sin and sawdust

29

Eve stood outside Negans door, staring at the dark wood. She wanted desperately to be on the other side but too afraid of what may meet her. How could she have forgotten about Negans first offer, to be one of his 'wives'? The thought made bile rise in her throat and she continued to stand, staring at the door until it opened and she screamed, a red haired woman dressed casually in jeans and loose fitting jumper screamed right back at her.

"What the fuck is all the screaming about Frankie?!" Negans voice boomed from inside, replacing Eve's nerves with anger and she barged right past Frankie and into the room.

Negan was sitting at his desk, papers in his hand, his eyes widened as he took in the sight of Eve holding the dinner tray, which she slammed down on the desk in front of him,

"Your dinner, Sir," she announced sarcastically,

Negan floundered like a fish out of water, his mouth moving but no sound coming out. Eve rolled her eyes and turned on her heel, he called her name but she held her hand up and continued to walk, leaving the door wide open.

She had just about reached her room, when a female voice called out to her,

"Eve!"

She turned to see Frankie jogging towards her and turned her back to her with a scoff.

"Just wait," the red-head barked and Eve bristled with indignation, who did she think she was talking to her with that attitude?

"Negan sent one of his whores to settle this did he?" Eve laughed, echoing Simons words from earlier,  "Should have known he wouldn't be man enough to come himself,"

"First off, I'm no whore," Frankie replied, a confidence in her tone that Eve was surprised at, "And secondly, no, he didn't send me, I'm here because you're clearly too hot-headed to stick around for even a minute to hear him out, you're well suited in that sense, shall we?" She gestured to Eve's room.

"Sure," Eve mumbled, throwing the door and allowing Frankie to enter.

"Got anything to drink?" She asked Eve, as she opened and closed her cupboard doors,

"Bottom right, bottle of rum, glasses top right" Eve sat on the armchair and took the rather large drink that Frankie poured for her.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, sipping their respective drinks until Eve could take it no more,

"So, unless you came here just to drink my alcohol, do you wanna get to the point?"

"The wives hate you, you know?" She said, not looking up from her glass,

"Why?" Eve asked, confused, she'd had no contact with any of them, save meeting Amber and Tanya very briefly that day that Negan had summoned her to his quarters.

"Because ever since you rocked up here, Negan has been more and more distant and now he doesn't see us at all unless it's to bring him food or to help him with something delicate involving women or children,"

Frankie took another sip of her drink before continuing,

"The girls are worried we will lose our privilege, we know you're fucking him and that we are redundant now, but we have nothing else to offer here, we'll either be out or struggling to survive," she gulped the rest of her drink down and poured another.

Eve allowed the information to settle in her brain, it was a lot to process.

"I don't know what to say," she started, "I had no idea,"

Frankie laughed,

"Of course you didn't, why would you? You've walked around Sanctuary with your head up your ass, demanding and getting things that people would give their right hands for and you're completely oblivious to it,"

Eve gaped at her, a fire beginning to stoke deep inside her,

"We don't know what you have or who are, but don't fuck this up for us just to walk away from it in the next breath. You're messing with our lives, our way of survival whether you intended to or not, don't make it all for nothing."

Frankie downed her drink and placed the glass on the table and walked to the door, turning back to face Eve before she left,

"The man has been on the edge of self destruct for years, this is the calmest I've ever known him, which is why its easier for me to let him go. The others might not be so attached to him rather than the lifestyle but I was his first wife, I'll miss him, but his happiness is something I value, don't fuck with it."

She closed the door softly behind her, leaving Eve sat open mouthed in the armchair, the glass of rum dangling from her fingers.

Eve sat for a while longer, pouring herself another drink, then another and another, running over everything in her head until the room became hazy and she crawled into her bed, sleep hitting her almost instantly.