AN: Here we are, another piece to this one.
I hope you enjoy! Please don't forget to let me know what you think!
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Carol felt a growing feeling in her gut that was like some kind of animal trying to gnaw its way out of her. She looked at Daryl. He smiled at her, though he quickly covered it over, and nodded his head. She shook her head, gently, from side to side. Carol wasn't given to disagreeing with anybody, hardly—and she certainly wasn't much given to disagreeing with Daryl, since she knew that most men thought that women, whether they be whores, wives, or mates, had little business disagreeing with them—but she felt so afraid to agree that she thought she might be sick and part company with her breakfast right there on the slatted floors of the less-than-fine establishment.
"Come on, honey," Andrea said, catching Carol somewhat tenderly under the upper part of her arm and tugging her toward her feet. It was, Carol thought, the same kind of move that she might have used if someone were too drunk to steady themselves.
Daryl furrowed his brow at her and, with a toss of his head, tried to gesture to her that she ought to go on up the stairs with the blonde. Carol's stomach churned, and she shook her head gently.
She did get to her feet, but she didn't really intend for the movement to give Andrea a leg up in her efforts to get her up the stairs. Rather, she figured that, once on her feet, she'd be more prepared for making it known to Daryl that she was going to tag right along with him like she'd been doing.
Maybe he sensed that. She saw him swallow down the rest of the shot he'd been working on, chase it with a glass of water, and get the owner's attention. He waved away more liquor, but Carol heard him speak to the man as she neared him with the blonde whore hanging off her arm like some kind of whorish article of clothing.
"He don't always understand things," Daryl said. "I'ma just—take him up an' make sure he gets settled in and…understands that he's free to do all that they got a mind to do together."
Carol knew better than to argue with Daryl right then and there. If she were to do that, they would have little hope of continuing any sort of show that she was Daryl's younger brother. Instead, she kept her mouth closed and her eyes down, but she felt every muscle in her body tense as she prepared for what may be coming next.
"I don't much care what'cha do," the owner of the establishment said with a laugh. "But if you both havin' a go at my whore—well…that's gonna cost extra."
Daryl laughed.
"I hear ya," he said. "Understand. And—I ain't layin' hands on the lady."
"There won't be no lady up there, son…" the owner teased, but he was clearly satisfied with the arrangement and the understanding.
Carol's feet felt heavy as she mounted the steps with Andrea tugging at her arm and Daryl following behind them. She felt like she was being led to her execution. She felt unwell in every possible way. She didn't say anything, though, until the three of them were in a room and the door was closed.
The room was small and, honestly, a great deal cleaner than Carol had expected it to be. There was a bed, as she expected, a wardrobe, and a dresser. A small open window did its best to air the room out, but it still smelled of sweat and the musky scent of mating.
Andrea walked over and closed the window before she sat on the edge of the bed with a paint of amusement on her features.
"You heard what he said," she said, breaking the silence. "If it's gonna be the two of you, that's gonna cost extra. His rules and mine."
"You can't leave me here, Daryl," Carol insisted, suddenly. Now that she felt they were in a space where she could voice her feelings without giving away, entirely, their show of brotherhood, she felt free to speak. "You can't—you promised you wouldn't…"
"Wouldn't…?" Daryl said.
Carol could see the question on his features. She could hear it in his voice.
"You said you wouldn't take me to town and leave me," Carol said. She balled her fists up at her side. It felt like the only way to fight the growing feeling of gnawing in her gut. The room, although not as dirty as she'd imagined it might be, smelled like sweat and mating, and with the window closed to keep in their voices, it was stifling, and Carol was starting to be sure that she couldn't breathe, and there wasn't possibly enough air in that little room for the three of them. "You said we mated for life—that's what you said, Daryl. You mated me and it was for life!"
Daryl stared at her in confusion. He laughed, but it wasn't a sincere kind of laugh when he was pleased by something she said. This laugh was more of a nervous laugh, like he was scared of what he'd heard or, maybe, by the fact that she'd accidentally delivered the words through gritted teeth while she was trying to hold back all that she felt inside of her.
"You my mate, Carol. I ain't lied about that. I ain't…"
Carol felt a little of the gnawing cease. She glanced at Andrea who was sitting with her arm on the footboard of her bed, her chin on her hand. Carol supposed that she'd be paid for her hour, however they spent it, and she didn't have any sincere worries about anything.
"Why are you tryin' to leave me here to be a whore?" Carol asked.
Daryl laughed again. It was short and sharp, and it wasn't sincere laughter. He looked at Andrea and then back at Carol.
"A whore…you mean a…?" He pointed at Andrea. "A—painted woman like she is?"
Andrea laughed quietly from her perch on the bed, but offered no more commentary than that. Carol nodded at Daryl. He shook his head at her.
"I ain't leavin' you to be no whore, Carol," Daryl said. "I'm leavin' you with the whore."
"What'cha think comes of me when you leave me, Daryl?" Carol asked, her throat tightening and her eyes prickling. "What'cha think happens to me when you leave me and I got no man…and I got no money? You leave me like that and I'm just like her…I got no choice. We ain't no different. She don't like what she's gotta do every day. She don't do it 'cause she wants to. She does it 'cause she's gotta eat, and she's got no choice, an' she ain't got up the guts to take her leave of this hell—same as I didn't have the guts to do when I was with him."
Carol's stomach squeezed, and she looked toward the blonde who was sitting up straight now on the edge of the bed.
"Sorry," Carol offered apologetically.
Andrea shrugged her shoulders and crossed one leg over the other.
"Truth only hurts your feelings if you never faced it, I reckon," Andrea said. "It's true. Shootin's too messy, and I don't have the stomach for hanging. Too damn scared that, with my luck, the rope'd snap or the wood one. Break my neck, but leave me just a droolin' mess trapped inside my own head." She laughed to herself and stood up, moving toward her dresser and lighting a cigarette. "That ain't no place I wanna stay longer'n I have to without respite—that's a rest, if you weren't sure. Man come through an' taught me that about a week ago. Respite."
Daryl stared hard at Andrea as the blonde smoked a cigarette, the smoky haze adding to the thickness of the air around them. He looked back at Carol and shook his head. He squeezed her arms, and she fought the urge to pull away from him.
"You ain't understandin' me," Daryl said. "We mated. You my mate. Whether we doin' it right or wrong."
Andrea snorted from her spot by the dresser.
"I'm sorry," she said, waving her hand at the both of them when she drew their attention. "I don't mean to interrupt, but…what the hell's the wrong way to mate—if you're mating, and all?"
"We ain't sure," Daryl said. "But if you some authority on matin'…and given what it is you do, it's fair to figure you might be…well, you can answer that question."
"That's gonna cost extra," Andrea said. "If it's the two of you."
"You can just tell her then, while I'm gone," Daryl said.
"Daryl…" Carol started to protest. He still held tight to her arms, so he wasn't going anywhere at that exact moment. He made eye contact with her again and shook his head.
""An' she can tell me later," Daryl added, shaking his head at Carol again. "Carol—I ain't leavin' you. I'm leavin' you, but I'm comin' back. I ain't leavin' you to be like her."
"You know—my feelings…what I've got left of them…are really starting to smart a little," Andrea offered.
Daryl frowned at her and brought his eyes back to Carol's.
"You stay with her," Daryl said. "It's safe here. Man downstairs ain't lettin' nobody come up the stairs that ain't a payin' customer. Don't nobody know what you doin' up here. Figure you matin' or whatever, an' that's proper for this place. Figure you paid to do it. You paid for her an' her company. You ain't gotta follow me around, and I don't gotta worry that someone's gonna figure out you ain't my brother. Don't gotta keep my eyes open for the kinda people I wouldn't want lookin' at you like a mate they might wanna try to take from me. I can get what we need for what we buildin', and there ain't no worryin'. I just come on back here when I'm done, and then we go on back to our land. You an' me."
Carol felt like she was practically growing lighter as the reality of it all sank in for her. She smiled at Daryl, and he released one of her arms enough to wipe her eye where a tear had escaped without her permission.
"You thought of that?" Carol asked. It was a stupid question, and she didn't really mean it, and she didn't really mean to have an answer for it, but Daryl didn't point out that it was stupid. He hummed at her and nodded, giving her just a hint of a smile.
"Besides—figure it don't hurt your reputation none, as my brother, to have you a painted lady you covetin'. Maybe even set on matin' for life. Every time we come into town, you just can't stand yourself—gotta throw a lil' of the yellow in her direction for the chance to mate her while we here."
Daryl looked over his shoulder. Andrea leaned against her dresser. She'd finished her cigarette, and her arms were crossed across her chest.
"You in agreement with that?" Daryl asked.
"Long as I get paid," Andrea said, "then it's no never-mind to me how you wanna spend your time or your money."
Carol felt her muscles relax with Daryl's explanation. She felt the sincerity of his words, though the animal feeling in her gut was taking its time in leaving off chewing entirely.
"You promise you'll come back?" Carol asked.
"I was never not comin' back," Daryl said. "Only way I don't come for you is—if they layin' me in the ground somewhere. And if I'm planted, then you just gonna have to forgive me that I couldn't make it back."
"Don't you do that!" Carol said quickly. "Don't you do nothin' that gets you killed, Daryl."
He laughed quietly.
"Weren't my intention," he said. "I'm just lettin' you know that I got intentions to come back for you. I'm just leavin' you for a little while—not no long time."
"Not long at all," Andrea offered. "Because he starts keepin' time from the minute the door closes. He'll be knockin' before long, or sendin' someone else to do it, to say that the time's passin'."
Daryl nodded at her.
"Don't you worry about that," Daryl said. "I got yellow enough to buy me whatever I got a mind to have for me or for her. You just—sit down and do whatever it is that you do when you in the company of a woman what's mated for life."
"I do whatever I'm paid to do," Andrea said. "In anybody's company."
"Then—I'm payin' you to do what she wants an' to keep your mouth shut tight about everything you see an' hear here," Daryl said. "I'll let him know I'ma square up once I got what we gonna be needin' to get started on buildin' us a place. You just—stay here in this room, and you don't go nowhere, and you make her happy. Think you can handle that for what he's gonna charge an' some of the yellow goin' straight in your pocket, too?"
"Gold?" Andrea asked. Carol nodded. Andrea smiled. "Honey—I'll make you the happiest you've ever been…you just pick your pleasure."
"Keep her company and keep her safe," Daryl said. "And—maybe you just…go over the right an' the wrong way of matin' so we know if we're doin' it right enough."
Andrea looked at Carol, raised her eyebrows, and shrugged. Carol looked back at Daryl.
"You better come back," Carol warned him. She smiled, though, because she didn't really doubt him at all, now.
"I'ma come back," he said. "You better be here when I get back. You just stay here an' be safe, you hear me? That's all the hell I'm worried about."
Carol felt a rush of warmth in her chest.
"I'ma be safe," she said. "I got nine lives…and I'ma spend all of them with you."
