Chapter 4 – The Blue Lake

Another week was eaten up by work and meetings and clients and all the other general life admin Tahlia could fit in around that, and as she went skidding into Saturday morning, she wondered if she could survive on three hours of sleep a night just so she could inject more waking hours into her days.

Sweaty and satisfyingly sore, she came back in from a long jog around the park to find Andrea in the kitchen making coffee.

"Perfect timing!" smiled Andrea, sliding a mug across the bench towards Tahlia. "Or do you need water first?"

"Already had water. Now I need to mainline caffeine." replied Tahlia, gratefully reaching for the mug. "Didn't think I'd be seeing you so early today. How was Fox's last night?"

"Yeah, really fun. Everyone was asking after you."

Tahlia hummed at that, her mind immediately flitting to the one person she knew would definitely not have been asking after her.

"How was the dinner?" asked Andrea, leaning on the bench.

"Long. Boring. Just everyone talking shop. As if living and breathing work wasn't enough, we have to spend four hours talking about it on a Friday night, too."

"Well… if you want to take your mind off work, there's a party down by the Blue Lake tonight. You know, coz of the full moon. Keen?"

"Oh! Maybe. Who's going?"

Andrea shrugged. "Merle and his usual crew. He said he'll pick us up, if we want."

Considering that for a moment, Tahlia nodded. "That could be fun. Something different. But… I think I'll probably drive so that I can get myself home when you inevitably disappear with him."

Andrea had the good grace to flush a little. Things with Merle had been going full steam ahead – she'd spent three nights with him this week – and the way they were all over each other was already a running joke amongst the group.

"If you drive you won't be able to drink."

"That's probably a good thing." replied Tahlia taking a long draw of coffee. "I don't fancy getting wasted and lost in the woods then freezing to death overnight."

"Well," conceded Andrea, "Let's take my car then. Your car is shit."

"How dare you! Rhonda the Honda is a perfectly reliable old lady!"

Andrea laughed. "Rhonda has let you down three times in the last two months alone!"

"She might be well over the hill, but she can still get the job done. What time do you want to leave?"

"Hmm, aim to leave here at five? That'll give us a bit of time to soak up the last of the day's sun."

Driving along the highway under a clear, cerulean sky in Tahlia's old, battered blue-rinse Honda Civic - which, she had gloatingly pointed out to Andrea, started first time – the sprawl of the city grew smaller in the rearview mirror as an expanse of forest stretched out on either side. Soon they reached the faded sign for the Blue Lake, pointing down an unsealed sideroad snaking through the woods.

Taking it slow on the bumpy dirt road, they eventually came to a large clearing where cars were parked haphazardly on the grass wherever there was space. Weaving through to the middle, Tahlia found a spot at the base of an old pine, then they grabbed their small cooler of drinks and scooped up their jackets - it was sure to get cold once the sun went down - and headed in the direction of the thumping bass. A ten minute walk down a gentle slope through the trees led them to the Blue Lake, where the woods opened out onto scrubby grass that fed into a huge, beautiful body of water that was, as promised, a glassy expanse of azure. About 50 people were scattered in groups on the near side of the shore; someone had set up a battery-powered sound system and the bass was carrying across the basin; coolers of drinks were dotted around the area and a firepit had been set up ready for sundown.

With hands above their eyes to shield the sun glinting off the mirrored surface of the water, Tahlia and Andrea paused a moment to take in the beauty of it all, when a loud shout caught their attention, and they spotted Merle waving to them from his very relaxed position lying on the grass over to their right. He was on his feet to greet them as they approached, scooping Andrea straight up into his now customary enthusiastic hug and hungry kiss. Shooting her a devilish grin, he then turned to Tahlia and pressed a chaste kiss onto her cheek before gesturing for them to take a seat as he cracked beers for them.

The usual crowd was sprawled out on the grass with the exception of Amber (parents' anniversary dinner) and Tanya (function at the gallery), and the addition of Justin (a friend of Shadow's). Over at the far edge of the group, Daryl lay propped on his elbows, and aside from his usual apathetic chin incline when Tahlia smiled and flicked her fingers at him, he offered no further interaction.

Tahlia badly wanted to talk to him, although she wasn't quite sure what she'd say. Maybe a thank you for trying to save her from a broken neck at the Beerfest; maybe a total gloss-over of that and an attempt at something lighthearted; maybe just an offer of a drink together in silence.

But she never got the chance.

First, she tumbled into conversation with Shadow about his latest speaker-building project, and as always, she found him so fascinating to talk to that an hour had slid by before she even had the chance to look up.

Then she fell sideways into hilarious chat with Frankie and Sherry, who already felt like decade-old friends, and had her in bits as they regaled her with stories of crazy clients and wild therapy requests.

Then, to her dismay, when she next glanced around, Daryl was nowhere to be seen.

The disappointment she felt was disproportionate to their relationship considering she'd only met him less than a handful of times and he wore his blatant dislike for her like a sandwich board. But he was starting to feel like an addiction. Something that couldn't possibly be good for her but had her hooked all the same.

The afternoon hours ticked by with lazy chat and laughter until the last pale rays of sunlight gave way to the pallid glow of the full moon, the stars gleaming in the indigo expanse of night sky, below which, the bonfire crackled hot and inviting, drawing everyone together, moths to the flame.

Having only had one beer on arrival and then surreptitiously disposing of every other alcoholic drink that was jammed into her hands so that she could drive home, Tahlia was endlessly amused by the state most other people had descended into and their increasingly inane conversation. Although, her sobriety meant that she was acutely aware of the biting cold, her jeans and jacket not enough to keep her from shivering.

People started to drop off, disappearing to their vehicles to sleep, fuck or drive home. Merle and Andrea were long gone, Sherry and Dwight stumbling off too, and Tahlia found herself in a huddle with Frankie, Shadow, Justin and two of Justin's boorish jock friends. She couldn't remember their names, but even though they were braggy and loud, they were entertaining enough (although the one with no neck kept repeatedly offering to bench press her and she had to keep repeatedly refusing).

"Oh my God, I'm freezing!" complained Frankie, rubbing her arms. "Where did I leave my fucking jacket?!"

"Maybe over where we were sitting earlier?" offered Tahlia helpfully.

"Ugh… yeah, maybe. Will you come with me to check? I have to pee, anyway."

With only the light of the moon and Tahlia's pocket flashlight to navigate their way across the glade, it took them a while to locate Frankie's jacket, and then longer still while Tahlia waited for her to relieve herself behind a tree.

"That's so much better!" announced Frankie as she staggered back towards Tahlia, jacket pulled tight around herself. "Now I can drink more, get my alcohol blanket on."

"Oh my God, yeah it's so cold now." said Tahlia, walking briskly back towards the dying fire. "I think I'm going to head home. You ok with that?"

"Nooo!" pleaded Frankie, "Don't go yet! Stay! Stay a little longer!"

"Sorry, sweets, I'm done. I can drop you home though, if you like?"

"Nah, my car's here somewhere. I just can't drive it tonight. Anyway," Frankie gave a little sly smile, "I was hoping that Justin might keep me warm tonight."

Their little group was the only one left at the fire, although there was another pocket of people huddled under blankets further along the shore, and one more gathered up by the tree line. Justin pushed a drink into Frankie's hand and tucked an arm around her shoulders, and, smiling coyly, she pressed herself against him.

"Ok, I'm out." announced Tahlia, but immediately the two jocks started making noises of protest about how she couldn't leave yet, just one more drink, the night was young, and other generic lines of persuasion.

Then Shadow wrapped an arm around her. "Tahls, I'm gonna pass out real soon." he slurred, his words sticky and slow. "I'm gonna get to the bottom of this cup then we'll head back to the cars together."

That seemed like the most sensible option given the situation, so Tahlia nodded in agreement and they sat together on the damp grass, Shadow deciding now would be a good time to relay the tale of the ghost of the Blue Lake who, when the moon was full and the night was clear, was rumored to be seen floating across the water, wailing for her lover.

One of the jocks started a high-pitched keening, the sound echoing eerily around the basin, and Tahlia tossed a stick at him.

"Ah, oh my God, stop!" she giggled nervously – she was a total wuss with scary stories at the best of times, and this one had her nerves shot.

A distraction presented itself in the form of Frankie and Justin making out, and soon, after relentless catcalling and teasing from the other guys, Frankie declared that the two of them were just going to take a little walk down by the lake, assuring Tahlia with a pointed grin that yes, she was absolutely fine, and she'd catch up with her at yoga in the week.

Then Shadow turned to Tahlia, his eyes glazed and vacant. "Fuck. Miss T. I'm done. Gotta take a piss, then we're out, ok? Be back." Lurching to his feet, Shadow staggered off into the darkness.

Then the jocks closed in on her, dropping down on either side.

"Cold, aren't ya, babe? We'll keep you warm."

Tahlia gave an uncomfortable laugh and shifted back a little, then started rambling on about the moon in a bid to keep them distracted and make time pass until Shadow got back. The conversation took a few hairpin turns, and somewhere in the middle of a debate as to whether it would be better to be a werewolf or a vampire, Tahlia realized that Shadow wasn't coming back.

And then she started to feel a little unsafe.

Because she hadn't been drinking, she'd foolishly assumed that automatically meant she wouldn't make any stupid decisions tonight, but now that she was sitting here alone with two drunk, leery guys in the empty darkness at the edge of the woods she realized that sober-her was still very stupid.

She attempted to extract herself from the situation, but the guys moved closer, telling her that she couldn't possibly leave just yet, they had whiskey - that would keep her warm, and if that wasn't enough, they had blankets in their truck and they'd be happy to share them with her, and then the taller one snaked an arm around her shoulders and no-neck began rubbing her leg and the alarm bells in her head started jangling loudly.

Afraid that they would insist on accompanying her if she tried to get up and head for her car – and being alone with them on that dark trail through the woods somehow felt much worse than being out here in the open – Tahlia opted for a different tack. One that was potentially another very stupid decision, but screaming and running felt a little too dramatic as yet, although she was certainly prepared to execute that as Plan B if this one went bad.

Leaning into the taller guy, she smiled shyly at the other while twirling a lock of her hair around her finger in what she hoped was a coquettish manner.

"Mm, you know what, that lake is just so beautiful in the moonlight. I think I might like to stay a while longer after all." she drawled in a tone caramel-smooth. "How about… we move down there a little and have some whiskey and you know… get warm."

The guys exchanged greasy, greedy looks and quickly agreed. "Sure baby, that sounds real good. Gonna heat you right up."

"Alright, first I just have to…" she gave a sheepish shrug as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "But I'll be quick. Save me a good spot, right in the middle."

Gazing up at them through her lashes, she caught her lower lip between her teeth and raised a brow.

Yep. Really fucking stupid.

Holding her smile as she stood and slowly backed up, she then turned and started towards the tree line, checking only once that neither of them were following after her.

Once beyond the first trees, Tahlia cut straight across to where she thought the path began and flicked her pocket flashlight on. Feeling calmer now that she had some distance between herself and those drunken creeps, she moved as fast as she could along the path, hoping like hell she didn't come across any others on the way to her car. A crack sounded behind her, excessively loud in the heavy silence of the night, and she gasped, whirling to stare into the murk, the ghost story flaring in her mind and igniting her fear once again. No one materialized, so she hurried on, cursing herself for being an idiot and a scaredy-cat.

Shivering from both cold and adrenaline, Tahlia concentrated intently on not straying from the path, and after what seemed like an age, she finally spotted the first of the parked cars up ahead, a heavy cloak of relief descending on her shoulders. Many of the vehicles had cleared out, and the ones that were left were dotted randomly along the length of the clearing. Her Honda was lonely in an empty patch on the far side, and she quickly strode towards the car, fishing her keys out of her pocket with fingers stiff from the cold. Once inside the car, doors locked behind her, Tahlia took a moment to suck in a steadying breath and thank her lucky stars that things hadn't taken a turn for the worse.

Except, they sort of had, just in a different way, because her car wouldn't start.

Cursing loudly, she tried again, and again, but Rhonda just gave a wheezy rattle and cough before spluttering back into silence.

Banging her head down onto the steering wheel, Tahlia rested there for a moment, then sat up and pulled out her phone. No service. Of course there wasn't. She already knew that.

"Right." she said to herself decisively. "Options. What are they?"

It was seriously fucking cold and she didn't fancy spending the night in her car with only her yoga mat as a blanket, so that would be her last resort. She hadn't spotted Merle's truck, and it was highly likely that he and Andrea had driven home ages ago. God knows what had happened to Shadow – she had no idea what his truck looked like anyway. She could try looking for Justin and Frankie, although she didn't know if they'd even come back up from the lake yet.

The only other thing she could think to do was walk up to the main road where there was cellphone service and call a cab. The walk would probably take about twenty minutes and it put her at risk of bumping into both creeps and ghosts, but she might warm up a little if she moved briskly, and if she couldn't get hold of anyone, then it would be back to her car to hunker down for the rest of the night.

But first, she'd try her engine one last time because surely luck was on her side, surely –

"Rhonda, you fucking piece of junk! I can't believe you let me down!" she muttered as she pushed herself out of the car and slammed the door. Then, for good measure, she booted the car door with her sneakered foot a couple of times just to make herself feel better.

"That ain't gonna help none."

The gravelly voice right behind her made Tahlia nearly jump out of her skin, and she whirled around and flattened herself against the side of her car in one move, her hand flying to her chest. She couldn't see the speaker's face, only the orange tip of a cigarette smoldering by a nearby tree, but she'd recognize that voice anywhere. With the next drag, the tip of the cigarette burned bright, illuminating chiseled features and squinted eyes, and then Daryl took a step forward into the moonlight.

"Fucking hell, Daryl! You scared the shit out of me!" Tahlia accused, a ragged edge of hysteria in her voice. "What are you doing?!"

Daryl just fixed her with a flat look. "I'm wonderin' why you're kickin' at your car like a damn donkey."

Eyes widening, Tahlia stared at him for a moment, then dissolved into laughter, and she felt herself instantly relaxing, lightening. "No," she managed finally, a smile still dancing on her lips, "I mean what are you still doing here? I thought you left ages ago."

Daryl shook his head. "Naw. Been by the lake."

"Oh, I didn't know-"

"Saw ya with them guys." he cut in, a hard edge to his voice.

Tahlia pulled her arms tight around herself and maybe he sensed her unease because he sounded slightly softer when he asked,

"They do somethin' to ya?"

"No!" she said quickly. "No, but…"

They might have.

She didn't say it, but Daryl heard it anyway, an angry flame licking through his chest at that thought.

"Shouldn'ta stayed down there by yourself!" he chastised her, his brows pulled tight.

"I wasn't by myself!" she protested. "I was with Frankie. And Shadow. And he was meant to walk back to the carpark with me but then he just…" She shrugged helplessly.

Daryl already knew this, because he'd seen it. Seen it all.

Despite the fact that he hadn't spoken to her all evening, had stayed away from her on purpose, he'd watched her. And fuck, that sounded creepy as hell, but it wasn't like that, it was more that when she was in his vicinity, he couldn't not see her – she drew his attention like a beacon. He knew that if he sat with the group she'd try and talk to him – probably about the Beerfest, and shit, he still didn't know how to explain that – and he'd thought that maybe, it'd be better if he just didn't talk to her at all, so he'd moved up to the tree line to stay out of sight and hung out with a few guys he knew from school days as they got high. Not him though, he was sober tonight.

People got drunker and rowdier, it got darker and colder, yet he'd stayed because she'd stayed.

It wasn't that he was looking out for her, as such, because she didn't seem like she needed anyone doing that (which was just as well because Merle and Andrea only had eyes for each another and they'd taken off hours ago), but he couldn't help that inexplicable sense of spiky protectiveness that churned for her. And it went into overdrive when Justin's jock buddies had zeroed in on her. He didn't know them personally, but he knew them by reputation. Had heard stories. Stories that made him want to swoop straight in and drag Tahlia away from them, but how the hell would he explain that when they were doing nothing but talking?

So, when Tahlia had gone off with Frankie, Daryl had skulked down and warned Shadow not to leave her alone. Made him swear he'd get her back to the carpark, and although he was wasted as fuck, he had put on a very serious face and given Daryl his solemn word.

Then Shadow, fucking Shadow, that useless, oblivious tool, had wandered off, and Daryl would have bet his right hand that he'd ended up stumbling back to his truck on autopilot and passing out because that's what Shadow always fucking did.

And then those assholes got closer and Tahlia started to fold in on herself, and when the taller one put his arm around her in a way that looked more like a headlock than anything else, and the one with no neck had his hand on her leg, Daryl had stood up, ready to storm in and punch first, talk second - but then he saw her body language change, turn warm and inviting, and she'd smiled in a way that made them smile right back like they'd won a prize, and Daryl had frozen, suddenly sick with the thought that maybe she was going to give herself over to them after all, and he'd felt so fucking stupid.

And then he'd realized that she was just doing that to get away from them, and he'd felt even more fucking stupid for not helping her sooner.

So, torn between laying into those assholes just on principle or going after her, her safety won out and he decided to follow her back to the carpark just to make sure she got to her car unscathed. He hadn't intended to make his presence known, but then that rust bucket of hers wouldn't start and she'd looked so drowned by it all that he'd swallowed his pride and stepped in.

"Fuckin' Shadow." Daryl muttered, even though it was himself that he was really annoyed at. Then, because he wasn't sure what else to say, he asked, "You ain't been drinkin'?" Even though he already knew the answer to that, because, yeah. He'd been watching.

Tahlia shook her head. "Just one when I arrived, but I was always going to drive. I want to go to yoga early in the morning."

Daryl scoffed at that, then pointed to her car. "Looks like you ain't going nowhere. Got a dead battery."

"Yeah." Tahlia ducked her head sheepishly. "It kind of does this. I don't drive it that much."

"Probably part of the reason." Daryl took another long drag on his cigarette and slowly puffed the smoke up into the air. "Got jumper cables?"

"Um..." Tahlia really wished she knew the answer to that, but usually when her car wouldn't start, Andrea would jump start it for her, so she didn't know if the cables were hers or Andrea's.

With a pained sigh, Daryl moved closer, his cigarette hanging out the corner of his mouth, then held out his hand.

"Keys."

Dutifully, she handed them over, and he popped the trunk.

"This car is a heap of shit." he remarked as he shoved her yoga mat, reusable shopping bags and a pile of books out the way. "Surprised your daddy lets ya drive somethin' like this around."

"Mmm. He hates it. Says it's a bad look for the family name."

Daryl shot her a curious glance out of the corner of his eye. He'd meant that surely her dad would want her driving something safe and reliable, but her implication was that he was more concerned about image. Not sure what to make of that, he stood up and slammed the trunk.

"Y'ain't got cables."

Tahlia shook her head. "Didn't think so. I'm just gonna call a cab."

"Ain't no service down here."

"I know." she retorted defensively. "I'm going to go up to the main road and call."

Daryl fixed her with a long, judgmental stare. "You gonna walk all the way up there? And then what? Tell them to pick you up on the highway? How they gonna find you?"

"Well, I'll just sleep in my car, then!" she said brightly.

"Car's still gonna be dead in the mornin'. Plus, you'll freeze."

Tipping her face up to the sky, Tahlia puffed out a long breath. It felt like he was deliberately torturing her for being so stupid and making her feel even more like a prize idiot. Dropping her gaze back to his scrutinizing one, she huffed out a sad little laugh.

"Guess even all my money bags can't help me now."

In that moment she looked so forlorn that Daryl was certain if he opened his arms to her she'd curl up against him and burrow in like he was a haven. Swallowing hard, he quickly looked away in case he lost his mind and did it.

He hadn't intended to make her feel bad, he'd really just been stalling, hoping that he wouldn't have to do this next thing. But it looked like there was no other option.

"C'mon." he said, stubbing out his cigarette. "Give y'a lift home."

Her eyes widened and her face opened in apprehension as she quickly shook her head. "No, thanks, I'm ok."

Daryl tensed defensively, his eyes narrowing. "What?" he spat, his voice hard. "Scared a me or somethin'?" Knowing she had every right to be with the way he treated her.

But then she lightened, her expression now glowing with curiosity. "No." Tahlia said slowly. "No, not at all. It's just that..." She paused as if trying to work out the answer to a problem in her head. "You... you don't even like me."

The last part was mainly a statement, but there was a note of question at the end, like she was hoping he'd tell her she was wrong.

That just made Daryl frown and he thought to himself, I don't. You're right. I fuckin' don't.

But even in his head those words sounded disingenuous and he knew that he'd never be able to say them out loud with any kind of conviction.

So instead, he said gruffly, "Don't mean I wanna see ya stranded. Or worse."

"Oh." she nodded. "Right."

"I'm on the other side." He gestured vaguely across the clearing, then started weaving his way through the tree line without waiting to see if she would follow.

He was surprisingly quick and light on his feet and Tahlia had to jog to catch up with him. In her haste, she stumbled on a tree root and fell gracelessly to her hands and knees with a little grunt. Daryl whirled around in a second, and before she had even begun to push herself up, he'd already caught her elbows and effortlessly hauled her to her feet.

"God's sake. Be careful." he hissed, then noticed she was rubbing her palms. "Hurt ya'self?"

"It's nothing, just -"

Before she could protest further, he'd grabbed her hands in his, then immediately glared at her.

"Fuckin' hell, Silver! You're damn freezin'! Why didn't ya say somethin'?" he bit accusingly as he wrapped his big, warm hands around her icy fingers and began to rub the back of her hands with his thumbs.

Nearly swooning from the searing roughness of his skin on hers, Tahlia managed to scoff and lightly say, "Why would I? What could you do about it? Magic me a blanket and a heater?"

Daryl's frown deepened – only because he felt like an idiot because of course she was cold, and he was a thoughtless prick for not having realized sooner.

So, abruptly he released her and shrugged off his leather jacket, letting it drop to the ground. Then in one swift movement he pulled his dark flannel shirt over his head so he was now standing before her in a black long-sleeved tee. Next, without gentleness or question, he pushed her jacket from her shoulders and tsked angrily when he saw she only had a thin t-shirt on underneath, then he pulled his flannel shirt over her head, working her arms into it, slightly turned on by the way she just let him do all of this to her without so much of a murmur of protest or resistance, staring up at him with those big green eyes all the while.

To say Tahlia was surprised by this would be a gross understatement.

Even though his movements were fast and brusque like she was the biggest inconvenience in the world (which, she supposed, to him, tonight she probably was) there was an undercurrent of tenderness that she'd never so much as caught a glimpse of before, and it had her weak at the knees. The shirt was still warm from his body heat, and she couldn't help but hitch her shoulders and snuggle into it. Even so, she was still shivering and he must have felt it because he started to rub his hands up and down her arms to try and warm her up, and she sucked in a quivering breath, swaying a little on her feet. Then, like he suddenly came to his senses and realized what he was doing, he snatched his hands back, grabbed his jacket off the ground and swung it over his shoulders while nodding at hers.

"Put your jacket back on."

Nodding faintly, Tahlia did as he instructed, struggling to squeeze the jacket on over his bulky shirt, and while she was doing that, he reached out and quickly did up the top two buttons of the shirt to cover her chest, then fisted his hands around the collar for a few seconds as he stared at her with unreadable intensity. Then in the next moment, he released her and spun around.

"C'mon." Daryl said gruffly. "And watch where ya goin' this time."

"I would if I could fucking see anything." muttered Tahlia peering intently at the ground, wondering how he seemed to have animalistic night vision.

Heaving a tortured sigh, Daryl caught her elbow and gripped tightly, pulling her against him as he led her the rest of the way across the clearing before stopping in front of a large motorcycle.

"Been on a bike before?"

"Uh… one time a friend took me quad biking on the sand dunes…" Tahlia chewed her lip as she gazed at the motorbike in front of her. "So, I guess the real answer is… no."

"Here." Daryl shoved his helmet at her. "Put this on."

"What?! No, I can't take your-"

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Just take it. Ain't like we're drivin' a million miles. Where do ya live anyways?"

"Beaumont Quarter. The apartments down by Jellicoe Park."

"Yeah." Daryl gestured for her to put the helmet on. "I know where that is." Throwing a leg over the bike, he started it and revved the engine, startling Tahlia a little with the roar. "Get on. Keep your body in line with mine. Lean into the corners. Don't do nothin' weird."

Nodding obediently, Tahlia fastened the helmet.

It smelled like him. Smoke and oil and evergreens. Heady and intoxicating.

Climbing on behind him, she wasn't sure how close she was supposed to get, and keeping a respectable amount of space between their bodies, she hesitantly took hold of the hem of his jacket. She didn't need to see his massive eye roll to know that he was doing one as he reached down and grabbed her hands in his own soul-warmingly warm ones and pulled them right around his solid waist, dragging her body against his back.

"Hold on proper like. Don't want ya slidin' off and goin' under a truck or nothin'."

Shit. She didn't want that either.

So, she sank into him, his body firm and warm and comforting, and she hoped like hell he didn't hear the little mewling sound she'd just unintentionally made.

The bike bumped and shuddered as Daryl drove slowly over the rutted path, and it was a welcome relief when they were finally on the highway, because all that bouncing and rubbing against him had Tahlia wildly turned on.

Daryl picked up speed and flew along the wide empty roads and wondered if she'd notice that he drove the long way to her home, or that he took the corners hard and fast because it made her tighten her arms around him.

All too soon the wide expanse of Jellicoe Park appeared in front of them – empty, save for the shadowed specters of trees, foreboding sentinels in the midnight darkness, and to the left, the dark-windowed, quiet blocks of apartments and townhouses that made up Beaumont Quarter. Pulling over by the corner of the first block, Daryl turned to Tahlia.

"Where now?"

"Here's fine." she replied, sliding off the bike, her body chilling instantly in the absence of his warmth, and she quickly pulled the helmet off, shaking out her long dark hair.

Daryl scowled, certain that she was trying to look so goddamned sexy on purpose.

"Thank you." Tahlia told him sincerely, handing the helmet back. "You don't know how much it means to me that… well, I just really appreciate this. I'll make it up to you, I promise. Um, well… I'm a few doors down that way," She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "So, I guess… I'll see ya."

Still straddling the bike, Daryl looked beyond her and into the darkness.

Two streetlights in a row were busted, and over on the green opposite he could see a few guys weaving slowly across the grass, shoving each other and laughing loudly. Drunkenly.

Nope. Not risking that again.

He pushed out the kickstand and swung himself off the bike. "Walk ya to your door."

Tahlia opened her mouth to protest but found that she didn't want to because she'd take every moment that she could with him, and instead, fell into step next to him as they made their way along the footpath. Over the road, the guys caught sight of them and one of them wolf-whistled, shouting something dirty at Tahlia, and Daryl slowed down, sending a fierce glare their way, the sound of their obnoxious laughter ricocheting across the otherwise silent park.

"Assholes." muttered Daryl.

"Just drunk." replied Tahlia lightly.

"Drunk guys are the biggest assholes. Ya gotta be careful."

They could both hear the protective note in his tone, but just as Tahlia was gathering her wits so that she could make a light-hearted quip, she felt his hand land firmly on the small of her back, fingers splayed, guiding, guarding, and her wits tumbled out and scattered all over the place once again as their bodies bumped together all the way to her door.

"Ok…" Tahlia stopped and tried to remember to breathe as she pointed to a door adorned with a golden '22'. "This is me."

Daryl nodded, taking a step away from her. "Alright goin' up there yourself?"

Blinking widely at him, Tahlia couldn't understand where all this concern was coming from. From their first meeting, Daryl had shown nothing but open dislike for her, and although outwardly this mask was still firmly in place, cracks were showing, light was slipping through.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." she told him, gesturing at the building behind her. "In this block each of these doors gives access to just three apartments – first, second and third floor. We're there." She pointed to the second-floor balcony. "22B. Oh! I need to give you your shirt back."

"Naw. I'll get it 'nother time. You're still fuckin' shakin'."

"Ok." she nodded gratefully. "Thank you. And thanks for… everything tonight, I know that it was probably very painful for you, but you really saved my ass. I owe you big time." Then, dragging the corner of her lower lip between her teeth, she looked up at him thoughtfully, a cheeky glimmer in her eye. "So… after the Beerfest… and tonight… if I didn't know better, I'd say that you were looking out for me."

Briefly sucking his cheeks in, Daryl then gave a dismissive sniff.

"Yeah? Well, you'd be the only one sayin' that. Now get inside 'fore ya freeze to death."

She grinned up at him, her eyes liquid emerald, and suddenly Daryl became irrationally annoyed with her because right then he knew that later, he'd be stroking his dick to images of her swimming in his shirt, her wet red lips pulling between her teeth, her teasing green gaze glittering with amusement and maybe something a little deeper. Dirtier.

He dragged a hand forcefully over his face, then glared at her.

"Get inside."

With a little huffed laugh and one more mirthful glance his way, Tahlia nodded.

"Yes sir."

Then, as his scowl deepened, she turned on her heel and moved quickly to her door, a series of quiet, high-pitched beeps on the keypad as she punched in the entry code, and then she disappeared into the shadow of the stairwell, the door clicking securely shut behind her.

Daryl strode purposefully back to his bike and jammed his helmet on, which now smelled like her – summery coconut and sweet cloudless skies.

"I don't like you." he muttered to himself. "I don't fuckin' like you."

Nope.

Still couldn't make it sound convincing.

Tahlia entered her flat in a daze, still thrown by this other dimension of Daryl that had been revealed tonight – a beautiful, irresistible softness beneath that stony outer layer.

Turning the shower up to scalding, she undressed and stood under the water until her vision steamed and her skin tightened over well-warmed limbs.

Getting ready for bed, she stared at his shirt for a moment, then, before she could berate herself for being a creep, she pulled it on, snuggling back into the comforting smell of him once again as she crawled into bed. Closing her eyes, she was filled with cascading thoughts of dark shadows and looming woods and that brooding, stormy-eyed, unreadable man that had appeared for her tonight like a leather-clad guardian angel, pulling her from the fire and sending electricity sparking over her skin and damp heat between her legs.

And then, just as feverish sleep was about to swallow her, her eyes flew open.

She hadn't gotten her car keys back from Daryl bloody Dixon.