Hope you had yourselves a good weekend. Thanks for reading! =)
Chapter Twenty Nine
Merle took the cup of coffee that Katherine offered him gratefully. It was instant and it tasted like shit but he needed the caffeine. He was feeling a headache coming on and it was probably there to stay. He had thought long and hard about what they needed to do about this situation but he hadn't come up with any answers.
At first he thought it was simple. These men were fucked up in the head, wouldn't be able to play by any rules, and they needed to go. But then he really got to thinking about that. Merle didn't trust people in general. It was a rule he lived by and so far it had served him well. So he thought about what could possibly happen if he turned the man and his son out. What if they ran into a group of people that were just as fucked up as they were? What if they told the new group about the cabin, and the resources and supplies and women? What if the group decided that it would be smart to come up here and try to take it all?
He was possibly being paranoid. Then again, it was better to be prepared. It was better to think about things now and not when they were being attacked by another group. Then again, how the hell could he just keep them around? Daryl would lose his fucking mind after what had happened with Carol. And it wasn't right that all of them be forced to sleep with one eye open because of a couple of jackasses.
He took a sip of the coffee and grimaced at the bitter taste.
"Sorry," Katherine muttered as she sat down next to him. "It's too bad we don't have a percolator. I could make a mean cup of coffee if we did."
He glanced at her and snorted. "I had worse in jail, trust me. How's your girl?" Merle asked, changing the subject quickly.
Katherine opened her mouth to say something but then Merle's bedroom door opened up and the kid stepped out.
"I'll be damned," Merle muttered. "And that's after just a couple of doses, huh?"
She nodded and smiled. For once her eyes weren't weighed down with burdens. "Yes. I was scared but it seems like she's going to be just fine." She surprised him when she reached out and squeezed his forearm, meeting his eyes. "Thank you."
He nodded stiffly.
"Mama?"
Merle's head snapped up at the sound of the little girl's voice. She hadn't spoken a word since she had gotten there and he had heard them talking about how she hadn't spoken since everything had happened over a week ago.
"Holy shit!" Piper suddenly appeared behind the little girl, smiling down at her mischievously. "I didn't think you could talk, kid. How the hell you feelin'?"
The little girl looked up, her cheeks turning pink and her wide eyes regarding Piper curiously. "I feel better."
Piper nodded. "Right on, kid." She walked past the girl and plopped down across from Merle. Katherine grinned at her and then stood up, going to her daughter and kneeling down. "You gotta thing for that chick, don't you?" Piper asked, her green eyes dancing as he frowned down at her from across the table.
"Yeah, sure, cause that wouldn't make things even more fucked up than they already are," he grumbled.
Piper nodded and reached across the table, grabbing a plate that Katherine had sat there earlier. "Spam shouldn't be so good. You know it's made out of pig nuts and assholes."
Merle chuckled and leaned back in his chair. This girl was something else. She'd definitely inherited his charm. "Yeah, but goddamn it taste good."
Piper nodded. "Fuckin' A."
Katherine pulled out the chair she had just vacated and motioned for the little girl to sit down. The girl eyed Merle nervously.
"Have a seat, kid," Piper said around a mouth full of food. "He's an ugly bastard but he wont bite. 'Less your mama asks him too."
Sam's eyes widened, Katherine flushed deeply and Merle shook his head. "Cut that shit out, Piper."
Piper shrugged and continued eating in silence for all of ten seconds. "So, what are we gonna do about those two creeps?" She asked.
Katherine sat a bowl down in front of the little girl but she seemed to be too busy watching Merle to focus on what was in it.
Merle shook his head. "I don't know yet. I think it'd be best if we all talked about it."
Piper nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I was thinking just kick their asses to the curb but then they could always come back with reinforcements and fuck us all up, you know? It's something to think about."
"My thoughts exactly," Merle said.
Piper smiled. "Go figure."
~H~
Carol had no idea what time it was. All she knew was that it was sometime after dawn. They had fallen asleep again after some time and now he was still sleeping heavily. She rolled over onto her back and yawned quietly. He shifted a little, his large rough hand now resting flat against her stomach.
She felt ridiculous for how she had felt the night before. How she hadn't been sure if he was some sort of threat to her. Regardless of how callous he could be at times, he wouldn't put his hands on her to cause pain. Quite the opposite actually. His hand had been on her all night and she had seriously had a hard time not begging him to touch her more. She was overheated, inside and out, so she shoved the blanket down to her hips.
"What happened to your arm?" She jerked at the sound of his sleep heavy voice. He raised his head, scowling, his eyes on the ugly bruise that wrapped around her upper arm.
His blue eyes slid to hers and she shrugged. She didn't want to think about this right now but there was no getting around it. "He grabbed me last night. Damon came in and he let go. I didn't really think it was that bad."
"I'm gonna kill that fuckin' kid," he growled.
"I think Damon nearly did," she said quietly, offering him a small smile in the hopes that he would stop scowling like that.
He huffed and lowered his head back down, closing his eyes.
"We should probably get up. We have a lot of things to do today. We need to talk to Merle and there's other things me and you have to talk about."
"Like what?" He muttered, not opening his eyes. His thumb moved over her stomach and her breath caught in her throat.
"Well, like how Katherine isn't Richard's wife. Samantha doesn't belong to him, only Brody does. Richard told her to go along with the lie so you and Merle wouldn't try anything with her since she's a single woman."
"No worries there. I ain't interested," he mumbled.
She found herself smiling at this. "I noticed," she muttered. He had barely glanced at the woman since they had arrived. She made a move to roll away from him but he hauled her right back, forcing her to be still. "Really?" She almost laughed but now she was on her back and his arm was draped across her, his hand was gripping her hip.
"Not yet," he said in a low voice, his breath blowing across her neck.
She didn't know if it was the timbre of his sleepy voice or the way his hand still held her in place or the feel of his breath on her skin, but suddenly she was overwhelmed with a heat that seemed to radiate from her center. She pressed her thighs together in a desperate attempt to relieve some of the pressure but it didn't seem to work.
"You scared to go up there?" He asked in that same damn voice.
She shook her head quickly. "No. Why would you ask that?"
"Because you're all tense now."
"No I'm not," she breathed, squeezing her legs together even harder.
He raised up on his elbow and looked down at her, meeting her eyes before looking down to where his hand was still gripping her hip. She saw him swallow hard when his eyes met hers again. Her face flushed. He knew. He knew what she was feeling and she felt her face flame. This was ridiculous. She was a grown woman. It made no sense but there was no denying it. The early morning light coming in through the single window wasn't enough to illuminate the whole room, and they were in shadow for the most part, but she could see a new light in his eyes.
She closed hers for a few seconds, willing her breathing to even back out. And that was when he moved his hand. He didn't pull it away. He didn't move it up. He brought it around until his fingertips barely brushed the waist band of the simple flannel pajama bottoms she was wearing.
Her eyes snapped open, her breath left her in a rush, the pressure low in her stomach expanded painfully. How could he cause this reaction by doing almost nothing at all? She looked up, meeting his eyes and whatever he saw there seemed to be confirmation because his hand slid into her pants and under her panties.
Her breath exploded from her lungs and her legs fell open. She knew she should feel embarrassed but she wasn't. She needed him. Whatever he was willing to give, she would take, and take greedily. His head fell back to the pillow, his lips close to her shoulder. He hooked her leg with one of his and urged her thighs apart further. She was panting and he was moving at a snails pace, gliding over her, exploring her like no one had ever explored her before and then she felt his finger sliding into her. Her shoulders pressed further into the mattress and she heard a low growl rumble through his chest.
He circled his thumb around the bundle of nerves that seemed to be the center of her existence at the moment and her body jerked. It had been a very long time since she had been touched like this. Who was she kidding? She had never been touched like this. Not by the few clumsy boyfriends she had had in high school and certainly not by the man she had actually married.
She made a startled sound when suddenly he was pulling his hand away from her. Instantly she was afraid she had done something wrong but then he was tossing the blanket onto the floor and kneeling there between her legs. The frantic look in his eyes as they met hers had her breath catching and then his fingers were looped into the waistband of her pants.
She lifted her hips, not caring about things like modesty. Not when her body was screaming for his touch. Screaming for release. He slid her pants down her legs easily and tossed them away like he had the blanket that had covered her. He didn't waste any time. He spread her legs wide, his hands running down her thighs and his eyes devouring her. They finally slid up her body, meeting hers.
Her face flushed, but it wasn't from embarrassment. It was from anticipation. He licked his lips, his hands sliding back down and then she gasped when suddenly he was easing his finger into her again, his eyes not leaving hers. Her chest rose and fell with the frantic pace of her breathing. She closed her eyes briefly and then they snapped right back open when she felt something else.
His tongue moved over her, quick and wet as he pushed his finger deeper. She cried out in surprise, her hands going to his hair as her back arched off the bed. She hadn't been expecting this. She had expected him to strip off his own clothes and take advantage of the moment. And she would have let him. But his own pleasure seemed to be the last thing on his mind as he focused on her.
The sensations were sharp and intense and her body writhed on it's own. She had no control over herself at all. When his lips closed over her, sucking deeply she came up on her elbows, stunned into silence at the pleasure washing over her. His eyes snapped up, meeting hers as he pushed one more finger into her and then she fell back as she came completely undone.
It was all so intense that she hadn't even realized she had screamed his name until her ears rang with the sound of her own voice. He didn't let up until she was completely spent and her body was trembling with aftershocks. She was still panting when he came back up on his knees, his eyes burning with need. She understood it too. It didn't matter that he had just made her come harder than she ever had in her whole life. She wanted to feel him inside of her. She wanted to feel him deep and heavy, stretching her, driving...
His hand went to the button of his jeans, his eyes pleading. She nodded eagerly and then sat up when there was suddenly a timid knock at the door.
"Dude, I'm so fuckin' sorry. Merle sent me down here to get you guys," Damon called from the other side of the door and she could tell by the strain in his voice that he had heard her.
Daryl leaped off the bed, snatching his jacket from the chair on his past, cursing under his breath and Carol scrambled for her clothes just as he slipped out.
