guys can be patient, right?…::wink wink:: LEAVE ME YOUR LOVE/HATE IF YOU WANT THE NEXT CHAPTER! = ] -QoM