Man with the Bat || a Negan novel

Chapter 17: Collateral Damage

"Shit" Negan lets out a disgruntled sigh, "Did you see all the fucking hell that broke loose back there?" He asks Phil and I, pulling a pack of smokes out of his back pocket. "I mean damn, that was like a bad action movie."

He lit the smoke, placing it between his lips and inhaling. I cringed as he blew a cloud of smoke out. 

"You proved your point though boss" Phil commends him, "Nobody fucks with you and gets away with it."

Negan chuckled in response, "Damn straight."

He casually slung an arm over me, but I didn't react to it. My mind was all over the place. In just today I had been reunited with people I love, only to witness two of their ghastly deaths, and all to be torn away from them once again. As traumatizing as today was, I was only focused on one thing. 

"I love you Mia."

Rick's words replayed over and over again in my head, like a record stuck on repeat. I had waited so damn long to hear him say that, so why wasn't I rejoicing over the fact he finally had? Why did I feel like this only made things worse? There's a time and a place for things. Rick hadn't gotten the time or place right on this one. I felt as if he had just hurriedly said it, just to get it out there since we didn't know when we would see each other again. It was understandable, but it still hurt like hell. 

We arrived back to the Sanctuary in record time, the process of unloading beginning before I had even gotten out of the truck. 

"C'mon Mia" Negan says to me, ushering me out of the truck. I followed behind, using his hand to help me out as usual. 

"Why don't you head back to your room for a while, I've got some stuff to get done" he informs me, "I'll come get you later."

I nod, departing without another word. 

"Mia, wait" Negan commands me, my feet stopping dead in my tracks. 

I hear his boots crunching against the stone, he gently touches my shoulder from behind me. He spins me around to face him, a genuine look of concern shining in his eyes. 

"You alrigh'?" he questions my well being. 

He knew something was wrong, but I just simply nodded. 

"Yeah, just tired" I cover up, not wanting to admit just how shaken up I was. Not just from seeing Olivia and Spencer die, just from every event that had occurred in the past week. A gal could only take so much.

His brute hand found its way up to the side of my face, "It's been a long day" he sighs out, I wasn't sure if he was buying into my lies or just seeing past them, "Why don't you head to bed, I'll come check on ya later." 

I nodded, offering a gentle smile as if to say, "I'm okay, I swear." 

He smirks down at me, pulling me in to softly place a kiss to my forehead. I wasn't sure why, but in that moment I genuinely felt a pull towards Negan. As if my heart strings were yanking towards him. He softly rubbed my back as I pulled away from him, one last smile before retreating.

The moment I got back to my room, I slumped on my bed in a heap of exhaustion. What a fucking day. I woke up with a throbbing bruise on my face. I had the scare of my life when Carl arrived and gunned down two of Negan's men. I reunited with Carl for a while. I witnessed Nigel  getting the iron because of me, which still left me guilt ridden. I went home, reunited with loved ones. Just to see two of my family members die right in front of me. Then the most crazy of them all, Rick told me he loved me. 

What a day.

I let out an exhausted sigh, nuzzling my head into the pillow, only to be greeted by a crinkle. It was noise like paper made when it was pressed upon, a crinkle. I reached under my pillow, only to be greeted by the feel of paper.