Chapter Twenty Nine

"You sure you don't want anymore?" Carol asked as Dowler pushed his plate away.

The man shook his head, his hand going to his stomach. "I think if I have another bite I'll burst."

Daryl felt his brows pull together in a frown that he tried to hide as he glanced at Carol. He'd tried throughout the whole meal to forget that the troubles of the day weren't over. Veronica had meant what she had said earlier and he knew she was coming. It had tainted his thoughts all evening and now it was nearly seven. The woman would be here, probably right on time, to rub it all in again. And no matter how brave she was acting, this was hurting Carol and he knew it. The thought had his temper flaring dangerously.

He followed Carol and Dowler back into the house and heard someone knock at the door. He glanced at the clock. "Five till seven," he mumbled.

"It could be your brother. He was suppose to have been here at six," Carol said, breezing past him towards the living room.

"Like that's gonna be much better," he grumbled.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted towards your brother this afternoon, Daryl."

Daryl looked at the man who was twisting his fedora in his hands. He found an easy grin slipping into place at the memory of Dowler going after Merle. "That was the highlight of my whole day, Dowler. That's the last thing you ought to worry about."

"Little brother," Merle said by way of greeting as he made his way into the kitchen.

Daryl glared but then he caught the severe look that Carol was giving him and he sighed. "Merle," he said brusquely.

Merle's eyes moved to Dowler and he grinned. "You calmed down any?"

Dowler blushed furiously but didn't answer.

Merle shrugged and grabbed a plate from the counter and started piling on the food. "I tell you what, there's been many a men, most a lot more threatenin' than you, ain't had the nerve to come at me like that. You must got balls big enough to fill a dump truck."

"Oh good grief," Dowler flushed even darker and plopped the hat onto his head. "I think I should head home. You two give me a call if you need any help with moving. Thank you for a lovely evening." He shook Daryl's hand and hugged Carol quickly before Merle could say another word.

Carol left the room to show Dowler to the door and gave Daryl a meaningful look before stepping out of the room.

"You're gonna have to talk to me eventually, you know? I'm the only damn family you got."

Daryl eyed him. "That's where you're wrong. See, I got a family. You're the one that ain't got a damn thing."

Merle stopped mid chew and stared at him before swallowing hard. Daryl didn't look away. He had spent his whole goddamn life cowering and he'd be damned if he'd fall back into that role. Neither brother looked away until Carol came back. She stopped, her eyes moving back and forth between them.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, sounding nervous.

Daryl nodded.

"Listen, goddamn it," Merle said, his voice harsh as he sat the plate down on the counter. His eyes flashed dangerously. "I don't regret a goddamn thing I did, alright? I wanted to show the two of you how fuckin' stupid this was. Barely eighteen years old and look at what you've gone and done for fuck's sake! So, I wanted to know what the hell would happen to the two of you under pressure. And now I know and I'm damn glad for it cause I ain't worried anymore."

"You finished?" Daryl asked, forcing calm.

"Not by a fuckin' long shot you little smart ass. Ain't you glad to know your wife wouldn't jump on the first dick somebody wagged at her?"

"I already fuckin' knew that, you idiot!" he barked.

Merle sighed. "Well I didn't and now I feel better knowin' she ain't the type."

"Even if she was, it's my business. My life, not yours! You keep carryin' on about how fuckin' young I am instead of opening yours eyes and seein' that it just don't matter! Eighteen or not, I've done what I'm suppose to do. I've done right by her and I take care of my own damn business. I sure as fuck don't try to stick my nose in yours. I'm young but I ain't stupid, Merle! And instead of bein' happy that I got my shit together, you set out to fuck me over!"

Merle swiped a hand over his face and huffed out a long suffering breath like Daryl was too stupid to understand what he was trying to tell him.

Daryl felt his hands shaking in anger. This was why he hadn't wanted Merle to come here. Carol didn't understand that the man would never admit that he was wrong. He wouldn't ever just suck it up and apologize and admit he was wrong and Daryl just didn't want to deal with it now. Merle would always make up a goddamn excuse instead of admit that-

"I was wrong, alright? That what you wanna hear?"

Daryl stared at him, unable to believe that he'd heard his brother right.

"I shouldn't have done it and I wouldn't have if I'd have known you'd get your ruffles in a bunch you little bastard."

"Are we interrupting something?"

Three heads turned at the sound of Veronica's smug voice. She was leaning against the doorway, arms folded under her chest. It was clear that she was reveling in the conflict. He noticed then that she wasn't alone. There was a guy standing with her that had him scowling. He looked like the same type of asshole that used to give him shit in school.

"You get the fuck out of my house, now!" Carol yelled and he realized that she was looking at the guy standing next to her cousin.

He knew then who the guy must be. He took a step towards him, all of his anger focusing on a new target now. He didn't want this guy to leave. He wanted him to stay just long enough to realize that money wasn't an armor against a serious ass kicking. He wanted to knock the asshole's teeth out. He managed to take two steps when he felt Merle's heavy hand on his shoulder. He tried to shrug it off but then Merle stepped in front of him.

"Move, Merle," Daryl growled.

Merle met his eyes and shook his head. "You can knock him out soon, okay. Let me handle this for now."

Daryl managed to move away from him. "Do you really think I'd believe for a minute that you wasn't getting a sick fucking thrill outta this? You don't care about me or Carol or this place. You only came here to watch the drama. So fuck you, you can watch me beat this little cock sucker's ass."

Merle threw his arms up and took a step away from him. "Fine, you do what you need to do and then you're gonna hear me out."

Daryl rolled his eyes and turned around. Trevor must not have been in very many situations where he was about to get his ass kicked because he wasn't even paying attention to Daryl. His eyes were on Carol, smiling wide, like he had the upper hand. He remembered how upset Carol had been when she'd come home that night. Remembered everything that this guy had said to her after pretending to be her friend. That was all the fuel he needed.

"Hey, Trevor," Daryl said, drawing the man's attention away from Carol. As soon as his head turned towards him Daryl swung, letting all of that anger, not just the anger towards Trevor but all of that bottled up rage that simmered in him just bellow the surface, rush forth.

The sound was sickening when his fist collided with Trevor's mouth. He had told Carol that given the chance, he was going to knock the guy's teeth out, and that was exactly what he did. Trevor's head whipped to the side, and Daryl had the satisfaction of watching two of those teeth fly across the room. Trevor wailed, sounding like a wounded cat and Veronica, unaccustomed to violence of any kind screamed. Trevor leaned into the wall, his hands covering his mouth and tears streaming down his face.

"Jesus Christ, he's cryin'!" Merle laughed. "Look at that. A grown man sobbin' like a little bitch. And he ain't even got it in him to try to fight back!"

Daryl glared at him from over his shoulder. "Shut up, Merle," he growled but his words were lost in the ear splitting sound of Veronica screaming and Trevor's loud obnoxious sobbing.

"I'm calling the police!" Veronica yelled, pulling her phone from her purse.

Daryl cursed under his breath, knowing that he'd brought this on himself but suddenly Veronica's phone was smacked out of her hand and he watched in fascination as Carol, the most kind hearted and gentle person he'd ever met in his life, grabbed two fists full of Veronica's hair and pulled her down to the kitchen floor, straddling her.

"You come into my house!" Carol yelled, letting go of the woman's hair with one hand and slapping her right in the cheek, "And you bring this man!" Another slap punctuated her words. "And you threaten my husband!" Before she could hit the woman again Merle swooped in and tried to pull Carol away.

All he managed to do was give Veronica a chance to climb to her knees and then she slapped Carol right back.

With a cry like two wild animals the woman flung themselves at each other and were rolling around on the kitchen floor. Merle stumbled backwards, tripped over Trevor's legs and fell right onto his ass in the doorway to the dining room. Merle, thinking Trevor had tripped him on purpose lashed out with his foot and caught the downed man in the thigh.

Daryl stood there, stunned and immobile while the room was filled with the sounds of fighting. He had no idea what the hell was going to happen now, or how he was going to get the women apart. Carol had a nasty scratch on her cheek and Veronica's nose was bleeding.

"Merle, get off your ass and help me!" Daryl yelled as he grabbed a hold of Carol and lifted her all the way off the floor. She struck out with her foot as he lifted her, striking Veronica in the shoulder but before Veronica could do anything Merle was pulling her up and away from Carol.

"Let go, Daryl! I've waited years for this. I'm not gonna stop till I yank out every hair in her head!" Carol cried, struggling to break his hold.

Daryl grunted as he held on, unwilling to let Carol loose to inflict anymore damage on the woman. They were already in more trouble than he thought they could handle.