Poker Face

Chapter 12 - Nerve Begets Nerve

"I said get up, you fucking cunt! You do what I fucking tell you to do!" The man yanked Aven out of her cage and threw her to the floor before pulling her back up to her knees to strike her across the face. Another blow came immediately after, his fist connecting with her jaw and knocking her again to the floor.

With bruising pain spreading across the lower half of her face, Aven turned her head to see the man wielding his favorite knife. He held it up so the light from the single uncovered light bulb hanging from the ceiling glinted off of it. He savored the moment as he anticipated the pain he was about to inflict. Aven watched him move in slow motion, the room going silent though his mouth seemed to be moving in speech. He crouched down next to her with a crazed look in his eyes and slowly drew his knife back before plunging forwards with it.

CRACK

Sound returned to the dark, tiny basement room and a barbed baseball bat missed Aven's nose by an inch. She looked up to see Negan grinning down at her with his hand outstretched. Aven reached out and took it to get up, but he instead lowered himself down to her level, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to his chest. For once, she returned the gesture and brought her hands up to hook around his neck.

"You're safe, doll," he murmered, his voice soft and deep like a lullaby. He gazed down at her amorously, his hooded eyes admiring every inch of her face, and she gazed back overwhelmed by relief, thankfulness, and a small but expanding desire in the pit of her stomach.

"Negan," she breathed gratefully, tightening her arms around his neck to pull herself closer to him. She touched her lips to his bearded jaw, savoring the feeling of it against her skin as he slowly turned his head, his lips headed straight for hers.

She woke suddenly, as if only to interrupt her own dream. She opened her eyes and stared up towards the tall ceiling, remembering that today was the day she was leaving Negan. As the thought popped into her mind, she felt a pang of sadness and wanted to retreat back into her dreams. Negan had a specific way he wanted her to leave and she decided to humor him, spending one last night at the Sanctuary sleeping on his couch. It was the most sound sleep she'd gotten since arriving there.

Negan, on the other hand, was unable to even relax. After watching her doze off, he'd initially tried to lie down in bed and go to sleep, but he quickly realized how hopeless the effort was. He ended up spending most of the night sitting in a chair across from Aven, staring like a creep. When the sun rose, he finally pulled himself away from her and went out into the hall, remembering to lock the door behind him this time, not that it mattered much anymore.

He began to prepare for the short trip he was going to take with Aven outside the Sanctuary walls. As a safety precaution, they'd drive for a while and he'd drop her off far enough away that she wouldn't be able to lead anyone back to cause trouble. He went downstairs to the market where tables of all kinds of items were set out, but it was still early enough that no one had yet woken up for work. At first, Negan just moped around the room, feeling completely out of character with his heart heavy in the reality of Aven leaving.

After circling the room once, he grabbed a big, sturdy backpack and got to work filling it with supplies. After finding most of the essentials, he passed a table covered in boxes of movie theatre candy and grabbed a few packs of sour patch kids and M&Ms for the road, tossing them on top of the backpack before closing it. He spent a while looking for clothes, unsure what would fit Aven, and ended up with a huge pile of assorted garments in his arms. On top of the pile lay a small, lacy red thong and a matching see-through bra, which he picked if only just to see the look on Aven's face when she saw them.