Haley and Beckett arrived in their newly assigned room. It was small and cramped but besides them, there were only two other people in this room – Jiro and Paula, two of Negan's saviors who were often gone due to their continued presence at one of the outposts that the saviors ran.
Haley unpacked the few clothes they'd had with them and placed them in the small dresser between her and Beck's beds and shoved the backpacks under Beck's bed. She glanced around the room taking in her surroundings. Jiro and Paula had fully made beds, no doubt able to afford it on their savior's salary. Beck and Haley's beds had only a fitted sheet, no other blankets or pillows, but it was still an upgrade from their old room. Haley briefly wondered what they would do come winter with no blankets in an unheated building.
"Let's figure out what to do about food first," she thought to herself pushing those secondary worries back down before she drowned in stress.
There were days where Haley wasn't eating at all in order to keep Beck fed, and it was starting to take a toll on her. She was suddenly feeling less judgmental about the women who agreed to be Negan's wives.
As if sensing her thoughts, Chloe appeared in the doorway. "
Boo!" she exclaimed popping into the room.
"What a dump," she observed. "When you become a wife, you'll sleep on satin sheets not this itchy, polyester crap," she said crinkling her nose. "Anyway, do you work all day today?"
"Yes, unfortunately."
"Lame," she replied in a bored tone as she rummaged through Jiro's belongings. "Oh, cards! Wanna play cards tonight? Me, you, and Beck can play rummy."
"Yeah, sounds good," Haley agreed.
"Hello, ladies," Negan greeted striding into the room. "Planning a date without me?"
"We sure are," Chloe taunted him. "See ya tonight, Hales," she waved as she exited.
"So, Hales," Negan teased using Chloe's nickname for her, "I've come to collect on that haircut you owe me, and I could use a fresh shave, too."
Rolling her eyes, Haley turned to put her shoes on. The sudden movement caused her calorie starved body to become dizzy, and she grabbed hold of the small dresser to keep from falling.
"Whoa, you okay there?" Negan looked concerned as he walked over to her.
"I'm okay. I'm just swooning at the sight of you," Haley replied sitting down before her legs gave out.
Negan barked out a laugh before asking, "When's the last time you ate?"
"It's been a while," she answered.
Interrupting them, Fat Joey entered the room.
"Sorry I'm late, Negan, it took me a while to track down the clippers," he announced laying clippers, a squirt bottle, and shaving products on Jiro's bed.
Haley was suddenly aware that Negan's hair was wet; that coupled with the hair products that Fat Joey had brought up led her to the realization that he wanted that haircut right now.
Ignoring the apology, Negan jabbed, "It's the irony of the apocalypse, that I've got this fucking tub of lard on one side and this bag of bones on the other."
Rolling her eyes at his insult, Haley said, "Thank you, Joey."
"No problem," he mumbled before quickly exiting the room.
"He knows I'm just fucking with him," Negan defended himself.
Ignoring him, Haley nodded toward her bed and handing him the squirt bottle, she said, "Hold this and sit down."
"Oh, domineering. I like it," he winked.
Tuning him out, she went to work trimming his hair, working her fingers through the wet layers.
"Mmm," he moaned loudly as she raked her nails across his scalp gathering up the top strands of his locks.
"Why do you have to make everything dirty?" she asked him.
"I'm not. This feels fan-fucking-tastic. If my moaning sends dirty thoughts racing through your head, then you're the dirty one," he smiled broadly showcasing his dimples.
She rolled her eyes as she walked around the bed and stepped between his knees, "Lean your head forward," she ordered him to which he complied.
"Fat Joey used to cut my hair, but he never made it feel as good as you do although he does have bigger titties than you," he informed her as stared down her shirt, which actually made her laugh out loud.
"See, I can make you laugh," he said, a smile spreading across his face.
"Yeah, by insulting my boobs."
"I like your boobs; they're perky and you've got good cleavage. I get a partial chub just when I see them. Imagine how hard I'd get when you fully show them to me."
"You really know how to woo the ladies," she responded sarcastically.
"I could if you let me," he said grabbing her wrist to stop her snipping motion, and the look in his eyes was so earnest that if Haley didn't know better, she'd have believed he truly meant it.
"Don't fall into this trap," she silently told herself. "Men like Negan will say anything to get what they want."
Breaking her eyes away from his hypnotic gaze, Haley said, "I bet you say that to all your wives."
He rubbed his thumb up and down her wrist a few times before releasing it from his grasp as he sat back wordlessly.
Haley ran some pomade through his hair to slick back his hair the way he so often wore it, and then turned to grab the straight razor and the shaving brush.
Negan silently laid back on the bed as
Haley dabbed shaving cream on his face. His silence was unnerving her. She didn't know if she had insulted him or if he was just thinking.
Opening up the straight razor, she eyed him warily, "You sure you trust me with a sharp object this close to your carotid artery? One nick, and you're a goner."
He met her eyes and smiled, "Yeah, but I know you wouldn't do that."
"You always this trusting," she asked as she scraped the razor along his jaw line.
"No, just confident in my judgment of others' characters," he replied arrogantly.
"And you're so sure you know my character? Just a couple weeks ago, you accused me of being a spy for a potentially hostile group, and now you're just making it easy for me – handing me a weapon and making yourself vulnerable," she challenged him.
"A beautiful woman come to seduce and seize my kingdom as her own. You are the perfect wolf in sheep's clothing," he contemplated.
"Says the big bad wolf himself," she protested.
That caused him to roar with laughter.
"You are undoubtedly the most enigmatic woman I've ever met," he commented surveying her features carefully.
"I'm gonna take that as a compliment," she said wiping the leftover shaving cream from his face.
Sitting up and wiping his hands over his freshly shaven face, he asked, "So is this you turning me down?"
"This is me turning you down," she confirmed.
"You do realize how fucking difficult it is for a person to provide for themselves while working for points, let alone to fucking feed someone else, right?," he questioned her.
"I do," she responded, "but I'll manage."
"Is it the whole sharing thing?" he asked.
That's part of it," she answered.
When she looked up, he still had a curious look on his face so she added, "But there are other reasons."
"Like?" he asked waiting for her to expound on her reasoning.
"Like I'm not a fucking car for your saviors to take out for a ride when you feel like renting me out," she threw at him.
"It doesn't have to be that way. It can be just between us. Fuck those other fucks," he offered.
"No, but it is that way. The very fact that you have a harem, and that you pass around your wives, and they willingly participate in whatever goes on – that defines your moral character. I don't want to be with someone like that even if it is a superficial relationship brokered solely out of necessity. I've been down that road already – I've been with the violent, psychopath leader, helped him build a dynasty and where did that get me? In a rundown building with no electricity or water sleeping on a paper thin mattress with no food to eat with another brutal, sociopath asshole leader asking me if I'd like to be one of his many playthings. So thank you for the offer but I've been down this road before, and it doesn't lead anywhere good. So my answer is no," she concluded before she got so angry that she throttled him.
"Well, sweetheart, I don't believe I've ever been told to go fuck myself so thoroughly before in my life," he said flashing his dimples as he smiled widely.
"First time for everything," she deadpanned. "Now, if we're done, I had to go to work."
"Whatever you want, doll," he winked. "And thanks for the haircut! I look fucking amazing!" he hollered at her as she marched out of the room.
"Fuck you, asshole," she muttered under her breath.
"And fuck you for thinking I'd ever lower myself to being one of your wives," she thought.
Haley felt more determined than ever now to be able to survive in the sanctuary even if she had no concrete plan on how to move forward.