quiet voices | n.

xv. birthday blues.

quiet voices. chapter fourteen.
SUMMARY ; darcey turns eighteen.

❝ now i know i have met an
angel in person ❝
——

" JOEY did you get the job done?"

darcey grinned wickedly at the nervous man throwing cards down with her in their very high-stakes game of speed, negan's voice crackling in over the walkie. there was a very ominous silence, before darcey broke it. "he's g-gonna be mad," darcey taunted, throwing down two more cards. "you better answer him."

"not gonna lose," joey insisted as his cards went down on the two piles. "gonna get that ipod."

"uh huh, those c-omics are mine," darcey giggled as they both had to stop, and they both turned a new card over. "where the fuck is fat joey guys?!" negan's voice boomed through the speaker of the walkie talkie, full of anger and warning.

"i think he took your assistant up to your office," another voice cut through the silence, darcey wasn't sure who, she couldn't recognize their voice. "his walkie is probably dead, he has the shittiest one."

"i-i'm so gonna win, when he gets up here, a-and you gotta kneel," darcey grinned. joey turned out to be a pretty good guy, he'd had a deck of cards in his pocket, and they'd started playing a few games to pass the time. the time went faster when they learned they had shared interests, then it led to joey saying he had a stash of comics in his room, and darcey admitted to there being a ipod in her backpack that just needed a charge. if she won she got her pick of twenty of his comics if he won her ipod was his.

"you gotta kneel too!" joey complained as they both got down to their last few cards. "he'll forgive me!" darcey insisted as their voices got louder the fewer cards they had. sure the was darcey had to kneel like everyone else — which she was certain negan only insisted because he knew it annoyed her — but he'd let it slide for her, for joey? not so much.

"he better be in my office you sorry shits! you were told to keep an eye on my assistant!"

darcey and joey could actually hear him hollering in the hallway outside the door as his voice rang through the walkie talkie, signalling he was very close to the door. joey faltered as darcey picked up the last of her cards in her pile. he recovered enough to get his cards in his hand, but she was already down to one. she just needed one, and negan was yelling closer and closer to the room. joey didn't know what card she needed and he tried to get all of his down, but after he put down the jack she threw down her queen before he could put down his own, just as negan opened the door.

"speed!" darcey cheered, jumping up from negan's chair as joey spun out of his with a soft curse to kneel. "i won! t-told you so!" her eyes landed on the leader as she proudly announced. "negan, i won!"

negan had been ready to tear joey a new one, he'd been ready to snarl, growl, and tear everything apart, have a field day with lucille, even if it was in his office. instead, warmth spread through his chest as darcey grinned widely at him, lucille lightly swung down to be at his side. he let a grin spread across his lips, but it was dirtier than the soft feeling in his chest. "oh, darcey, we fucking talked about this. you're supposed to be kneeling too." he noted her pout at the sound of her full name, and looked down at joey for a moment.

"before we go correcting your behaviour," he shot darcey a wink, smirking to himself when she ducked her head to look at the floor so he wouldn't see her shy grin. "did joseph here take good care of you?" full names for everyone, they were definitely walking a thin line.