Impossible Love

Chapter 22: An Imminent Return

"So you heard the awful things Edwards was saying about me?" she asked.

"Yeah, we both did. But, trust me, you're not crazy. You're the sweetest, most sane person I know!" Frost exclaimed.

"Well, I'm probably a little crazy for hanging out with the likes of you two," she shot him a sly glance and smiled.

"That could be... could be." Frost turned into the parking garage and put the vehicle in park. He turned to look at Harleen before she opened her door. "Listen, I know what you did for me," he said as he reached out and touched her forearm. "I know that you put your reputation on the line by taking me to your doctor friend. He did a real good job of fixing me up. And I have you to thank for that. J and I both have you to thank for a lot of things..."

"Is that why you sent the check?"

"So, Evans told you? Yeah, we figured it was the least we could do. We recovered the money that Ziggy had stolen—five hundred thousand—and we figured that we would give it to the clinic since J said that the doctor made it clear he couldn't be bought," he explained.

"That was really nice of you. Thank you for protecting me." Harleen grabbed Frost's hand and squeezed it.

Frost quietly escorted Harleen into the basement where she headed up to the third floor.

"I'll get the food moved into the house and I'll divert J for a bit. He should be in his office right now. You two have fun tonight," Frost said, winking at her before she stepped onto the elevator.

Harleen entered the bedroom upstairs and immediately began removing all of her clothing and placed it on the bench in the closet. She looked around and saw that Joker had not touched a thing on her side of the closet. He really was expecting me to return, she thought to herself.

She opened a drawer and found the sexiest, skimpiest piece of lingerie that she knew would drive him wild. She stepped into the lacy red panties that she knew would be removed by him in an instant and then put on her sheer chemise which was connected with a line of sparkling jewels between her breasts. She walked into the bathroom and found her perfume bottle exactly where she left it and spritzed it on her wrists, neck, and chest. Taking one last look in the mirror, she knew was ready to commit herself—body and soul—to him forever.

Walking back to the closet, she reached into her purse and pulled out a baggie full of red rose petals—the same roses that Joker had sent her on her birthday not that long ago. She walked into the bedroom and scattered them all over the floor and the bed and then lit a few candles. She laid down on the bed and faced toward the nook that led to the door and queued up the playlist on her phone that she had created for just this very purpose. Basking in the lovely scent of the petals and the candles, she waited patiently for him to arrive as darkness fell outside.

*****

Frost knocked on Joker's office door on the first floor and peeked his head into the room. Joker was sitting at his desk staring at his laptop with a pen in his hand.

"Hey, J," Frost called out, pulling Joker out of his daze. He hobbled into the room on his special-made cane—a gift from Joker. The cane itself was black but was engraved to reveal a layer of silver below, which swirled around the length until it reached the top containing a silver jeweled skull on the handle.

"Hey," Joker responded. "What are you still doing here? You know you're not stuck here anymore." He tilted his head and nodded toward his cane.

"I'm outta here soon," Frost said, "but I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Well, my eyeballs are about to pop out of my head, but otherwise things are just dandy!" Joker said with a wide silver grin in his typical, over-the-top comical manner.