Cool About It
joel miller x fem! reader
Description: after your first encounter, joel turns into an asshole every time you're around. when tommy makes you two go out on patrol together, it turns into a muddled mess. turns out, he didn't hate you at all, he just sucks at emotions.
Part 2/3
FIND PART 1 HERE
PART 2 HERE
Word count: 6.3k
Warnings: MINORS DNI! this is 18+, post!outbreak joel, killing of infected (including a child), blood, some LIGHT gore, age gap (more specified in this part), very smutty, unprotected p in v, fingering, oral (f and m receiving), overstimulation, dirty talk, multiple orgasms, orgasm denial, pet names, joel is still a menace to society and a jerk
Author's Note: Thank you thank you thank you!! you all are so fabulous and sweet. I'm gonna make a masterlist soon, so be on the lookout. I'm also starting a tag list so, if you want to be included, please let me know! All feedback is welcomed. I love you all sm.
I came prepared for absolution if you'd only ask
So I take some offense when you say, "No regrets"
I remember it's impossible to pass your test
But I'm trying to forget about it
Feelin' like I'm breaking a sweat about it
Wishin' you would kindly get out of my head about it
Tellin' myself one day I'll forget about it
Knowin' that it probably isn't true
You’d be lying if you said you didn’t want Joel on more of your patrols.
The patrols after your night together ended up being filled with unspoken sexual tension. You’d go home sexually frustrated and hungry for more, but you were never bold enough to make a move. And to be real, you weren’t sure if you should. He’d say something about keeping your shoulders straight when you shot, you’d say something stupid like “make me” and he’d spit back with, “I may just do that, girl.”
But it never went anywhere.
Even if you tried to make a pass, he’d make an excuse or remind you that you two were strictly working at the moment.
You once invited him over after a particularly long shift, wanting some relief from the ache between your thighs.
“Got things to get done at home,” He said, “Maybe another time.”
So after that week of patrols, you were suddenly never on his patrols again. You were put on the exact opposite shifts, actually. You had some sneaking suspicions that he asked Tommy to switch it up. He stopped looking at you during morning meetings and eventually you decided to drop the whole idea of him.
It still crossed your mind every time you saw him, though. How he felt on your lips. How his body felt connected with yours.
Your breathing would change every time you reminisced on your time together. He would consume your mind for brief periods and you couldn’t get away. You kept telling yourself that time would lessen the blow, but it never did.
So you tried your best to forget.
On one particularly chilly morning, you head to your scheduled time at the stables. You’d be going out with Jesse this time around. He was a newcomer, a real sweetie. Tommy wanted you to teach him all you knew about patrolling and securing certain areas.
But when you arrive, you notice Tommy, Joel, and Jesse all standing around waiting. You hadn’t said much to Joel the last couple weeks, only a wave or a quiet mumbled hello. His back was turned to you, but you knew those shoulders and back all too well.
“Are we all going out this morning?” You question, adjusting your braid on your shoulder. Joel turns to you, not expecting your voice to come up behind him. His eyebrows furrow at your presence.
“Yes, ma’am,” Tommy smiles, “You and Joel are gonna be going up to the ski lodge. Heard there’s a hoard or two out there, they need to be cleared.”
“I thought you said I was going with Jesse?” Joel speaks up a bit too quickly. Tommy’s words caught you off guard, so you just stand there waiting for him to respond to Joel, but it never comes.
You swallow, clearing your throat.
“No, I was supposed to go out with Jesse, actually.”
Jesse looks at everyone confused.
He was a cute kid. 20 years young, fresh faced, ready to take on anything. He had all this energy, something you wish you still had. Now you had a bad back, fucked knees, and a terrible sleeping schedule. You were only about 10 years older than him and you’re falling apart.
“We can all just go together?” Jesse offers, adjusting his backpack on his shoulders. You knew that’d be shot down quick, especially when it came to a newbie. If there’s infected, we never throw the new guys into the pits of hell. They’d never want to patrol again.
Tommy shakes his head, “No, I want her and Joel to clear that area before I take you that route. They know it well. We are going to head towards the power plant. We have to bring back some supplies I have stored there.”
Joel’s eyes could laser Tommy in half at that moment. He was pissed and completely blindsided.
You surrendered to the idea, too tired to argue and fight about something so stupid. You also didn’t question their orders, simply because they knew better than you. You wanted to make sure Jackson was safe, just like everyone else.
You gesture Jesse to give the brothers some time alone, motioning towards the horses. You’d at least make sure the horses were ready for his trip out with Tommy. He grabs the reins of two horses, walking them outside towards the front gate. You grab the other two horses, doing the same thing.
He took notice to your tired eyes, “You okay going out today? You look tired.”
“Wow, Jesse,” You laugh, “I thought I looked great this morning when I woke up.”
He instantly starts to backpedal, not picking up your joke. You shake your head, trying to talk over all his apologies.
“I’m just messin’ Jesse. I am tired, but I’ll be okay, don’t you worry.”
He smiles, nudging your shoulder a bit.
“You just gave me a heart attack,” He chuckles, “You sure though? Even with Joel?”
You glance over at the Millers, watching them argue about whatever Joel was truly mad about. You knew in your head it was because he didn’t want to be around you. The feeling was becoming mutual. You never wanted to make anything awkward or difficult, but you guess that’s exactly what you did.
You just shrug. Jesse takes that as your response, grabbing the reins of your horse and handing them over to you.
“You stay safe out there,” He says, “Don’t let him get under your skin.”
You couldn’t help but snicker, “No need to worry about that, dude.”
–
Oh, but was he getting under your skin.
You initially just nod at every direction he makes at you, remembering that it was like this before anyway. But then he starts to undermine every suggestion you made.
“You don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”
“We will be back before sundown, you know that. Don’t be dumb about it.”
“Stoppin’ would be dumb as hell. You can wait.”
You had been begging for 30 minutes to stop and pee. He was not giving in to anything you’d say. After awhile, you could not hold it anymore. You pull your horse to the side of the trail, not even saying anything to him. You dismount the horse, holding the reins for a moment before you hang them on a branch nearby.
“What are you doin’?” He spits, noticing you off your horse. You come around the horse, giving him a deadly glare. You grab your pack, finding some cloths you bring on your patrols so you can wipe and throw away.
“I have to fuckin’ pee, Joel. I can’t wait any longer.”
“Get back on your horse,” He demands, his posture getting more stiff.
You shake your head, unbuttoning your jeans and turning back to a private area behind a tree. You remember the moments before kissing Joel for the first time. Him telling you how great your ass looked in your jeans. You grimace.
You tug down your pants and squat.
You relieve yourself, quickly using your cloth to wipe when you finish. You toss it behind you, standing up in your spot and turning around to head back to your horse.
You realize Joel is off his horse, bounding towards you. He grabs your arm, pulling you to face him.
“Why don’t you fuckin’ listen?” He says through gritted teeth.
It took everything in you not to fucking snap. You wanted to pull away and scream and yell and throw something at him. But instead your heart just started racing at the contact his hand made with your skin and you physically couldn’t do anything.
He realizes you’re caught off guard. He didn’t grab you hard, just enough shake you a bit to get your attention on him and only him. His facial expression changes as he drops your arm, stepping back a couple of paces. It’s like he realized he was being a bit too aggressive. Maybe it was your expression that brought him back down from whatever pedestal he thought he was on.
“Don’t touch me,” Is all you could think to say. He wasn’t even touching you anymore but you still felt him all over you.
He just nods.
You look down at yourself, realizing your pants are still unbuttoned. You look back up at Joel who’s staring at your panties peaking through your unzipped jeans. His eyes travel back up to yours. You decide to slowly button them back up.
You don’t hear what he says when he peels his eyes away and walks back to his horse. Probably some asshole comment that was better said under his breath.
You both get back on your horses and continue to the ski lodge in silence. Before you scale the one side of the mountain, you hear something.
You keep your eyes peeled for infected. You are almost positive that’s what you’re hearing so you whistle to catch Joel’s attention. You nod to your left, which is the direction you hear the familiar clicking. You grab your rifle from your side saddle, gesturing to Joel to do the same.
You always get this rush when you have to kill infected. It’s not a good rush at all, it’s pure adrenaline.
You dismount again, making sure your horse is tied to a nearby tree. Joel is close behind you as you creep forward towards the noise. The woods are dense with trees but there is also a ton of rock formations that were usually excellent cover.
The clicking gets louder and so does the sound of your heartbeat.
“There,” Joel whispers, gesturing towards a rock. You kneel, creeping up the formation and looking down. There you see not one, not two, but three clickers wondering around a dead deer. It was torn to shreds, blood everywhere. You weren’t bothered by blood at all, it was just the sick smell of decay that got you a bit queasy. You draw your gun up, aiming it towards the clicker closest to you.
“On three,” You murmur to Joel. You knew that you’d had to shoot two at the same time to give you enough time to kill the third with a quick reload.
Joel just nods, drawing his gun up.
“One,” Breath in, “Two,” Hold, “Three” Breath out.
The sounds of guns sent the clicking sounds to an all time high. Your ears are ringing, but you instinctively cock your gun, releasing one shell.
You aim, firing your weapon at the third and final clicker. You hear Joel yell something, but your ears are still ringing.
Then it hits you.
“Three more!”
Every time you’re in a fight or flight situation, you always fight. Old you would run.
You bring your weapon up, noticing Joel’s new position on the boulder. He’s aiming and firing at some infected down hill who are quickly running at you two.
You refocus in searching the area behind you. The last thing you needed was a sneak attack from a stalker. One enters your eye line and you fire. You keep count of how many bullets you have. Three down, four more left.
“Got two on your right!”
You hear Joel’s directions, drawing your weapon up and shooting another stalker between the eyes. The last one was a child, which was always the hardest. You knew that there was no choice, so you pull the trigger, which sent the child flying backwards. You wince a bit, seeing that this was probably just a family who got caught in the wrong situation. You killed all of them in less than a minute. Life wasted.
Silence fills the air, your ears still ringing from endless gunfire. You turn back to Joel who’s breathing heavily and holstering his gun.
You never had to question Joel’s abilities, which made him an excellent patrol partner. He knew exactly how to react in high risk situations.
He made you feel safe.
“Looks like we found one of the hoards Tommy was talking about,” He says, walking up to you, “Lets hope it’s just the one.”
“Glad it was you with me and not Jesse,” You say, relaxing your arm.
“That kid would be dead by now.”
-
When you’re less than a mile from your stop, you notice some storm clouds taking over the beautiful summer sky. The air starts to change. The wind begins to pick up, blowing your braid back and tickling your bare neck. The air smells like rainwater, sweet and pungent.
You use the silence to think about how simple life use to be. You reminisce about your childhood that was cut too short. You were a young adult when the infection started so you hadn’t been able to get married or settle down with a family. Everything was ripped away from you so prematurely and deep down, you crave that simplicity. Get married, have children, die of old age.
If only you could’ve lived in a world where you didn’t have to kill a child because some random ass fungus took over their humanity.
“We are almost there,” Joel says finally, pulling you out of your thoughts, “We may have to ride out the storm.”
You just nod even though he can’t see you.
The ski lodge was actually very beautiful. It was one of two that was used as a safe house for patrols, this one being your personal favorite. You had been there with Tommy once and he gave you the grand tour. It was reasonably clean for being so old, stocked full of canned items, and had very comfy beds.
You start to bring your horses to the covered back porch when it starts to rain. You grab all your gear, slinging it over your shoulder. Joel jingles a key out of his pocket, racing to the sliding glass doors. He unlocks the door, ripping it open as soon as the rain picks up. You both make it in the quiet lodge, setting your belongings on the kitchen counter.
“I’m going to get the lanterns up and running,” You mumble, heading towards the living room where all the lanterns were scattered about. Joel locks the sliding glass door, before he starts rummaging through his bag.
You turn on as many lanterns as you can, lighting up the room with warm glow.
You find your way onto one of the couches, kicking your boots off.
“Want me to start a fire? We may have to hang out the rest of the night if that storm don’t let up,” Joel questions, sliding his jacket off his shoulders.
You shrug, “Don’t matter.”
He starts to pile up some wood as you find an apple in your bag. You watch him slowly pace back and forth from the wood pile to the huge stone fireplace. You watch his back muscles flex when he picks up a piece of wood. You were using him as a distraction to get you away from those dark thoughts from earlier.
You bite into your apple.
“You bring anythin’ for me?”
Is he fucking with you?
“There’s canned peaches in the cabinets.”
He laughs, lighting the wood with a match. You watch the fire build and build as he messes with the wood. He was squatting, his shirt riding up a bit. Even his lower back was eye catching.
“You don’t wanna share?”
You roll your eyes, “I’m not sharin’ anything with you.”
He turns back to you with a smirk playing on his lips, “Not even a better look at those panties you’re wearing?”
You couldn’t believe your ears.
“Pardon?”
“You heard me, sweetheart.”
You did hear him, of course, but were in denial of the actual intentions behind the words. He creeps closer, finding a spot on the couch next to you. You take another bite of your apple, staring at him with curiosity.
Was he being serious?
You contemplate your options. Do you play into the game? Do you resist and possibly regret it later? He was such an asshole earlier. But then again, he always is. He was before you slept with him. So was that a valid excuse to not play into the game?
You remember the ache between your legs last night after reading a smutty romance novel. You imagined the characters as you and Joel, yet you never wanted to admit it. You knew that you wanted this, but resisting to give him a taste of his own medicine would be satisfying, too.
“Ya know,” He ponders, leaning over to meet your eyes, “I still have your other pair you left at my house.”
You remember the slight panic you felt the morning after when you couldn’t find them. You knew damn well he’d find them somewhere, but you didn’t think he’d keep them.
“Didn’t even know I left them,” You lie, your eyes averting away from him.
You were a horrible liar.
“You’re pretty cute when you lie, sweetheart,” He grabs your chin, tilting your face back to his, “You left them on purpose. Thought you’d use that as an excuse to come crawling back to me.”
He was being smug, you knew that. For some reason, you don’t cave immediately even though the conversation was making you tingle.
“Crawling back to you? Why would I do that?” You question, “When I have all these other guys who will gladly take up my offers.”
He smiles smugly, “Hm, that doesn’t seem very like you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t seem like the type of girl to whore yourself out to a bunch of assholes.”
His finger traces your lower lip, catching it and pulling down. You don’t pull away, soaking up the intense tension in the air.
“You don’t know me, Joel Miller.”
He just stares at your mouth, “I know enough.”
You want to lean in further, push your lips on his and finally surrender to him. But you hold on for a few more seconds. You’re practically quivering under his touch, wanting nothing more to just cut the shit and jump on top of him.
“You told me not to touch you earlier,” he mumbles, “But here you are just fumblin’ over yourself every time I touch ‘ya.”
“Will you just shut the fuck up and kiss me?”
His touch becomes rougher, his one arm pulling you into his lap, the other hand grabbing your face roughly.
“You start talkin’ like that you get nothin’,” his breathing fans your face, blowing your baby hairs away from your forehead, “Be a good girl like before.”
You squirm a bit, trying to lift your head in defiance. It doesn’t work, he has a good grip on you. His eyes are dark as he adjusts you so you are practically mounted on his lap. He releases your face bringing his hand down to your neck. He pulls you down to his lips, connecting them feverishly.
You couldn’t help yourself. You melt into him, your hands wrapping around his neck before sliding them down his chest. His hips are practically rutting into yours. You grind down, moaning out at the contact. You knew that being disobedient wouldn’t get you anywhere, so to get what you want, you knew you’d have to play into his dominance.
He smiles into the kiss, knowing you have been waiting for this moment.
You pull away, pulling your shirt off. He’s looking at you like you’re his next meal. You kind of are.
“Missed these tits,” He says his hands resting on your ribcage, right under your bare breasts, “Best ones I’ve ever seen.”
“Joel,” You groan, fumbling for the button on your pants, “Need you. Bad.”
He chuckles, “Yeah, I know baby.”
He fondles you for a second before latching his lips around your left nipple. His tongue swirls around it before he slightly bites it. You arch your back, wanting more from him but he just pulls away. You roll off his lap, tugging your pants down, including your underwear.
“Ah,” He’s not even paying attention to you butt naked all spread for him, instead he’s leaning down to your pile of clothes. He grabs your panties, holding them up, “Baby pink. You fuckin’ tease.”
“Joel,” You whine, nudging him with your foot, “Enough about my underwear.”
He runs his hands up your leg before standing up and discarding his own shirt and pants. He leaves his briefs on, his cock tenting the gray fabric.
“So eager,” he mocks, “What do you want from me, baby girl? Hm?”
You smile at the million of thoughts running through your head. But you settle for words that you know will drive him wild.
“Do whatever you want to me, Joel.”
He pulls you to the edge of the couch. He’s on his knees like he’s about to pray at the altar to whatever God may exist. Instead, he’s between your legs, speckling your thighs with scratchy kisses. His salt and pepper hair is messy, his sunkissed bare arms highlighted with some freckles. You never noticed them before.
“‘M gonna need your mouth,” He mumbles, raising his fingers to your mouth. You grab his wrist with your hands, lifting his fingers to your lips. You suck on every one, releasing each one with a pop. He watches you with his lips slightly agape, almost hypnotized by the action.
He uses his newly wet fingers to trace your slit before he uses his pointer and middle finger to spread your lips. He’s playing with you, making you writhe underneath his touch. You lift your hips a bit, which causes him to lay his free arm across your lower stomach.
“Patience, sweetheart,” He gives your pussy one lick, “I’ll take care of you, don’t worry.”
He’s good on his word.
He dives into you like a ravenous animal. His tongue hitting every desperate spot within you. You were taken to the same state of mind when he first ate you out. You had no words, just moans of pleasure.
He uses his fingers to toy with your opening, sticking two fingers in initially before he becomes too eager to see you fall apart. He wraps his lips around your swollen clit, suckling and moaning around it. You knew from before that he liked all eyes on him. You watch him as the vibrations mixed with him finger fucking you sends you into your first eye rolling orgasm.
You don’t think you’ve ever cum so fast in your life. It’s a release you’ve been yearning months for, making it even sweeter.
He pulls away, giving your pussy a little slap. It makes you yell out.
“Came without permission, but that’s okay,” He licks his fingers, “You have a couple more in you. You just gotta beg extra for ‘em.”
He was a menace.
You just nod, not able to communicate your actual feelings on him denying you the simple pleasure of cumming all over him. The idea of having to hold back made you a bit eager to see how far you could take it, though.
“Need your mouth now,” He tugs off his underwear, kicking them across the room. You don’t know how, but it almost looks bigger. Maybe it’s the swollen red tip that makes you overawe over it.
“Would you like me on my knees, sir?”
He leers at you, “What a good girl, being so polite… Yes, baby girl, get on your knees in front of me. I wanna see those eyes.”
You crawl off the couch, getting in between his legs. His cock is laying on his lower tummy, just waiting for you. You aren’t super into sucking dick, but this was Joel’s. You know that you had to give it your all. You wanted to give it your all.
You grab ahold of the base of his cock, keeping your eyes on him as you slowly open your lips to take him. Once your hot mouth touches the tip, he hisses in satisfaction.
“Mhm,” He groans, “Take all of it, baby.”
You’re not sure if you can, but you are going to do your very best.
You relax your throat as much as you can, slowly inching his cock down your throat. You’re halfway around it when it hits your gag reflex. You pull back, still keeping his cock wrapped around your lips. You sit up, jerking the base of his cock as you slurp up as much as you can.
“You got it baby,” He encourages, “Relax and take it slow.”
Whenever Joel praises you, you can’t help but let it get to your head.
You take a deep breath in as you take more of him in. Widening your jaw more, you finally get him completely engulfed in your mouth. He twitches inside, which sends a jolt of pleasure to your core. You let him take control, raising his hips a bit to fuck your mouth. He has a hold of your braid, which only adds to the experience. You’ve never had your hair pulled before, but you’re beginning to love the sensation. He’s a moaning mess, chanting your name like a prayer. Your saliva is all over his lower tummy by the time he pulls your mouth away from his cock.
“Gonna make me cum like that if you keep goin’,” He states, pulling you up to his lips. He kisses you, all tongue and teeth, “Let me fuck that pussy, yeah?”
You whimper, “Yes, please.”
“Such a good girl.”
He pulls you up into his lap while you slowly position yourself above him. You loved riding him before and with how sensitive and riled up you were now, you were prepared to ride his cock like it’s the last thing you’d ever do.
He focused his attention on rubbing his cock head between your pussy lips. You bite your lip as soon as he pushes slowly into your entrance. You groan, letting the sweet stretch take ahold of you.
“Atta’ girl,” Joel sighs, “Take all of me in that tight little pussy.”
You gasp as soon as he raises your hips a bit, repositioning how his cock sits inside you. His hand rests on your pelvic bone, pulling you forward. You realize he’s guiding you, helping you grind back and forth on his dick. Every roll of your hips pushes a moan out your throat, making Joel stare up at you with satisfaction. He removes his hands from your hips, bringing his right hand to your throat.
“Fuckin’ Christ, baby girl,” He lets out a wanton moan, while your stomach feels like it’s reaching a boiling point. He realizes how tense your getting so he reaches down with his spare hand, putting more pressure on your clit. “This is my pussy.”
“Mhm.”
“Say it. Say it’s mine.”
“It’s yours, Joel.”
“That’s fuckin’ right, baby girl. All mine.”
“Joel, please,” You cry, “I need to cum.”
“No,” He spits, “You don’t cum until I tell you.”
You clench, trying to resist the release. He notices you slowing down, so he stops choking you. Instead of letting you have a moment to recoup, he grabs your waist again, raising it slightly so he could raise his hips to pound into you. With his fingers still pressing on your bud, he chooses a bruising pace. You are practically screaming, the release imminent.
“Please, please,” You beg, “Joel, I need to.”
He doesn’t stop his assault on your pussy, “You keep beggin’, baby girl. I’ll tell you when.”
“Fuck, fuck,” You can’t stop yourself, the vibration from your incoming orgasm taking over your body, “Please Joel!”
“Cum,” He grits his teeth, “Cum all over this cock, baby girl.”
You have never had an orgasm take over every fiber of your being like it. You throw your head back, yelling Joel’s into the silence of the house. His pace slows down, as your cum soaks his lower half.
“Oh my god,” You groan, not knowing how to formulate a full sentence yet. You were still seeing stars in your vision, as you try to refocus on Joel.
“Holy shit,” He pulls out of you, “You okay?”
You just nod, your head falling forward. Your braid falls over your chest in between your breasts. Joel grabs the end of it, toying with it for a moment while you catch your breath.
“I’ll give you a minute,” He picks you up off him, laying you onto the cushion next to him. You grab his hand as he tries to pull away.
“I don’t need one,” You were still spent from the first two orgasms, it was written all over your face. Joel just chuckles, positioning himself over your body. He cages you in, tilting your face so you make eye contact.
“You ready for me already?”
“Need you.”
He uses his leg to part your thighs, settling between you again. He was still hard, his cock nudging your swollen wet opening.
“I want your eyes on me,” He commands.
“Yes, sir.”
He pushes into you again, your mouth parting in a gasp at how sensitive you were.
He smiles at your reaction while he settles into a steady pace. You try to focus on him, watching his facial expressions as he dives into you over and over again.
Joel had to be sculpted by whatever God created him. Every part of him was angular, his cheekbones quite high. His nose was just about perfect, especially from the side. His side profile was everything.
You truly didn’t think he looked his age. The only thing that kind of gave him away was the grays speckled through his dark hair. Other than that, the guy was a sex god.
You are too busy to admiring him, you don’t even realize how close he is. He’s gripping onto your hips, probably bruising them with how tightly he’s holding them. The way his dick twitches inside you, sends that familiar rush back into your body.
He’s not breaking eye contact. You smirk while he groans pushing harder into you.
“You better cum inside me,” You murmur, “Want you to fill me up.”
“God,” He cries, “So fucking flithy.”
And he loved that about you.
He releases into you with a loud sigh. You don’t teeter over that edge until he pulls out of you, looking to see his work.
He uses his two fingers, pushing them inside you, then back out. He rubs his cum onto your clit, slapping it a couple times. When you jolt in pleasure, he smiles knowingly.
“One more time?”
He positions himself between your legs again. He’s fingering you so lazily but it’s still enough to have you crying out in pleasure. You don’t even have time to respond to him, before you’re falling over the edge and cumming once more.
You lay there, trying to catch your breath again. Joel stands up on wobbly legs, making his way to the nearby bathroom. You didn’t know if this house would be stocked with rags or anything, so when Joel comes out with a folded blanket, you can’t help but giggle.
“This is all we got,” He gestures towards the blanket, “We can burn it when we finish with it.”
You take it from him, running it between your legs. The wooley fabric scratched a bit, but you didn’t have one care in the world.
Until you get a familiar sinking feeling. Like you did something very wrong.
You sit up while Joel takes the blanket, cleaning up himself. You try to stand, your legs feeling like jelly. You pick up your panties from the floor next to Joel’s clothes. You start to grab each of your clothing items, throwing them on as you go. You watch as he does the same.
“I guess this means you don’t hate me,” You mutter, not knowing what to say after what just occurred. You felt guilty and sick with anxiety.
If anyone else sat in on this day with Joel, they’d say the same thing. The way he talks to you, how annoyed he was to be stuck with you on patrol today, everything. It’d make anyone feel not wanted.
He shoots you a glance, “I never hated you.”
He says it with such conviction that you wince, not sure whether to believe him.
“You have ignored me for months. You fought with Tommy because you were stuck with me today. And then on the way here, you yelled at me for having to pee. Called me dum-”
“I didn’t call you dumb.”
You breath in sharply, “You’re just impossible, you know that?”
He shakes his head. You know he wants to say something smart back, but it never comes.
Instead he sits down beside you, keeping his eyes down at his feet. You wait for him to speak for what feels like a lifetime.
“Listen,” He huffs, “I don’t hate you. I am just not good at…”
“Being nice to people?”
He smirks, finally looking up at you, “Sure, but hey… I don’t regret anything that happened. I enjoy our… time together.”
You wanted to strangle him.
After months of contemplating what went wrong, he tells you he doesn’t regret anything.
After spending all that time acting like he did.
You wear your emotions all over your face and Joel realizes it quickly. He rests his hand on your knee, a gentle gesture that makes your heart rate increase by a thousand.
“You made me feel like shit for months,” You admit, trying to hold your composure, “I’ve felt like an idiot since the moment Ellie walked in that morning. You made me feel that way, Joel. You made me feel stupid. And here I am, all this time later, and I still feel fucking dumb. Maybe even dumber now, since I just let you fuck me again.”
His hand travels up to cup your cheek. You felt like crying, but you knew that it wouldn’t do you any good.
“I’m sorry if I made you feel that way, darlin’,” He confesses, “I am sorry for everythin’.”
You felt like you were being manipulated. You always had a terrible time figuring out what a genuine apology looked like. You were used to being exploited and having your heart ripped out and stomped on.
You turn away from his hand, looking out the back sliding glass door. The rain is coming down, pitter pattering on the tin roof over your head. You see lightning go across the sky, hearing the loud crack of thunder seconds later.
You pondered if you should just run in the other direction. Away from Joel, away from the emotions and memories that were being sludged up from the deepest pits of your brain.
“When I grabbed you earlier, you had this horrified look on your face…” Joel starts, bringing your attention back, “It was a face ‘d seen more than a few times. That look of disbelief and fear.”
You just let him continue, not looking him the eyes.
“I never wanna to make you feel that way,” He admits, “I never wanna scare you or hurt you. I knew in that moment, I was using that pent up anger at myself towards you.I just… I spent so much time tryin’ to find ways to keep you away from me because I don’t wanna disappoint you or hold you back.”
You finally look back up at him.
“I am sick of findin’ ways to keep you away. I like havin’ you around.”
You want to believe him so badly.
“I like having you around, too, Joel. I just…” You stammer, “I just need a bit, okay?”
He bows his head, “Yeah, ‘course. Why don’t you get some sleep? I’ll take watch and wait for the rain to let up.”
You take up his offer, stalking off to the nearby bedroom. You just wanted space, a moment of peace and quiet. Your body was still recovering from the greatest orgasms of your life, now your mind is littered with a million emotions you didn’t know how to muddle through. Once you lay down on the old bed, you realize that sleep would probably bring you back to life a bit. You close your eyes, letting your mind ease out of the chaos of reality.
–
When you wake up, you don’t hear anymore rain. You only hear the crackling of the fireplace. You don’t know how long you’ve been sleeping, which sends you into a slight panic. You waltz out into the living room, seeing Joel lounging on the couch you defiled and reading. It was a random novel, probably from the large bookcase in the hallway.
“We good to head back?” You question.
“Yeah, let’s get home ‘fore they send out a search party.”
You watch him stretch his shoulders as he stands, his jaw clenched in an unrelaxed way. His hair is messy and standing in different directions from the way he was laying. It makes you smile.
“Hey Joel,” You say, walking closer to him, “When we get back to Jackson, would you want to go out to dinner or something?”
His gaze softens. You were really trying, he could tell.
Your rested mind decided it was time to just jump head first.
If Joel was being honest with his intentions, maybe it was time for you to be honest with yourself, too.
“I’d like that, sweetheart.”
“It’s a date, then.”
taglist: @pedrotonin @mysingularitybts @harriedandharassed @paleidiot @misatoad @lottieellz101
916 notes
·
View notes