Joke

by Mia Malone

  “You talked every day?”

  “Sure,” Joke confirmed.

  “That’s –” I cut myself off, and changed the end of that sentence to, “Nice.”

  “Nice?”

  I’d almost said that it was kind of girly. Which it was. Chatting with a friend daily wasn’t what I would have expected from someone like Joke.

  “What did Raz tell you?” I asked instead of elaborating on his girliness.

  “Mostly confirming you were okay. What you did. That he was gonna go to the pharmacy to buy Bengay cream. Shit like that.”

  “Ben –”

  Oh. Raz had been on the slopes with us.

  “He’s in fucking awe, babe.”

  “Really?”

  “Not with you, Sissy. He knows your background, so he expected that. With your girls. Mimi in particular. Fourteen fucking years old and she outskied him without breaking a sweat.”

  I smirked.

  “She started when she was two.”

  “No shit.”

  “Dad took her up the mountain, put my old gear on her and told her to make her way down. She did.”

  “Rough.”

  “Yeah, that’s how he says it went, but a two-year-old can’t just start skiing like that. He spent quite some time with her those first years, and probably had a hell of a time doubled over to hold her up and keep them both standing.”

  Joke chuckled, and I grinned. He hadn’t met my father, so he still didn’t get the supreme hilarity of how my rough biker-dad would have plowed his way down an ungroomed mountain with a tiny girl between his skis.

  My hand was on his thigh, and I looked at him. His eyes were on the road, but they were warm and happy. His hair was tied back, and he had a small crease next to his mouth, almost like a dimple. Or a laugh-wrinkle. God, I thought, I’d forgotten how gorgeous he was. And hot. Gorgeous and hot, which sent warmth through my belly, and the hand on his thigh moved of its own accord toward his crotch and started to caress him. He smiled, and I wondered if we perhaps could make a teeny-tiny stop on a side road somewhere.

  “We’re going to wait,” he said and moved my hand over to my own lap. “Have a surprise at home.”

  That gave me a full body shiver.

  “I could still act suitably surprised,” I said, but the way he looked when I said that made me close my mouth immediately.

  “Less than half an hour home, babe. I suggest you start thinking about how much time I’ve had alone with my cock and what kind of things I’ve imagined doing during that time.”

  Oh.

  “Okay,” I agreed immediately.

  And breathlessly.

  ***

  Jenny waited for us behind Oak when we got back, and the look on her face told me she didn’t have good news.

  “They’re here,” she said angrily.

  “Fuck,” Joke said, and I felt his whole body tense.

  When neither of them said a word, I took hold of Joke’s hand.

  “Who’s here?” I asked quietly.

  “Our parents,” Jenny said, still looking at her brother. “They’re at Oak.”

  “Fuck,” Joke said again, but it was mostly a sigh.

  I had a fairly good idea of what was going on but didn’t want to ask.

  “I’ll go and…” I waved my free hand toward the door leading up to our apartments.

  The hold on my hand tightened, and Joke sighed again.

  “Give us few minutes,” he said to Jenny.

  She nodded and walked away without another word. I watched Joke’s face and didn’t like what I saw. It was hard, and I hadn’t seen that angry look in his eyes before.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked quietly.

  “My father is an asshole, Sissy.”

  ***

  Joke

  She’d been so happy when she came running toward him looking like a fucking dream. Her hair had been down, and the intent look in her eyes did things to him he hadn’t expected to feel.

  It was one of the things about her that he found so incredibly fascinating, that absolute focus on what she did, whatever it was. Going all in, he’d told her, and that’s what it was. He’d caught himself staring at her performing the straightforward task of pouring a beer, knowing his buddies laughed at him, and not caring one bit. And when that gaze was aimed at him. Jesus. It was like a laser beam shooting straight through him. Sure, it went to his crotch, but it was more than that. While she’d been gone, he’d realized that she kept him on his toes and steadied him at the same time. Just watching her made him feel as if everything in the whole world was good and would stay good for-fucking-ever.

  He’d had the evening planned, and now his fucking asshole of a father was in Wilhelmine for reasons known to no one. They were supposed to be in goddamned Arizona, watching the sunset or admiring red rocks or whatever the fuck people spent their time doing there.

  “I gather you don’t like your father very much.”

  His eyes went to Sissy and to his surprise, she looked calmly at him.

  “You’d gather just about right,” he muttered.

  “Do you want me to go upstairs?”

  “No.”

  The word was out there before he could stop himself. It would be better if she went upstairs. He’d deal with the fucker, and she wouldn’t have to meet him. He wanted her with him, though. This was part of who he was, and she needed to know that.

  “Look,” he said, tried to come up with something to say and coming up with shit, so he just threw it out there. “He has hard fists, babe. Used them on me for fourteen years. Didn’t use them on Jen, but he can be damned unpleasant when he so wishes, so she got her fair share of crap anyway.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I should probably tell you that I knew this already.”

  He blinked.

  “Jenny,” he said.

  “And Lee,” she added.

  He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing that the three of them appeared to vent whatever went through their heads, but she seemed calm and more in control of herself than he felt, so it probably was.

  “Joke, honey,” she murmured. “You’ve seen me talk about the crap that man brought into my life, and how I feel about it, but please, baby… please don’t think I’m weak.”

  He just stared at her wondering how she could not know that he thought she was one of the strongest women he’d met in his life.

  “Siss –”

  “I grew up in a club, Joke. My dad would rather hack off his hands with a dull skewer than use them on me or my brothers, but not everyone works like him. And not everyone in the club is nice. A lot of visitors were definitely not nice.” She smiled a smile that held no humor at all and put her hand softly on his cheek. “I can handle an asshole just fine.”

  The muscles that had tightened in his neck loosened and something moved in his chest.

  “Okay,” he said, surprising himself with how calm he sounded.

  “Let’s go see what he wants. Sneeze in his beer. Tell him to go suck a lemon. Whatever.”

  When they walked into his bar, he was grinning widely. Sneeze in his father’s beer. Jesus.

  The others were there, and Jenny looked tense, but he saw her brows go up when she registered the amusement on his face.

  “Hey everyone,” Sissy called out and walked straight up to the bar. “You need a hand Tug?”

  “I’m good, Sissy,” he said. “Wine?”

  “I suspect a large shot of tequila will be required in about five minutes,” Sissy said.

  Their eyes met, and a message was passed between them. Then the anger on his old friend’s face eased off, and an approving smile spread instead.

  “Coming up.”

  His parents were sitting in a corner looking unhappy. This was their usual look and Joke wondered for the millionth time why the hell they found life so fucking horrible.

  “Right,” he murmured and moved his hand over Jenny’s shoulder in a gentle caress. “Better get shit over with.” />
  “Okay,” she whispered.

  “You stay here,” he said and exchanged a quick glance with Paddy. “We’ll deal with them.”

  It wasn’t until he’d walked halfway across the bar, holding Sissy’s hand in his that he realized he’d said they would deal with them and meant him and Sissy. Not him and Jenny, and not him alone.

  “Mom. Dad,” he greeted his parents as they stood up. “This is Sissy.”

  “Hello,” Sissy said politely.

  Then they stood there in silence.

  “Need to talk to you,” his dad grunted when he realized no one would say shit.

  “Would it kill you to say one polite word of greeting to my woman?”

  “Hello,” his mom said immediately and stretched a hand out.

  They shook Sissy’s hand and murmured their names. Joke could see that his mom was rattled by what he assumed was a pretty focused glare from Sissy, but kept his focus on his dad because any shit would come from him.

  “Okay,” Joke said when they were back to the uncomfortable silence. “What brings you here?”

  “We’re selling the farm.”

  Well, fuck it. This was as expected not a social visit, and it would also result in an ugly argument.

  “Nope,” he said, hoping they’d back off.

  “We have a buyer,” his dad said. “He wants to build a vacation home, and he’s willing to pay a lot more than what it’s worth if we make a quick deal. You could retire early, and so could Jenny.”

  They couldn’t retire at fifty-something on any amount a sale of the farm would bring in, but Joke wondered if his parents needed the money. They had sold a few buildings they owned in Wilhelmine when they retired, but that had been years ago. Had they burned through their savings? He narrowed his brows and looked at them for real for the first time in years. They were getting old, and fuck it, if they didn’t have any money they might move back, assuming their children would take care of them.

  “You wanna sell your third of it then let me and Jen know. We’ll take it off your hands at fair market value. If not, then we have nothing to talk about,” he said.

  “It’s my family’s farm. Came to me from my father.”

  “A third of it came to you from Grandpa. The other two-thirds went to Jenny and me. All three have to be in agreement to sell. You know this, Dad.” Joke explained.

  “He was senile.”

  That ridiculous statement was met by silence. They were also not selling the small place unless it was to the family who had run it for the past almost thirty years.

  When the silence stretched out, his dad took a small step forward, but Sissy moved too.

  “You can of course contest the will with adequate and notarized documentation of the testators diminished mental capacity. Another option is to accept the offer from your son, which is the option I suggest you choose, as will your own lawyer, I’m sure. But either way…” She shrugged and aimed a look at his father which made the man take a small step back. “This is neither the time nor the place for a discussion that isn’t gonna go your way, so right now you should just back the fuck off.” She smiled sweetly as she looked up at Joke. “We’re pretty much done here, aren’t we?”

  “Yeah, babe. We are,” he said and clamped back an urgent need to laugh.

  “Excellent,” she chirped, turned to his parents and added calmly, “It was interesting meeting you. Have a safe trip home.”

  He moved them back to the bar where his friends waited, hard-faced and angry. He heard the door slam and assumed his parents had left, but he genuinely didn’t care. He had nothing to say to them. Hadn’t had anything to say to either of them in years.

  Sissy took the tequila Tug had poured for her, downed it and turned to him. The happiness was gone from her eyes, and she squeezed his hand.

  “God, Joke. I’m so sorry, but your parents are such shitheads,” she said.

  Not even a gun to his temple could have held back his short bark of laughter.

  “What?” Jenny said hoarsely.

  “Oh, Jen,” Sissy said. “I’m so sorry.”

  “What?” Jenny repeated just as hoarsely.

  “They wanted to sell the farm. I told them no. They insisted and claimed Grandpa was senile. She told them to contest the will,” Joke said, and added, “Told them they had to provide adequate and notarized documentation of… What was that, babe?”

  “The testators diminished mental capacity.”

  “Are you a lawyer?” Paddy asked.

  “Not at all. Did double majors in college and one of them was kind of law. Never worked with it, so it’s really old knowledge. I’m pretty sure what I said wasn’t even remotely correct.” Sissy grinned wryly and murmured, “I got pissed and just threw some legal terms and fancy words out there.”

  “Kind of law?” Mac asked curiously.

  “Double majors,” Day added, sounding slightly dazed.

  “Yeah. Criminology and psychology.”

  Mac made a throaty sound and Joke started breathing slowly through his nose to keep himself from laughing. He hadn’t expected to have to hold back humor after being in a shit situation which any other time would have resulted in a fight that ended with him pushing his parents out through the door and Jenny scowling in an attempt at hiding her tears.

  “Never worked in either field and it was a really long time ago,” Sissy clarified. “Wasted money, although I did enjoy going to college.”

  “Do you have any tees saved?” Joke asked.

  She snorted something and tilted her head back to aim an amused face at him.

  “You’re gonna want to play naughty professor and sorority sister, aren’t you?”

  He ignored the strangled chuckles around him because yes indeed. He’d borrow Mac’s reading glasses and Day’s sports jackets would be way too tight around the shoulders, but they’d do in a pinch. He had a sturdy desk in the office upstairs and –

  “You were in a sorority?” Gibson asked, and Joke speared him with a sharp gaze just in case his buddy had any ideas.

  Gib wiggled his brows, but his smile was full of humor.

  “Of course,” Sissy confirmed. “If I were going to do college, I’d do it properly. So I did the whole sorority thing.”

  “I understand,” Gibson agreed affably. “I did the whole sorority thing too when I was in college.”

  It took Sissy a split second to get it and then she and Lee started laughing.

  “I’m almost afraid to ask,” Mac said when the women had calmed down. “What did you work with?”

  Sissy scrunched her nose up at Mac and wiggled the glass at Tug, indicating she wanted a refill.

  “Oh, I have what’s possibly the best background imaginable for working in a place like this.”

  “Really?”

  Joke knew what would come, but he didn’t want to ruin what he suspected wasn’t as much a joke as she intended it to be, so he waited silently.

  “I was a kindergarten teacher.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Sissy

  We had breakfast, and I was reading the newspaper. Things had calmed down quickly once his parents left Oak, but I hadn’t gotten whatever surprise Joke had planned that night. I’d gotten slow and sweet lovemaking instead, and he’d made it last for what felt like forever, so I hadn’t complained. He’d told me I still owed him for the trip and he’d collect another time, though.

  “Sissy,” Joke said without looking up from his own paper. “Get the maple syrup.”

  I looked at the scraps of bacon and scrambled eggs on his plate and wondered if he would pour syrup on it. I also didn’t like the way he’d ordered me to get something that he could get for himself, so I raised my brows.

  “Now,” he rumbled, and I felt my eyes widen because I recognized that voice.

  I got the bottle out of the cupboard and turned back, not sure what to do and watching him in silence.

  “Take off your tee.”

  Oh, God. Heat washed through
me, and I felt the area between my legs get wet. I slowly did what I was told and watched him shift our plates to the side, and lift his hips to slide off his briefs which had been the only thing he put on that morning.

  “Panties,” he said, so I slid them down and kicked them off. “Come here and straddle me.”

  When I had one leg on each side of his and my behind on his lap, he pushed me backward, so I was resting against the kitchen table.

  “Want something sweet,” he murmured and poured some syrup on one nipple.

  Then he twirled his tongue around it and sucked me clean. The other nipple got the same treatment, and then he put his hands on my ass, lifted me up until I was mostly on my back on the table. I gasped when I felt him pour maple syrup on my belly, and then further down. When the trickle hit my clit, I gasped again, and then he licked it off, again doing that twirl with his tongue.

  He kept eating, adding drops of syrup and twirling his tongue in a way that was delicious but frustrating. Then he’d apparently had enough sweet because he moved back and murmured, “Come here.”

  I tilted my head back and moaned when his cock was inside me, and his lips on my nipple, sucking off a few drops of sticky syrup. And then the phone rang.

  “Hey,” I heard Joke say, and then he pulled me into his chest.

  One of his hands was on my behind, and it pressed down to indicate I should keep moving.

  “Hey,” I heard Gibson’s deep voice over the phone. “What are you doing?”

  My insides clenched and Joke’s hand kept pushing me to move up and down slowly.

  “Breakfast.”

  “Paddy wants us to meet at Mac’s.”

  I shivered and couldn’t hold back a soft gasp.

  “When?” Joke asked, and I wondered if Gibson wouldn’t hear the roughness in his voice.

  I also couldn’t believe he was making plans in the middle of what we were doing and decided that he needed to pay more attention to me than his phone, so I reached for the syrup, and as he watched, I poured some over my breast. Then I slid the tip of my index finger around the nipple, and put it into my mouth, sucking it clean like he’d done with me just before. Joke’s eyes darkened, and his hand on my ass pressed down.