Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Joe could see the exact moment the idea popped into Sawyer’s mind. He was having great fun, grinning broadly as Luke was writhing in his chair, his heels scraping against the floor, his screams and moans of pain muffled by the gag in his mouth as Sawyer pressed a burning cigarette into the skin of the cowboy’s freed chest.

Luke panted heavily when Sawyer let off for a moment, his head sinking down to his chest as he breathed through his bloody nose, his teeth a stark white against the red of his neckerchief stuck between them, but his eyes were glaring across the room from beneath his dark brows and the shadow of his prominent lock of hair, staring at Joe with a mixture of hate and pleading as if he were asking him to call Sawyer back and leave him be. Not that Joe could do anything about it, a deal was a deal after all.

And it wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy the view a little bit. Luke’s chest was gleaming with sweat, his blood a nice colour of red, the way he struggled almost alluring. Personally, Joe would not have burned and tarnished that perfect skin of his so carelessly, but would have rather taken a knife to carve his initials into him, but since it was Sawyer who got to have fun at the moment, it was not Joe’s to decide. Even though there was something dark and ugly churning in his guts like a snake, rearing it’s head every so often when Sawyer would step a bit too close or grabbed Luke’s hair to pull his head back with just a bit too much fire in his eyes like he enjoyed himself very much.

Sawyer grinned down at Luke, took another drag from the relit cigarette and exhaled the smoke slowly. When he followed Luke’s gaze and locked eyes with Joe, the oldest Dalton could see the glint of a new devilish idea ignite in his eyes. Joe ground his teeth together and stayed where he was, leaning by the door, his guns at his side and his arms crossed over his chest. He was just here to make sure Sawyer didn’t accidentally kill Luke, while his brothers were out to get the money, that was all.

“You think you’re a strong one, huh?”, Sawyer said to Luke, grabbing him by the chin to force him to meet his gaze, “I will break you, cowboy!”

With that, he stepped even closer to Luke and let his free hand rest on his belt – and Joe understood suddenly very clearly what Sawyer was planning to do.

“I’ll take it from here!”, he exclaimed before even thinking about what a stupid thing that was to say, pushing off the doorway and stepping closer. Sawyer turned to him with a surprised look that turned knowing as he raised his hands and took a step back.

“That’s your type a’ spoils, got it.”

Joe ignored the words and their implication and pushed past Sawyer to step up to Luke who looked down at him with confusion and worry in his dark eyes, his breathing laboured and the tarnished skin smelling like burned pork. Looking at it from such a small distance made it look even worse. Even sitting, Luke was taller and it would have pissed Joe off if he wasn’t so used to it by now.

Looking upon the clueless cowboy and at Sawyer’s expression filled with lust for more violence, Joe almost regretted having said anything, but knew that he could not back out; Sawyer might not be a criminal of great reputation like the Dalton brothers, but he had his connections and it would not do good to have rumour spread that Joe Dalton had gone soft.

With a few quick pulls, Joe untied Luke from the chair and kicked him in the back of the knee to make him fall forward onto the cold floor. Luke grunted through the gag, but could catch himself before he lost balance and could fall flat on the ground face first. Sawyer meanwhile retreated to the side a good few feet away, taking a comfortable seat and a front row view to the spectacle he was sure to see.

Joe stepped around Luke, pushed an upturned crate in front of him and grabbed his chin with one strong hand, turning it upwards slightly and trailing his thumb along the corner of the cowboy’s mouth.

Luke’s eyes went wide in horrified realization and muffled sounds escaped his mouth as he started struggling against both the grip and the rope still binding him, but Joe grabbed him only more harshly.

“Listen, cowpoke”, he hissed into his ear, “it’s either him or me, and with him I cannot guarantee that you’ll survive it, so play nice, give him a good show and you’ll be fine, understood?!”

Luke ceased his struggling in an instant, swallowing thickly. Joe followed the movement of his Adams apple with his eyes, resisting the sudden urge to press his thumb against it.

“Good”, he whispered, stepped onto the crate to have the height difference evened out a bit and grabbed Luke’s hair to bend his head further back. Their eyes met, dark and fiery against large and pleading. Where Joe had felt inexplicable anger earlier, he now felt nervousness crawling upon his skin and a prickling of eyes on his neck. It must be Sawyer staring at them, thirsting for violence and abuse. Absentmindedly, Joe wondered how long he could try Sawyer’s patience before he would take matters back into his own hands. Maybe it was just those few minutes Joe needed until his brothers showed up and they’d get out of this mess with Luke intact and alive.

With a slightly shaking hand, Joe undid the knot holding the neckerchief in place. Luke gasped when he could finally breathe more easily again, spitting and rewetting his tongue a few times. Joe let him catch his breath even though he knew that Sawyer would be pushing for more soon. Therefore, he unbuckled his belt and undid the fly of his pants.

Lucky Luke was at his mercy. For just a moment, Joe could see all the terrible and temptingly hot things he could do, envisioned Luke with a gun against his temple while Joe had his way with him, hurting and humiliating him whichever way he pleased and lust crashed over him like an ocean wave, but then he resurfaced, seeing the terror in Luke’s eyes.

“Joe”, the cowboy exhaled weakly, “don’t-”

But Joe didn’t let him finish the sentence, slapping him across the face. “Did I tell you to speak?!”, he asked loudly, hearing an amused chortle from Sawyer. Luke seemed shocked at the mistreatment for a split second, but then his expression became hard and he glared daggers at Joe. Yet, he was wise enough not to say anything in return. Joe flashed him a grimace of a smile. “That’s what I thought.”

With deft fingers, he opened the last few buttons and let his erection spring free. Luke tried to turn his head away, looking anywhere but at what was in front of him, but Joe grabbed his chin and guided him back to the matter at hand, making their looks meet.

What a strange thing it was to have Luke kneeling in front of him with fear, actual, real fear in his eyes for once! It suited him in a way and for another short moment, Joe was transfixed, drinking in the intoxicating sight, before pulling himself back, sobering up as best as he could.

“If you bite, I’ll make you regret it”, he said in a matter of fact voice that was a lot less shaky than he expected. If looks could kill, Joe would be dead right then and there, but then the cowboy seemed to concede and haltingly opened his mouth.

The warmth Joe was greeted by was overwhelming. Luke gagged, probably more out of disgust than out of reflex, as Joe grabbed a handful of his dark hair and pushed in just a tiny bit deeper, before pulling back and thrusting shallowly.

Never would have Joe thought that Luke’s mouth would feel this good. His breathing became heavier and his eyes threatened to flutter shut, but he forced them back open. He would not be losing control, unlike Sawyer who would have drowned in his own lust with no regard to Luke’s health.

“Come on”, Joe urged the cowboy who would not stop sitting stubbornly still, his mouth pliantly open, entirely passive, “You only got to keep him entertained ‘till my brothers arrive, you can do that, now can you?”

Luke’s eyes widened a bit, the muscles in his jaw twitching momentarily and Joe realised that his choice of word might have been a bit misleading; Luke must be thinking that the three younger Dalton brothers would also have their way with him once they arrived.

With the thumb of his free hand, Joe brushed along Luke’s cheek, hollowing out every time he pulled back out, as if to calm or reassure him that whatever Luke was thinking now was not the case and things would be fine.

Just as Joe started to wonder how long he would have to continue with this spectacle, the door was pushed open and Jack, William and Averell came rushing in, each of them carrying a large bag of cash on their backs. Lightning quick, Joe pulled out of Luke’s mouth and let his dick disappear back in his pants.

“Took you long enough, where have you been?!”, he started at his brothers immediately. “Come on, money over there! Averell, if you robbed a bakery again, I will punch you, Jack, report now, William, how much money is it?”

The room instantly erupted in chaos as the brothers rushed to obey Joe’s orders while Sawyer looked about in confusion, even as he stood and tried to help get his share of the money sorted out. That was just fine by Joe who continued screaming orders at everyone, some less nonsensical than others. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Luke retch and spit onto the floor, staying on the ground and hanging his head like a kicked dog, but there was nothing Joe could do for him at the moment and so, he turned his back to the pile of misery, and instead counted the owed money into Sawyer’s greedy hands.

He did not see Averell approaching Luke, grabbing him by the armpits and helping him back onto the chair before having a look at the burn on his chest, nor did he hear Jack’s comment, “That’s gonna scar something nasty. Try not to strain it too much.”

“Pleasure doin’ business with you”, Joe told Sawyer once the money was handed over, shook the man’s hand and made a grand, but emphatic gesture towards the door, effectively telling him to get the fuck out of there right now.

Sawyer didn’t need to be told twice. With a wave at the Dalton brothers and a lingering, lustful glance at Luke, he opened the door. The moment he had his back towards the room, Joe drew his gun, aimed and shot him right in the back of the head. “Sadistic fuck”

Upon turning back to the others, he found them staring at him; Jack looked thoughtful, William threw him a meaningful glance, Averell seemed unimpressed and Luke gave him a hateful stare. “What?”, Joe asked, feeling like he had to justify his actions, “It’s better he’s not out there with these ideas of his.”

Luke did not answer, so Joe turned to his brothers. “Let’s get moving. Take everything you need and move out, quietly.”

“What about Luke?”, William asked.

Joe shrugged. “He has a knack for getting himself out of sticky situations when no one’s looking, he’ll be fine.”

His brothers nodded, grabbed the bags of money and Sawyer’s gun belt before disappearing into the night one after another. Joe was the last of them and he stopped in the doorway for a moment, looking back at Luke.

He should be saying sorry or something the likes, he reckoned, but when he opened his mouth, no word left his lips and so, he nodded silently, before following his brothers, leaving a trembling cowboy behind.

Chapter Text

The next time they met, Luke’s eyes lacked their usual cheerfulness. He pulled the gun on the Dalton brothers as soon as he saw them and made them march to the sheriff’s place in an instant.

Joe growled in annoyance, but dropped his gun and turned his back to the shivering banker at the register, heading out the door with his hands raised. His brothers followed him with various sighs and declarations about their fun being spoiled or having to go back to prison. Only Averell was in an amicable mood, asking Luke how he was doing since they hadn’t seen each other in a while. The cowboy answered with a noncommittal sound that was just short of pained and gave no further information.

“What’s he peeved about?”, Jack mumbled to Joe, who could only shrug. It wasn’t like he had no idea, but he sure as hell wouldn’t tell his brother about his suspicion. That was between him and Luke.

The cowboy kept uncharacteristically quiet and exchanged just the bare minimum of words with the middle aged sheriff who was shaking in his boots upon seeing the famous Dalton brothers march into his office, but braved the situation and called for a backup of ten men with their rifles at the ready. Luke, however, was gone before anyone could exchange another word with him.

The Daltons, who were not even in their cell yet, looked after him with various amounts of confusion. Only Joe turned away and pretended to see something of interest on the sheriff’s table instead.

Why did they have to meet Luke so soon again? It was really just his rotten luck to cross paths with him so frequently when he had promised himself to let some grass grow over the whole thing in hopes that Luke would be less inclined to kill him where he stood. Well, not that Luke had shot him or anything, but he sure threw looks as sharp as daggers at him as if he was holding himself back from punching or shooting him.

***

In the middle of the night, Joe jerked awake and looked about. There was something moving in the shadows, keys clinked and clattered, iron grinding against iron, then the steel bar door opened and a familiar silhouette slipped into the cell. Joe stared up in confusion when Luke came to stand over him and shook him roughly, his other hand pointing the gun at him.

“Good ev’ning to you too”, Joe grumbled, not even trying to pretend like he’d just woken up, “What’s got you coming in here? Couldn’t afford a place to sleep?”

“Shut up”, Luke answered, his voice dark and cold, “Come along.”

Joe sighed, but decided to do as he was told for once, because frankly, he was quiet intrigued. What did Luke have planned? Where were they going?

“Leave your brothers!”, Luke whispered and waved Joe outside with his gun, closing the cell door behind them before marching him out into the street. Joe still had no idea where this was going, but there was an uneasy feeling starting to form in the pit of his stomach.

Luke was obviously still very pissed about last time, and though he was not a man to do such things, he seemed quite bent on getting some form of revenge. Would he finally shoot him?

Grabbed by the scruff of his neck suddenly, Joe was pulled into a dark side alley and found himself face to muzzle with Luke’s gun. The cowboy looked downright furious, anger distorting his face and making his eyes almost glow in the dark with a cold fire. He was set on hurting someone tonight.

The first punch came as a surprise anyways and Joe stumbled back a step or two before regaining his balance, but there was no time to assume a defensive position as Luke punched him again and again. Only when Joe was breathless on the ground with blood running from his nose and a split lip, did he let off, instead stepping over him and grabbing him by the lapels of his prison shirt to hoist him up.

“You know if you wanted to brawl, you could’ve just said so”, Joe said and shot him a cynical, bloody grin.

Luke put the gun to his temple, his free had grabbing the hair at the back of Joe’s head harshly. “Did I tell you to speak?”, he asked, and oh, Joe knew alright what they were here for. The muzzle of the gun travelled lower, down his cheek and to the corner of his mouth where it lingered uncertainly for just a moment, leaving Joe stuck in anticipation, his pulse high with adrenaline and the urge to fight for his life rushing through his veins, but knowing that he could not get away without risking being shot.

Finally Luke forced the muzzle of the gun past his lips as far in as it would go, making Joe gag at the intrusion and he closed his eyes momentarily, just letting it happen. He should have known that even Lucky Luke had a breaking point and an eye had to be repaid with an eye. Joe was a man of the prison, he knew the rules, and so he tried to relax his throat as best as he could, choking back any sound of pain.

When he opened his eyes again and met Luke’s gaze, the cowboy seemed to freeze in place, the grip on the gun slackening and the hand in Joe’s hair shaking ever so slightly. For a moment, the world seemed to have stopped. Then, with a sharp intake of breath, Luke pulled his gun away, let go of him as if burned and stumbled backwards, turning away with his free hand coming up to cover his eyes.

Joe sagged against the weathered wood of the building they were behind and looked at the cowboy while wiping spit and blood from his lips with the back of his hand. Why did he stop all of a sudden? Did his conscience finally catch up to him? The thought was amusing, but Joe was wise enough to keep it to himself lest he get a boot in his face in retaliation.

Luke caught on anyways. “What?!”, he croaked out, “Stop looking at me like that! I could have shot you!”

Joe lowered his head. “I know. I was only wondering why you stopped.”

Luke looked at him as if he was crazy. “You into this shit?!”

Joe couldn’t help it, he laughed as he shook his head. “No, but I know when I gotta pay up, cowboy, and you’re right mad because of last time.” He leaned his head back against the wall and looked up at the sky, keeping Luke in the corner of his eyes, his heart still drumming heavily in his chest.

“Mad?!”, Luke echoed and slammed his hand against the wall beside him, “I’m not mad, I’m fucking ready to kill you! Not even in this you have a sense of what’s good and right, you savage?! Do you not have any conscience left in you?”

Joe shrugged. “Should I have sat back and watched him tear you to shreds?”, he wanted to know, his patience starting to run thin.

Luke glared at him wordlessly for a moment. “Is that supposed to be an excuse?”, he finally wanted to know, “Does it even begin to justify what you’ve done?”

Joe rolled his eyes at the cowboy and his rigid notions of what was good and right. “You make it sound like I defiled you or something.”

“You did.”

The short sentence was breathed out quietly, an admission to the wind and the wilderness, never meant for another ear to hear and an accusation that only Joe could understand.

Oh.

Oh everything made so much more sense now.

“Got nothing to say now?”, Luke asked, a mirthless smile contorting his face as he took a step closer, towering over Joe, his eyes hateful. “In that sick mind of yours, you really think that you did something good that day, huh?”

Joe eyed him cautiously. If this was really how Luke saw the events then payback wasn’t over yet and he was not looking forward to what was to come.

And indeed. Luke raised his gun and pointed it at Joe’s head again, hurt and anger flashing in them so strongly Joe could practically feel it burning his skin, but it was the muzzle of the gun he was looking at. Was Luke truly going to shoot him? He swallowed thickly.

For a moment, the gun pressed against his temple, but then something in Luke’s eyes changed and he lowered the gun, pointing downwards.

“An eye for an eye”, Luke said and dear God, the gun was pointing at Joe’s privates! The oldest Dalton whipped his head up to stare at the cowboy in shock, unable to move, unable to breathe, and when the shot came, he flinched and screwed his eyes shut.

Luke turned and walked away without another word, disappearing into the night like he’d never been there.

Joe on the other hand, sat leaning against the weathered wood of a building, his hands shaking and his breath coming in forced puffs as he stared at the bullet hole in the ground right between his legs, his clothes and person unharmed.