DAVINA [Rick Grimes AU Series]

| CHAPTER TWO |

CHAPTER TWO - GRAZED

It had been twenty-six days since Davina was almost raped by one of her clients. She was unable to stop replaying the events of the night over and over again. The pain, the sounds, and the disgust on Rick's face.

She was kicked out of the motel a week later for the broken door, the broken lamp, and the fees she hadn't been able to pay. She had packed her single bag of belongings and left with no idea of what to do next.

She had contemplated attempting to contact her parents, but they hadn't been very welcoming the last time they saw her, and in hindsight, she would rather sleep on the street than prove her mother right.

"You'll never make it alone. You will always run back home."

Luckily for Davina, she hadn't needed to sleep on the streets. A client of hers - Merle Dixon - had taken a liking to her from the first day they met. He had been a regular of hers for almost a year, so when she turned up at the garage he worked at, he was more than happy to see her. It took her hours to finally tell him what had happened, but he was more than happy to help her with one catch.

She knew what the catch would be, and she accepted despite how disgusted and terrified she was. Once a week, she had to sleep with him. It wasn't a big deal; she had sex with him countless times, so this was nothing new. The only difference was instead of receiving money for her acts; she had a roof over her head.

Merle wasn't a bad guy; sure, he did some dodgy dealings on the side, slept with anything that had a pulse and was a considerable drug user, but who was she to judge? He always treats her with respect and never physically hurts her.

He had become a friend over time, not just a client.

Davina still worked, but she had to travel further to find her regulars, and the winter months put her off going out most nights. After everything that had happened, she had also lost a lot of clients as she was struggling to trust that they wouldn't try to hurt her as Ed did.

On a positive note, she hadn't seen Ed since that night, but she hadn't seen Rick either. Although in some way she hoped never to see him again, she knew she would breathe a sigh of relief and feel safe for even just a second just by looking into his blue eyes.

______

Rick struggled with the aftermath of the night Davina was almost raped. He had seen his fair share of abuse through his job, but something about Davina and the terror in her eyes made it impossible for his mind to relax and escape the images.

Unbeknownst to Davina, he had been keeping check on her. He wasn't sure if she knew, but the man she had resided with was occasionally a police informant. Usually, to keep himself out of jail, but in the end, it was helping Rick to know she was relatively safe with Merle Dixon.

It hadn't gone unnoticed that Rick's attention at work had faltered. He was on track to becoming Sherriff, but he found himself far too distracted to suck up to his superiors.

However, he was still their favourite candidate after picking up an unexpected night shift on Christmas Day when initially he had the week off.

Rick didn't mind picking up the extra shift, even on Christmas Day. He would be alone patrolling and ensuring the drunken Christmas fun didn't escalate.

It wasn't long after his shift started that he found himself parked on the side of the road, on the same street he first met Davina.