Poker Face

Chapter 43 - Where Loyalty Lies

Aven and Negan arrived back in the cell block and Negan ordered the guards to throw Jared's near-lifeless body into the cell with Sasha. He was still breathing, but not for long. Aven wasn't sure what Negan had planned but she began to worry when he pulled his hunting knife from his belt and dropped it on the floor of Sasha's cell.

"Negan," Aven hissed, horrified. He was giving Sasha the opportunity to grab the weapon and take him out.

"Hush," he ordered, his deep voice echoing in the cell. Aven's mouth set into a hard line, knowing she couldn't stand there and argue with him. To her relief, Sasha didn't appear to be contemplating making a move. She stared seriously up at Negan, waiting to hear what he had to say. Aven couldn't help but admire the way he'd softened to start gaining Sasha's trust, just as in control as ever.

"Now, I'm sorry you had to see that, doll," he said to Sasha with a soft voice, crouching down in front of her on the floor and giving a small nod to Jared who was unconscious and unrecognizable, his body just barely rising and falling with his last breaths. "I know you've seen your fair share of shit."

"If you were sorry, you wouldn't be locking me in here with a corpse," Sasha said calmly.

"Incorrect," Negan chided. "Aven, why am I locking her in here with a corpse?" he asked, as though to force Aven to vocally agree with his dangerous methods.

"So she has options," Aven said stoically, her eyes locked on Sasha. She had her hand on the gun at her hip and was ready to pounce if the prisoner made even the slightest move to go for the knife and turn it on Negan.

"Exactly, so you have options," he continued to Sasha, his voice soft, a slight almost friendly smile tugging at his lips. "And you're welcome for that, by the way. I just want you to understand we are not monsters."

"This coming from the man who just tag-teamed a guy to death with his girlfriend." Sasha glanced up at Aven, pursing her lips tensely.

"Aven, wasn't it Jared who was bothering some poor girl from Alexandria for keeping...what was it, balloons?" Negan asked, remembering the first day Aven had interacted with Jared, intervening between him and a teenage girl. "Sasha, Jared was a dick and he was going to get someone killed sooner or later." Almost got me killed, Aven thought to herself. She shook the thought away, scolding herself for letting her mind go there, to a place where Negan might have hurt her. "And his death will remind people not to be a dick who puts lives at risk. So here are your options," he said, quickly shifting the conversation back on topic, his voice still gentle. He nudged the knife on the floor before her an inch closer and she just stared at it. "This knife is yours now. You can try to use it to take me out," he stood, resting Lucille over his shoulder, "but considering I am standing above you holding a baseball bat, that doesn't seem real smart. Plus, Aven here would probably rip those huge lady nuts right off you before I even stopped breathing."

"Maybe not," Sasha replied, glancing at Aven again. "Maybe I'd be doing her a service." Aven frowned angrily and opened her mouth to retort but Negan tutted at her, raising his hand to instruct her to stay silent.

"Or you could use the knife to slit your wrists, which would be a damn shame but I get it. You're obviously not on the shiny side of the street, given recent events. Or you could sit there and do nothin', wait for Jared to come back to life and eat your damn face- also a damn shame, and kinda nuts but hell, to each their own. Or you could use that blade and stop him from becoming dead-alive." Negan leaned back against the doorframe, leaning slightly on Lucille at his side. He turned his face to Aven and grinned widely at her. "Sweetheart, what do you think she should do?"

Aven didn't like Sasha. She didn't like her cool demeanor; it probably meant she was biding her time and waiting to strike. But Negan wanted her and Aven was going to help him, even if she hated listening to the soft, almost admiring way he spoke to the prisoner. Aven stared straight into Sasha, her face completely blank.