"I'm sorry!" she cried the words at him and Daryl could have sworn that they felt sharper than any knife or arrow he had ever encountered. The pain in her voice was not lost on him but it was not enough to prevent him from wheeling around on her, eyes narrowed in disgust to mask his pain as he glared at her.
"You're sorry?! You sure as shit weren't sorry when you were spreading your legs for that douchebag!" His arm flung out as if to express the width of his anger but as close as they were standing he only narrowly avoided hitting her. They were right in each others faces now, their skin flushed as they screamed at each other. It seemed as though they were trying to see who could yell louder, as if that would prove to them who was more hurt. She kept trying to make him understand and he kept trying to inflict as much pain on her as she had just given him.
"I thought you were dead!" Beth screamed, her voice holding as much pain as he seemed to be full of at the moment. That was impossible though because there was no way this was hurting her more than him.
"And that's a reason to go screw that asshole?! How long did it take you to jump in his bed?" his voice broke on the last word and Daryl turned away from her then so that he could fight down the tears threatening to over come him. He just could not believe this was happening.
He struggled to hold onto his anger, anger was the only thing that would hold this pain at bay, but Daryl didn't know how much longer he could be in her company without breaking apart. He should have known they wouldn't have lasted. Beth was to good for him, would always be to good for him. The fact that she would ever cheat on anybody she claimed to love was only a testament to how much being with him had tainted her.
A tentative hand touched his elbow but Daryl wrenched his arm free of her grasp as he stumbled forward. His breath came in pants as he moved away, knowing that if she touched him he would only taint her more.
"I'm so sorry Daryl." Beth did not bother to try and hide the pain in her voice and Daryl did not need to turn around to know her face was shining with tears. "You'd been gone for nearly ten days. When Tyresse came back and said you got separated in a herd I just thought-" her voice broke off with a wet gasp and Daryl tried to get angry again.
If she kept talking like this he would forgive her and if he forgave her he would surely ruin her. Something so pure could never last with something so rotten. Beth kept talking trying so hard to help ease his pain she didn't even realize that it was him, him and his dirty Dixon genes, that had caused this whole mess.
"I was terrified and lonely and I don't know." She sniffled behind him and it took all of Daryl's willpower not to turn around. If he saw her now that was all it would take. He would forgive her and they would be right back where they started with him tainting her darker every second. "I'm so sorry."
Her hand was on his arm again and when he didn't shake it off(he wanted to, oh how he wanted to, but her touch was so soft it weakened even his stone hard interior) she crept forward slowly until her forehead was resting between his shoulder blades and her arms were snaked around his waist. As closely as she was pressed against his back Daryl could feel the small sobs running through her and he rose his hand to touch hers, twining their fingers together.
Daryl closed his eyes so he did not have to see their hands together. He had always thought he was the strong Dixon, the only one in his whole family never to succumb to addiction.
But as Beth wrapped her arms tighter around him, feeling as though she was the only thing holding him together, Daryl realized he was no different than his lowlife family. Because even though he knew every second they spent together only tainted her more Daryl would never be able to let Beth Greene go.
She had clawed her way into his bloodstream, heightened all of his senses, and no matter what happened he was not going to let that slip away. Because no matter what she had done or how much he tainted her she was still the only good thing that had ever happened to him.
As far as Daryl was concerned, they could destroy each other and he would never regret it for a moment.