Daryl.

The rumble of bikes alerted Cassie we were back from the run we were on. She was sitting on the porch writing something down; probably working on homework. She was a smart girl, a lot smarter than I ever was. I caught her eye as I put the kickstand to the bike down and she offered a small smile, like she was happy to see me. Maybe she wasn't that smart.

"Cassie, baby." Boss motioned for her to stop what she was doing and come over to where we were all sitting on our bikes. Merle let out a huff as he watched her walk over to us. I felt an unfamiliar pang in my chest when I saw him, but turned my attention back to Cassie and the Boss.

"Welcome back." She gave her father a nervous smile. "Everything go okay?"

The Boss clicked his tongue and shook his head. "You know I can't talk to you about that, darlin'." Cassie's eyes grew wide like she had just made a serious mistake, but Boss let out a laugh and patted her shoulder. "I need ya to take care of Daryl. Got into a bit of a… scuffle while we were out." He chose his words carefully.

Cassie nodded obediently and motioned for me to follow her into the house. I followed without a word, but I couldn't help but admire the swing of her hips as she walked a few steps in front of me. She led me into a trailer so clean that you could eat off the floor. Definitely not how I pictured the Boss living, but with all the women doting on him from the different trailers around the farm, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect.

"Ya ain't gotta do this." I said as she motioned for me to sit on the toilet of the small bathroom while she rummaged around in the linen closet for the first aid kit. "I can take care of myself."

"I know." Was all she said as she put the first aid kit on the counter and popped it open.

A silence fell over us as I sat there, with her working on the gash above my right eye.

"You kill anyone?" She asked, unphased by what she was actually asking me.

I hissed as she blotted the gash with alcohol. "Ya really wanna know?"

"Guess not." She let out a small sigh as she bandaged me up. "Just glad you're okay."

"You were worried about me?" I asked, somewhat shocked by what she was admitting. She barely knew me, and I was convinced that what she knew about me wasn't the type of thing you look for in a potential boyfriend.

"What if I was?" She asked, leaning down so that her face was just inches from mine. She gently brushed the hair out of my eyes and smiled. She knew I couldn't answer the question verbally, but when her lips crashed onto mine, I knew she had her answer. The kiss was soft and gentle, the way I always imagined first kisses should be, but never the way my first kisses ever were. I had never kissed a girl like Cassie before, so this was as knew to me as I'm almost sure it was to her.

Before the kiss could deepen, heavy steps were heard in the hallway, forcing us apart. "All done." She shot me another soft smile as she clicked the first aid kit closed. "AS good as new."

"She does a good job, don't she?" Boss asked from the doorway, admiring her work on my face. "It'll hardly leave a scar."

"Yeah." Was all I said as I pushed past him, out of the room. I walked out of the trailer and back to the bike. I needed to get out of there. I needed to get my head straight before I royally fucked up. It wasn't that I didn't have feelings for Cassie. I did. I wasn't sure exactly what those feelings were, but they were definitely there. But I also had the boss to think about. What would his reaction be if he found out I was what? Fucking his daughter? Dating his daughter? Whatever it was, it wouldn't be good. Before anyone could say anything to me, I kickstarted the bike and took off down the gravel road leading to the farm.

I rode all through the afternoon and into the early night, long enough that there was a chill in the air when I got back to the farm. All of the lights were off in the trailers, but under the cover of moonlight, I saw a familiar small figure sitting in the field adjacent to the trailers. Cassie.

"There you are." She gave me that signature soft smile of hers. "I was wondering where you went."

"Went on a ride." I mumbled, sitting down next to her for the first time. The air was cold, but I could feel the heat radiating off her body. "What're you doing out here?"

She turned so that I could see a perfect handprint on her face. "Brayden got a B on his math quiz."

"That sonofabitch." I growled, leaping to my feet. The rage burned hot inside of me, and it wasn't going to stop until I got my hands on him for hurting her.

"Daryl." She grabbed my calloused hand in her soft one, pulling me back down to sit next to her. "Please don't make it worse."

I huffed, knowing she was right. The only way I could fix the situation was to kill him, but I knew doing that meant death for myself. Likely at the hands of my own brother. I sat back down next to her and looked at her.

"It'll probably fade in the morning." She shrugged, and at that moment I knew that he would never touch her again.

I gently reached over and tucked the strand of hair she had been using to hide half of her face behind her ear. "No need to hide from me."

In that instant, her lips crashed back onto mine, different from the time in the bathroom. It was needy, desperate. Before I could stop it, her arms were wrapped around me, pulling me closer to her.

We were alone in the moonlight. In that instant, the only thing that mattered in the whole world was her and I. It was like no problems at all ever existed, and I was grateful, at least for a moment.

"Cassie." I said, pulling away from her breathless. "We can't." I stood up from where I was and paced in front of her. "Your father would kill both of us."

"Fuck him!" She growled, raising to her feet. "I'm an adult and I can do what I want!"

"I know that, sweetheart." I replied. In actuality, she was only seventeen which wasn't much of an adult, but it was more of an adult than it was a child, which I was grateful for. "Just… just give me some time to think, okay?"She nodded, not saying a word in response.

I ran a hand down my tired face. "It's not that I don't like ya, I do." I looked at her face for a response, but all I received was a blank stare. "I just need time to think."

With that, I left her standing in the meadow, drowned in the moonlight. I didn't look behind me to see how beautiful she looked under the moonlight, I already knew that. I needed to get my head straight, and the only way to do that was to put some distance between us, at least for now.

…..

Cassie.

I watched Daryl walk back to his trailer from my spot in the field. I couldn't understand Daryl. One moment he seemed like he was all about me, the next minute he was pulling away like I was the most disgusting thing he's ever seen.

Huffing in frustration, I moved slowly back to our trailer. That was the last place I wanted to go, but my meadow wasn't mine anymore. Walking back into the trailer, I saw dad passed out on the couch, his girl of the moment passed out next to him. There was burnt tin foil on the table with two needles strewn across the table. Without making a sound, I folded the needles up in the tin foil and tossed them in the kitchen trash. They were so stupid to do that shit in front of the kids, but there was nothing I could really do but shield the kids from it the best I could.

After checking on the kids, I went to my room and tried to dose, even though I knew that wasn't possible after what had happened in the meadow. My feelings for Daryl were strong, but were his feelings for me? They had to be if he was that torn up about me getting hit by dad. That could easily be explained away as trauma from his childhood. But what about the kiss? I knew he felt the electric between the both of us, but would he do anything about it?