Page 12 of The Queen's Joker

“A bit of both? Where are we going, the beach or the mountains?” He tilts his head to study me, not breaking eye contact as he pushes the button for the main floor.

Surprised, I raise my eyebrows at him, and my heart does a weird fluttering thing. Surely, this is love, right? “Beach. The mountains can wait.”

He licks his lips. “You, a bikini, some cocktails… We are going to get sand in some weird places.” He leans forward and kisses me. I have to agree, and our thoughts are lining up perfectly.

I smile into the kiss, thinking about licking the salt from the ocean off his skin before shooting tequila and lime. “We’re getting tequila. Add it to the list.” I laugh. When the doors open, I pull away from him and walk out.

He growls and pulls me back to him before putting his hand on my lower back. “I like where your mind’s at.” Instead of pulling away from me, he keeps his arm around me, hooking his fingers in the belt loops of my pants. We walk into the conference room like that, where my brothers sit around the racetrack conference table. They stop talking when they see us. Surprise. I give them a small smile because I don’t know how Joker will proceed. He is unpredictable, as always. So far, though, he is doing all the right things to make me happy.

I half expect Joker to pull away, but he doesn’t. He instead doubles down and leads us to the two empty chairs nearest my brothers. Joker pulls out the chair, sitting first, then pulling me into his lap before I can take a step away. Yep, I cannot tell if this is well thought out or if Joker is winging it. But with him at my back, I feel almost bulletproof.

“So, this is a thing now?” King says while watching us, his face unreadable. Not that he could say anything. I am a grown-ass woman, and nobody gets to tell Joker what to do.

“Yes. Is that a problem for anyone?” Joker says with an edge to his tone. It’s subtle but there. His body is rigid against my back, but he holds me close, reminding me of a caveman. At any moment, he will grab and throw me over his shoulder at the first sign of something he doesn’t want to hear. The words sound calm, but it is a warning. It’s similar to when you hear a rattlesnake rattle before it strikes. He looks at Ace before adding, “We sorted it out.” Ace’s parting words before we left him a few hours ago—You two sort this shit out.

Ace nods as Jack slightly narrows his eyes, giving me an unimpressed look before saying, “No problem unless you don’t revoke your membership.” My twin cocks his head to the side as if he expected a fight to occur. I want to voice my question of what membership, but Joker’s arms tighten around me.

“Of course. That is a given, and I will handle it after this mission.” Jack relaxes at the words, but his eyes are still narrow.

I really want to ask what membership they are talking about, but Joker gently squeezes my hip. Let me know, and we will talk about it later. Doesn’t he know by now that I’m not known for having patience? I let it go, though, because now it’s at least out there and not a secret. “Let’s focus on the task at hand,” I say, wanting to get focused on the mission, which is everyone’s business. My relationship isn’t everyone’s business, but I like it. It feels like he is proud to show me off. Joker is all in. I know there will be a discussion in the future; however, ignorance is bliss for now.

Ace pulls out a map of the location and, as we are, dramatically throws down metal game pieces for each of us. Joker huffs behind me when he sees his piece. I roll my eyes because we hear this discussion on every mission. “Can we seriously not upgrade me? Surely we can get a cooler Joker rather than the court jester juggling balls in the air? I am supposed to be more terrifying, and that doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of anyone.”

Jack scoffs and rolls his eyes. “I am a freaking diamond. How emasculating is that? It makes me look like I am super bougie.” He picks up the metal piece that resembles a game board piece. A small part of me feels slightly bad for the guy, honestly. He has such depth, and so many people think of him as a pretty face when he truly is way more complicated than that. The man also uses his humor as a shield.

“You know you are hella bougie, Jack. I see the receipts for some orders that come through the company credit cards. Your shampoo and conditioner cost close to $150 easily!” King reaches over, grabs the diamond piece from his hand, and sits it on the map. “You’re the diamond, for sure.” Before tapping it with his pointer finger twice.

“Don’t come crying to me when your hair thins and looks like shit. You will wish you had spent that much on your shampoo. There is a reason men go bald, and it’s not happening to me.” He leans forward and points to his scalp. “Women love to run their fingers through my silky locks. Just touch it.” Jack pushes his head closer to King. “Do it! Touch it!”

King grunts and pushes Jack’s head out of his space. “I’m not feeling your fucking hair. I felt it enough helping you get those damn rubber band ties after Winnie got done being your hairstylist.”

“Can everyone just fucking focus? I’ll buy all new pieces and everyone some of Jack’s bougie shampoo if we can get on with this!” Ace stands, glaring at everyone at the table. Damn, someone needs to get laid terribly. Look at me; I got my pipes cleaned and feel amazing. Not that I was about to tell Ace that either, so I sit here and wait for the plan to unfold.

“If you add the conditioner too, you have a deal. It would just get ruined if you didn’t pair them together.” Jack leads forward and claps his hands together before rubbing them back and forth quickly. My hand wants to palm my face at the comment. The man wants to be taken seriously, yet he can’t help himself. “Where is this handsome, great-haired diamond man going to be?”

“Fucking dead if you’re not careful,” Ace grumbles and looks back at the map. “So the plan is to sort out the rats and distract them. Queenie and Joker, you will do the actual mission.”

Chapter eighteen

All the teams break up and move into position. I look around the small gathering of men and women in mine and Queen’s group of people. They are all lined up, waiting on instructions and for us to hand them their coms and radios. Usually, we would have already passed them out and would have been ready to go. We didn’t want to take a chance of the radios picking anything up, especially since our group passed all the checks. They are clean, and there is no chance of a rat among them. “Listen up. You are all here because you have been loyal. A few members in the other groups are informant rats and need to be exterminated. They are going into a trap currently, and we are their backups, or so they think. We need most of you to sit here and watch our backs. You’re with Queen and I, Simon, Gregory, Chris, and Michael.” I kneel and explain the plan by unrolling a blueprint. “Their groups will be here and here.” The men move in closer, and I point to the two areas. I pull out a handful of puck bombs and hand them to each of them. They pocket them carefully, and I wait until everyone’s eyes are back up. “I need you to place these and detonate them when the blast outside happens. Then, kill anyone who survives while the Queen and I clean up. Make the noise to draw anything to you while we sneak and take out the major players.”

Everyone’s eyes are on me, listening to every word, and I point at the entire group. “Be on backup. So that means being alert and ready for anything. Once the blast happens, move up to this building if anyone tries escaping.” We pass out the radios and turn on our designated channels. I turn to Queen and put my head to hers. This is supposed to be like any other mission we have been on, but it couldn’t feel more different now. She always has been everything to me, but now she is more. Now that I have acknowledged what she means to me, everyone knows my heart lives outside my body. Death has never scared me before, but to lose her would be the end of me. I would never forgive myself. “After this is done, we have so much to discuss.”

“It is just like any other mission. Don’t get in your head about it.” She doesn’t pull back from me though, and I lean forward and kiss her. I pull her close, gripping the back of her neck tightly as I deepen the kiss, letting my kiss say all the words I cannot. Words are something that I don’t have a lot of skill with. For her, I will try; for me, actions speak louder than words ever could.

When I pull back, I look into her deep blue eyes for a second longer. I want this memory of her to be burned into my memory. Her lips are slightly swollen and a tint darker than they usually are. I cannot explain the feeling that has taken over. All I keep thinking over and over in my mind is that this must be the day I die. I have gotten to experience my idea of heaven, touch, feel, and fuck it. Why wouldn’t it be my last day on earth? For the first time, I’m terrified of dying, of leaving her. I am begging the universe to let me stay with her. Death, I used to welcome it. Now I feel like I am stepping out, walking the plank of life, only to dive into the unknown. “Stop looking at me like that,” she says, narrowing her eyes, looking like she wants to hit me.

“Like what?” I run my thumb across her bottom lip to keep her from frowning.

“Like you’re saying goodbye. You don’t get to do that shit to me, and you don’t get to walk away from me even in death. Do you understand me?” Her head tilts to the side, and for a moment, I think she might punch me in the face. Knowing Queen, I wouldn’t put it past her. Maybe the bruises that adorn my face will keep her from following through.

“You want me to haunt you, baby?” I look at her with heat in my eyes and bite my lower lip for dramatic effect.

“To have you there and not be able to feel, see, and touch you? Hell no. We have done that song and dance for too long, and I couldn’t take not seeing you. If you die today, I will never forgive you.” She pulls back, and her sharp jawline tightens as she grinds her teeth together. “We have a date with a bottle of tequila and you’re not getting out of it.” It makes me think of when she actually died when we got to the ER. Seeing that and being helpless, I could only stand there with panic in my eyes. She doesn’t let me respond before she spins and looks at the four going on with us. All of which are looking anywhere but at us. I give these guys credit; they are loyal and intelligent. “You all understand your mission? Place the bombs, take cover, and kill anything that moves after.” They nod, and she points her finger at each one of them. “Don’t you dare not cover our asses.”

“We understand, Queenie,” Gregory responds. I would hate to be on her shit list. Having been there several times, I can speak from experience. Except I have never failed in covering her. We all knew I would take a bullet gladly for her. Grabbing our weapons and supplies, we sneak off into the night.

Letha has been in the know about this mission from the beginning. She has been at this for hours longer than us, watching the cameras, adjusting them, and studying the layout and floor plans. King’s hire is paying off, and we got doubly lucky that she brought Ash along for the ride. Between the two of them living at the Fortress while all this has been going on, their outside-the-box thinking has been crucial. Pack that in with Letha’s computer hacking and programming knowledge. I feel a little better with her watching us from above, especially since we don’t have ears for what is happening with the rest of the teams.

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