When Negan gets in the car and pulls away the sound of an old rock song plays on the radio. After a few miles, he turns it down and starts to eyeball me. I keep my stare ahead, not wanting to seem weak, "you made the right call, my wives live a very good life."
"Wives?" I question the use of the plural word.
He smiles and chuckles, "yes, I have a few. Certain women cater to certain needs."
"And what needs will I cater?" I ask him, swallowing hard afraid of his answer.
He looks at me closely, and then he moves his right hand from his lap over across towards me. I push myself back against the seat, scared of what he's about to do. Maybe I should've stayed with my group, maybe I made the wrong call. His hand barely grazes my legs but his hand opens the glove compartment and he pulls out some napkins, "here, you've got some of Red's blood on ya." He hands the napkin to me and shuts the compartment, replacing his hand on his lap. I pull down the visor to see my face and lick the napkin to get it just a bit wet. I start to run at the blood but only manage to make it less there, having dried over night. When I'm done, I sit with the napkin bunched in my lap he responds to my previous question, "well, we'll have to wait and see. I don't force my wives to do anything they don't want to do." He smirks, "but they always end up doing what I want. They live a certain way as my wives and in order to keep that, I have expectations." I nod, as if I understand. We pull up to a large and long building. It's maybe 5 to 6 stories high with windows across the entire front. It used to be something with machinery, that much is clear. The gates open for him and once we park, he gets out. I don't move, scared to death with what I might see inside. Negan comes to open the door for me, offering me a hand, "come on, I won't bite." He teases. I take his hand and get out of the car, staring still at what lies in front of me. When all the people from the woods pile in, Negan gives them direction, "Dwight, take the prisoner to the cell, you know what to do. Simon, you're on weapons. Let's see what fine weapons we got from our new friends. Everyone else
you are to debrief as necessary. Don't bother me or my girl for the next 3 hours or so." He wraps an arm around my shoulders and begins to walk me inside.
As we walk in, I see a ton of people on the floor. They all look and then bow down to their knees as Negan walks us through, "how many people do you have?" I whisper towards him, a bit in awe.
"All your questions will be answered, just keep walking." He directs as he strolls past everyone, their heads bowed. We walk up some steps and down some corridors before coming to a closed door. He opens it and calls inside, "ladies, I need some privacy." And within moments 4 women all dressed in black dresses scurry out of the room without a word. He encourages me to walk before him and into the room, "this is where the magic happens." He smiles, looking around his bedroom. He must read my face and he says, "the consensual magic, that is." He walks over to a couch and takes a seat, "join me" he pats down the seat next to him. I slowly walk over and sit, as far away from him as possible. He lets me sit silently for a few minutes before asking, "so, why don't you tell me your name now, darling?"
"Sadie-Mae" I say, trying to sound confident.
"Sadie-Mae. Now that's southern!" He comments, "are you a southern belle, princess?" The edge of his lips twitching, wanting to form into a smile. The word princess coming out of his mouth and not Daryl's causing my stomach to churn.
"No, I'm not a southern belle." I return, not wanting to engage in conversation about my past. I want to know about the future, "what's going to happen here?"
"Well, that depends on you." He responds. I eye him curiously and he elaborates for me, "I know you see me as some kind of monster right now. Hell, I get it. But everything that happened was on Rick. Remember that. So what I'm going to do is give you a week to feel things out, to see how things are. I have a feeling you'll wanna stay."
"And if I don't want to stay?" I ask him.
He clicks his tongue as he thinks but doesn't take long in answering "well that, I'm just not sure. We'll see how your friend Rick the Prick handles things when we go on our first pick-up." I nod, as if I'm accepting the deal but my mind is second guessing my decision to come, " I know you have some questions, but I'm not the one whose going to be answering them for you. I'm going to clean my dirty ass up and my other girls will come in and tell you everything you want to know. Unless, you'd like to join me in the shower?" He smirks, looking at me with inquisitive eyes, "I can make you forget allllllll about last night."
"I'm fine" I mumble back, appalled at his willingness to be cocky right now.
He stands up, going to the door, "ladies, you may return." He says and the women who left before come back in, "answer any questions she may have." He points at me before walking away.
YOU ARE READING
Determined to Endure: The 4th Installment in my Daryl Dixon Love Story
FanfictionThey say there is a calm before the storm and that's exactly what Sadie-Mae is afraid of as she starts a new life with Daryl. Without knowing what threats linger outside the walls of Alexandria, the two of them try to start a kind of life together.
