Poker Face

Chapter 17 - Hold'Em

"We're gonna want to clear the bottom floor and seal any stairways just in case," Aven thought aloud as she and Negan dismounted the stolen motorcycle and stood in front of the hotel.

"Great idea," Negan chimed sarcastically, implying the precaution was a given. "Cleared it when I was here with my men a couple months ago but I'm not taking any fuckin' chances." With that Negan reached behind Aven to slip Lucille out from the top of her bag. "Gun?" he asked, holding out his hand to Aven who still had his gun.

"You have Lucille. I'm out of bullets," she replied.

"Handgun, right side pocket," he informed her, tapping Lucille against her backpack. Aven shrugged off one of the straps and brought the bag around to her front to retrieve the other gun he'd packed, while Negan's eyes dropped to his gun on her hip. "But I suppose you could keep that one if you really want my shaft in your hand." He leaned sideways towards her as he spoke, running his tongue along his open-mouth grin.

"No, I'm good," Aven replied smoothly, removing the gun from her holster. She took the handle in her palm, careful to make sure the safety was on, and stepped up against Negan so their chests were touching, her other hand dipping below the double-belted waistband of his jeans and grazing his bare skin. She lingered to watch his eyes go wide and then dark as he licked his lips. She slipped the muzzle of the gun into his pants and ran her palms flat from the front of his hips to his chest, biting her lip and looking him directly in the eye as she raised up ever so slightly on her toes. Negan wrapped an arm around her so his hand was resting on her opposite hip. She placed her hand over his before stepping to the side to spin out of his grip. He took advantage of the movement and spun her so her back was against him and she was locked in place with his arm fully encircling her.

"You're playing a dangerous fucking game, little girl," he growled in her ear. Just then, they heard a choking sound and a lone biter stumbled around the side of the building. Negan let out a shaky, frustrated sigh and went over to put it down. When he turned back, Aven was already walking into the building. He took note of the angel wings on the back of the leather vest she'd taken from the man on the road. Negan knew that he himself had provoked the man and was actually surprised when Aven had any interest in showing the man consequence. To him, the vest was a mark of gaining yet one more small bit of information about who she was behind the mask of indifference. Those glimpses at who she was were becoming more common and he was watching like a hawk for every little discretion.

The sun had set almost completely when Aven and Negan stepped into the windowless lobby. Negan reached into the bag on Aven's back and withdrew a flashlight, clicking it on and easily illuminating the once-pristine white lobby which had a desk running the length of one wall, two sets of big double doors across from it, and two curved, red-carpeted stair cases at the back of the room.

"I guess we might wanna clear out the next floor too, it looks like that's where the rooms start," Aven suggested. Negan glanced down at her suspiciously out of the corner of his eye. She was trying to turn in for the night as quickly as she could.

"What, doll?" he hummed in her ear. "So fuckin' eager to get me in bed?" Aven bit her cheek and her jaw twitched, and she quickly changed the subject.

"What do these doors lead to?"

"Gym on the left, bar on the right I think," he replied.

"Bar?" The word eagerly left Aven's mouth before she even realized it.

"Yeah, you know, a bar," he sneered. "Serves booze, full of drunks. Where you go to dance on tables with your tits out."

"No, that's night clubs." Negan's jaw dropped, entirely unsure whether or not she was serious. He stared after her for a moment as she made her way to the stairs to clear out any walkers. After a few minutes of checking around, they were pleased to find the building was safe. The last room they checked was the bar, and when they found it empty, Aven made a B-line inside.