Disclaimer: The characters of the Stephanie Plum series belong to Janet Evanovich and are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended
Warning: This fic contains Joyce and puts her in a semi-positive light!
Pairing: none
Rating: Suitable for people over 13
Feedback: Email TT at ttsmiscellany@yahoo.com

The Favor
by TT

I gripped my steering wheel more tightly as I watched what was going on in my house, and believe me, it would be my house very, very soon.

I’m not a naive woman. I know my reputation and, frankly, I don’t really care about it. I’ve earned it and I’ve enjoyed earning it. After discovering that I could never have the love of my life, sex became little more to me than a tool to use and a release. Sex provided only physical pleasure to me because the only person I would ever love wanted nothing to do with me.

Do I still want the happily ever after? Yes. I’m still a woman and I don’t know a woman who doesn’t think of it every now and then. If they say they don’t, they’re liars. But the life I’ve created for myself isn’t exactly conducive to “happily ever after”, at least not in the traditional way.

I watched as the lovers shared one, last kiss. The fools forgot to close the curtains. But then, I didn’t marry him for his smarts, just his money. In a few months, when I divorced him, I would be keeping a large amount of it – most of it, actually, thanks to my pre-nup. The idiot didn’t even read it.

Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes and let out a sigh as my mind drifted back to the thought of happily ever after.

There was only one person who could make my fairy tale ending come true and I hadn’t a hope in Hades of that happening. It was my own fault. By the time I figured out why I was acting the way I was, my love hated me.

She still does.

Not that that I blame her. I was truly awful to her growing up. Maybe if I’d figured out that I loved her earlier, maybe if I’d been able to accept the truth once I figured out my feelings, I might have been able to woo her, to win her…

I could feel the small, sad smile on my face that appeared every time I thought of her and my dreams of someday with her.

There was only one role she would ever allow me to play in her life and it broke my heart every time I saw the hatred and distain in her eyes because of it.

Still, maybe, just maybe I could use that role to help her now. The truth is, I would do anything I could for her and acting like I hated her, painful as it was, at least kept me in her life.

Pathetic, really, but it was all I had.

As I sat there, the plan began to form in my mind. It was brilliant. Not only would it keep the fact I love her a secret, but it would allow her a “Burg accepted” way out of a mess she didn’t even know she was in. I would get to see her all flushed and angry – something that would fuel my fantasies for years, I’m sure – I would get back at my sleaze of a husband, and I’d get back at hers. It was a favor that would be easy to bestow.

Happy with my plan, I settled back in the soft leather of my seat and pulled out my cell phone. I dialed his number and waited for an answer, it shouldn’t take long, he’d had enough time to get back to his office from my house.

The secretary answered and I asked to be passed through. She put me on hold, but it was only a moment before he picked up the line.

Smiling at the thought of putting my plan into action, I purred, “Dickie? It’s Joyce. Joyce Barnhardt…”

End

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