Page 57 of Eden's Joker

The soft warm breeze coming through the open windows was calming and the house was so nice and quiet that I fell asleep. The last thing I expected.

Now the shadows outside are long and I feel bad for leaving her chained up all day. Even though that’s the fastest way of getting her to where I need her to be. Broken and destroyed.

Her eyes are closed when I open the door to her bedroom, her long, smooth, naked body prone and statuesque on top of the covers. Calling me to make her mine. I don’t think she’s sleeping though. Just faking it. I preferred the way she used to smile at me when we met up. I’ll never see that smile again now.

I ignore the idiotic regret and walk over to the bed, tossing a plastic bag filled with her clothes onto the pillow beside her.

Her eyes fly open, kinda scared, but mostly angry.

“That’s some of your clothes,” I say as I untie her arms. “Get dressed and I’ll find somethingto eat.”

She sits up, rubbing her arms. “Why bother feeding me? If you’re just gonna kill me anyway.”

Her words hit me more painfully than they ought to. Considering the fact that she’s absolutely right…

“Yeah, but I’m wanna play with you some more before that happens.”

I’ve always been able to come up with a mocking retort and turn anything into a joke… on whoever I’m speaking to. Another reason why they call me Joker.

“Great, can’t wait,” she says, grinning at me, but it’s a far cry from the sweet, teasing smiles she’d given me before I brought her here. “I just love existing for your amusement.”

“You looked pretty amused before too.”

She blushes a deep apple red, but her eyes remain angry. What I should be doing is beating her into submission and breaking her spirit. Not working on eliciting sweet blushes and smiles from her. What the fuck is wrong with me?

But then again, I never did have a taste for hitting women. Not even when they beg for it. I have a reputation for it, sure, but that’s just a carefully constructed lie. Just like so much of my life is. I figured with Ice’s daughter it’d be different. I figured I’d hate her enough. Turns out it’s not. At least not today.

But maybe this is better. Get her to trust me. Then snatch the rug from under her feet, or however that saying goes. I’ll just improvise. I’ve been doing it my whole life.

“I’m gonna eat now,” I say. “You can join me if you want. Or starve if you don’t.”

“I think I’ll just starve,” she says and pulls the bedspread over herself as though she only just now realized she was naked. Or did she only just now lose hope in me making her come again?

“As you wish.”

I walk out of the room, but don’t lock the door. I don’t even close it.

I call the kitchen phone and one of the hoes answers.

“I need some food up here,” I bark at her. “Why isn’t it here already?”

“Sorry, Joker,” she says. “The girls… it was a wild night last night… but I’ll send something over right away.”

“Good.”

One or two of the hoes are actually excellent cooks and I hope they’re the ones making dinner tonight. Apart from half a sandwich at the Saloon last night, I haven’t eaten a proper meal since we left the compound in the woods and it’s beginning to show. Maybe that’s why I have no idea how to take a real crack at breaking Eden.

A cold shower should fix that, and I definitely need one. Maybe I should be afraid of her sneaking in and stabbing me while I’m in there, but I purposefully don’t even close the bathroom door. The moment you start giving in to fear everything goesdownhill. I’ve lived by that wisdom all my life and I don’t even know where I first heard it. Probably came up with it myself. I never had any mentors worth a damn.

The cold water takes the edge off my hard on and maybe wakes me up a little bit, but that’s about it. I hear someone walking downstairs once I turn off the water, so I just grab a towel and wrap it around my waist before going to check what’s going on.

It’s not Eden trying to leave the house though, like I feared. It’s Cherry in her stripper shoes, checking out the living room. The front door is wide open and three other hoes are setting things up in the kitchen and dining room.

“It took four of you to bring dinner?” I ask.

Mostly I’m just glad it’s not some of my brothers come to check if it’s their turn with Eden yet.

Cherry wobbles to me at the foot of the stairs, her heels clicking loudly against the hardwood floor. “We thought you could use some company too now that you’re finally home. Get your mind off other things, you know.”

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