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Chapter 31

Thanks to Ripley10 for her hard work. :)

Chapter 31

Jane stared at the man and woman in front of her and, for once, was lost for words.

"Please to meet you," the portly man grinned and stepping forward, took Jane's hand and raised it to his lips. Jane couldn't stop the shudder of revulsion that rippled through her. This man had taken a bus full of little children and was now standing in front of her, slobbering over her hand. She snatched back her hand and ignored him to look pointedly where the Joker was lying stretched out on the settee.

"What's going on?" she demanded. He smacked his lips together and regarded her from black rimmed eyes.

"I just told you. Were you not listening?" he asked her and cackled.

Jane looked across at Jimmy, who sitting on one of the packing cases in the corner of the room. Another of the Joker's thugs, Sam, was opposite him and neither of them was willing to look directly at her.

"It's okay," came the slow purr of Foxy as she sat perched on the arm of the chair that Deever had just plumped into. "You won't even know we're here."

Jane choked slightly and without another word she turned and left the room, heading up the stairs that led to the upper level. She heard the Joker bark something and then follow her but she refused to slow down or look back.

She went into the room that led to the makeshift bedroom, not bothering to shut the door. She crossed to the bed and perched on the edge waiting for him to come in. He came through the door seconds after her and kicked it shut with his shoe as he tugged off his coat and jacket.

"Play nicely, Janey," he murmured. His tongue flicked out as he regarded her mutinous stance.

"I'm not playing at all!" she snapped and folded her arms. "Why are they here?"

"I need to keep him where I can see him and away from those kids."

"You know where they are?" she asked in surprise and blinked at him.

"Of course I know," he replied and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt before crossing to the mirror Jane had set on top of an old cabinet.

"Where are they?" she asked and he looked back over his shoulder at her with a smirk.

"I'm not telling you that, Janey. Come on, babe, if you knew that, it'd burn away at you, until you got the crazy notion of tipping off the cops."

"I would never give you away," she muttered and looked away from him.

"Of course you wouldn't," he cackled before leaning against the cabinet. He crossed his ankles and sucked on his scars. "But it'd twist and turn in you until you managed to convince yourself it wouldn't be me you'd be turning on, but Tweed. I'm protecting you as well as me, sugar," he chuckled and pushed himself away from the cabinet. He came and plopped onto the bed beside her and slung his arm around her shoulders.

"I know you don't like this, babe. To be honest I don't like it much either. But for now, the best place for Tweed to be is under my nose. I have control over this now and I'm not letting him double cross me, which is exactly what he's aiming to do."

"Where are they going to sleep?" she muttered and relaxed into his side almost automatically now.

"Upstairs," he answered. "In the loft area above us. I need you to do something for me," he murmured and turned his head to nuzzle her ear.

"What?" she asked and shivered.

"Be nice to them," he whispered. "Or as nice as you can manage. I don't want them hightailing it out of here because of your sharp tongue."