Red River Blue
Chapter 89
Carol cringed as another loud thump sounded from the living room. This one shook the dishes in the cupboards. At first she was worried about the house being trashed. But that concern was slowly giving way to the worry that someone was about to become seriously injured. But the crash was followed by shrieking laughter. Carol just sighed and headed for the living room doorway. The sound she heard was just one of the large overstuffed chairs being knocked over backwards.
Daryl had Wren pinned down on the carpet, tickling her ribs. Mika was on his back, trying to put him in a headlock. Harley was standing against the wall, cheering them on and acting as their referee.
"If you want to roughhouse," Carol suggested, "...go outside."
"Wrestling is an indoor sport," Harley said, favoring Carol with a little smartass grin. She quickly turned back to the living room wrestling match and clapped her hands at Mika, reminding the girl that choking wasn't allowed. Wren's legs were kicking wildly as she writhed on the ground screaming that she was going to piss her pants.
"If she pees on the carpet," Carol shouted, pointing her finger at Daryl, "...you're cleaning it up!" At the sound of her voice, Daryl glanced up. His hair was hanging in his face and the front of his shirt was ripped. He quickly released Wren and shot across the living room on his hands and knees with Mika still clinging to his back. He made a grab for Carol's leg and missed. She shrieked and retreated back into the kitchen. Shaking Wren off his back, Daryl climbed to his feet and started advancing on Carol.
"Don't you dare," she warned him, backing up and skirting around the kitchen island, trying to put it between them. "Daryl! This isn't funny!"
Daryl swung himself around the corner of the island, making another attempt to catch her. Carol darted out of reach just in time, pausing in the kitchen doorway as she tried to decide if she was going to run back around the island again or through the living room and up the stairs. Mika lunged, wrapping her arms around Carol's leg and gripping the woman as tight as she could. Carol tried to shake the girl off but it was already too late. Daryl grabbed her. Leaning forward, he took her by one arm and one leg, slinging her sideways onto his back. Carol was cursing at him, slapping him with her free hand. He hauled her into the living room where he did not gently toss but full on threw her at the couch. She bounced off the back of it and landed down onto the cushions with a thump.
"You asshole!," she hollered, trying unsuccessfully to hold onto some part of dignity.
Seeing that her uncle was momentarily distracted, Wren took the opportunity to strike. She leaped onto Daryl's back, hollering for Mika to kick him in the backs of his knees. Between the two of them, they managed to get him on the ground. But their upper hand didn't last long. Daryl shook Wren off his back and pinned Mika to the ground with one hand. He leaned on top of Wren, shoving his armpit forcefully into her face. It was her horrified half muffled scream that did Carol in. She buried her face into the couch cushion and just let the laughter roll over her.
When she finally managed to get control over herself, Carol sat up and made eye contact with Harley. She raised an eyebrow and pointed at Daryl. Harley nodded, a wicked grin on her face. How fast the girl moved always surprised Carol. She had her legs wrapped around Daryl and his arms pinned into a full nelson before he even realized she was no longer serving as their referee.
"Cheater!," he hollered. Harley laughed, tightening her hold on him and demanding that he verbally admit his defeat. Carol knelt down and started grabbing at the meaty part of his thighs, a place she knew he was the most ticklish. Mika and Wren were pinching and grabbing at his stomach and ribs while Daryl thrashed and wriggled like a fish on a hook. He was laughing and shrieking, the noises coming out of him much more high pitched than one would think Daryl was capable of making. Carol could barely see, her eyes tearing up with laughter.
"I GIVE UP!," Daryl hollered through his laughter, "LEMME GO!"
Harley released him, pushing herself backwards across the floor before she collapsed and started laughing like crazy. The front door swung open. Spencer charged in with his gun drawn.
"What the hell's going on in here?," he asked. "I heard a woman screaming!" Harley took one look at him and started laughing even harder. She gripped her sides and clamped her legs together. Mika pointed at Daryl, exposing him as the lady screamer that Spencer heard from outside the house. Spencer tucked his gun away.
"I thought someone was getting ate up in here," he said, shaking his head.
"Someone could be," Harley suggested, earning her a boot in the ass from her uncle and more laughter from Carol. Spencer smiled. It felt good to smile. At his house, everyone had been miserable for days on end. He missed his dad too. But his mom was taking it hard. Spencer was starting to worry that she might not recover from the loss.
"I thought we were going hunting," he said, reminding her. Harley was supposed to come home and get her gear. Then meet him at the front gate. He started to worry when she never showed back up. And when he heard screaming inside her house, it scared the shit out of him.
"Oh yeah," she sighed, pulling herself to her feet and trying to smooth down her hopelessly ruffled curls. "Lemme get my bow."
Wren and Mika both climbed to their feet and went chasing up the stairs after the older girl, begging to be taken along on the hunting trip. Daryl heard Harley telling the girls to get their shit, so he assumed that meant she was agreeing to take them. Merle was off patrolling with Rick. Beth and River were out at the gardens with Glenn and Maggie. And with the girls gone, that left himself and Carol conveniently alone in the house.
Daryl sat on the couch and watched to make sure Harley and the girls were long gone. Then he locked the front door. He leaned against the kitchen door frame, watching Carol until she felt his eyes on her and looked up. Once everyone started gearing up to go hunting, she returned to whatever project she was working on before she was drawn into their living room wrestling match. Today, the project involved a large basket of apples and the dehydrator.
Daryl approached her, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her back against his chest. He took her hand in his, fingering the small diamond on her finger.
"Still sure this is the one you want?," he asked. The ring was nothing more than a thin gold band with a single tiny diamond in the center. Daryl knew he brought back lots bigger and more impressive rings than that. And even a few from a locked up case in the back of the store that looked like they were worth more money than he ever earned in his life. River took one of those. It had a giant teardrop shaped stone in the middle and a band crusted with more tiny gems. She tucked her other ring away upstairs in her room in favor of the new flashier one.
"I like this one," Carol assured him. "It's small enough that I can leave it on all the time." River was constantly having to store her ring in the little dish by the kitchen sink. Then she would forget it there, or knock it into the sink. The new one she snagged was even bigger. Carol wasn't sure the woman would even be able to get her hand in her pocket with that giant rock on her finger.
Daryl smiled as he leaned down and started kissing up the back of her neck. He had no idea why he thought Carol would want a big flashy ring. He supposed he just thought that's what all women wanted. It was typical of her to make a more practical choice. And that's exactly what she did. As long as she was happy, Daryl didn't care what she had on her finger.
Carol hummed at the contact, leaning her body back against his. Daryl reached under her shirt, skimming his hands up until he was cupping her breasts through her bra. He rubbed his fingers over the hard pebbles, circling them through the thin material. He tucked his thumbs under the hard wire edge of her bra cups and lifted. The bra pulled up, spilling her naked breasts out the bottom. He cupped them in his hands, kneading at the soft globes and pinching her hard nipples between his fingers. Her head fell back, resting against his shoulder and exposing the long line of her neck. He kept one hand on her breast, the other stroking down over the curve of her hip. He unbuttoned her pants, slipping his hand inside and cupping her mound. She gasped, her hips bucking forward into the contact. Daryl smiled, remembering the time she slapped him away for trying a similar move. When they were alone in the city holed up in that women's shelter.
Daryl used his fingers to spread her lips, rubbing the rough pad of his middle finger back and forth across her clit. He increased the force until Carol started to moan. Then he shoved his hand further into her panties and shoved two fingers deep inside her, pressing forward as he slid them roughly in and out of her. It only took a few hard thrusts before he felt her insides flood with warmth as her walls convulsed around his fingers. When her spasms stopped, he pulled his hand out of her pants and wrapped his arm around her waist, hugging Carol against him.
She took a few deep breaths, letting her heart rate slow before she spun in his arms and kissed him. Daryl kissed her back. He was thinking about scooping her up and carrying her away up to their room for a proper fuck when she slithered out of his grasp and lowered herself to her knees in front of him. She unzipped his pants, dragging them down just far enough to release his erection. He closed his eyes, hissing and gripping the edge of the counter when she took him into her mouth. Her tongue swirled around the head of his dick, her hand gripping the base before she took as much of him into her mouth as she could. She gagged a little, when he hit the back of her throat. But she quickly found her rhythm, following her mouth with her hand. Daryl gripped the counter harder, fighting the urge to twine his fingers into her hair and slam himself into her mouth. He was teetering on the edge of his pleasure, trying to hold back and draw the act out longer. He fantasized about this moment, lying awake in his cell at the prison. But his imagination couldn't compare to the real thing.
"Fuck, I'm gonna come," Daryl warned, unable to stop himself from thrusting hard into her throat. She stroked him to competition with her hand, letting him fill her mouth with his emission. He felt her the muscles of her throat squeezing in around him as she forcefully swallowed and nearly gagged. She must have had her limit, because Carol finally yanked her head back and away from his dick, sucking in a hard breath of air. Daryl tucked himself back into his pants and helped her up onto her feet. He smiled as he watched her tuck herself back into her bra and straighten her clothes out. Daryl didn't know the first thing about women. But he figured the more sex they had the better. With any luck all the blood in Carol's brain was rushing to her pussy and making it harder for her to think about what she was doing wasting her time with a redneck like him in the first place. He was about to suggest that they head upstairs for another round when suddenly there was frantic pounding coming from the front door. Daryl hurried towards the noise, flipping the lock and flinging the door open. Wren was there, her chest heaving with how heavy she was breathing and her eyes wide with panic.
"In the woods," she gasped. "Bad men. They took Harley and Spencer."