Joke

by Mia Malone

  “You asked him?”

  He suddenly grinned crookedly, and I wondered what the hell he’d done.

  “Didn’t have to.”

  “What?”

  “The nurse who was supposed to wake me up apparently noticed that I wake up happy.”

  “Oh God,” I whispered.

  “Yeah, babe, that’s also what she said before running out of the room. Then the doc came for a visit, laughing like a damned fool. Decided I was okay to go home and also that it’s okay for you to do what you’re gonna do in about one second.”

  “Okay,” I murmured, although I did it laughing quietly. “So I can use a hand.”

  I slid my hand down and wrapped it around him. He hissed out air, and I felt a familiar ache between my legs.

  “Yeah,” he sighed.

  I moved my hand slowly and watched him close his eyes.

  “How about my mouth?” I asked, and his eyes flew open again.

  “Didn’t ask,” he rasped out and groaned when I squeezed him tighter. “But I guess we could try.”

  I crawled down the bed, careful to not bump into him.

  Then I took him in my mouth. He growled softly, and I looked up at him as I slowly slid my tongue over the tip of his cock.

  “Put a hand between your legs, Sissy,” he ordered.

  He might be injured, but he still bossed me around. And I still liked it.

  We didn’t rush, and I kept the pace slow, looking into his eyes the whole time. His hips bucked slightly when he came, and I moved my fingers faster, moaning around him as I came too.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Joke

  Joke stared at the door Dante Parker had just closed quietly. Then he swallowed.

  “Joke, we don’t have to –”

  “Had already started planning, Sissy,” he whispered hoarsely.

  “Planning what?”

  “To move.”

  She stared at him, and breathed out, “Move where?”

  “Babe, seriously?”

  She frowned and snapped, “Yes, babe. Seriously. Move where?”

  “To the east coast. Where the hell did you think we’d move?”

  “But you can’t move to Boston.”

  “The shithead is dead. Mimi lives in Boston, so you’d live in Boston which means I would live in Boston.”

  Her eyes filled with tears and he hoped she wouldn’t start sobbing.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered.

  “For fuck’s sake, Sissy,” he growled. “Stop crying.”

  “But the bar? The brewery? Your friends?”

  “Sissy,” he said.

  Didn’t she know? Had he been unclear when he repeatedly told her he loved her? He’d walked in front of her to take a bullet for her, so what the hell? Had she perhaps hit her head when they hit the asphalt in the alley next to Oak?

  “But it’s Oak,” she said.

  “It’s you, Mimi and Cady,” he retorted. “Cady’s moving to Philly which is great for her but it fucking sucks. But Mimi is in Boston, there are bars in that town too, and I’m sure there are places where golf-shirts aren’t a requirement.”

  “But –”

  “Why the hell are we arguing about this after what Dante just shared?” he sighed.

  She closed her mouth, and they looked at each other in silence.

  Dante had told them Mimi wanted to move to Wilhelmine. She didn’t like her school. Liked her friends but loved the ones she had made in Wilhelmine. Wanted to be with her mom.

  They listened in stunned silence, and moved on to ask Dante how he felt about it. His mouth tightened, but he insisted he was okay with it. Mimi would visit Boston. He tried to make a lame joke about getting new tees and how he’d take up goddamned hiking when he visited Wilhelmine. Then he sighed and said that, yes it sucked, but it was the best thing for Mimi and they’d figure it out.

  Then Sissy had said they’d discuss it and talk to both Dante and Mimi before anything was decided, but as they looked at each other, both knew that there wasn’t anything for them to talk about.

  “Fucking fantastic,” Joke murmured.

  “Are you sure?” Sissy asked.

  Yes, he thought. She must have bumped her head into something when she went down with him that fucking day because she was clearly insane.

  “He just handed me my last shot at being a little bit of a father. Love that girl. Yeah, I’m fucking sure.”

  Her eyes filled with tears again, and he scowled, but before either of them could say anything, a small voice came to them from the door.

  “But are you really, really sure?”

  Mimi and Cady were standing there. Cady looked calm and but Mimi looked like her mother which meant she was close to tears.

  “Sorry,” Cady murmured. “We didn’t know… We’ll leave.”

  “Yeah, Mimi,” Joke said. “I’m really, really sure.”

  “Maybe we should –”

  He cut Sissy off immediately, knowing what needed to happen before anyone decided on anything.

  “Mimi and I need to talk,” he said, got up slowly which had the three females wincing in a way he wished they would fucking stop doing. “Back deck.”

  Then he walked out on Paddy’s deck and sank down on the couch. Mimi closed the door and sat down next to him.

  “I don’t want to… I didn’t know dad would talk to you. I thought I’d talk to Mom and…”

  “Honey,” Joke murmured and looked down on her worried almost fifteen-year-old face. “Fell in love with your mother. Stumbled right into love with you and your sister too. Loved having you girls here.” He paused so she’d understand that this was important. “But it won’t be the same if you live here all the time.”

  “I know.”

  “No, you don’t,” he said. “We’ll be fine, but it’ll be homework and chores and me saying no to shit for a change.”

  “Okay,” she said, and then her lips twitched a little. “Didn’t think you could until you wouldn’t let me sing at karaoke night.”

  “Smartass,” he said gently.

  They looked at each other and Joke thought his fucking chest would split wide open with goddamned happiness. Three years. She’d be off then, to college or wherever, but he’d get three years.

  “I love you too,” she whispered suddenly.

  “Ah, Mimi,” he breathed out. “You’re killing me. Hope your mom is better at saying no.”

  “She is.”

  “I’ll learn,” he murmured.

  “Essie’s brother asked me to the movies.”

  “Fuck, no.”

  She giggled, and he had to laugh with her.

  “See, you can do it,” she smirked. “I don’t like him anyway. She has a cousin who –”

  He closed his eyes and tried not to remember what a boy’s mind would be centered on at the age of sixteen. Fuck, he knew the boy, and he’d be seventeen by Christmas. Not happening.

  “No,” he murmured.

  “He wanted to buy me ice cream, Joke,” she said, and there was suddenly a tiny snap in her voice.

  Shit. He recognized that snap and knew without a doubt that Cady hadn’t been the only daughter who had inherited what was inside their mother.

  “He can buy you an ice cream at Jenny’s with me at the next table and my sister watching from the kitchen,” he said.

  Jenny had practically raised Paddy’s daughter, Annie, so she’d know how to glare a young boy into a frozen stupor. Mimi’s lips twitched, and he sighed, wondering if he’d just given in to something he shouldn’t have given in to. Fuck it. Jenny could tell him what to do. Sissy would absolutely tell him. He’d figure it out because it was Mimi.

  “Your dad is a good man, but he doesn’t get it,” he said quietly and saw her confusion. “I do.”

  “Get what?”

  “He’s always had you. Never questioned that, so he takes you a little for granted. We’ll fight, Mimi, and you won’t like me all the time, but I’ll never, not ever, take y
ou for granted. Promise I won’t.”

  She shoved her face straight into his stitches and started bawling. He put an arm around her and tried to not howl from the pain her chin caused him.

  “What’s going on?”

  Paddy had walked around the house and was watching them.

  “Mimi is moving to Wilhelmine,” Joke said.

  “Fucking fantastic,” Paddy said but frowned. “Why is she crying?”

  “You’ve had a daughter a lot longer,” Joke snapped, not at all prepared to share what he’d said with Paddy. “I was hoping you could tell me.”

  Paddy started laughing, and Mimi raised her head.

  “She cries like Sissy,” Paddy said.

  “I know.”

  “I cry like Mom?” Mimi said, and to Joke’s relief, the tears had stopped flowing.

  “Yup,” he said and pinched her nose, although carefully in case she hadn’t wiped all the snot off on his tee. “And I’m sorry to say this, sweetie, but it ain’t pretty.”

  Her eyes widened, but they were both laughing when Sissy and Cady walked out on the deck.

  ***

  Sissy

  “Day,” Lee called from their living room.

  “Yah,” Day shouted back at her.

  “Yah?” Joke echoed with a look of dismay on his face.

  “My youngest says it’s the latest, coolest shit to say,” Day grinned. “Been waiting for a good opportunity to try it out.”

  “Should have waited a lot longer if you ask me,” Joke grunted.

  I’d heard Mimi use the same ridiculous word, but I guessed I could wait until she moved to Wilhelmine to tell him that. Or just wait and see what happened, which probably would be a lot more fun.

  “Bethie has a friend who needs a place to crash for a month. Maybe two. You’re heading out so can she rent your guest house?” Lee called out.

  “Yah,” Day repeated with relish, grinning at Joke.

  “Is that a yes?” Lee asked from the door.

  “Yes it’s a yes,” Day said. “A bottle of very nice wine per week and we’re good.”

  “Thank you,” Lee said, and as she moved inside, we heard her happily telling someone who presumably was Lee’s ex-husband‘s cousin that Day was heading out in two weeks, everything was set up, and she’d make sure the house was ready.

  “How old is your daughter?” I asked.

  “My son. Seventeen,” Day said.

  “You have a son who says yah?” I asked. “That’s kind of girly.”

  “He’s gay, so that doesn’t surprise me one bit,” Day said.

  “He’s gay?” I asked before I could stop myself.

  “Is that a problem?” Day asked, brows narrowed in a way I knew he’d gone into papa-bear-mode.

  I was too stunned to care.

  “Why the hell would it be?” I asked. “But you’re not.”

  Then I closed my mouth with a snap and wondered if I should perhaps kick myself. Hard.

  “Pretty sure it isn’t hereditary,” Day snorted.

  “God,” I moaned. “Sorry. Sorry, sorry. Of course it isn’t a problem. You’re all just so… not gay. It surprised me.”

  “My uncle was gay,” Mac said calmly.

  Everyone turned to stare at him.

  “Uncle Mickey was gay?” Gibson asked slowly. “Why the hell didn’t I know this?”

  “Sad story really. Other times. Brokeback Mountainy times.”

  There was another short pause, and then Joke winced.

  “When you say it like that, does that mean that when he went hunting with Donny Blackbear, they were…”

  “Yup.”

  “I don’t give a shit. Fuck who you want, however you want. Still. Did not need to know that about Uncle Mickey.”

  “Or Donny Blackbear,” Gibson said hoarsely.

  “I know,” Mac said calmly, but his eyes were full of laughter.

  “The other kids are not gay at all, Sissy,” Day said, also laughing.

  “The other kids? I thought you had two?”

  “Five,” he said.

  “Three,” Gibson clarified. “Plus two.”

  I stared at them, wondering what the hell that meant.

  “Yeah,” Mac agreed. “Day has been spreading his seed all over the country.”

  Yish. That was a gross way of putting it.

  “What, babe?” Joke asked, knowing well what the look on my face meant.

  “I did not need a visual of Day… you know,” I said.

  “Day, what?” Gibson asked, although I could see that he was laughing at me, which pissed me off.

  “Spreading his seed,” I hissed and used a hand to make a rotating movement in front of my crotch to illustrate the spreading.

  There was a short silence, and then Lee walked out, tucking her phone away.

  “What are we talking about?”

  “The helicopter,” Mac stated.

  “Yes!” Lee squealed. “I’m looking forward to that so much. It’s mostly for Gibson’s pleasure, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy myself too.”

  I blinked a few times and wondered if I’d had a small stroke and missed approximately two hours of conversation. Or if they did things I hadn’t heard about, and actually didn’t want to know about either.

  “Babe,” Gibson said with some pain in his voice. “Not that helicopter.”

  Joke suddenly chuckled and leaned back with a suspiciously blank face.

  “You’re going on a helicopter, Gib?” he asked.

  “Totally,” Lee said. “I gave him that for his birthday. We’ll go on a tour around the mountains.”

  I turned to tell Joke that this was what I wanted too, but he was watching Gibson.

  “You’re going on a helicopter around the mountains,” he said slowly, and Gibson winced.

  “I will,” he said.

  The look on his face told a different story.

  “You don’t want to go?” Lee asked. “You said it sounded fun.”

  Mac barked out laughter and Day was suddenly watching his shoes intently.

  “You said it sounded like fun. I mostly said nothing at all,” Gibson said.

  “You said, huh,” Lee insisted.

  This, I could believe.

  They watched each other, and then Paddy sighed.

  “I’ll go with her,” he said.

  “You don’t want to go?” Lee asked again.

  “Lee, honey. Don’t you know that Gib suffers from, uh… vertigo?” Paddy asked.

  Oh. My. God.

  Gibson Ward, the biggest badass in Wilhelmine’s long history was afraid of heights.

  “Vertigo,” Lee breathed out.

  “I’ll go,” Gibson repeated with a determined look on his face.

  “Gib,” Joke said calmly. “You’ll puke for weeks.”

  “Please,” I squealed. “Lee, please. I wanna go. I’ll pay my share and bring champagne. Please.”

  “Champagne,” she said, glancing over at me.

  “Not the cheap shit. The good stuff from goddamned France.”

  “You’re out,” she said to Paddy.

  “Yay,” I murmured happily.

  “You’re gonna go on a helicopter around the mountains, drinking wine?” Gibson asked, and the look on his face was full of both dismay and nausea.

  “Gibson, honey, sweetie,” I drawled out, thoroughly enjoying the moment. “I told you early on that out of the two of us…” I indicated him and me with both my hands a few times. “I am not the sissy.”

  When the laughter had died down, Gibson looked at Joke and muttered, “You should probably –”

  “I will,” Joke cut him off.

  “Will what?”

  “We’ll talk about that later,” he murmured, and I recognized that voice.

  It was low and rumbly, and a little hoarse and I knew it well. His sex-voice.

  “Oh,” I said and watched the skin around his eyes crinkle.

  “Hey, what are we talking about?” Jenny said from t
he door.

  “Helicopters,” three voices said.

  “Oh for heaven’s sake. Why is everything about sex with you guys?” Jenny snapped.

  “Sex?” Lee asked.

  “Helicopter,” Jenny murmured and made the same rotating movement in front of her crotch as I had, wiggling her hips slightly for emphasis.

  “We were talking about how Gibson was going on a tour around the mountains. On an actual helicopter where he probably wouldn’t touch his genitals at all.”

  Jenny stared at Paddy, and a soft blush crept up her cheeks.

  “Well shit,” she muttered.

  “To be fair,” I butted in. “We did talk about that other helicopter too.”

  It took a few minutes to sort out the confusion, and both laughter and insults flew across the porch as we did.

  “When is Mimi coming?” Day asked. “I’ll miss her, won’t I?”

  “Four weeks. Middle of fucking construction but it is what it is,” Joke said.

  “I’m sure it’ll be okay,” I said. Joke looked like he doubted it, and I tilted my head down and to the side. “Pretty sure someone went full marshmallow on me and got something that will make her forget a few burly men sawing and hammering or whatever they’ll do.”

  “Didn’t go marshmallow,” he muttered.

  “You did,” Jenny said.

  “Yah,” Day said with a grin.

  He totally had and had walked into Oak with a sheepish look on his face and an amazingly beautiful dog prancing at his side. It was apparently Lucy, a five-year-old husky mix that had told him she needed a home.

  “Always wanted a dog.”

  “Funny,” Jenny snorted. “I’ve known you a while, and you never said.”

  “Yeah, well I didn’t know I always wanted one, did I?” he snapped. “Walked in to look at a small fluffy thing that I would not have taken even if they threw it after me. Yap, yap, yap, no thanks. Was on my way out of there when I took a wrong turn. And there she was.”

  He let his hand slide over the head resting on his leg. A pair of pale, ice blue eyes watched him with so much love I couldn’t help smiling softly.

  “Instant and very mutual love,” I said.

  “She has your eyes, Sissy,” he said. “Of course it was.”

  I leaned forward to kiss him but stopped when Day murmured, “And you think my boy is girly.”

  “Shut it, rosemary-boy,” Joke chuckled, pulled me to him and kissed me.