Taking a Chance

Chapter 30

The entire car ride home was done in complete silence. Daryl stared straight ahead as he drove, while Gabrielle was fidgeting in her seat the entire time. She was dying to know what had happened and clearly Daryl was not in the mood to talk. He had that stern look on his face that he got when he was angry and did not want to be bothered. However, that was not going to stop her from finding out what had happened at the restaurant.

The rest of the night just never picked back up and it ended quickly after they ate. The evening had lost all of its appeal. The second the front door closed behind them, Gabrielle turned to Daryl while they still stood in the entryway of their house with her arms folded across her chest. She was done waiting for him to tell her what was wrong. She had wracked her brain the entire way home on what could have happened and still came up with nothing.

"What?" he asked. She wasn't gonna give him any break, was she?

"Spill it. You've barely said a word since you went outside for a cigarette. What the hell happened, Daryl." Gabrielle took his hand and pulled him over to the sofa so they could sit down. "Talk."

He knew she wasn't going to let up until he told her. "It was Merle. He was waiting to talk to me."

"How did he know we'd be at The Coyote Grill?"

"No idea. Was just about to come back inside when he walked up to me. He must have followed us or somethin'. I haven't talked to him since that day at Mack's." Just thinking about it made Daryl pull out a cigarette and light one up. Gabrielle gave him look like he was crazy. "Okay, I know...I know you don't like me smokin' inside, but if you wanna hear this, then I gotta smoke."

Daryl always respected her request that he didn't smoke indoors and if he was telling her he needed to, this must be really bad. She could let it go...this time. "Fine, Babe...but what did he want?"

He lit up quickly, letting the cigarette calm him for a second. "What he always wants...money. And a lot of it. He's in the hole to a guy for almost three grand and expects me to give it to him," Daryl exhaled as he watched what he said hit Gabrielle.

"He wants three thousand dollars from you? Seriously?" Gabrielle asked astonished. "What for?"

Daryl didn't feel the need to hide the truth from her. "Drugs. He's used on and off his entire life and I know it's become a serious addiction. That's why I moved out on him. I couldn't take it or him anymore."

"I thought he was high at Mack's when he showed up there," Gabrielle admitted.

Daryl nodded in agreement. "He was and he was tonight too. Now Princess, I was no angel back in the day either. I told you my past wasn't pretty. I got involved and did shit I shouldna've done following Merle around all those years, but I changed...he didn't. Merle is his own worst enemy, always has been."

"What are we going to do?" she asked him. Gabrielle did not want to give Merle that type of money. It was part of their nest egg in the bank, but he was Daryl's brother and if he wanted to, they would need to talk it out.

Daryl noticed how she said 'we' not 'you' and appreciated that she was in this with him. God, he was so lucky. "He ain't getting any money from us. He did this to himself, Princess and he's a grown-ass man so he can fix his own mess. I'm done. We're not giving him the money no matter what. Unless he's looking to get clean, I want nothing to do with him."

Gabrielle couldn't help the tears that came to her eye. She was so proud of him for standing up to his older, very domineering brother.

"Why are you crying, Princess? What's wrong? You want me to give him the money?" Daryl was confused. He thought he was doing the right thing.