Joker was just dropping his jaw to yawn and reaching his hands up to rub his eyes the next morning at the table on the patio when Dotcom came out and sat down across from him, setting his mug of coffee on the table before him. His pack of cigarettes appeared moments later, although when he went to take one out, he must have felt the burning sensation of Joker's glare as he stared over, waiting to be offered one. Dotcom rolled his eyes rather grumpily as he handed a single cigarette to the boss, sliding the lighter toward him afterwards. Joker lit the thing, inhaling deeply to lean back in the chair, bringing his neon, mismatched socked feet up to cross and rest on the table before him.
It seemed from the way Dotcom had just glanced over at him for the second time that he was debating on whether to ask a question. Joker stayed silent, watching the backyard, waiting for it.
"Did she give you the knife?" he asked rather abruptly, nearly a full minute later and Joker nodded slowly, taking a deep drag from his cigarette.
"Yeah." He grunted, only just then remembering it. His mind wandered back to the events that had followed shortly after she had given him the very first birthday present he had ever gotten in his life. A short snort of a laugh escaped through his nose. Honestly, he couldn't ever remember sex being so good and just the thought of it sent a wave of goosebumps over his shoulders and forearms. He looked over again, raising his eyebrows. "But if she hadn't, you would have ruined a really nice surprise just now, wouldn't you…"
Dotcom opened his mouth to reply but both paused and glanced over when the glass door slid open again and Tre stepped out, pulling his own pack of Newports from his sweatpants pocket. "Ay," he grunted, nodding his head at Joker. "I want you to know somethin', homie…" he then began, pausing to light his cigarette once he had sat down. After inhaling, he pulled it away with his fingers, squinting slightly at Joker as he raised his eyebrows. "I heard that girl scream last night all the way down in my room with the door closed and my tv on." Across the table, Dotcom tossed a hand, reaching out to pick up his mug of coffee.
"Thank you…" he grumbled in his mug to Tre for bringing it up. Between the two of them, Joker took a long hit of his cigarette, shrugging his shoulders.
"I choked her 'till she came." He explained a moment later, without a shred of hesitation or awkwardness but then frowned over at Dotcom as he coughed into his mug of coffee. Shrugging again, with more effort, Joker looked from the somewhat shocked Dotcom to Tre, who was slowly shaking his head, smirking at him. "What?"
"You're a freak, bro."
At this, Joker held up his hands in defense, scowling back and forth between his two closest. "Hey, I told you guys ya might wanna stay out for the night." he reminded them, sending both of them a reproachful look, before he went on, leaning forward slightly. "Have either of you two seen her without clothes on?" he asked, even though all three of them already knew the answers and he nodded his head when neither of them replied. "Yeah, so I wouldn't expect ya to understand."
Once the three of them had finished their cigarettes, Tre and Joker ventured inside, leaving Dotcom on the patio, going through his phone. Surprisingly, it was still earlier than usual and yet even though he had fallen asleep fairly late, Joker was feeling well-rested and rather energetic. When Tre walked away toward the kitchen, Joker was about to follow but stopped after only a few steps, thinking back upstairs to the fox in his bed and he immediately changed directions, deciding he would much rather go molest her in her sleep than stand there and bullshit with Tre.
Upstairs, at the door to his bedroom, Joker turned the knob as quietly as he could, realizing that there was a great chance she was already awake but took precaution nonetheless. Inside, it was nearly impossible to see anything being that his eyes were still adjusted to the bright morning sunlight, but he had the inside of this room memorized and closed his eyes as he walked to the foot of the bed. The black comforter and purple sheets were loose and bunched slightly so after lifting them, Joker climbed under, crawling his way up the mattress until he felt Jayde's feet and legs between his hands then his knees. Jayde groaned sleepily, turning further onto her side as he snickered quietly.
"Jayde…" he rasped, his voice high-pitched and whispering. She whimpered, pushing her face into the pillows behind her arm.
"No…" she whined in protest but hmm-ed contentedly a moment later when his lips came to rest on her shoulder, kissing her once then once again just below the first. A sleepy grin slid on her face when he let his weight settle onto her slightly but not even a second later, she squealed in pain when he nipped hard at the back of her arm with his front teeth. "OW!" she finally shouted, slapping him hard on the arm as he laughed, lowering himself to rest on his forearms when she turned onto her back. Her lip was poked out in a pout, her eyes closed as Joker giggled. "That really hurt." She whined. He tsk-ed, rolling his eyes.
"You're a baby." He scolded.
"No, but I was sleeping like one…" she answered, grinning when Joker let out a loud, fake laugh. Finally, she gave in when he inched closer, pressing his lips against the underside of her chin and her hands came to rest on his broad shoulders. "Then again…" she started slowly, tilting her head to the side, exposing her neck as Joker let his lips move there, kissing her gently, clearly trying to appease her after his admittedly rather rude awakening. He pulled back after only a few moments, pushing himself up with his hands to lean over her. His eyes drifted downward momentarily, noticing the way his white t-shirt was failing miserably at hiding her perky, morning nipples. He grinned, reaching out to run his thumbs across them through the soft material.
"Tre said he heard you scream last night." he informed her, raising his eyebrows as she gasped, smacking his hands away from her chest.
"Seriously?" she asked, embarrassed and yet not entirely surprised as Joker nodded down at her.
"I told him it was your fault." He joked, grinning when Jayde gasped again, smacking him on the chest.
"It is not." She protested, folding her arms. "You're the one who almost choked me to death." At this, Joker grunted a laugh, leaning down to put his eyes inches from hers.
"Yeah, but I bet you liked it." He growled, kissing her lightly on the lips once. "Admit it." He kissed her again. "You liked it…" At first, Jayde wanted to say she hadn't and that it had actually scared her, but that wouldn't have been the whole truth. Honestly, there was something very powerful about it, about the fact that he could get her so close to passing out only to let her breathe again right as she reached that peak and although she hoped it would not become a part of their sex on a regular basis, she did sort of enjoy it.
"I like how you really did make me cum three times in a row." She deflected, petting his ego a bit to smooth out the part about how she didn't really answer. Luckily, it worked this time as Joker growled, nipping at a spot along her neck. "Very impressive, Mister Joker." She then purred, tilting her head slightly when he kissed her, resting on his elbow just next to her shoulder. However, he had just opened his mouth to let Jayde's tongue in when a knock at the door caused them to separate. Joker, it seemed, was not ready to move.
"Who IS it?" he called in a high-pitched, sing-song sort of voice from against her neck, forcing a small giggle from her as he purposefully tickled her.
"It's me, bro," replied Tre's voice, muffled and deep from the other side of the door and it seemed he was about to go on when Joker lifted his head slightly, glancing behind him toward the other side of the room.
"Oh, come in." he instructed, frowning down at Jayde when she gasped, moving to push him off of her and try to cover up, but he remained firmly in place atop her with his elbows on either side of her ribcage. There was a hesitation from the door where Jayde had a feeling he was struggling with whether or not to open it, obviously unsure of how comfortable he would be with what he saw. Eventually, the knob turned and the door opened slowly, but Jayde was not looking over…this was truly embarrassing and Joker seemed to have no problem with it. She felt him turn his head to look back at Tre, who had clearly just poked his head around the edge of the door.
"Oh, dude, c'mon…" he groaned once he noticed the way they were laying but Joker laughed, tossing his hair out of his face as he sat up, moving off of Jayde to sit at the edge of the bed, tossing the covers behind him as Tre decided it was safe to continue into the room. Joker noticed his best friend's eyes flicker over toward Jayde, who had now turned over onto her side, away from them. His eyes glanced from Tre's, over to Jayde's back and over again before he suddenly threw the blankets and sheets off of her, revealing her lower, back side, including the hot pink boy cut underwear she was wearing and the perfect, deep dip in her side leading to those dangerous hips. Both Joker and Tre burst out laughing when she flipped over, yanking the sheets back up to her middle as she sat up, swinging out to slap him hard on his bare shoulder.
Sitting Indian style now with the blankets clamped against her, Jayde glared back and forth between them as they quieted. Finally, Joker looked over at Tre, raising his eyebrows slightly as he squinted.
"What was so important again?" he asked, holding up a hand as Tre shrugged his shoulders, looking back and forth between them.
"Nothin', I just wanted to come hang out with you guys." He answered honestly, and at first both Joker and Jayde stared at him somewhat dumbfounded. Joker shook his head incredulously.
"Seriously?" he asked but Tre shook his head with a frown.
"Man, of course not…Fuckin' Linman called my phone lookin' for yo ass, said its urgent…So I told him you'd call him back." He explained, pausing before he stood up, tossing a phone at Joker. "'Cause apparently, I'm your fuckin' secretary now." He added as he walked over toward the door. Joker laughed, leaning back against Jayde comfortably.
"Ah, thank you, Tre. If you could cancel my three o'clock as well…" he added sarcastically as he disappeared through the door. "I'm just too swamped…"he growled, glancing up at Jayde behind him as he forced them both into the pillows, bringing the phone up to flip through the numbers to find his trusty police officer buddy. Jayde closed her eyes as the back of Joker's head came to rest on her chest so she tilted her face up and away from his messy hair. Her hand slid lightly onto his shoulder to his chest, rising and falling with his even breathing although a moment later, she felt him hold the phone up to his ear, on the opposite side of his head.
After a few rings, a male voice answered.
"This is Linman."
"Whatcha got for me, piggy…" Joker growled, closing his eyes when Jayde's other hand slid into his messy hair at the top of his head, her nails lightly raking along his scalp.
Jayde had been trying to listen in on the conversation going on, but got distracted when she noticed giant goosebumps rise up along Joker's chest and upper arms and by the time she remembered to listen back in, he was sitting up, his formerly calm features twisted in a new scowl.
"When did this happen?" he asked, scooting to the edge of the bed to stand up and walk over to his dresser, leaning down, listening as he pulled a black, v-neck t-shirt out. Jayde watched him go, wondering what sort of news he had just received that he needed to get out of bed that quickly and as he opened the door to step out, she sat up, frowning.
After stepping back into her pajama pants and changing out of Joker's white shirt, Jayde stepped out onto the second story landing, peering down at the bottom floor only to find it empty of people. From the other side of Joker's door, she could now hear muffled voices floating out, indicating that all three of her roommates were inside and after figuring that she was most certainly not invited, she continued on her way, into her bedroom for a shower. Hopefully, by the time she emerged and changed her clothes, the boys would be out of the Joker's office so she could start finding out what had happened to make need for a random meeting.
After her shower, Jayde found herself in her closet, turning on the spot, wondering what she could possibly wear when she heard her door creak open. She waited before exiting the closet in her towel until she could identify a voice.
"Jayde?" Dotcom called to the seemingly empty room a few moments later. Figuring that the sight of her in a towel would not alarm him, she stepped out of the closet, smiling.
"Hey, sorry. I was trying to find something to wear." She explained, but that previous smile fell slowly from view when she noticed the look on his face. "What happened?" she immediately asked, taking another step toward him. He shook his head, rolling his eyes.
"Nothing, girl," he said reassuringly as he waved a hand, but Jayde remained unconvinced; something was up. "Joker wants to see you in his office." He then informed her, smiling warmly.
Jayde stared at him blankly for several seconds, wondering if she should ask him what the deal was and if it was something had to tell her here so she could be somewhat prepared to talk to Joker about it. But she figured it was probably just easier to let him leave the room, thinking that he had obeyed his boss' orders completely. So now, alone again, Jayde hurried into some clean undergarments, jeans and a regular t-shirt and was now pulling it down to her waist as she stepped out onto the second story landing. Tre and Dotcom were both outside on the porch, smoking but as much as she wanted to go join them, her curious streak was absolutely itching to find out what Joker needed to talk to her about so she walked straight over to his door and turned the knob, skipping her usual step of knocking.
Across the room, sat the Joker at his desk with his back to her, one hand pressing Tre's phone to his ear, the other twirling a pen in between his long fingers. The top of his green hair was just visible over the top of his high-backed desk chair as he leaned back. He must have heard her enter as he lifted the hand with the pen into the air, motioning with one finger for her to come over to where he sat. As she approached, he rolled the chair back from the desk by about a foot, glancing up when she came into view. His hand patted the area of desk just in front of him. Jayde took this to mean that he was indicating he would like her to sit there so she sat, hopping up slightly until she could rest her dangling feet on the chair on either side of him.
"Right," Joker suddenly said to the person on the phone, glancing down at Jayde's right foot to reach down and grab her big toe and tug gently, cracking it with a satisfying pop. At first, she jumped with a cringe, but exhaled with a surprised sigh when he went on to crack the rest of them and she realized it actually felt pretty good. She grinned at him, bringing her other foot up to rest on his knee, wiggling her toes in silent request. Joker rolled his eyes as he tilted his head back against the chair but reached out a second later, tugging on each of her toes again. By the time he had finished, it seemed he had grown incredibly tired of sitting there, listening to someone talk so he pulled the phone away from his ear to slap it shut and drop it onto the desk beside her with a loud clunk. A moment later, his elbows came to rest on her legs, rubbing his bare face heavily with both of his hands. Jayde giggled, threading her hands into both sides of his hair on either side of his head, rubbing his scalp deeply with the tips of her fingers to help soothe his newborn headache.
"You ok?" she asked, leaning back slightly to look him in the eyes when he brought his hands down from his face, sitting up straight.
"Yeah, he just wouldn't shut the fuck up…" he answered, shaking his head irritably. "Anyways…Linman called Tre this morning, looking to speak with me, as you heard." He began instantly, folding his hands across his stomach, rocking the chair back and forth slowly. "When I called him back, he told me that the police have been looking for you." Jayde felt a weight drop into her stomach that almost made her feel like being sick. Cold goosebumps washed over her from head to toe. "Apparently, you're wanted for questioning about my murder of little Miss Detective." Jayde swallowed hard, forcing herself to maintain eye contact with Joker as he clearly studied her reaction. She shook her head, clearing her throat a bit to try and push back the lump that had formed there.
"Well, if I just go back to my apartment today and answer some questions-…" she began to try and see a logical way out of this but Joker was already shaking his head somewhat gravely.
"They raided your apartment yesterday." He shot her idea right down but rolled his eyes a second later. "While they were snooping, those 'brilliant' coppers noticed that most, if not all, of your clothing and necessities were gone…They thought, 'hm, I wonder where she went?'," He paused, shrugging his shoulders. "They know you're with me, kiddo."
Jayde tried hard not to let her eyes well up with giant tears and even though she already knew the answer, she asked anyway.
"So what does that mean?"
Her eyes darted back and forth between Joker's as he took a deep breath, then sighed a moment later, failing miserably at hiding the delighted smirk trying desperately to make an appearance.
"Means you're stuck here." he finally answered, shrugging his shoulders. "Unless you want to go answer their questions and be booked for aiding a terrorist…Think that's about…ten…maybe fifteen years?" his eyebrows raised as he rested his chin in his hand with his elbow on the arm of his chair. At this, Jayde truly felt like breaking down into tears. She had always kept the comforting thought in the back of her mind that even if, more certainly, when things did not work out between her and the Joker, she would always have her apartment and a life to go back to. Now, upon reflection, she could not believe she had ever convinced herself this was possible. It seemed Joker was just listening to her inner thoughts and was about to speak when a knock on the far side of his room at the door interrupted him.
"Come in." he called out, keeping his gaze fixed on Jayde as she fought to look at everything else in his office, unable for some reason to keep eye contact with him at the moment. Luckily, Tre stepped into the room slowly, giving Jayde an excuse to look over and force herself to smile; why was this news affecting her so badly? Joker obviously didn't deem it necessary to look back at who had entered and instead motioned toward the door with his head, reaching out to rub his thumb across her hipbone comfortingly. "Get outta here for a minute." In a daze, Jayde felt herself standing up from the table to walk past Tre to the door, floating down the stairs and suddenly she was outside, sitting down across from Dotcom. It seemed from the look on her face that he gathered she had been told the 'news'. He sighed, leaning forward to take his glasses off.
"It's really not that bad, honey. It just means you have to be extra care-…" Jayde let him get almost all the way through his bracing words of comfort before she looked over, snapping out of it.
"I wasn't even sure if this was what I wanted yet." she admitted, shaking her head slightly. "I haven't even made up my mind about…him. And now it seems like all I can do is either go to prison, or be with him…around him." A moment later, her nose wrinkled slightly as she fought back tears hard but she sniffed, closing her eyes to try and relax before she could get too upset. Being emotional was too draining. "I mean…it really feels like I'm stuck here! Like if things don't…god, this sounds so stupid…but if things don't work between me and him, then I have nowhere to go." She was finally venting, letting out all the things she couldn't say to the Joker just prior and she was eternally grateful that Dotcom was staying quiet, listening while she unloaded. "Am I crazy?" she finally asked, raising her eyebrows as she looked over at him. He grinned slightly, shaking his head no.
"No, Jayde, you're not crazy. I felt the same way when he took me away from my life. Granted…I haven't been sleeping with the guy for the last few months so my emotions toward him are different." His voice trailed off when he noticed this was not helping. He changed directions. "Look, if you want to go back and say 'oh my god' I'm so sorry, he made me do all this, blah, blah, blah…I'm sure there would be some lenience on you, being that up until lately, you've had a pretty clean record." He paused, waiting until she looked over to make eye contact, just to make sure she heard the next part. "But if you leave, Jayde, you have to be prepared for him to hunt you down. You know far too much about him for him to let you be on the other team."
What he was saying made sense but Jayde still wasn't convinced that prison and staying here were her only two options. There was witness protection and…other things like that. She could move…She could move on, have a normal, healthy relationship. Joker was wonderful about half of the time, and although the other half of the time was no where near perfect, the thought of just running away, leaving him, made her heart hurt. Dotcom was speaking again and he seemed to sense that Jayde was really, seriously weighing her options.
"Whatever you choose to do, do it fast." He said somewhat slowly, staring intently across at her. A moment later, he stood up. "As you know, he's not easy to outrun."
Back inside, Jayde was only mildly surprised that Joker and Tre were still up in his office, clearly planning something although as she walked up the stairs and into her room, this came as somewhat beneficial. With a heavy sigh, Jayde fell back onto her bed with a heavy, sad sigh, wondering, if she were to run away, where she would go. She knew, from driving to Gotham that a small city lay on the other side of the woods from them. There was a slight hill, but Jayde could easily get down it and climb the fence at the bottom. Then, a short walk, until she could get a bus ticket or something. Then, she could figure it out from there. A second later, her features wrinkled in a frown. How could she think about leaving him? A few months ago, she would have given anything to be around him…then some 'things' happened between them but it seemed like things were really starting to improve…but suddenly, 'things' were looking pretty serious. How could she fully commit to someone…like that?
But he was so charming and affectionate when he wanted to be, so gentle and almost romantic at times. He knew exactly the right places to kiss her, he knew exactly what she didn't like. Sometimes, he was in a playful, silly mood, like just a few hours prior down the hall in his room, and other times, he was in the mood to just lay there and stare at her, trying hard not to grin when she yawned sleepily. All the signs were there, he had even gotten close a couple of times, but the Joker, still, to that day, had not admitted feelings for her. Maybe he was of the mind that actions really do speak louder than words. Jayde huffed audibly at that phrase as it passed through her mind. Fuck that, he needs to tell me…
A tiny creak over by the door caused Jayde to lift her head and look over but the way was just as empty as it had ever been and the house seemed eerily quiet. Even next door, the Joker's office seemed silent. With a sigh, she lay her head back down, reflecting now on Dotcom's words. He had warned her that if she was going to leave, she had to do it fast and she was positive he was right. If Joker knew she was planning on leaving, he would lock her in this room and she would become a hostage again. She shook her head, hard, turning over onto her side as if to pull her brain away from thoughts of running away. Before she could count to three, she was asleep.
Joker followed Tre out of his office after a lengthy chat. Surprisingly, Tre was a wealth of information on girls and how this whole…'relationship' thing was supposed to work. As he walked down toward Jayde's bedroom, after glancing down to find her missing, he tucked his hands into his pockets, thinking back to some of the advice Tre had given him. Apparently, he was convinced that this news of Jayde's status with the police had come as something of a shock to her, which both had agreed was a little ridiculous, considering who she had been hanging around with. Tre had also said that she would be looking to him to step up and either commit to something solid with her, no matter how insane it sounded, or let her go and give her the resources to be safe. Apparently, girls liked a title on things. Now, as he stepped into the doorway of her bedroom, he sighed, deflating slightly in relief when his eyes fell onto her sleeping figure, curled up on her side with her back to the room.
Joker's arm met the frame of her door as he leaned against it, chewing on his bottom lip as he watched her, as though staring at her would help him figure out what to do. It had been clear earlier that she had been affected poorly by this information and honestly, he could see why. Her parents had been judges, her whole upbringing revolved around doing what was right and bringing justice to those who needed it. Granted, she was nothing like what he imagined her parents to be but he couldn't help but think that she might realize she was spitting on everything they had taught her. That, and he wasn't the best guy to be involved with. Killing and chaos were a part of his everyday life, he was constantly looking for ways to hurt people…even though Jayde had taken a resilient shine to this sort of lifestyle. She was smart and quick, constantly watching and learning… not to mention she was really sexy and really into him. It was true, Jayde was the total package, perfect for him in everyway. The only question was…does she feel the same way about him? He shook his head a moment later; there was no way. When it came down it, Tre had been right all the way through- the only way for Joker to find out how she felt about staying with him was to swallow his pride, admit his feelings and ask her. That opportune moment had to come any time now.
When Jayde turned over onto her back, she blinked a few times with a groan, glancing up at the clock on the nightstand next to the bed. The time read five o'clock and apparently, it had been raining and had just stopped, random sunny beams of light shining on the tree outside her window. Black clouds in the distance seemed to be showering down on Gotham and she wondered vaguely if that was a good or bad thing for the two main intersections Joker had doused with lye…This thought brought that sick feeling back to her stomach as she remembered back to why her morning had been so dreary.
Surprisingly, as Jayde stood up, the house seemed silent still, strange, being that normally someone was downstairs watching tv or in the kitchen but even more bizarre, she would have thought that Joker would have come to find her before then…and the fact that he didn't, drove her to her closet to step into her flat, closed-toe shoes. Her heart began racing as she grabbed her phone from the dresser, stuffing it and an old twenty dollar bill into her back jeans pocket as she walked briskly from the room; it was now or never.
Out in the hallway, Jayde glanced down and around for any sign of the Joker or Tre but when she could not see him, her heart gave a pang of ache. A moment later, she noticed the door to his office was closed and again, this only helped spur her on, down the stairs and over to the sliding glass door. It was just her luck that Dotcom would be sitting outside, flipping through a magazine, smoking as she stepped outside. Tears began to gather and warm her eyes as she walked right past him, over to the screen patio door, pulling it open.
"Jayde?" his voice called out after her, but she had already taken a few steps forward and broken into a flat out run, sprinting for the line of trees. "Jayde!" he now yelled, rising from the chair, but when she failed to stop or turn around, Dotcom dropped his cigarette into the ashtray, sliding open the glass door again to run inside and up the stairs. Within seconds, he was banging on the door to the Joker's office. "Boss!"
"WHAT?"
"Jayde just took off running!" he shouted through the wood, practically pressing his nose against it as he listened for noises from inside the room. A second later, it opened, revealing a tall Joker with a scowl on his face.
"I'm sorry…what?" he asked again but flinched when Dotcom tossed his hands.
"Jayde is RUNNING AWAY!"
Finally, it seemed to hit Joker what was happening and he walked quickly to the stairs, trotting down as Dotcom followed. "Where?" he asked roughly, walking over toward the garage but stopped when he noticed Dotcom pointing at the sliding glass doors somewhat frantically. Obviously, he was not ready to live without her, either.
"Out into the fucking woods!" he cried, stepping out onto the porch behind Joker. "I don't know what-…" he was going on to say but he was already running off into the tall grass, weaving his way through until he reached the tree line, pushing branches out of his way. His heartbeat was pounding in his ears and as he ran, anger and even a bit of slight hurt began to well itself up inside of him; had she really risked leaving his house like this just because she couldn't stand the thought of staying with him? This seemed almost too illogical to be real.
As the branches moved, tiny droplets of freezing cold rain water dripped heavily down on him and by the time he reached the other side of the trees, running out into the field, he was shivering slightly, both from cold and from these infuriating emotions she was causing inside him. His stomach lurched slightly when his eyes spotted Jayde, running through the field on the other side, approaching the next line of trees. There was no way he was going to cover fifty yards and reach her before she disappeared so he took a deep breath as he ran.
"ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?"
Jayde gasped when she heard a loud, biting voice in the distance behind her, floating to her ears on the wind as though from a particularly foul-tempered ghost. She stopped on a dime, reaching up quickly to wipe the cold, sticky tear trails from her cheeks, pushing her hair out of her face. The Joker stopped the moment she turned, his eyes slightly wide as he breathed deeply from running behind her.
"Jayde, what are you doing?" he called out from only thirty feet or so, shaking his head as he tossed his hands, clearly at a loss for words. Her shoulders slumped slightly as she let out a soft, breathless sob.
"I'm leaving." She answered, her voice quiet and distant- sounding as she watched his features, glancing her up and down with his eyebrows furrowed. He looked the most confused she had ever seen him but a moment later, as if to stay in character, he huffed like she had said the most idiotic thing he had ever heard.
"You can't leave, Jayde." He replied, taking a couple steps toward her, only to sigh and hang his head slightly when she mirrored his steps backwards, keeping a good distance between them.
"And why not? I think I have the right to choose what I do with my life." She spat crossly, angry that he had actually come chasing after her. Why couldn't he have just let her go? Across from her, Joker seemed to be struggling with his answer and opened his mouth, only to close it again a moment later, exhaling through his nose. Tre had said it would be easy to say once he had gotten there, but that was not turning out to be the case; if anything, it was much harder to do when she was waiting for it, staring at him expectantly. That prickly anger in the pit of his stomach came to his rescue again.
"You wouldn't last ten minutes on your own out there!" he finally yelled, tossing his hands. "You don't know what it's like, Jayde." Her eyes narrowed at his tone and insinuation before she turned, rolling them heavily as she went to walk on. Joker groaned as he trotted after her; very poor choice of words. His hand reached out, resting on her arm as he stepped in front of her, shaking his head. "Jayde…People have seen you with me," he tried again, forcing her to stand still, even pushing her back a few steps into the clearing, away from the trees. "You leave and they're gonna look for you. They're-…" he paused, swallowing when he felt like being sick; why was this so difficult for him? "They're gonna hurt you to…punish me…try and get under my skin." At this, Jayde wrenched her arm out of his grip, her expression fiery and just as angry now. She let out a fake laugh.
"Please, you wouldn't give a shit if someone tried to hurt me. There is no 'getting under your skin', Joker." She spat, her eyebrows practically touching as she glared up at him. He exhaled, shaking his head.
"That's not true," he stated, staring intently at her eyes as if hoping she could see inside him to know he was being one hundred percent honest for what seemed like the first time in his life. His eyes rolled as he let out a sigh. "Jayde, I would lose my mind if someone tried to hurt you to get even with me." he started to explain but cut himself off from that track, trying again on a different tact to try and reason with her. "If you leave, you'll either end up in prison or being tortured and killed for answers about me." he finally just lay it down, realizing that he needed to keep things simple and straightforward with her if he wanted her to stay. The setting suns residual light was fading rapidly, leaving the wide meadow behind them bathed in a dim, yellow glow, but even through this light, Joker could see tears gathering below Jayde's already electric blue eyes. Her nose wrinkled.
"I just can't be with someone who doesn't care-…" she was saying but Joker interrupted with a frustrated laugh, taking a step forward to grab her upper arms firmly, leaning down slightly.
"Doesn't care?" he repeated her, his gaze bouncing back and forth between hers as if he hadn't heard correctly, his eyebrows arched in confusion. "You think I don't care about you?" he paused, shaking her a bit in frustration. "Jayde, I'm crazy about you, girl." He finally admitted, letting his hands glide down her arms as she relaxed slightly, blinking up at him in mild surprise but Joker was already feeling awkward. He turned slightly, bringing his hand up to run through his hair before he turned back to her, exhaling heavily to try and calm himself before he went and said too much. "If you want to leave, then go. I wont stop you." With this, he took a step backward, holding up his hands in defeat. If this was really what she wanted, then so be it- Jayde was not the type he wanted to hold hostage anymore.
When she continued to stand there and gape at him, Joker turned to walk back toward the house, but paused when he heard her say his name and he tried not to notice the way his heart skipped a beat. He turned to face her again, slowly, looking down as she took a few steps toward him this time, glancing down at her feet somewhat awkwardly. Joker hoped she was starting to realize how stupid she had been for thinking it was a good idea to leave.
"I don't want to leave," she admitted, shaking her head as those afore mentioned tears began traveling down her cheeks to splash onto her already damp shirt. A shiver wracked her body when Joker reached out, letting his hand come to rest lightly at the top of her neck, against her jaw. "I just…I don't-…" Obviously, she was beginning to run out of things to say or hadn't the faintest idea of how to explain herself. Either way, Joker figured it could wait until they reached the warmth of the house and he finally wrapped his arm around her shoulders, nodding with his head toward the far side of the field.
"C'mon, kid, I'm freezing."
The entire walk back to the house, Jayde held onto Joker's hand, following a half-step behind as he led her through the now dark trees, the forest alive with chirping crickets as the last of the light faded. She did not feel as though their conversation was over, but at the moment, the only thought on her mind was getting out these damp clothes and into a hot shower. Then, if Joker wasn't too angry at her for trying to leave, she might be able to continue talking to him.
As they stepped into the house, Dotcom and Tre were standing in the kitchen but pretended, courteously, not to watch as Joker turned to look down at her, putting his back to them so they would not see the faint tear trails against her olive complexion. She glanced over at the others but looked up to Joker as he nodded toward the stairs.
"Go shower," he instructed, his voice quiet and low. "I'll be down here when you get out." Jayde felt her cheeks begin to warm when she walked off toward the stairs to obey him, embarrassed when she thought of what Tre and Dotcom were thinking, but somewhat excited to get done with her shower so she could talk more to Joker. It seemed he understood that they still had more to talk about but was stalling a bit by having her shower; Jayde didn't mind. Joker needed to figure out what he was going to say to her before she came back down.
As Jayde disappeared into her room, Joker turned to the guys in the kitchen, trudging over as he shook his head with an exasperated roll of his eyes. Tre grunted a laugh while Dotcom stayed quiet, his arms folded and a concerned, gay look on his face.
"So, is she gonna stay?" Dotcom asked a half-second later, setting his glasses on his nose as Joker took another few steps over to the cabinet next to Tre, pulling down a glass for some water.
"I don't know," he answered honestly, sighing as he filled the glass out of the fridge. "I'm going to give her a choice, though. If she really doesn't want to stay, I'll make it possible for her to…leave and be ok." A moment later, he jumped when both Tre and Dotcom answered at the same time, both asking 'Really?', as though Joker had just announced his decision to join a ballet troupe. His eyebrows furrowed as he turned to face them. "Yeah," he answered, tilting his head to the side when he realized he didn't know why they found that so surprising. "I don't want her to be here if she's gonna be miserable." With a shrug, he moved to take a sip of his water but paused half way to his lips with the glass when Dotcom tossed his hands.
"Oh my god, you actually lo-…" he blurted incredulously but stopped short abruptly when Tre nudged him in the arm with his elbow, nodding his agreement at Joker.
"Yeah, you're right, bro," Tre suddenly took over where he had purposefully interrupted Dotcom. "That's gonna be a waste of time, having her here if she doesn't want to be." He agreed somewhat air-headedly, simply repeating everything Joker had said in a different arrangement, to make it seem like he understood. Joker's eyes squinted slightly as he glared back and forth between them before he eventually stalked off toward the stairs to change his clothes. He could figure that out later.
Upstairs, Jayde had just stepped into a pair of baggy pajama pants and a long sleeved shirt when she heard the tv turn on downstairs, fairly loudly at first only for the volume to drop quickly. So after turning off the lights in her bathroom and the lamp next to her bed, she stepped out onto the second story landing, noticing immediately that all the other lights in the house had been put out, filling the bottom floor with a blue glow. Dotcom and Tre had either decided to call it a night early or Joker had told them to be scarce when she came downstairs and she was still wondering which scenario it had been when she approached the couch from the side, glancing at the tv before over to Joker, leaning comfortably into the corner of the couch, one socked foot up and rested on the coffee table before him. He looked up when he noticed her although his eyes immediately went back to the tv as his hand reached out, drumming his fingers on the space next to him.
As she sat, his arm moved to raise to the back of the couch behind her, once again leaving that comfortable curve of his side exposed. And although Jayde had been so upset to the point of leaving him 'forever' just an hour earlier, she could not help herself but move closer, immediately resting her head on that one soft spot of his shoulder, wanting nothing more than to be close to him. It seemed he had been hoping she would do this as his arm wrapped around her a moment later, his fingers curling around her far shoulder. Jayde's eyes slid closed as she took a deep breath in through her nose, wondering how she could have ever thought it was a good idea to leave.. Her legs moved to rest in between his as she sat sideways against him, her arm rested lightly on his middle and he took a deep breath, leaning his head back against the couch.
"Look, Jayde," he started abruptly, his voice quiet and somewhat flat. "I understand if you don't want to stay here, I just wish you would have come and talked to me about it before you…took off. That was not smart of you, darling, I hope you know this." He partially scolded, opening his eyes to look down at her as she did the same up at him. Her gaze drifted down to the scar on his left cheek as he went on, shaking his head slightly. "If you want to leave, I can make it happen for ya, to where you'll be safe and looked after. But if you had just left-…" At this, Jayde interrupted him, sensing that he was starting to get irritated again, thinking back to what she had done.
"I don't want to leave," she said, glancing down at the line of his undershirt as she tried to figure out what to say and why she was so nervous now that they were finally having this conversation. "I just…don't want to be…here if there's no reason for me…I mean, I don't want to stay if…there's no point." At this, she laughed awkwardly, shaking her head. "I mean, the only reason I'm here is…because of how I feel…about you and now it seems like I have to stay here, and we're not even…we're just…fuck buddies!" she finally exclaimed, feeling like she had stumbled through that like a blind person through a maze. Beside her, Joker was grinning, resting his head back again to gaze over at her.
"Jayde, we are not just 'fuck buddies'," He stated, arching one of his eyebrows. "I've had a fuck buddy before and…it's nothing like this." It seemed he had gone and said the wrong thing again but the second he noticed Jayde's eyes narrow at his in the dark, he laughed, closing his eyes, apparently giving up. She sighed, reaching up to push some of his green hair away from his clean face to get his attention again and her scar twitched slightly when he turned his head, opening his eyes again to meet hers.
"I don't want to leave, but I need you to give me a reason to stay." She tried to beg with her voice, hoping and praying he wouldn't just roll his eyes and tell her to go to bed and her heart leapt when he took a deep breath, glancing down before he turned slightly to face her a bit more. His hand reached up a moment later, using his thumb against her chin to turn her face more toward his so he could kiss her lightly once, hoping this would help ease his words out of him. Joker pulled away after only a second, opening his eyes just a tiny bit to focus on her slightly parted lips as their faces remained close together.
"I need you here, Jayde." He finally admitted, opening his eyes a bit more to meet hers as she looked up at him, the tips of her eyelashes dusting the arched curve of her eyebrows. "You make me happy in the worst way possible and I don't really think I'm ready for you to leave just yet." Jayde grinned when it began to grow obvious that getting all this out in the open was putting him in a better mood by the second and his hands reached up, grabbing her face roughly as his eyebrows raised. Jayde mimicked his expression as she laughed. "So I'm sorry, but you'll just have to stay." He growled with finality, his voice clowny and raspy again as she inched closer, pecking him on the lips quickly before she sat back, biting down on her bottom lip playfully. However, Joker reached out, pulling her close again to kiss her more properly, his hand at the side of her neck, rubbing his thumb against the soft skin there as Jayde hmm-ed against his lips.
After only a few moments, he pulled away, licking his lips as he opened his eyes, peering into Jayde's intently. He half-squinted, tilting his head to the side slightly as she watched him, waiting on bated breath.
"…So, you gonna be my girl or what…" he growled, glancing from her eyes down to her lips and back up again once as she smiled slowly.
"Only if you'll be my man," she answered sassily, grinning when his eyes squinted even smaller. A second later, his features relaxed before he nodded, smirking.
"Deal."
LEAVE A REVIEW IF YOU LOVE JOKER AND JAYDE! I WOULD LOVE AT LEAST SIX OR SEVEN ON THIS CHAPTER AS A LOT OF WORK WENT INTO IT. SO LEAVE ME YOUR LOVE/HATE IF YOU WANT THE NEXT ONE! WE'RE GETTING CLOSER TO THE END(ings)!
Oh and the song that inspired this chapter is the song called 'Cold War' by Janelle Monae. Don't be a bum. Go listen to it. Really beautiful song.
QUEEN OF MEAN