Red River Blue
Chapter 38
Sam wrapped his arms around Lydia's shoulders, smiling when she tucked herself into his side. He was worried that all the noise and the people were too much for her. Especially after what happened with Rachel earlier. He felt guilty about that. So he packed up a picnic dinner and took her out to the Kingdom's large garden space to watch the sun set. They relaxed back onto the well worn horse blanket he borrowed from the barn as they talked and ate the leftovers he brought in his backpack. When they were done eating, they rolled around on the blanket together while the summer sun faded low in the sky. Lydia fell asleep with her head on his chest. And Sam let her dream as he watched the lightning bugs flash around them like beacons. The moon and the mosquitoes were out when he finally woke her up so they could head back into town.
"You wanna go back to the tent?," Sam asked. "...or we could stop by the party and see if there's any snack food left."
"Whatever you want," Lydia said, her eyes flicking hopefully towards the large barn where the music was coming from. Sam laughed and began steering her towards the party. The food that was left was pretty picked over. But he knew by now that Lydia would eat anything. Even live bugs. She grabbed a plate and started filling it up with anything that still looked edible. And a few things that didn't. Sam glanced around the place, looking for his parents or his sister. He knew they were celebrating his dad's birthday. But that didn't mean they were still awake. If they were, he wanted to wish his dad a happy birthday. There were still people dancing and drinking, though most of those left looked like they'd already had way too much to drink. Sam's eyes widened when he spotted his dad off to the side on the other side of the barn.
"Stay here," he said, giving Lydia's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I'll be right back."
Sam pushed his way across the dance floor, pausing near the bar area and trying to figure out what he was going to do about the situation he'd discovered. His dad was in a chair. And his Aunt River was straddling his lap. She was rocking her hips against him to the beat of the music and his hands were up her dress. They were both still fully clothed. But Sam wasn't sure how long that was going to last the way they were rubbing on each other.
"What in the fuck are they doing?," he cursed, shaking his head at the ridiculous scene. Sam turned, hearing the sound of low timbre laughter from the barstool to his right.
"This might have somethin' to do with that," Negan suggested, holding up an empty tequila bottle. Sam scrubbed his face with his hands. He had no idea how River and Daryl were even still conscious, if they drank all that.
"Ya seen my mom or my Uncle Merle?," Sam asked. Negan laughed again.
"Kid, your mom left and went to bed hours ago," Negan said. And then he pointed to one of the tables near the wall where Merle was passed out snoring with his mouth wide open. "And Captain Hook's over there."
Sam headed for Merle first, shaking the man and hollering at him to wake up. Merle lifted his head slightly, uttering a few garbled slurs before he fell back forward, slamming his head on the table with a loud slap. Since the hard thump didn't seem to phase the man at all, Sam knew there was no way he was going to be able to rouse him from his tequila induced slumber. Sam muttered a few choice words under his breath as he headed for his dad. Since Negan appeared to be the only other sober person around, Sam motioned for the man to approach. Negan laughed, making no move to rise from his seat.
"Are you gonna help me or not?," Sam asked.
Negan eased himself up off his barstool and sauntered over, raising his brows at the sloppy ass show the two drunken fools were putting on. He pointed at River.
"You want my help?," he confirmed. "With this mess?"
"Just come on," Sam huffed. He grabbed River around the waist, lifting her up and away from his dad. Setting her on her feet, Sam shoved her in Negan's direction before turning his attention back to his dad, who didn't even look like he could see straight let alone walk at this point.
"Hey! Its muh birfffday," Daryl announced. "Give 'er back."
"It's not yer birthday, Merle," River argued, "It's Daryl's birthday!"
River made it one step in Daryl's direction before her legs turned to jello. Negan grabbed her, slinging his arm around her waist to keep her on her feet. She turned, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him like he was her best friend in the world. When she looked up at him, Negan bit back another round of laughter. "Wait! Who's birthday is it? Is it my birthday?," she asked. "If it's my birthday I want chocolate cake!"
"Coming right up," Negan told her.
While Negan tried to keep River on her feet without touching her more than necessary, Daryl pushed himself up out of his chair. The front of his shirt was unbuttoned. And his hair was a wild messy tangle, one side of it sticking almost straight out from his head. He took a step forward before he stumbled back, hitting his head on one of the low hanging light fixtures. The hard bump to the head was all it took to turn Daryl from fun it's my birthday and I want a lap dance drunk to I'll kill everyone in this barn drunk. Daryl spun, intending to take a swing at whoever he thought just hit him in the head.
"I'll beat everyone's ass in this mutterfucker," he bellowed. Sam knew from the few times he'd seen the man intoxicated, Daryl had a surprising amount of control over his bodily functions, even when he was blackout drunk. Sam glanced nervously at Negan. If Daryl focused his eyes enough to see the man standing there with his hands on River, this was going to go downhill real fast.
"You better take her outside," Sam suggested. Negan sighed. He wasn't eager to be alone with River. Especially when she was three sheets to the wind. Mostly because he knew if anyone saw him they were going to immediately assume the worst. But it still seemed preferable to staying and being attacked by a tequila crazed redneck.
"Come on doll," Negan coaxed as he steered River towards the door and out away from the party. "Let's take a walk."
Negan was having a hard time not laughing at River's antics. She had the giggles. And she kept switching back and forth from having total control over her legs to going completely limp with no warning. Negan adjusted his grip, tossing her arm around his shoulders and walking slightly hunched over with his arm around her waist. They almost made it to the stack of hay bales where he was planning to sit her down when she suddenly dug her heels in like a mule.
"I know you," she said, another drunken giggle bubbling out of her. "Yer Negan." She laughed again, like seeing him there was tickling her from the inside out.
"I sure am," he agreed, hoping that she wasn't about to freak out when his identity sunk into her tequila drenched mind. Instead of jerking away like he was expecting, River leaned into him and rubbed her hand up the front of his shirt.
"You know I like bad boys," she purred.
"I'm well aware," Negan said, his chest shaking with silent laughter as he looked down at her.
River's feet were bare, her toes curling into the grass. And the front of her dress was unbuttoned, revealing the red lace bra that was supporting her ample cleavage. It was hard to look at her and not picture her naked and straddling his lap. She was hot then. And she was hot now. And willing, it seemed. Though she probably wouldn't remember it that way once the tequila wore off. For a moment Negan seriously considered lifting River up into his arms and taking her somewhere more private to replay the events that happened in that trailer all those years ago. He hadn't been laid in forever. And River was one of the best fucks he'd ever had. And that was saying something. Because he'd been fucked a lot.
"Wanna make out?," River asked.
"No thank you," Negan answered, tugging her along and setting her gently down on a hay bale. "Not right now." River laughed. Leaning back on the hay, she gave him her opinion on his sudden dive into morality.
"You were more fun when you were an asshole," she announced, slurring her words.
"You got that fuckin' right," Negan said, plopping down on the hay next to her as he laughed. River was giggling like crazy. And in the middle of her fit of laughter, she turned away from him and started to vomit like the possessed girl in the exorcist. River was still laughing as the disgusting slop was flying out of her. And Negan laughed right along with her, fanning the smell of rank bile and tequila away from his face with his hand. He'd never seen someone laugh and puke at the same time before. When River got done emptying the contents of her stomach onto the ground, she turned her attention back to Negan.
"Do you have any more tequila?," she asked.
"How about I go get you some water?," he suggested with another laugh. River shrugged and nodded her head. "Stay here," Negan warned. "No exploring." River nodded her head, looking like she was taking what he said at least a little seriously before she collapsed into another fit of laughter.
Negan headed back inside the barn, figuring that if River did decide to elope that she wasn't going to get far in her current condition. Merle was still passed out on the table. And thankfully, his drunk brother was gone. His son must have enlisted some help and walked the man home to his tent to sleep it off. Negan headed behind the bar, hoping for a bottle of water but not finding anything but a mess.
Lydia stood by the buffet table, helplessly watching Sam wrangle his father. She wasn't sure what she could or should do to help. She certainly couldn't help Sam carry the heavy man. And even if she could, she wasn't sure if she wanted to get that close to Daryl in his current state of inebriation. But when Lydia saw Negan come back in from outside alone, she decided to check on Sam's Aunt River. She could do that much to help at least.
"Hey!," Lydia shouted, "...what do you think you're doing?" She spotted River right away. But the woman wasn't alone. Two young men were grabbing at her. They had her on her knees in the grass, one of them pinning her arms behind her back while the other yanked her by the hair, trying to force his penis into her mouth. There might be a lot of things that Lydia was naive to. But rape wasn't one of them. There was plenty of it in her old camp. And she knew it was against the rules here. Because she asked. And Carol told her it was against the rules.
"Let her go!," Lydia shouted.
"Don't worry walker slut," one of the boys hollered, "...you'll get your turn next!" Lydia rushed ahead, shoving the boy that had his dick out away from River as hard as she could. Unfortunately, that wasn't very hard. He stumbled back a few steps, releasing River's hair. Then he slammed his hands into Lydia's shoulders, sending her flying backwards. She braced herself, knowing her body was about to land hard against the ground. But instead, she was caught and gently returned to her feet.
"Get your hands off her. Right fuckin' now," Negan boomed, advancing on the young men.
The young man that was on his feet took a few steps back. But his friend's survival instincts weren't as strong. He released his hold on River's arms, balling up his fists as he turned to face Negan. The first thing Negan did was throw the full bottle of water in his hands, hitting the more cowardly of the two men directly in the face. There was a satisfied crunch, followed by screaming as the blood poured from his broken nose. Then Negan clenched his hand into a fist, punching the other man right in the face. The young man stumbled back and tripped over a raised clump of grass. He turned as he fell, intending to try and break his fall with his hands. But instead, he landed face first onto an upturned pitch fork that someone left lying out next to the barn. The man that got hit with the water bottle took one look at his friend's head before he screamed and took off running.
"Holy crap," Lydia gasped, approaching the man and poking at his body with the toe of her shoe. "I think he's dead." Negan grimaced, glancing from Lydia to River to the obviously dead body on the ground.
Oh shit," he muttered. "Here we go."