A/N Hello to all and thank you for stopping by to check out my new Bethyl story. I hope you enjoy!
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Her curiosity regarding Mr. Dixon was piqued and she was looking forward to having an opportunity to finally talk to him. He'd been her landlord for a month and she'd never even laid eyes on him. She wasn't taking any chances of missing his arrival, she'd been sitting outside ever since mid-morning sketching designs, reading and waiting.
There were so many questions going through her mind. She wondered what it was he did exactly. His side of the building just had a small sign over the entry door, Dixon Smithing, and since there were dark shades pulled down over the windows there had been no way to sneak a peek inside.
"Smithing." That could mean so many things. He could be a wood smith, a metal smith, she herself could be called a silversmith and a goldsmith. When she rented the unit she asked the leasing agent but he seemed reluctant to say too much about the man, instead he answered, "I'm sure Mr. Dixon will be happy to tell you all about it when he returns."
He'd been out of town since the day before she found the place and signed the rental lease. She'd missed meeting him by a mere twenty-four hours. The agent told her he did it a few times a year, took off on his motorcycle and went riding. Usually it was for a week or two but sometimes, as in this case, for as long as a month.
That made him sound so interesting, like such a free spirit. Free spirits were some of her favorite people. She admired them, envied them really. At least the romanticized version of the free spirit. She always wished she could be more like that. She designed many of her pieces with that type of personality in mind. Spontaneous, always ready for the next adventure.
So now she would finally come face to face with the free-spirited adventurer who owned the building. The agent told her he was expected to arrive late morning, and sure enough at eleven she heard the roar of a motorcycle coming down the alley. It had to be Mr. Daryl Dixon.
She almost jumped up to open the tall wooden gate for him but that didn't seem quite right. Instead she sat and waited, a wide smile on her face ready to greet the landlord. The gate pushed open and the bike rolled in, stopping over at the far end of the back lot, what she thought of as "his side."
He brought it to a stop next to his other toys, a big extended cab pickup, what she was pretty sure was a boat under a tarp, and a cargo trailer. But the motorcycle didn't resemble a toy at all. In fact, it was almost menacing-looking with its total black-out design, and it was bigger and louder than she'd expected.
She knew he wasn't able to see her watching him, he was facing the wall, so she continued observing as he swung a leg around, dismounting the big machine. He turned slightly as he appeared to be loosening the strap of his helmet, a full coverage helmet that was as big and as black and as menacing looking as the bike.
As he lifted the helmet off, his long dark hair seemed to fall out of it. The hair was straight, messy and all the way to his shoulders. He gave his head a shake like a puppy would do, then raked a hand through the tangled mass in a futile attempt to push it back and out of his face.
Like the bike and the helmet everything he wore was black, head to toe. Black boots, black jeans, black shirt, black padded vest, and a black kerchief tied loosely around his neck. He grabbed a black duffle that had been strapped to the back of the bike's seat, then walked over and shut the gate.
Darkness floated around him like an aura. She didn't find it particularly disturbing, it didn't seem threatening at all. It was just there. Like it was his own personal darkness and it affected only him. It wasn't just the look of him, it was the feeling surrounding him, the vibe he gave off. Yes, that was it, it was a dark and dangerous vibe. Dangerous. Some perceived danger or some real danger? Who knew? She had no idea why she would have such a feeling, but her perception was that it was he who imagined he was dangerous.
He was pulling off tight-fitting motorcycle gloves as he walked toward her with a pigeon-toed stride. That's when she saw his beautiful eyes, but they weren't warm and beautiful eyes. They were hard and beautiful. They were the eyes of a man who had seen too many things in life that are bad, and not enough things that are good. Everything about the landlord seemed to be shrouded in the darkness, and still she wasn't afraid.
Quite to the contrary, she found everything about him fascinating and she was captivated.
For some reason she stood as he got closer. He tilted his chin up and in a raspy and life-worn voice he asked, "You Beth Greene?"
"Yes."
"K. I'm Daryl Dixon."
"It's very nice to finally meet you."
"Yeah, you too." And with that he unlocked his door, went in and loudly closed it behind him. So much for getting to know the neighbor / landlord.
She sat back down in her chair feeling deflated and wondering what in the heck just happened. That was all? That was everything he had to say? He didn't have any questions for her? He didn't wonder if she had any for him? It was just the two of them sharing the building, didn't he want to know who his neighbor was?
There were so many things she'd like to know about him.
She was having those thoughts when she heard the sound of another motorcycle approaching. She turned her eyes toward the gate and sure enough it opened again and another bike came rolling in. It wasn't anything like the landlord's bike. This one was an old school chopper with a seat that sat low and ape hanger handlebars that stretched high. It wasn't blacked out, on the contrary it was a showpiece of highly polished chrome.
The rider pulled over and stopped it next to the landlords' bike, dismounted and removed his helmet. He didn't shake his head, he didn't need to. His hair was close-cropped and he merely rubbed an open palm over it. And although this man was also dressed in black, black boots, black jeans, black t-shirt and black leather vest, he did not give off the same vibe as the landlord.
He walked over and pushed the gate closed and then started walking right toward her. She may have been a little nervous being approached by a strange man, except this man had a wide and happy grin on his face. "Hey there young lady, ya must be the new tenant."
His smile was kind of contagious and she felt herself smiling back, "Yes, hello, I'm Beth Greene."
He nodded his head, "Very nice ta meet ya Beth, I'm Merle, Merle Dixon. The fella you're rentin' from, Daryl, he's my baby brother."
His words almost made her laugh out loud but she succeeded in swallowing the laugh down. It would have never occurred to her to refer to Mister Dark and Dangerous as "baby brother."
"It's very nice to meet you Merle. I believe your brother's inside. He just arrived a few minutes ago."
And he asked the question like it was no big deal at all, "Did he at least speak ta ya?"
She liked this big tough guy. She already had him pegged. He looked like trouble but underneath all that he was really quite nice. She smiled and answered with a shrug, "Well not much, but he did introduce himself."
"Well good then. He ain't real outgoin' my little brother but I'll tell ya the truth. Between the two of us he really is the sweet one."
She was sorting that out in her head. Dark and Dangerous was baby brother, little brother and the sweet one? She wasn't going to argue with this man but his brother just didn't come across as any of those things to her.
"So did you go on this trip with him Merle?"
Now his smile was off the chart, "Well no I did not an for two very good reasons. One was he didn't invite me. He never does. I mighta just up n gone anyway, I can be a little ornery that way, but I's too scared."
"Scared? Scared of what?" She couldn't imagine.
"Well there's only one thing in this world I'm scared of an that's the woman at home." He laughed loudly and boisterously at his words.
Suddenly the door to Dixon's Smithing swung open. Daryl Dixon nodded his head toward her, then got after his brother, "Merle knock off the bullshittin' an get in here."
She just shook her head. Living in this place could definitely prove to be interesting.
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"Dammit Merle, why ya always gotta go outta your way ta talk ta people? Can't ya just leave things be?"
At the moment Daryl Dixon was a very unhappy man. Never had he imagined the person who would lease half his building would be a woman, and when he'd seen her his heart sank. That was all it took, just looking at her once and he knew.
He saw it the minute she stood to greet him. It was like she had a lightness about her, a kind of glow that surrounded her. He didn't think it was a bad thing, it was goodness and it was warmth. It was like positive energy and it seemed she didn't even know it was there. It was all just so natural, her natural state of being. It wasn't just the look of her either. Yes, she was a very soft and warm-looking physical beauty, but this was different than her looks. This was a feeling, it was the vibe she gave off. Lightness and warmth and goodness.
He had to keep his distance, he was a danger to her. But he found her so attractive and he was so drawn in. He'd have to be especially careful.
In a strange way it angered him, since when did women start leasing factory buildings in industrial areas? There weren't any shops or restaurants around, nothing like that. It was all just a series of small factories and warehousing. When the agent told him the new leaseholder would be running a one person shop and living in the unit as well, he hadn't thought much about it. He ran a one person shop and lived in his unit too. But this women, this Beth Greene, she didn't look like a woman who should be living in a factory building.
He'd owned the building nearly ten years. He made the down payment on it partly from some savings, the rest was his share of the money he and Merle split when they sold their Dad's land. Even though it was small by industrial standards the building had been a lot more space than he needed.
He decided when he bought it to lease out half of it and that would cover his taxes and insurance. His first and only previous renter was a tile setter. The guy kept his tools and inventory there and his wife kept a small business office where she took phone calls and did the books. It was good, just the guy and his wife and they didn't live there. They were quiet, half the time Daryl forgot he had neighbors. Then three months ago the tile setter up and retired. That's when Daryl hired a real estate person to find a suitable renter.
He'd established some ground rules of course. He didn't want any loud businesses like machine shops, and he didn't want it rented out as something that brought in more people, no dance studios, or music studios or small gyms.
When the agent told him he'd rented the place to a jewelry maker who didn't do retail sales Daryl was happy. It sounded just right. The thought of the jewelry maker being a young woman had never crossed his mind. Now she was here sharing his space and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.
Merle knew all about how his brother could get and he tried hard to get him to laugh it off, to step away from his dark thoughts. He plastered that big smile on his face and teased just a little, "I didn't go outta my way ta talk ta her, not even one inch outta my way. That pretty little flower child was sittin' right there an I just stopped ta say a friendly hello is all. Now what the fuck Daryl? She's just your tenant. Don't go findin' trouble where there ain't none. Nuthin' bad's gonna happen."
Daryl glared at his brother. He was shook, but he wasn't going to bring all that up. He was in no mood for one of Merle's brotherly talks. "Yeah well think about sumthin' else then. What if she is a hippie chick, an now that ya mention it she does kinda look like one, how do ya think she's gonna take it when she finds out what it is I do here?"
"Don't be scared little brother. She don't seem like the hostile type, I don't think she'll hurt ya. Besides you're well-armed, you can protect yourself." Merle went to laughing at his own jokes hoping Daryl would lighten up.
It was more like Daryl gave up, "Just do what ya come ta do brother, help me get this lathe moved."
Daryl already knew he'd do plenty of worrying about the woman surrounded in light, goodness and warmth.
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A/N We have our start. I hope you'll leave a comment / review and share your thoughts. The chapter photo is posted to my tumblr blogs, gneebee and bethylmethbrick please check it out. I thank you for reading along and I hope to see you all back here next week for more of Dark & Dangerous. This story will post on Wednesdays and until next week remember, I love ya large! xo gneebee