Freedom -Negan-

Chapter 18

Peter knocked on the door and stood by me. We had gone through another maze of halls and up two flights of stairs before coming to this door at the end of the building. About 6 feet down was another set of double doors where I heard woman giggling and talking. I opened my mouth to question, but the door in front of us opened and I was met with the presence of Negan again. I looked at the smirk on his face and glared at him.

"I see sleep didn't soften that face any did it, sweetheart." I rolled my eyes at the nickname. "Thanks, Petey-boy. I can take the reins from here." Peter gave a nod towards me and walked back down the hall we came from. Negan stepped aside to let me into the room. I crossed my arms and walked in, my arm slightly grazing the zipper on his open leather jacket.

The room was large. A king-sized bed taking up the left wall. Dark bedding covered the large mattress, and a canopy above almost reached the ceiling. A leather couch was about 6 feet away from the door facing me, with the backs of two upholstered chairs also facing me, coffee table in-between chairs and couch. Windows lined the right wall with black curtains tied back on each side. The walls were a dark grey, but the room was well lit by an overhead light and multiple stand-up lamps around the room.

Negan put his hand gently on my upper back and guided me to sit in one of the chairs. I sat and noticed the barbed-wire bat resting against the side of the couch across from me. Negan slowly sat opposite of me and followed my line of sight. A wicked smile crawled onto his face, and he gripped the bat with his right hand and brought it up to sit across his lap.

"Lucille is a beauty, isn't she?" I raised my eyebrows at his words. I knew people who were attached to their preferred weapon, but never anyone who named it. Especially something as specific as Lucille. I pressed my lips together.

"Intimidating for sure." I crossed my arms and sat back in the chair.

"No need to be scared shitless, yet, sweetheart. Lucille, here -"

"Intimidating." I corrected him. "And I never said anything about me." I made sure my face remained emotionless when I spoke to this man. I couldn't give him anything to use against me.

Negan dragged his tongue across his bottom lip. "There you go interrupting me, again. Luckily, Lucille, here, she likes you." He sat back and pointed the bat at me. I just stared at him with a blank expression on my face. His little act he put on didn't scare me. The bat made me nervous before, but after what he did with Jimmy, I knew Negan's plan wasn't to hurt me. Now he was just trying to get anything from me. I just wasn't in the mood to play this game now.

"Damn." He sighed and dropped Lucille, leaning it against the side of the couch as before. "You have a fantastic poker face, sweetheart." I glared at him. "Jesse" He corrected himself and narrowed his eyes.

"Can we just get to the part where you assign me to a job and I can get back to my room, please? And I know you have my stuff. I'd like it back." I rested my elbows on my thighs and let my hands hang in the space between my knees.

"I was enjoying this little back and forth we were having, but I see that you like it quick and dirty, huh sweetheart?" He winked at me, and I kept myself from rolling my eyes. "That was a lot of requests and not even a please." He stared at me expectantly.

After a few moments of silence, I scoffed. Okay, he wants me to ask nicely. I licked my lips and leaned forward on my elbows so that I could look more closely into Negan's eyes. "Negan, sir, can I have my shit back." I waited for a moment and added "Please." Never taking my eyes from his. I saw the iris darken around his pupil and he cleared his throat, leaning back into the couch. I followed suit in my chair.

"Thatta girl. Just needed to ask nicely." He reached over the back of the couch and brought my backpack onto the couch next to him. My eyes lit up and relief washed over me. I wanted to reach out and take it, but just seeing it was enough for right now. Negan reached over and unzipped the main compartment. I brought my eyebrows together in confusion and was about to protest, but he brought out my jean jacket and held it in both hands. A full smile broke out on my face. "You know, we would have had no idea what shit was what, but you – "He pointed at me with his right index finger and hung his head laughing. "You write your name on all of your shit. Everything in here has your name written on it. Are we in middle school?"

"I never want anyone to question what's mine." I said simply. It wasn't a new habit I had. I had been writing my name on my belongings ever since I was a little girl, when my mother would give my things away because she didn't believe I needed it.

"I can respect that." Negan tossed the jacket to me and I clutched it in my hands, causing pain in my right hand, but I didn't care. I shrugged on the jacket and felt like a part of me had been given back. I felt Negan watching me and I didn't care that he saw how happy I was when I had this damn jacket back. As far as he knew, it was just a jacket and that's how it would stay.

"Now, let's discuss your job placement." He sat back into the couch and put his right foot on his left knee.

I nodded. "Yeah, whatever will get me the most points the quickest. Peter was telling me that my meds are expensive so whatever you have, I'll take." Negan just watched me as I talked. "I just want to repay my debt and I'll be out of your hair." I also didn't like how many people there were in one building. The more people meant more complications and trouble.

Negan sighed. "I was hoping that you would change your mind about leaving after you got some rest in an actual bed." His tongue ran across his bottom lip. "But I won't sit here and not acknowledge that you look like you haven't slept a wink. Did you even sleep when you got to your room?"

"Yes." He narrowed his eyes at my short answer but nodded, making me think he wasn't going to keep pushing. I wasn't going to tell him of all people about my nightmare and I was positive that they would go away after a few more nights.

"Well, that's bullshit, but I shouldn't expect you to sleep soundly so soon after. If you still can't sleep after a few days of settling in, see Carson. He'll give you something to help." My chest tightened and I felt the familiar pang of anger begin to rise. This man knew nothing about me and he was acting like he knew how to fix me. Arrogant asshole. My jaw clenched and I avoided his eyes so he couldn't see my reaction. I just nodded my head.

"Now, for your job. My first instinct about you is that you're a survivor. Whether your story about being alone for this whole time is true or not, my gut says that you're a badass who can handle herself." My body relaxed a little. At least that part was right. "I'm low on runners and I'd think you'd be a good fit, with supervision, of course."

"Runners? Like scavenging for supplies?" I wanted to clarify since it sounded too simple.

"You said that's what you did on your own, isn't it?" Negan cocked his head to the side.

"Yes, and I've gotten real damn good at it." I narrowed my eyes.

"You're a damn pistol, aren't you sweetheart?" He smirked at me, and I couldn't help but return it.

"You've got no idea, Negan." His smile grew and he put his foot back on the ground and stood up. I stood as well. He grabbed my backpack and took a step closer to me, only a foot away. He held my backpack out to me and I grabbed the strap with my left hand. I moved my arm to take it from him, but he brought his other hand over mine and my eyes snaped up to his and my breath caught in my throat. Negan leaned down so that he was close to my ear.

"I left the knife in here as a show of trust. Do not make me regret it." His voice was low, and that last bit was almost a growl. He straightened and looked at his hand over my left wrist. His thumb swiped across the rope burns on my wrist a few times before he let me have my bag. I pressed my lips together and stood on my tip toes, my mouth not quite reaching his ear.

"Wouldn't dream of it." I made my voice low like his and I heard of noise in the back of his throat. I rocked back onto my heels and saw he had a smirk on his face.

He jerked his head towards the door. "Try to get some sleep, Pistol." He winked.

"That's better than sweetheart, but name's still Jesse." I winked back.

I turned and threw my backpack over the left shoulder and walked out the door.