Freedom -Negan-

Chapter 12

"I guessed." Keeping my eyes locked with his.

"Normally people will be polite and give their name in return. Especially after they allegedly killed 14 of my men. 15 if that poor bastard they brought in kicks the bucket." The smile was gone.

"Allegedly?" I asked annoyed. "Nothing alleged about it. I did it."

"By yourself?" Negan cocked his head to the left.

"Yes."

"What about poor Jimmy? Now, Simon told me the shit you said back at the barn. About the outside matching the inside? Never laughed so hard in my fucking life! I think you're a woman after my own heart!' He gave a jovial laugh.

"Do you know what your men do, Mr. Negan?" I interrupted his laugh, disgust rising inside of me. I lowered my eyes and stared down at the tabletop between us, not wanting him to see the emotions building behind them.

"Please, just Negan, mister is saved for the bedroom." He winked at me. "And about knowing what my men do? Of course, I know what the shit my men do because I order them to do it."

My head shot up to look at him. "Ordered them? Really?" My jaw clenched and my mind begged my mouth to stop, but it needed to be said. "Well, Negan," I said his name with distain in my voice and saw his jaw tighten and eyes narrow. "I think there is one of two situations going on here."

"One is that these men are following your orders and you are a disgusting, vile human being." Negan opened his mouth to speak, but I continued before he could get any words in. "Or two: you have no idea what your men are doing and that makes you a god damn fool."

Negan just looked at me in shock or awe, I didn't know, but I kept eye contact to make sure he understood the weight of my words.

"Well god damn tell me, then." His voice was low. He moved back in his chair and placed his hands in his lap. "I'm waiting."

I licked my lips and stared into the man's eyes. "Those men kidnapped me and 7 other women, strung us up in the barn, beat and raped us for a week." That's it. My mind watered it down to one sentence with no detail to allow me to tell it.

"Bullshit. My men know rape is against the rules and the punishment is death." He didn't believe me. I narrowed my eyes and stared down at the table. We sat in silence for a moment. I could feel tears burning the backs of my eyes. He leaned forward and continued on. "Now, I don't take kindly to liars here. Jimmy already told me – "

I stood up and slammed my left hand on the table. "No! I don't care what bullshit he fed you, but that man tortured me for an entire week. Strung us up like fucking pigs! He made his 16-year-old nephew rape me if front of everyone and you're going to patronize me and tell me I'm lying?" I was yelling at this point. Negan stood up and towered over me from across the table.

"Lower your god damn voice." He whispered harshly.

My mind was racing for something to say. How could someone take the word of that bastard over you, the one covered head to toe in bruises and scars that would haunt your body forever. I glared at Negan in silence.

"Fine. You don't believe my story. Maybe you'll believe the fucking evidence." I grabbed the zipper on the hoodie I was wearing and dragged it down. Negan began to protest, but I dropped the thin clothing to the floor and exposed my naked body to him.

I watched his face for his reaction. He tried his best to keep it neutral, but the initial reaction was shock and disgust as his eyes widened. His eyes ran over every part of me, and my chest heaved. I kept my eyes on his face, trying to read his thoughts. I was fighting the tears that wanted to spill out. I would not cry in front of him. In truth, watching the man across the table gave me an excuse to not look down at my own body. I saw very little in the lowlight of the barn, but knowing what the men did to me, I'm certain that my skin was riddled with bruises and marks that were unsightly.