family ties

Without the coffee – brewed specially strong – his eyes might’ve rolled back in his head halfway through the meeting. Iris had droned on, finger tapping against the list in her notepad. He’d almost batted her finger away then, swivelling the thing around so he could read through her bullet points (what sort of a nutjob marked out a lecture that way??), but undoubtedly she’d have hustled right into the boss’ office to tell her that he was messing around in class. It would’ve been another black mark against his name when there was already one smudged pencil grey there after he’d taken off early a couple of days ago. Emergency appointment apparently wasn’t specific enough, but telling his new handler that his kid had asked him to go to her graduation would’ve exploded a can of worms all over the office.

Shooting her a smile that felt like it’d crack his face, he trailed out of the meeting room and headed back to his desk. He would’ve been a dick to say no to the kid. She’d been excited about him being there and it didn’t exactly seem like a hardship to dip out of the office early and watch her walk across a stage, or whatever it was happened during graduations – even little kid ones – over here. Since he’d gotten his wallet back, and alright, before then too, he’d genuinely come to like her. And her mum. Eventually he’d end up leaving town again – that was inevitable in his line of work – until then, though, playing house wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

He clapped hard as Lucille had done her thing, and participated in the entertainment portion of the day. Some biddy in the row in front who’d either broken the record for the oldest woman to give birth, or who was prune facing their way through their great grandkid’s graduation, had shot him a look as he’d slipped two fingers into his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. He’d just turned a beatific smile on her and had dropped his arm around his wife’s shoulders. There’d been dinner after, a celebration he’d pulled out his wallet to handle – it was a dad’s prerogative weren’t it? Maybe Lucky’s mouth had pruned through some of it, making it clear that Lucille hadn’t exactly asked permission for him to come along. Like father, like daughter, eh?

JJ yawned, tossing the dregs of coffee into the pot plant on the neighbouring desk. Its leaves had drooped under his care, maybe he oughta stop. He set his cup down, knuckling his mouth before he thumbed his laptop on. Work wasn’t exactly calling, but if he wasn’t tapping away at something when Iris emerged, she’d do worse than just scowl at him for continuing to work at his own pace, on his own stuff instead of the dregs of the stories that were passed around. Another sodding town celebration. A double page spread on the Mayor – lamenting her poor dead hubby – yawn fest after yawn fest.

”Mmm?” The grunt rolled out of him and the leading consonant of the ‘hey’, his head rolling him immediately towards her as the more recognisable edge of the ‘hubby’ struck him between the eyes, struck him dumb as Lucky dipped down to kiss him. He looked up at her with kiss damp lips parting. ”’ello he said almost uncertainly, still feeling a little off balance. Blue eyes shot past her, making sure that there wasn’t a crowd – led by Destiny – gathering up behind her. ”And there I was thinking that I was getting something out of bring your wife to work day…” he murmured, a smile finally tugging at his lips. She was here, and that was gonna take some explaining if anybody had heard the greeting, or seen her laying one on him.

JJ sat up from his usual sprawl, head dipping as he worked a thick finger under the flap of the box. A doughnut. Not the bagged lunch she’d joked about, but it’d definitely do with another mug of that spoon eating coffee. ”Awww, you love me.” He batted his lashes, spreading one hand on his chest as he grinned up at her.

Did she really look like she did though? There’d been that stomp of her foot on his – marring the polish he’d put on his shoes the morning of the ceremony too – at dinner. A warning, a little wifely affection maybe when he’d used his honorific title in public. Who knew with her. Women were as changeable as the weather, and despite how much time he’d spent around his family in the last couple of months, he wouldn’t claim to understand his wife.

His nose wrinkled as he pfffed his way through Lucky’s gratitude. He nudged the box away on the desk and patted her thigh. ”How was I gonna say no to that little face? It wasn’t a bother, honestly. She’s a good kid – half the ones in her class could do with some singing lessons though. Think I’m still a little deaf.” Popping his other index finger in his ear, he winked at her as he wiggled it. As he’d expected the concert bit of it was awful, but he’d been one of those kids toting a hard sided case around, cackling as he’d blasted deep breaths through the bugle. Unsurprisingly it had disappeared from the house after the second day. His dad had probably ordered someone to run over it with a tank. There’d be no question about music lessons after that.

Was he still slow after that meeting? ”You what?” Frowning, JJ sat up straighter again, propping his elbows on the arms of his chair as he looked at Lucky. ”You said it meant a lot to her for me to be there … I’m not gonna start letting her down. You ain’t gotta worry about her getting her heart broke because I’ve been a Cadburys over something. Nah. You just tell her to ask again the next time and her dad’ll be there, yeah?” She’d looked away from him though. Aaah. ”It’s not her who don’t want me there, is it? What’s up?” Yeah, he definitely couldn’t keep up with the bloody mercurial moods of women. You did your best and still they find something to nitpick over in it.

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS * Word Count: 1054

If he’d still had the little office he’d been gifted when he’d started working at the Daily he’d have been able to get Lucky all tense in the right way. Blinds closed, the door swung shut behind her. The assholes whose heads came up like meerkats’ the minute anything juicy happened in the office could’ve had their noses pressed to the glass and it wouldn’t have mattered because it was behind closed doors. Pissing off the boss had come with a demotion to the open office – desks overlooking his, the scowls of the woman next to him, the pointed shift of that browning plant, the smug looks whenever Iris or the boss pulled him away. Public humiliations that were probably meant to make him quit, but he wasn’t ready to run out of town with his tail between his legs just because he’d supposedly fucked up.

Judging by the look on Lucky’s face he’d done it again – although the doughnut seemed far more like an apology, an attempt at buttering him up, than a punishment. Unless she’d poisoned it, that was. Nah. His charm was still working far too well for that. Her lecture about not screwing shit up with Lucy before had stuck – him showing up at her graduation thing was proof of that right? He’d kept showing up for the kid and honestly, it wasn’t any sort of hardship, not even with the talking to he’d gotten from Iris about taking off.

There, that was better. His smile broadened in response, something bright covering up those little doubts that settled in, warmth passed on with the reassuring weight of his hand on her thigh. Of course, his index finger moved lightly on that bare thigh. Her yeah and thanks were both lacklustre, despite his reassurances. ”Ain’t gonna imagine too hard, when I’m gonna be there for him. Might slip the earplugs in the next time though.” JJ winked at her. Every other parent in the room had probably tucked them in when they were out of sight – ‘what was that, honey, did I hear you? Absolutely. You were the best one up there.’

For Lucille he’d have done it – as long as he was in town, that was a guarantee he would’ve wanted to make her, but with the job the way it was he could hundred percent it even if he wanted to try. Lucky wasn’t even giving him the chance for that though. Stop him now? Make sure he couldm’t hurt her kid. A total mum move. His own had done her best to protect him, as much from the old man as anything, but you couldn’t shield your kids from everything, not without forcing them to live in a bubble.

JJ squirmed in his seat, his brows drawing closer together. He glanced around the two of them as she asked him what the fuck he’d said. Eyes caught his and he was the one going stiff now. Like he’d suddenly acknowledged the elephant in the room and it’d lumbered closer in all its leathery skin glory, it suddenly felt like everybody in here was watching him being told off by his wife – and that’d been her word, not his. ”A flake,” JJ muttered right back, hunting his shoulders like it’d stop anybody else hearing it. ”I wasn’t the one who said I was,” he puffed. He hadn’t cut off though, had he? Going back to their place for dinner after Lucy had nicked his wallet, doing the dishes all domestic like, christening the kitchen counter with his wife.

He let out a long breath as the reasons started to prop up her argument – this was exactly what the doughnut had been for, to soften this blow. ”And what’s wrong with her counting on me?” JJ sank his teeth into the tip of his tongue, he could’ve reeled a list off too, and lost his ability to refute any of what he was being accused of. ”Look, I didn’t know she hadn’t asked you. If I’d thought was being sneaky about the whole thing I woulda done, alright? It’s my fault, this whole dad thing is new to me. Next time, I ask.” but there wasn’t gonna be a next time because Lucky was stopping him from fucking up her kid’s life as he blundered through it without any real clue about what he was doing.

If Iris wanted to give him a real bollocking next time, then she probably should’ve been taking notes from Lucky. Pouting would’ve got him nowhere, but JJ’s lips pinched as he caught every barbed word out of Lucky’s mouth. By the time he left he’d be bristling with them like he’d lost a fight with a porcupine. ”So this is about you and me, not Lucy, other than where she gets caught in the middle of it. You’re saying that at some point, you’ll get bored of me and you’ll expect me to leave and that’s gonna gut your kid.” And he’d get no say in the matter, because her mum was the boss in all of this. ”That shit’s what people should be doing for her. I joke about it because you did at the start. You were happy to play at being my wife. Everything since has just been gravy in my book.” He curled his hand around Lucky’s calf, giving a little squeeze like he was trying to cut either her or himself off.

Inching closer, he met her eyes and held her gaze. Maybe Destiny had a bible laying around he could swear on – it wasn’t like he wasn’t destined to end up with his balls getting roasted in hell anyway. ”You think I woulda been hanging around the kid if I wasn’t enjoying it? Did I plan on having one of my own yet? Not gonna lie and say yes, but shit doesn’t always happen like you plan and fun or not, I’m not gonna go fucking this up. You wanna try make this about something else that isn’t you warning me that my time in your bed’s short?” Maybe there were reasons for it, there usually were, but he wasn’t gonna go burying his head in the sand to avoid hearing them. He was too sodding proud for that and his pride would be one of the reasons he wouldn’t just walk out of town without a word to either one of them.

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS * Word Count: 1069

It was one thing when the old man chewed him out for never sticking with anything in his life, it was another entirely when Lucky questioned that ability. The General’s hypocrisy – stinking and vast – had negated every word that fell out of his mouth. He might’ve sold his soul to Her Majesty’s armed forces, but he hadn’t come close to that for his wives or kids. The minute one lot had become tiresome, he’d tossed them out and replaced them with a new, equally disappointing set. Having found that out JJ had figured there wasn’t a damn thing he was screwing up in his life that could trump that.

A job was a job. You signed on the dotted line for a contract and if it happened to get torn up because you couldn’t be flexible with one of their nine million rules then fuck it. Someone else would pick you up. If not then there was always freelance work. It was easier to ignore a problem if you weren’t directly employed by them. Nab their stories, take the glory if they hit big, then ignore every email and phone call after if they carried on being a pain in your arse.

JJ wormed his tongue into the pocket of his cheek, knowing that it wasn’t a question to start answering. Every point he made would probably be picked off and crushed between Lucky’s nails like a flea. He’d told her what had happened with Destiny, the rap on the knuckles he’d got for stepping over a line when it came to that knob she was shacked up with. He’d sat around the dinner table and told both of them stories about how he’d bounced from newspaper to newspaper, often having to skip over borders in less than legal ways. That wouldn’t have screamed secure to Destiny, let alone a woman who was looking at her kid asking her where daddy was.

He bit down on the tip of his tongue, trying to pin down the knee jerk words that wanted to escape – the ones that’d only be flipped around and tossed back at him. Trying anyway, he wasn’t surprised when her voice became a hiss, like a kettle reaching it’s boil. So he wasn’t just a flake but a numpty too. The next huff was half laugh, his chair creaking as he shifted his weight in it. ”Lemme get this right? Not only am I too blind to get why you think I’m gonna fuck up and break a kid’s heart, but my only interest in any of it comes from what’s between my legs. Take that out of the equation and none of the rest of me gives a shit. You’re the one not getting it, love. My kid or not, I’m not my old man. I’m not gonna vanish on her.”

Was there much point in unlocking his phone, scrolling back through his Whatsapp messages to the last call he’d had with Khadiija and the kids? Admittedly it’d been a while, but he hadn’t just dumped them the minute he’d got over the border. JJ’s eyes dropped to it, honestly considering it until Lucky tried to smudge up the end of things with her and Lucille. Make it look bad enough and he’d willingly step back from it now. ”Anybody ever tell you that you’re a sodding pessimist?" he asked, his lips twitching for just a heartbeat. Nothing was nice forever, that was life. You couldn’t go tossing things away just because they got a little worn around the edges though.

Maybe his words weren’t gonna do much, but they’d had more than that since the start hadn’t they? Maybe the wife and kids thing was just the more, who knew at this point. He hummed lightly, a querying sound to see how just far he was breaking through the lines she was trying to draw between him, her and Lucy. Lucky was hunching – closer maybe, or just getting ready to slip away – her pretty features crumpling into that frown he’d ignore easy enough.

As the grin broke through, a bit of sunshine hitting them clouds in her expression, JJ grinned back and shrugged. ”I was from the minute I met her, wasn’t I? Look, I wouldn’t have come home for dinner if I wasn’t enjoying it all. I’d have been pissed about replacing the cards but I coulda walked away that day if I really didn’t wanna have anything to do with her.” Lucky, Lucille, they were both hooked around him now and he’d pay out those lines if he did have to go – letting them know where he had to buzz off to before he got on a plane.

Who’d hurt her enough that she couldn’t trust a word out of his gob now? JJ lifted his other hand, plastered it over his heart wasn’t like he had a bible there to swear on). ”Swear it. I’m not gonna vanish in the night and leave Lucy sobbing.” Wasn’t gonna divorce her, or leave Lucy racing to the door on the morning of her birthday, hoping that this wasn’t the year the cards stopped coming. ”You want a blood oath sworn on it?” Maybe Destiny’d be willing to play witness on a contract if it meant he was partially out of her hair.

Was she … yeah? Yeah, that was looking promising. JJ straightened up as she leaned in, magnets drawn together by those two little words. The corners of his eyes crinkled with the smile that spread over his face, his cheeks plumping into the palms of her hands. ”Yes ma’am,” JJ crooned lightly. ”No more trusting that that things have already been discussed. Lucy comes to me, I come to you.” And then hopefully she’d keep … he wasn’t about to finish that one, not even in his head. The mischief slipped into his eyes though.

”Can I get permission now to take the two of you out for dinner on Friday night? I might’ve said something to Lucille about getting ice cream to celebrate the next time.” That wasn’t to say there’d be an invite back to theirs after, but if it did end up with him in her bed while the kid slept off her sugar coma, he wasn’t about to complain. He was even giving her a little tug towards him with that grip he still had on her, trying to get her to slide off his desk and onto his lap. A bloke was entitled to bid his wife a fond farewell with a kiss, weren’t he?

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS * Word Count: 1097