Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
DARYL DIXON
the sun is up, warm and flowing through the blinds onto the soft white sheets of my bed. her skin is softer, her hair as golden as the rays.
the unease that came home with me last night is still sitting in my chest, my hands threatening to shake if i don't fill my fists with something. i can hear my heart beating in my ears, the blood rushing through my squeezed veins, and when she tugs my belt loose, the metal clanging, i realize i'm tasting metal too.
the metallic taste of my own blood sits on my tongue. i didn't realize i was biting down on my lip until that taste brings me out of my head and i tense, "wait, wait." my hands find leah's shoulders and she pulls away from the trail her lips were making down my chest.
i swipe the speck of blood off my bottom lip with my tongue, "i can't."
"daryl," her arms drop to her sides as my belt clangs again, but this time, it's my hands on it, threading it back through. "what's the reason this time?" she asks. "or is it the same as last?"
i fix the bottom of my shirt and meet her hard gaze. i don't answer, and that's her answer.
"i'm not her." she states.
i huff air out of my lungs, breaking eye contact with her as i step around to the foot of the bed, leaning down to pick up my things for my run today off the floor.
"she's not even yours." she drawls, utter calmness in her tone and it makes me want to ask her why the hell she even stays with me. i won't say it out loud, but she's right. she called it that night during dinner all those months ago, so that's the girl you're in love with, she said after meeting grey.
"fuck, leah." my bow scrapes against the hardwood, not wanting to have this conversation right now.
"what is it with her anyway? she's like ten years younger than you and you wanna fuck her so bad it makes you look pathetic—"
i turn around fast enough that she takes a step back, the heat in her blue eyes raging around. "why're you with me, huh? you didn't have to ask me to stay with you out there in that cabin, you didn't have to come here with me if you didn't want to."
"i'm with you for the same reason you're with me." she bites back through her teeth, anger drenching her words the way it's soaking mine. "because even if it's not real, what you and i have together, it feels nice to pretend it is. you needed me out there, when you were looking for your brother. i made you feel better, right? made you forget how shitty things were for a second."
i take in a deep breath, my chest broadening as it fills my lungs.
"she has no idea, does she?" leah shakes her head. "she doesn't even deserve you. if she can look at you day after day and not see how you feel about her, she doesn't deserve you."
