It was warm day. The hottest Blake had felt in a long time. She had noticed that from the moment she had awoken at around nine-thirty this morning.
Blake had gotten up and dressed, struggling to find anything appropriate in her closet for the scorching hot conditions. So had finally settled on a pair of black pants and a plain white t-shirt. But even then, she felt herself perspiring as she walked through the hallway on her way back from grabbing a quick, late-morning breakfast of stale oatmeal, at the makeshift canteen.
The previous day had gone by, for Blake, in a flash.
On her way day to see Dr Carson the previous day, followed by Negan. The tall, dark-haired Saviour had been apprehended by Simon, and had soon disappeared off, giving no explanation. And that had been the last time Blake had seen him.
Almost twenty-four hours later and Blake could only presume he was off on a run somewhere, or visiting one of the groups the Saviours had power over.
Not that she cared or anything.
Negan did nothing but irritate and annoy her, although the day did seem to go by a lot quicker when he was around.
Blake had grabbed a bread roll and bit of cheese for lunch yesterday and had sat alone eating it, just as she had done that evening too.
But the nervous stares and glances that seemed to follow her, soon had become too much to cope with, and so Blake had eventually taken her evening meal of turkey and green beans up to her room to eat instead.
She guessed that word must have spread about David's demise.
But she hoped to god most people knew the full story. Not just painting her as a brutal killer, like Negan and the rest of his men.
David had deserved all that. Hadn't he?
He had ground Blake down…tried to kill her….
….but she found it difficult to be proud of the fact that she had been solely responsible for his death.
She wasn't a Saviour.
She wasn't Negan.
Bake gave a sigh. Scooping her long caramel hair up off her clammy neck as she walked, today, down the long darkened hallway.
The heat was causing her skinny pants to stick to her legs uncomfortably. And Blake knew that there was only one other place she might be in with the change of finding something, weather-appropriate, to put on.
And so, turning left at the end of the corridor, she headed through a large set of double doors and down the stairs that followed.
Her knowledge of the Sanctuary was improving and she was slowly finding it easier to navigate the maze of hallways now…Not that she planned to stay here or anything.
Negan had yesterday asked her if she had wanted to go home. Go back to Alexandria.
But did she? Right now she wasn't so sure.
Of course, she couldn't stay here forever….but there was something grounding her here….making her feel slightly tentative about going back to Rick and his group.
Perhaps it was the fact that she would be returning alone. And not with David.
Of course they would ask questions about his whereabouts, and that was not really something Blake wanted to discuss at the moment.
So she would wait until Negan asked again maybe.
And then she would make up her mind.
Blake shoved open a large steel door ahead of her, walking slowly into the busy marketplace, already full of people going to and fro…bartering points for items at each table and stand.
A couple of faces turned towards Blake as she entered, but she merely gave an internal sigh and carefully avoided their gaze.
Walking down the large rows of tables, Blake looked this way and that for the items she wanted. Mainly women's clothes….perhaps some summer things.
Not that she wasn't grateful for the items she already had upstairs in her closet, of course.
Blake passed by a small rickety table, where an old man with grey hair and a short beard, was selling all sorts of bathroom essentials and hygiene products, such as body wash, nail clippers and the like, whilst adding together points in a huge ledger before him.
He scowled up at one young girl who only looked about fourteen, standing near to his stall.
"You don't have enough points for these," aid the old man shrugging and withdrawing a small box of tampons from the girls grasp. "Tough luck."
The girl looked almost as though she was about to cry, as she lingered there, opening her mouth and closing it again.
"P-Please, I need them-" she began in a quiet voice, barely louder than a whisper.
"Not my problem. You don't have the points, I can't help you," said the stall-holder dismissively, craning his head around the girl, calling forwards a man behind her in the line. "NEXT!"
But Blake gave a growl, her eyes darkening as she looked on, taking a sudden step forwards.
"Do I have enough points?" she said in a loud voice, lowering her chin at the old stall-holder.
Blake raised her eyebrows incredulously, and pointed to the tampons.
The old man, looked up at Blake suddenly, looking a little taken aback.
"Well…I….uhhh…..well technically.." he uttered, looking a little nervous all of a sudden. "I mean Negan said you don't need points…"
Blake gave a knowing nod and flashed the man a fake smile. "You won't mind if I just take these then?" she said in a sickly-sweet tone, picking up the box of sanitary products.
And with that, she handed the tampons swiftly to the young girl at her side, without a word.
"Y-You can't do that," said the man suddenly scraping back his chair and getting to his feet.
But Blake suddenly rounded on him, shooting him a dark scowl.
"Really?" she said titling her head dangerously. "And why not? Negan said I could have what I want. And are you really gonna argue with him?"
The man reddened, shaking his bearded head. "No…" he muttered hurriedly. "...It's just that….well…there are rules, and you can't just go-"
"I mean, you are more than welcome to tell him you have a problem with me, if that's what you want," said Blake giving a pout. "I'm sure he'd be very understanding."
Blake knew instantly that she had won.
There was no way anyone was going to ignore a direct order from Negan. And if Blake took advantage of that fact, then that was just a bonus the leader of the Saviours would have to deal with.
The stall holder sat back down hurriedly, his eyes flickering away from Blake. "Next," he said a in a slightly put-out voice, calling forwards the man next in the line.
Blake gave another sigh, as the young teenager at her side uttered a brief thank you before scurrying quickly away.
She wasn't here to fight peoples battles for them, but if she could help out for a while, she would, in any way possible.
Blake strolled casually over, past another stall selling various fruits, including some huge watermelons, before she finally spotted the table she had been looking for.
Today it was manned by an older woman with black curly hair, who was busy folding the items before her, neatly in her hands.
Blake nodded at her briefly, before beginning to rummage through the huge piles of women's clothes.
There were tank tops, leggings, and even lacy lingerie, that Blake couldn't even imagine herself wearing in this world!
On one side was a pile of shoes, and on the other, some sweaters all piled up in a basket.
Blake routed through the pile in the middle of the table, suddenly pulling out a pretty floral cotton dress that looked to be about her size, with spaghetti straps and buttons all the way up the front.
She held it up before her, thinking how good it would feel to be wearing something like that in heat like this, when she felt a sudden hand slip around her waist and a body press up to her side from behind.
"Oh Peaches, now if I saw you in that, I do not know I'd be able to control myself," came a sudden husky voice, close to her ear, that caused a sudden uncontrollable shiver to run down Blake's spine, and the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end.
Blake rolled her eyes, pursing her lips, and dropped the dress back down to the table again.
"Don't you have enough wives to help you out with that one?" uttered Blake in a scathing voice, without turning to look at the man at her side, for she knew who it was just by the sound of his voice, and the musky scent that seemed to drift towards her nostrils, causing her heart to pound just that little bit faster.
She almost felt him press a grin to her ear.
"Yes, but I'm only human sweetheart," he said in a low voice. "An' seein' you in that lil' thing would drive any man fuckin' wild."
Blake pouted and turned to face him, his hand still lingering there at her waist.
There he was, Negan. Standing looming over her in his usual black leather jacket, grey pants with Lucille in his hand. But today he had a red scarf at his neck and a charming, cocky smirk plastered across his long, bearded face.
Blake placed her hand to his forearm gently, her fingers slipping around the black leather slowly.
"You might only be human, Negan, but your definitely still an asshole," she muttered, shooting him a look as he leaned over her, chuckling cockily.
"Yeah, but that don' mean you don' like me, Doll-face," he said in a drawling voice, his dark chocolate eyes roving over her soft features, as he poked his tongue out from between his straight white teeth.
Blake rolled her eyes, tutting, which only caused Negan's grin to widen.
"So…" he said after a moment or two, his fingers sliding their way further around her waist (although Blake did nothing to stop him) "…you miss me?"
Blake raised her eyebrows giving him a small smile, shrugging noncommittally.
"Oh, were you gone?" she said in an airy tone, her eyes drifting away carelessly, looking back down to the clothes at her side. "I didn't notice."
But Blake heard Negan giving a whining chuckle and take another step into her. Closing the space between them completely.
At this, Blake's breath seemed to hitch in her throat as she stared back up into his tanned face at such close proximity.
"Oh do not pretend that you weren't pining for me while I was away…" said Negan in a low growling voice, leaning his face in close to hers. "I mean I can just picture you…lying awake last night thinkin' of me and moanin' my name, as that hand of yours slides lower and lower-"
But Blake gave him a gentle shove away from her, causing his hand to slip away from her waist.
"Uh, I was not doing THAT, thanks very much!" she said in a loud voice, shaking her head. "Don't flatter yourself."
She eyed him irritably, wrinkling her nose, but Negan just laughed.
"Oh but I've gotta picture somethin' while I'm freezing my goddamn ass of in a van, with no one to cuddle up to but Simon and Dwight, Doll-face," he said grinning widely. "I missed ya."
Blake tutted, reaching for a pair of small khaki green cargo shorts about her size, pretending to ignore his comment.
"If being out all night is such an issue for you, shouldn't you be catching up on sleep right now, instead of bothering me?" she said hazily.
But Negan just smiled, coming to stand beside her, side-on to the table, and picking up a pair of lacy women's panties in his gloved hand, and peering at them goadingly.
"What's that ol' phrase…" Negan muttered, before tossing the underwear back down onto the table. "I'll sleep when I'm dead."
Blake raised an eyebrow in his direction, not helping the small smirk that twitched its way onto her lips.
"And I'm guessing at the rate you piss people off, that might be sooner than you think," she said scathingly, looking him up and down.
Negan certainly had at least fifteen years on Blake, not that that really mattered in this world. But even so, he certainly needed to watch his back, especially when there was plenty of people out there who had vendettas against him nowadays.
Negan looked down at her, gritting his teeth suddenly and narrowing his dark eyes in her direction. "Is that a threat, Princess? Because I've got a nice empty cell down that corridor back there, if that's what you want?"
He pulled Lucille up onto his shoulder, leaning back as he spoke in that overly-confident tone of his, before smiling and lifting his eyebrows teasingly.
But Blake just frowned.
"Don't you dare," she said warningly, suddenly narrowing her eyes back at him seriously and giving a shake of her head. "I swear to god, Negan, you put me back in that cell, and I will kill you!"
And with that, Blake snatched up the pair of khaki shorts from the table and waltzed away, bumping Negan's shoulder hard as she went.
Leaving the tall-bearded Saviour smirking after her.
She didn't even notice as Negan turned cockily towards the nervous-looking, curly-haired stall-holder and gave a wide grin.
"I'll take the dress," he muttered, picking up the pretty floral garment that Blake had been looking at just a few minutes ago, from the table beside him. Before suddenly leaning in towards the older woman and wrinkling his nose fiendishly, explaining…
"…for my date tonight."
Sorry for the delay in updating. Hope you are all interested in me carrying on with this story?
Thanks to drarryslove, JudithMosalii, whereshadowplays, Xmidnitenagel15X, MichelleJoy, Booboo, FriendsWithTheMonster, Vany, Dollfacex94, leahscil, gina, ladymoonscar, Shadowlover1222, bhanna, ATrueFan, Guest and shaywilliams4151 for reviewing the last chapter.
More to come soon if you want it?
Please review! :)