Poker Face

Chapter 41 - Loose Ends

A/N - Mostly a filler chapter + recap of Spencer/Olivia's deaths.

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"What happened at Alexandria that made you so angry this morning?" Aven asked. She and Negan lay tangled together, naked on top of their sheets, their lips still swollen and buzzing after barely having separated at all in the past hour.

"Jeez, doll," Negan chuckled. "You really know how to kill the fucking mood." His voice was rough but warm and he spoke with a small smirk, his lips moving against her forehead.

"Did Rick try anything?" she asked.

"No, not Rick," he began tentatively, not wanting to talk about work.

"Carl?" she asked, wary of his vagueness but too worn out to worry much.

"No, you remember that prick who opened the gate the first time we were there?" Negan asked. Aven grunted affirmatively, exhausted and practically falling asleep on his chest. "Spencer. Apparently his family was in charge there before Rick's crew came in and changed everything, and now he's the only one of the family left."

"Did Rick kill them?" 

"Not from what I gathered. But Spencer thought he could do a better job of leading than Rick, thought Rick should be taken out."

"Taking him out would just cause more problems," Aven groaned matter-of-factly.

"Exactly," Negan continued. "And this fuckin' pussy didn't even have the balls to talk to Rick about his fucking concerns. Wanted me to just do the fucking dirty work of course, no fuckin' questions asked."

"What did you do?" Aven asked knowingly. Negan hated cowards who couldn't take responsibility for their place in life. Going behind the leader's back like that to get him killed was a prime example of that type of person.

"Killed him," Negan said casually with a shrug.

"Crap," she muttered, constantly worried about their growing list of enemies. "Okay, they can't come back at us for that if he was a threat to Rick. Unless...was it bad? Did you do it in front of everyone?" Aven glanced up at him and he smiled back unapologetically.

"Well I don't know if it was everybody," he drawled. "Rick didn't even show until after the guy's guts were on the ground."

"Oh jesus christ," she muttered. "Did you kill anyone else? Or bring anyone back?"

"Only killed one other person but that was quick, one gunshot and I had Arat do it, so they can't fucking blame me for whoever she picked."

"Wait, I thought you were alone." Aven interjected, looking up at him with annoyance. The whole reason he'd had her locked in was because he went alone against better judgement.

"Had her and DJ's crew meet me this morning," he replied. "Went alone to show Rick I could fuckin' play nice but I don't have a fuckin' death wish."

"Dwight kept me locked in until you got back," she complained, lightly thumping her fist against his chest.

"Well I told him to only lock the door if you tried something, so-"

"You're fucking impossible, you know that?" she sighed. "Stop fucking locking me up places."

"We'll see," he said playfully, rolling on top of her to change the subject and pulling her knees up to his hips. "Maybe if you're a good girl I'll think about it."

"And what would being a good girl entail?" she asked with an eye roll.

"Well I have to say you've already done a pretty good fucking job," he said huskily. "Although if you keep it up I might never let you out of this room again."