A/N: This is my first fic for The Walking Dead. I'm a huge fan of Daryl and I've always wondered why he never had a love interest. Daryl deserves to have someone love him and for him to give of himself for love. Now that the show has whispered that there may be a love interest in his future, it only made sense that it be the Paul Rovia. So this is my version of their love story. Will update once a week, should be about 12 chapters. Hope you enjoy! Please leave a review!
This story doesn't include Negan.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the world of The Walking Dead Comics and tv show.
Chapter 1
Daryl rolled his eyes as Paul began tapping out a rhythm less tune on the dashboard of the van with his fingers. Of all the people he could have ended up with during this excursion, it had to be with this guy. Something about the other man made him…uneasy. Daryl wasn't sure exactly what it was, but being close to him set his senses alight and his synapses firing. Paul had proven to be a good ally and fighter, and everyone else seemed to have accepted his presence, but Daryl could never really relax around him.
Maybe it was because he was a rhythm less bastard. Or that people called him Jesus. Jesus.
"Shut up, man. That sucks, you know."
Daryl watched as Paul's head swiveled towards him and his ridiculous looking big green eyes lit up with humor. His lips twitched with that stupid familiar smirk and Daryl wanted to punch him. He literally had to grip the steering wheel to keep from sending his head through the window.
"Someone's touchy," Paul said, grinning, "what's the matter with you?"
"Nothing," Daryl mumbled and turned back to the road, "Better not be a waste of time. Lot of gas we're using, so you'd better be right."
Paul made a face at him and Daryl fought the punching urge again. "I'm good for it. You think I'd have us all out here for nothing. I know what I saw, let's just hope it's not completely empty."
Daryl grunted, but didn't respond. He peeked into the rearview to make sure that Abraham and Spencer were still behind them in the truck. The group was out on a long supply run, based on Paul's recollection of seeing some stores during his many recruitment trips for Hilltop. He'd seen the stores several months right around the time he'd met Rick and Daryl with the truck fiasco. That had been almost a year ago now, but still worth a look-see.
They'd been traveling for almost two days now and Daryl was ready to find this place. Two days in a car with Paul…
"Okay, we're getting close," Paul said excitedly, sitting up and peering out the window. "The houses…I remember these. Place is about ten more minutes." It was getting dark and they would have to figure out the landscape before they did anything.
Daryl grunted in response and grabbed the walkie talkie from beside Paul, brushing his leg in the process. Paul didn't seem to notice, but Daryl jerked his hand away from him, almost flinging the device through the windshield. He cursed and Paul laughed, the sound ringing in Daryl's ears.
"Relax, Daryl," Paul said soothingly, as though he was a wild beast ready to run, "we'll get something. Got to."
"Fuck you," Daryl said, angry but not sure why. He gripped the walkie like his life depended on it and called out to Abraham. "We're about ten minutes out. Ya'll still good?"
Abraham's voice rang out through the walkie, causing both Daryl and Paul to wince and they smirked at each other. "Affirmative. Ready to go. Locked and loaded. Gotta piss like a racehorse, so let's hurry it up, ladies."
Daryl snorted, tossed the walkie to Paul, who caught it easily and sped up, hoping to shorten the time. It was time to drain the snake, so to speak.
After a few more minutes of driving, Paul points and says, "Yesss…there it is! I knew I remembered it right."
Daryl slows the van down and pulls into a parking lot, littered with abandoned cars and some trash. He stares at the building in front of him and then turns towards Paul with a look of amazement.
"Holy shit, man."
Paul gives a shit-eating grin and jumps out of the car, just as Abraham and Spencer climb out of theirs.
"Wal-fucking-mart!" Abraham roars and Spencer gapes at the building.
Daryl is excited and eager to find out what's left in the place. It would be the mother lode of runs if the store was still intact and hadn't been looted dry. None of them had seen a Walmart since the end of the world had started, except Paul. All the annoyance that Daryl had been feeling towards the other man disappeared as he got out of the car. The sun was setting lower and there were several walkers milling around the front of the store, but none had moved towards them yet.
"We're gonna have to wait until morning," Daryl says reluctantly, "We don't want to risk getting caught in there in the dark. We also don't want to attract any attention either…in case there's other groups."
Spencer nodded, but Abraham frowned. "Well, can we at least kill those now? Less to do in the morning."
Daryl shrugged, but Paul shook his head. "Leave them. Might agitate the ones inside if there are some. Will make more come. Let's just wait."
Abraham looked ready to argue, but then closed his mouth. "Right. First light then." He headed back towards the truck with Spencer following behind. Daryl turned towards Paul, who was staring at the store with an intense look.
"What's up?" Daryl asked him, nodding towards the store. "Problem?"
Paul looked at him and smiled. "No, no problem. I'm just glad that I managed to remember how to get back here. This will do good for our communities. There has to be something still in there. We didn't come all this way for there not to be."
"Better not have," Daryl said, as he headed towards the back of the van, where their sleeping bags were neatly rolled up. "But this is a good spot." He nodded towards a small hill. "There looks like more over there."
"Told you," Paul says with an even bigger grin, "Have I ever been wrong?"
"All the damn time," Daryl growled out and Paul sneers at him, "but you came through on this one." Daryl turns away in slight embarrassment as Paul perks up, clearly pleased by the compliment. It's a rare thing to get a compliment out of the sullen hunter and Daryl doesn't hand them out lightly. But watching Paul start preening like a peacock is just too much for him.
Both men climb into the back of the van, after taking care of their biological needs. Daryl wasn't completely happy with the sleeping arrangements, but he hadn't wanted to come off sounding like a dick because he couldn't explain the reason about why Paul made him uneasy.
And why did the man make him uneasy?
Paul had proven to be trustworthy, even Rick trusted him. And Rick trusted no one but his own. After that whole truck fiasco, Paul had redeemed himself, and Daryl wasn't even still angry about how he had made Rick and him look like fools. That had been a year ago anyway and Paul had been nothing but decent since, making his time between Hilltop and Alexandria. He'd been on runs with him and everything.
Maybe it was his eyes. Daryl found Paul's eyes to be…well…nice. Pretty eyes. And no man's eyes should attract his attention. It was bullshit. If his eyes were on a woman, then Daryl might feel differently about it. He would definitely find them nice. But not on Paul. Whenever Paul looked at him with those big green eyes, Daryl wanted to punch things. Mostly Paul's face.
But not his eyes.
Jesus.
"Okay, here's the plan," Daryl said, "We hit those out front. Then take what comes…we stay together. The store could be full up."
"I'd kill everything in there sure as day," Abraham said, with a shrug of his shoulders. "This is a Walmart. Do you know what could be in there? We have to clean this."
"All right, let's go", Daryl said as he glanced at Paul. Paul gave Daryl a nod, his eyes twinkling. Daryl rolled his eyes and they all headed towards the front of the store, their knives at the ready. Walkers began shambling towards them, moaning and growling and the foursome quickly dispatched them. Once they were put down, they worked on prying open the sliding doors, while several walkers inside the store began to gather and reaching for them.
"On three," Daryl called, when the doors loosened enough for them to get through, "here they come."
With a controlled jerk of the door, they began dispatching the walkers. They pushed their way, stabbing and slashing as they went, blood and brains flying everywhere. Abraham grinned the whole time, thoroughly enjoying the carnage; Spencer less so, but he kept up. Daryl worked alongside Paul, and the two were efficient as they moved forward into the store. They had a nice pattern going, smooth, quick and clean. Within about ten minutes, the tide had ended and the group stood in the main entrance of a Walmart.
"Wal-fucking-mart!" Abraham shouted.
They each grab a cart and head off in various directions. The store was mostly intact, but it had been hit before. There were empty shelves, but there was still enough there to fill both vehicles several times over. Spencer was in charge of food, Abraham was in charge of finding weapons. Paul was in charge of useful supplies and Daryl for everything else that may be of use.
Daryl came upon an aisle full of batteries and flashlights, and he quickly filled his cart. He moved around to the next aisle and saw lighters and candles. He knelt down to grab some up.
"Hey man, you might need to watch it there," came Paul's amused voice. Daryl glanced up and saw a stumbling walker lurching towards him. Paul was leaning on his filled cart, which was full of Band-Aids and toilet paper, on the opposite end of his row.
Daryl grunted in annoyance, saw a broken shelf leaning against the other shelves, grabbed it and slapped the walker across the head, which immediately sent said head rolling off its shoulders and landed with a thud several feet away. The body kept walking towards him and Daryl kicked it away, and stabbed the eye rolling head. Daryl felt a bit irritated that Paul had just happened along and saved him, because he hadn't even heard the walker coming. Hell, he hadn't even heard him coming.
Sneaky bastard.
"Fuck, man! You need a goddamned bell!"
Paul gave him a small smile and spread his hands in surrender. "Now that wouldn't be very smart. I'd have every walker from here to Timbuktu following us."
"Well at least you'd be useful then," Daryl grumbled in irritation as Paul smirked. "Bait for these dead heads." He jerked a nod at his cart. "What else you see?"
Paul's smile was brilliant and Daryl blinked. The way his eyes looked right then. Fuck.
"Everything. We could fill up for days. I'm getting another cart. We should start loading. Check if anything's coming."
"Yeah, okay." Daryl grabbed several more items and followed behind the other man as they hurried to the front of the store, keeping an eye open for Spencer and Abraham. The other two were already at the front of the store, loaded down with stuff.
"Let's start loading," Abraham said and he began kicking a path through the dead walkers to the front door. He disappeared while Spencer waited. After several trips of filled carts, both truck and van were almost full. They had room for maybe one more load of stuff. Daryl and Paul grabbed more carts and hurried off.
They ended up near sporting goods and Daryl's eyes widened when he saw a magnificent crossbow, even better than the one he used to have. He raced over to it and picked it up, touching it reverently.
"Yes, baby, come to Daddy," Daryl purred at it and put it in his cart and grabbed several boxes of arrows. There were hunting knives too and he grabbed those as well. He hauled his catch out the main aisle and seized a second cart, when Paul's shout distracted him. He hurried in the direction of the noise and found Paul fighting off three walkers, who had emerged from the stockroom area. As Daryl reached him, several more came through the rubber doors and the two men began to battle them.
"Watch it!" Paul yelled as a chomping mouth almost gnawed off Daryl's ear.
"Shit, man!" Daryl shouted in warning as a half body crawled and tried to pull itself up on Paul's leg, causing the other man to dance away cursing.
More walkers began pouring out from the stockroom and Daryl decided it was time to let it go.
"Come on! Let's go! Who knows how many are in there!" He pulled at Paul's jacket and the other man turned towards him, his face full of gore and blood. Paul back stepped, grabbed his carts and tore up the aisle, Daryl close behind with his one.
Shit! His crossbow!
But he didn't have to time to worry about it because a pair of reaching hands grabbed him through a shelf. Daryl pulled free and raced towards the front. Abraham and Spencer had another load of carts when the pair ran up.
"We've got company. A lot of it." Paul said quickly, glancing behind them. "They'll be here in a minute."
Abraham nodded. "Yeah, got some nosy fucks coming outside too. But we got a major haul. Let's get out of here!" They all pushed their carts outside to the waiting van and hurriedly began loading it up.
"Arrrghhh!" Spencer cried out as a walker shambled up and grabbed him. Daryl helped him to end it, while Abraham just threw things into the back. Walkers flowed out of the front doors and Paul pushed back in, stabbing and slashing. There were still two carts left and he was determined to get them. He managed to grab both carts, and shoved those forwards out the doors, with one cart mowing down a walker. A big group of walkers headed towards him and Paul dodged them neatly, but saw the front door was now blocked while the three battled outside.
"Hey, dead heads! Come here!" Paul shouted recklessly and several turned and ambled towards him. Outside he could see that Daryl was looking in his direction. "I'll catch up!"
Daryl groaned as Paul disappeared from view, but several walkers had moved away from the doors. He ran to grab the waiting carts and threw everything he could into the back. Where the hell did that asshole go? Spencer and Abraham were slashing at several walkers who had appeared from the parking lot and Daryl raced over to help finish them off.
"Go, go!" Daryl yelled as the last one fell with a splat on the ground. He turned when he saw a quick movement from the front doors and sighed in relief when Paul materialized and had slammed the van doors shut.
"Let's go!" Paul yelled as he ran and jumped into the van.
Daryl hurried and jumped in the driver's side and started the engine. Abraham's truck sped off and Daryl gassed it and followed behind.
"Holy shit!" Paul crowed, slapping his hands on the dash, "We did it! Look at all the stuff! Let's go home!"
Daryl laughed loudly and smacked the steering wheel. "Best fucking haul ever! Damn right!"
Paul hit Daryl on the arm and huffed out a breath. "Can't wait until everyone sees what we got!" He smiled at Daryl in satisfaction and Daryl's breath caught. The way that Paul's face lit up when he smiles was…distracting.
Jesus…another two days in the car with Paul.
The trip back didn't take as long and by the time the group arrived it was close to dinner. Once the vehicles entered the gate, several members of the community came out to greet them, Rick among them. He looked concerned when he walked up.
"Daryl? What happened, why are you back so soon?" Rick asked, frowning at them.
Daryl jumped out of the van and smiled at Rick. "Man…we hit the jackpot. The Walmart was there and barely touched."
Rick's face broke into a smile. "Are you serious?"
Abraham had climbed out of the truck and proudly saluted. "Absolutely, Sir! We have procured a number of much needed items for this here compound." And with a flourish he walked to the back of his truck and opened it. Several ooohhhhss and ahhhhhsss filled the area as people gaped at all of the supplies.
Michonne and Carol had come outside also and peered into Abraham's truck. "Oh my goodness," Carol said, "we'll have to start inventorying all of this." She glanced at the van Daryl was driving. "Anything in there?"
Daryl nodded, "Of course, girl. We put our foot all up in that Walmart! We have to go again. It's still full up."
Daryl turned towards the van, only to see that Paul had already opened the double doors, and had stepped back, letting the excited residents see its contents. Michonne gaped at the stack of toothpaste that was gathered in a corner and grinned happily. Rick rubbed her back affectionately and then gripped Daryl's shoulder.
"This is great, Daryl!" And he then pointed towards Paul, who was leaning against the passenger door of the van. "And you convinced me that you would find it! We need to go again soon. Gas up and head out again."
"I aim to please," Paul said happily, his eyes full of mirth. "I owe you guys for a truck full of stuff. So I've delivered." He gave a small bow and Rick chuckled. Daryl gave a snort and Paul turned towards him. "Am I forgiven now?"
Daryl gave a one armed sort of shrug, disconcerted by the intense look that Paul was giving him. "Whatever. We're good."
Daryl had to turn away from the delighted look that crossed Paul's face in the next instant. He should have picked up some sunglasses for the bastard, so that Daryl didn't have to look at his eyes anymore. And he needed to put that mask back on so that the smile wouldn't blind him either. He promised himself on the next run he would find sunglasses.
Daryl nodded and stepped back from the van and yawned. He was tired and hungry and really wanted to take a shower. He was staying with Rick still, so after exchanging a few words with residents, he headed towards the house. Once there, he grabbed a bit to eat, showered and stepped out onto the porch to take a quick smoke. He took a puff and then noticed something leaning against the porch steps. He learned closer and then gasped.
It was two packs of arrows. The ones from Walmart that got left behind.
Upon closer inspection, the magnificent crossbow that he'd had to leave behind was also there, hidden by the bushes. Daryl tugged it from its hiding place and stared at it.
Paul.
Paul had somehow knew about the crossbow and went back for it. And then surprised him with it. Why? He had plenty of time to mention it on the ride home. They had actually talked a lot on the way home, since both of them were still pumped about the excellent haul. They had talked music, which they surprisingly had common interest in. But Paul never said a word about the bow. Why wouldn't he have mentioned that he had found it and put it in the van?
Daryl frowned, not understanding what had happened. He wanted to be excited about the crossbow, but he felt confused instead. Leave it to Paul to take a good thing and turn it into some shit. Daryl grabbed the boxes of arrows and marched down the street towards Aaron's house. Paul had been staying with the couple whenever he was in Alexandria. Daryl rapped on the door and waited impatiently for someone to answer. Finally, the door opened and it was Paul.
"Daryl! Miss me already?" Paul said smoothly as he leaned in the doorjamb.
Daryl shoved the arrows at him. "What's this, man? Why'd you do this?"
Paul glanced at the boxes and then up at the hunter's angry face. "Why'd I pick up the arrows and crossbow you left behind? I figured you wanted them. I ran past them, saw them and picked them up. Is that a problem?"
Daryl suddenly felt stupid for standing there being mad about the arrows, but decided to press on. "You could've knocked on the door."
"You said you were in the shower, so I didn't want to disturb you. And I honestly forgot to mention it. We talked about so many other things." Paul said, his eyes twinkling with amusement and innocence, making Daryl feel like an asshole.
"Oh," Daryl murmured, feeling even more like an asshole than ever, "sorry…I…well…thanks." He stood awkwardly and pulled the arrows back from him. "Wasn't expecting that."
"I can see that," Paul said graciously, "that bow is a beauty. Have you used one before?"
Daryl shook his hair out of his face and glared at Paul until the other man frowned slightly, "Ummmm…I take it I should know something here."
Before Daryl could give a terse response to Paul's ignorance of his prowess with a crossbow, the door was pulled open wider and Aaron's face appeared in the doorway.
"Daryl!" He said with a genuine smile, "Come in…have dinner with us! We are having a celebratory dinner for the great run you all did." He pulled the door open wide and beckoned him. "The more the merrier!"
"Uhh…no thanks. I just came by to…"
"Come on! We haven't seen you in forever! And Eric's made way too much. Just have a plate and then you can go if you want," Aaron insisted, still beaming at him.
Daryl really wanted to say no, but Aaron looked really hopeful that he would accept the invitation. And something did smell delicious and Daryl found his stomach growling. The little snack he'd grabbed at Rick's had done nothing.
"Yeah, okay," Daryl mumbled as he stepped into the foyer and placing the arrows down on the floor by the door. Aaron glanced at them and his eyes widened in surprise.
"Arrows? Did you find a new bow?"
Daryl rolled his shoulders and said, "Yeah I did. Thought I had left it behind." He glanced at Paul. "He grabbed it for me."
Aaron looked at Paul and then back at Daryl. "Well, that's even more of a reason to celebrate." He gave Paul another quick look and then headed back towards the kitchen.
"Dinner in ten minutes!"
"So yeah, Daryl is the consummate hunter with his bow and arrow," Aaron was explaining to Paul, as they sat around the dinner table, now covered with empty plates and bowls.
"Well, I'm glad that I was able to help continue that tradition for you," Paul said as he drank from a bottle of water. "Hope to see you use it."
Daryl grunted and fiddled with his fork. The dinner had been very good and the conversation had been pleasant and fun. Of course, he'd spent time with Aaron and Eric before, they were good people, but he'd never been this casual with Paul in the room. Most of his interaction with Paul had been on a few runs.
"Oh, I'm gonna use it. And if I ever find that fucker who stole it..."
"Amen to that," Eric said as he stood up to begin clearing the plates. "I'll get dessert."
Aaron stood to help and Daryl couldn't help but glance at Paul across the table. The other man looked relaxed and content, slowly drinking his water. Daryl wondered what it would be like to always stay so relaxed all the time, nothing seemed to bother him. He realizes that he knows very little about him, including how he escaped from the side of the road.
"What'd you do before?" Daryl piped up, "before this all went to shit?"
Paul looked pleased by the question and he said, "I was an instructor."
Daryl snorted. "A teacher? Kindergarten or something?"
Paul threw his head back and laughed. "No, FBI. I trained cadets in hand to hand combat."
Now it was Daryl's turn to laugh. "No shit! Well, that explains a lot. Like how the fuck you got out of those ropes."
Paul nodded and then said quietly, "Someone robbed our house when I was a kid. Tied me up with ropes. My mother got killed. I blamed myself because I couldn't get out the ropes. I might've been able to save her, if I had gotten out."
"You were a kid. Wasn't your fault."
"I know, but some days it's hard to believe that. But anyway, after that I wanted to learn how to defend myself and escape. Did the military, FBI, now I escape dead people." He looked up at Daryl. "What about you?"
"Fixed stuff, mostly. Mechanic down in Georgia. Odd jobs whenever my brother was around. My ma died when I was kid too. Fire in my house."
"Your brother? Wasn't he with you? I thought I heard someone mention him."
Daryl's face closed down and Paul immediately looked contrite. "Oh…I'm sorry. I-"
Daryl waved a dismissive hand. "Merle died last year, before we got here to Alexandria. He was stupid, running around with that psycho governor asshole. Got himself bit. Lost Andrea too. That's when we met Michonne." Daryl fingered his glass. Merle had tried to kill her…and Glenn. That was all messed up."
Paul's eyes were growing wider and wider and for once Daryl wanted to laugh at the expression on his face. "Oh…we got some stories all right. From Georgia to here…lot of bad stuff. Lot of bad people."
"But there's good people too. Like I said before, you're a good group. Family. That's good. This place will grow."
"Hope so," Daryl murmured.
"And here's dessert!" Eric called out as he and Aaron returned from the kitchen, carrying a sweet smelling pie and some clean plates. Both Daryl and Paul sat up eagerly, the depressing conversation forgotten. Out of the corner of his eye, Daryl couldn't help but once again notice how bright and clear Paul's eyes were, how they were a blue-green color, like the color of Caribbean water that he'd seen picture of once before.
Daryl's attention is snapped back to the activities in front of him by Paul's indignant cry of
"You had an apple pie and didn't tell me?"
Aaron raised his hands in innocence. "Eric did this. You know I can't cook for nothing."
Daryl laughed, "Neither can I. I lived on cereal, pop tarts and spam." He eyed the pie appreciatively and Paul leaned forward to smell it.
"I had to learn how to cook, or I'd have starved to death. After my mom died, my dad was pretty useless. His new wife was worse in the kitchen then he was. So I was the chef at home. Until I committed the mortal sin of bringing Tommy McIaron home for dinner in the 10th grade."
Both Aaron and Eric laughed at that, but Daryl's eyes widened. The hell?
"Wait, you're like…like…them?" Daryl asked hesitantly, struggling to not completely offend Aaron and Eric. He had no problem with them. They had been really nice to him since he'd been there. They were the reason he even had a motorcycle. And Tara and Denise. He thought they were a great couple.
But Paul?
Paul turned to look at Daryl with a surprised look, but Eric was frowning. "What do you mean by that, Daryl?" Eric asked, his voice tight and slightly menacing. "You have a problem with us?"
"No! No…look…I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I just didn't know that Paul was…was gay."
Eric didn't look convinced, but Aaron wrapped his arms around his partner and said, "You know Daryl doesn't have a problem with this, Eric. I think he was just caught off guard. No harm, right? Let's just get this pie cut!"
He went about slicing up the pie and Daryl sat there in his seat, angry at himself for offending his hosts. He really didn't care about them being gay. But for some reason, it did bother him that Paul was. But why did that matter? The other man hadn't done anything but be annoying, an escape artist and have stupid eyes. Who cared who he was with? He frowned to himself, doubly angry now that irritation was now clouding his emotions. He looked up to find Paul watching him intently.
"Hey, didn't mean nothing," Daryl said gruffly, "Ain't my business."
Paul nodded and then grinned like a kid when Aaron placed a slice of pie in front of him. "Yessss! This looks so good. You know…I've been dying to make a pasta dish that everyone used to love. But no one can find any marinara sauce." He shook his head. "I mean come on, the world is ending and everyone ran out and bought marinara sauce? Priorities!"
Daryl snorted at Paul's lamenting of missing marinara sauce. Paul was an okay guy. Kind of funny, at times. And he was secretly impressed with his skilled combat training. Daryl knew that Paul was a good fighter, but had no idea that he was that good. Daryl watched him under cover of his long bangs as Paul bit into the pie and moaned, closing those distracting eyes. Daryl immediately diverted his attention to his own pie and began to eat it. He found himself moaning too and Paul glanced at him and smirked.
Daryl devoured three pieces of the pie, burped loudly and pushed his plate away.
"Anytime you have pie or anything sweet, I'm here," Daryl said, "that was kick ass, Eric." Eric beamed and Paul gave him a mock salute.
"I'm outta here though. Tired. Pretty sure we're going back to Walmart in a day or two. Thanks for dinner and everything."
Daryl stood to leave and Aaron stood also, but unseen to Daryl, Eric grabbed Aaron's arm and shook his head. Paul was getting up as well and Aaron raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend. Eric mouthed, let's see what happens.
Aaron stared the retreating backs of his guests and blinked.
Daryl grabbed up his box of arrows and turned slightly when he heard Paul's footsteps behind him.
"Glad you stayed," Paul said quietly, "and I wasn't offended by how you reacted about me. Guess it never came up."
Daryl grunted in acknowledgment and shrugged. "Like I said, ain't my business."
Paul nodded and Daryl opened the door, but then he paused, "you ain't so bad, man. We're squared about the truck." He then disappeared out into the night.
Paul smirked and closed the door, his mind processing the evening's events. He turned to see Aaron watching him intently.
"Great dinner tonight," Paul said with a smile. "Compliments to the chef and hosts."
"Be careful, Paul", Aaron warned, "We all like bad boys-"
Paul laughed and raised his hands in innocence. "Seriously? He's a Georgia good ole boy. Guys like that beat us to a pulp just for fun."
"Daryl's not like that," Aaron said tersely, "he's got his issues, but he's not like that."
"So the warning for my virtue or his?" Paul said, amusement coloring his tone.
"Honestly, I don't know yet."
Paul gaped at him. "Where's all this coming from? One night of dinner and you think that I'm out to get him? This may be the end of the world, but I'm not that crazy."
Aaron laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "No, I don't think that. But Eric sees romance everywhere. He's going to be sooo disappointed." Aaron walked back to the kitchen, leaving Paul alone in the foyer.
The man sighed. Maybe he was crazy.
Because he definitely wanted to see what could come of something with their resident bad boy.