Candy Shop - Negan -

Chapter 9

In the Sanctuary time passed quickly and surprisingly peacefully. Alexis struggled hard to keep her attitude down and not act like she owned the place, but she fortunately succeeded mostly. 

If she was honest she avoided Negan for most of time. She knew that he always loved to push her buttons and that it always ended in fighting. Negan and Alexis were explosive around each other and even if the Sanctuary was huge, it seemed that it wasn't spacious enough to keep both their egos. 

Together they could built some great things, but in the mean time it was better if the two leaders stayed in their places, so the tension between them wouldn't go off into whatever would happen. 

The huge problem was that Kitty seemed love it here. There was so much to explore to her and the people here were surprisingly friendly. They seemed to fear or mistrust Alexis to some degree as they all tried to avoid her the best way they could. For a while she had hoped that she could meet some other apocalypse-moms here, but when she was in the cafeteria or in the market hall, no one dared to speak to her. When she tried to establish a conversation they all scurried off. She had the feeling Negan was behind this, too. At least Simon took pity on her and agreed on some small talk. 

There was still the unfortunate fact that Alexis had to shower in Negan's room. She had no clue where else to go for that and she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of her asking. 

Alexis brought Kitty to the kindergarten because it was obvious that the little girl was bored and she seriously wanted her out of the way if Negan and her started their bickering again. The young woman watching over the four other children in here seemed quite nice. She told her that there were much more kids in the Sanctuary, but most parents didn't have enough points to have a daycare for them. 

Negan's approach of establishing a new, figurative after-apocalypse currency was interesting and intelligently responding to human psychology. But of course it was also depressing that humans couldn't share and live without money in a world like this. 

The thought still raced in her mind when she knocked on Negan's door, but was shut down when the man himself opened the door. He was shirtless, showing off his many tattoos, just zipping up his pants. His hair was still wet and a mess from towel drying. Alexis eyes only flickered down his body for the blink of a second, but of course Negan's sharp mind noticed. His lewd grin appeared on his face, he wouldn't let this slip.

"You wanna see more?" 

Negan's hands went back to the button of his trousers to tease her. The other leader just gave him an annoyed look. 

"Shut up. I need to shower." 

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and regained her straight posture. Of course he was attractive. It was obvious, no one could deny it. This was just a natural instinct, it didn't mean that he had any power over her. That was her greatest fear. Giving up power was something Alexis couldn't endure. Maybe she had grown into a control freak over the years, but who could blame her? 

"Sure thing, sweet cheeks. I'll be done in a sec, come in." 

Negan stepped back to let her go inside. She looked at him with a frown and then fell onto the black leather couch, looking out of the large window. The walkers chained to the fence were quite the horrifying view but also that showed her what kind of amazing strategist Negan was. He was a clever bastard, that's what made him who he is. Intelligence was the greatest weapon in this world. Muscles couldn't save your ass if you don't know how to effectively use them. On their own no one would survive out here, that's why the less clever people needed leaders like Negan or Alexis. 

"How are you doin', doll?" 

His constant using of pet names was annoying her more than him having established calling her 'Lexi', but there was a hint of concern in his voice that made sure that this wasn't just chit chat. He really wanted if she was ok.