Joke

by Mia Malone

“She goes off with a maniac at her tail to some place you never heard about, gets a job you’re not sure you like and meets a man you don’t know who it is. I wouldn’t send a kid of mine into that situation.” Joke watched the other man’s brows go up, but he kept talking. “She’s gonna be pissed at you, man, but I get it. I respect you more for coming here.” He grinned briefly, and added, “Also means I can cancel my own flight tickets.”

  “You were coming to Boston?”

  “Yup.”

  “Would it have been safe for her to –”

  “Not Sissy. Me.”

  “Alone?” Dante asked.

  “Yeah. And she doesn’t know about it, so if we could avoid bringing that up, I’d appreciate it. I can handle her, but I like her better when she isn’t snarling at me.”

  Dante blinked a few times and then a slow smile spread on his face.

  “You are not what I expected.”

  Joke didn’t answer that and moved toward the tables, indicating that they were to sit down. Then they spent almost an hour talking about shit that had happened because of Sissy’s stalker, most of which Joke had known but some he doubted even Sissy had heard about. He explained about his friends and didn’t hide how they would do anything in their power to keep Sissy safe from the asshole. When they were done, they watched each other.

  “I don’t love her anymore,” Dante murmured.

  “I do,” Joke said. “Not letting her go.”

  “Yeah,” Dante sighed. “We’re very different. I guess you’re what she really needs.”

  “You were what she needed then. I’m what she needs now. It’s just timing.”

  Dante’s brows went up, and to Joke’s surprise, he laughed quietly.

  “You remind me a little of her dad. Even more of her brothers.”

  “Yeah. Not sure that’s a good thing.”

  “Neither am I,” Dante chuckled. “They hated me. Thought I was a pussy for not protecting her. Still thinks so.”

  Joke thought so too, but he wasn’t going to share that so he grunted something and turned when he heard steps behind the bar.

  “Tug,” he said both to the man and as an introduction. “This is Sissy’s ex.”

  “I know. Sent him over to Gibson’s,” Tug said, watched them for a beat and added, “We’ll keep her safe.”

  “Thanks,” Dante murmured.

  “You must be a fucking moron to let a woman like that slip through your fingers,” Tug said, and Joke winced. “Since I get to watch her ass strut around next to me most evenings, I guess I’m the one who should thank you.”

  Then he walked into the kitchen and Joke heard how he started moving the containers of food his sister would have put there.

  “Sorry,” he said. “He likes Siss a lot, and he doesn’t stare at her behind,” he winced again, and added, “Much.”

  To his surprise, Dante chuckled, and then he got to his feet.

  “I was planning to stay the night, but I don’t think I will. This isn’t my kind of town, but the girls will like it. They love their grandparents and love visiting them, so this will suit them just fine.”

  Joke nodded and walked his woman’s ex-husband to the door. They shook hands and then Dante got into his car and disappeared down the road.

  “He wore a fucking golf-shirt. Cleanest sneakers I’ve seen in my life.”

  Joke turned toward Tug who stood next to him, watching as Dante turned out on the highway.

  “Kills me to say it because yeah, his whole wardrobe could probably do with a fucking overhaul... But I actually liked him.”

  ***

  He watched Sissy pour beer and grinned because he heard Gibson chuckle in front of him.

  “You’re staring at her again,” Gib snorted.

  “Like a fucking moron,” Joke agreed and turned his attention away from how the tip of Sissy’s tongue peeked out as she finished what she was doing and put the glasses in front of Bobs.

  It had taken him a couple of days to settle Sissy down, and he’d heard how she called Dante and shared how she did not like that he’d done what he’d done without consulting her first. Joke got himself an earful too about his highhanded ways and how she didn’t like being treated like a helpless fool, which made him pull her close and put his mouth on hers. One thing led to another, and they had what he’d labeled make-up sex, a label she objected to since she hadn’t made up about anything, apparently.

  Since what they’d done shut her up, they’d fucked a lot more than usual in the past days, which he in no way complained about. Then one morning after another round of make-up sex, he’d held her close and looked into her soft post-sex-happy eyes.

  “I love you, Sissy. Can I say a few things or are you still pissed?”

  She raised her brows.

  “If you’d been there it would have been a pissing contest.” He squeezed her gently when she started to protest. “He’s not the kind of man I am, but he’s a man. He had you, and if you’d been there to talk about shit, he would have felt the need to prove that he might have lost you but he’s still a man. And he would have said something to piss me off which would have led to me putting my foot down. You know how that would have gone. Without you, we could just walk through what needed to be done.”

  Her face had softened, and he squeezed her again.

  “It wasn’t about you being a weak fool, babe. We both know you’re not. It was just stupid shit.”

  “Stupid man-shit,” she clarified.

  He wasn’t going to agree to her wording out of principle, so he waited without saying anything at all.

  “Oh, alright,” she said. “Not pissed anymore and yes. I love you too.”

  “This means we’ll get to the actual make-up sex?”

  “I thought we just had –” Her eyes widened when he moved his hips, and her mouth formed that adorable circle. “Oh. Okay.”

  Someone cleared his throat and Joke shrugged off the memory of that morning and turned.

  Doug Hanes stood in front of him with two of his men at his side.

  “You look like a fool when you stare at her like that,” Doug said.

  “Had her this morning. Will have her again tonight.” Joke said calmly. “You won’t, so do I look like I care what you think?”

  This made Gibson bark out a short laugh and raise his bottle in a silent toast.

  “Bear. Graw,” Joke added to the two trackers from the Wolves MC. They’d helped to search for Jenny when she was kidnapped and had been fucking phenomenal at what they did. “Good to see you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sissy

  “Well hello there, gorgeous,” the man in front of me said, and I figured I deserved a reward for the fact that I didn’t roll my eyes.

  “What can I get you?” I asked, turning my head to the side so I could hear what he’d say.

  “Three Bloody Marys.”

  “Coming up,” I said and started moving.

  Or, I tried to move, but since Joke was standing next to me blocking the way, I stopped and stared at him.

  “Need a minute,” he muttered and pulled me into the kitchen.

  “What?” I asked. “I was going to –”

  “What did he say?”

  “Ordered some drinks?” I asked back.

  “That’s Doug Hanes.”

  “Okay.”

  “Wolves MC.”

  “Okay.”

  “So?”

  I stared at him and wondered if he’d perhaps sipped just a little from one of the bottles lining the wall behind the bar. Or emptied a few of them. When he didn’t say anything, I raised my brows.

  “So?” I echoed after a while.

  “He invited you to a party a while back.”

  I blinked.

  “Joke, honey,” I said slowly. “People invite me to parties all the time. I can’t remember them all.”

  His brows went up, and he looked surprised which made my own eyebrows slide upward because surely he knew that hitting on t
he bartender was pretty much what everyone did in a biker bar. There was laughter in his eyes, though, and I narrowed mine.

  “Have you been drinking?” I asked.

  He suddenly started laughing and was on his way back to the bar without another word.

  “Hey,” I snapped. “An explanation would be nice.”

  He suddenly had me pressed up against the wall and his hands on my ass.

  “Doug Hanes and his biker-brethren are famous for their parties. The stuff we’ve done is lily white compared to their kind of dirty.”

  “Oh,” I said as it dawned on me who the man was. “Of course. Jenny told me about them. That’s where she and Paddy made a poster fall of the –”

  Oops. I’d temporarily overlooked that Jenny was his sister.

  “What the –”

  “I’m sure she just stumbled and accidentally knocked it off the wall,” I hastened to say. “Anyway, okay. Yes. Or, yeah, no. I don’t exactly remember that he invited me. Should I apologize to him for that…” I trailed off when I saw his face and added a mumbled, “Or not?”

  “Not,” he confirmed, wisely moving on from what I’d accidentally shared about Jenny and Paddy. “He’s gonna ask you again.”

  “Do you want to go?” I asked.

  He looked at me for a long time and then he sighed.

  “You don’t get it.”

  “No, Joke. I don’t,” I said because I didn’t.

  If one of his friends had a party, it might be fun. Especially if it was a little bit kinky.

  “Right. First; I won’t be invited. Second; you have no clue what they do so I’ll enlighten you. If it’s a thing with his inner circle they basically all fuck.”

  I blinked.

  “Who?”

  “Each other.”

  Oh. Oh, God. That was a bit more kink than I wanted actually and I made a small mental note for future reference.

  Dirty with Joke; Yes.

  Group sex with loads of bikers; Hell no.

  “So yeah,” Joke said. “He invites you, and you go, then he’d expect to do you. A few of the others would too. Possibly at the same time.”

  “I’ll probably just give him his Bloody Mary and let Tug handle any and all future drink requests he has,” I said quickly.

  “That’d be good.”

  “Okay.”

  He watched me curiously, and murmured, “You really didn’t recognize him?”

  “Not at all. Why?”

  He started laughing and pulled me back into the bar.

  I made three Bloody Marys, handed them to the men who’d watched me in silence as I made them, and stepped back.

  “Would you –” Doug started.

  “Not really, no,” I said quickly.

  He grinned at me and raised his hand.

  “Babe. Napkin.”

  Oh.

  I handed him a napkin.

  “I was gonna invite you to one of our get-togethers,” he said with a crooked grin. “Was going to invite Joke too actually, but I can see that he already talked you out of it.”

  “Pretty much, yeah,” I said.

  “I know your father,” he said with another crooked grin. “Probably better this way.”

  “Totally,” I said calmly, not wanting to think about what my dad might have done if I’d engaged in group festivities with this man and his brethren.

  “And I guess you’re more… traditional,” Doug smirked.

  I blinked and thought about my wild-girl days and how I’d used that dildo Joke gave me. How I’d liked to watch Gib and Lee. Then I started laughing.

  “Oh, honey,” I said happily. “You just keep telling yourself that.”

  Then I passed a grinning Joke and started filling a tray with drinks for a group of locals who were playing pool.

  ***

  Joke

  Sissy was upstairs, fussing over sheets and pillows and whatever in their apartment. Paddy and Jenny were picking up her daughters from the airport, and she wanted shit to be perfect which he found ridiculous. He told her that being with her would be the only perfect the girls needed. She stared at him in a way that made him mutter something about Oak and walk downstairs. He’d been on his way through the front door when he heard the roar of pipes and decided to see who was coming.

  The bikes roared along Main Street and stopped in front of him. Three men got off, and his brows went up.

  The older man in the middle was in his seventies but still fit, and his eyes were fucking sharp. To his right stood a dark-haired man about his own age with eerily black eyes. On the other side of the old man was another man his own age, identical to the dark-haired one except for the eyes.

  Ah, fuck. Joke had guessed who they were when he saw the patches on their vests, and it was confirmed by that ice-blue stare.

  Sissy’s father and brothers.

  “Yeah,” the old man grunted. “Roddy Hagen.”

  “Joke Tucker. Welcome to Wilhelmine.”

  There was a silence as they measured each other up and Joke didn’t back down. Perhaps he should because the man was older, Sissy’s dad and also president of an MC that was known to be crazy whatever that meant. He still didn’t.

  “I’m Black,” one of the brothers said.

  “Ice,” the other said.

  “Yeah,” Joke said and waited for Roddy to say something.

  He didn’t, and the mood shifted as they stood there.

  Then Paddy’s car sped up to them. The door to the back seat opened, and a girl ran straight up to Roddy.

  “Grandpa!”

  Joke turned his gaze to look at Sissy’s youngest daughter, and it felt like someone had socked him straight in the gut.

  The girl looking back at him was almost fifteen. Long-limbed and smiling.

  And she was an exact copy of Sissy.

  “You –” he cleared his throat and tried to smile. “You must be Mimi,” he said because telling her she looked like her mother would be stupid.

  She’d know she did.

  Another girl came walking, and they looked at each other.

  Cady. Nineteen and fucking gorgeous.

  He saw some of her father in her. Some from the man in front of him. Not a lot of Sissy, but Jesus fucking Christ… He’d have to talk to the boys in town. Sternly.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Was gonna hit you, just out of principle,” Roddy muttered.

  Joke blinked and pressed back laughter he was sure Roddy wouldn’t appreciate. A father was a father regardless of his age, apparently.

  “Go ahead,” he said.

  “Can’t do it,” Roddy said sourly. “Not when you got that fucking look on your face when you saw Mimi.” He sighed, and added, “And Cady, goddamn it.”

  “Grandpa,” Mimi squealed.

  “Yes, gorgeous?”

  “You know Grandma doesn’t like it when you hit people. Where is she?”

  “She’s on Sissy’s bike, she’s ten minutes behind…” he turned and looked down Main Street where another bike came roaring. “Nope. Caught up with us, so there she is.”

  Sissy’s bike? She had a motorcycle?

  “Hey!” the woman shouted to her grandkids before even getting off the bike. Then she threw her helmet to one of her sons and spread her arms out.

  Joke just stared.

  She must be in her seventies too, but she was fucking gorgeous. And her genes must be pretty dominant because he had another Sissy-copy in front of him.

  “Holy sh –” he stopped himself when he realized what he was saying. Paddy snorted something next to him, but he turned back to Roddy. “Sorry.”

  “Behave, and that’s what you have to look forward to,” the man said.

  “Guess I’ll behave.”

  “Guess you will,” the man smirked.

  Then Sissy came running around the house. A complete mayhem of hugs and shouts ensued, and Joke stepped back to watch it. It felt good to see them together. Happy.

  “I saw you in C S
prings,” a soft voice said next to him, and he looked down on Mimi.

  “Yeah?”

  “You’re Joke. I saw how… Mom looked so happy.”

  He smiled gently at her and said quietly, “I was probably happier.”

  ***

  He raised a hand in a final greeting and tried to hide how fucking relieved he was to see the backs of Sissy’s family. They were a tight-knit group who clearly loved each other. They were funny. And interesting. But, yeah.

  Crazy.

  Sissy’s mother was called Gun. She spent time while they had dinner trying to teach him how to pronounce it the right way, which was the Norwegian way and also fucking impossible. The closest he got was Goon, and by then even Sissy was giggling so they gave up and he was told to use her nickname which was Gee, something that made Lee squeal with joy.

  “Gee and Lee!”

  Joke closed his eyes and tried to breathe calmly.

  Then Ice told him his nickname had not been because of his eyes as expected. He’d gotten it when he’d fallen through the ice on a lake at home when he was five.

  “Had to tread water for fifteen minutes before they got me out.”

  Joke blinked. A five-year-old who had –

  “More like fifteen seconds, Ice,” Sissy snorted and turned to Joke. “Dad was there in a flash to pull him out.”

  After that, Joke took whatever anyone said with an even bigger grain of salt than he’d already done.

  Lucky for him, they’d stayed for one night only which according to Roddy was since they had places to be. He hadn’t specified what locations they were headed for and Joke hadn’t asked, mostly because he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know.

  Black had anyway pulled him aside shortly thereafter and informed him that he’d go down to some motorcycle club close by who apparently had fucking great parties.

  Ice had been next to quietly share that he’d spend a week in the Wyoming forests, contemplating the mysteries of the universe.

  Joke blinked with surprise, and couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Really?”

  “Fuck no,” Ice said with a grin. “Going to Vegas, baby.”

  He would have hit any other dude calling him baby, but this was Sissy’s brother, so he ignored Mac’s laughter and muttered, “Right.”