Poker Face

Chapter 10 - Starting Over

"I'm sorry," she finally said quietly. She glanced at him and he nodded, understanding what she was apologizing for.

"Yeah, what the fuck happened there?" he asked, referring to Simon.

"I don't know," she shrugged, not adding anything more.

"Okay, that is not a good enough answer," he sighed and his expression hardened as his gaze bore into hers. "Look, doll, if you were anyone else, you'd be fucking dead. I saved you and brought you here, and the first contribution you made was to knock one of my men the fuck out and hold a gun to another. Not to mention you almost fuckin' shot me."

"But-"

"But I know there was some fucking confusion and I doubt Simon was being very helpful. Hell, he needs to get knocked on his ass every now and again." Aven cocked her head, asking what he was getting at. "That shit wasn't cool but I'm letting you off the hook." Aven couldn't help but let a hint of shock slip through her veil.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"But you gotta let me know what the fuck happened," he asserted. Aven nodded, again trying to piece together the memory. "And we gotta make sure it doesn't happen again or I won't be so god damn generous next time."

"He said I couldn't leave," she said sadly.

"He said you couldn't leave so you pistol whipped him?" Negan laughed after a moment.

"I over-reacted. I don't know, I just freaked out."

"Freaked out like you did in the cell?" Aven went still and once again broke eye contact. "Listen, I don't make a fucking habit of listening to people's personal problems, I'm not a fuckin' shrink, but can you maybe help me understand what was happening in there?" he said, tapping her forehead with his gloved index finger. She flinched, more out of slight annoyance than habit or fear. He pulled his hand back, not unamused by her reaction, and watched her decipher what she needed to tell him and how to do it.

"I mean, how much do you want to know?" she finally asked.

"How the fuck should I know? Surprise me," he said, leaning back in his chair as she kept organizing her thoughts.

"Can you tell me something?" she asked.

"I can tell you a lot of things," he retorted quickly.

"What happened?" she asked simply. He pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes, not understanding the question. "When everything...when all this happened...what happened?"

"What do you mean?" Negan asked, thoroughly confused. "What, were you living under a fucking rock or something?"

"No, no, not a rock," she said, almost humorously. Negan only frowned and shook his head, waiting for the story. "I'll tell you but I just...I haven't really gotten a good explanation out of anyone, I don't understand what happened. Everyone was either too emotional about it or tried to spare me the details...not that I really asked many people."

"Well shit, I don't think anyone knows what happened. Sure as shit didn't know what was going on when it all started. Fuckin' army came in before we even knew the outbreak had reached us. We only saw it on TV at first, all those videos of people being shot at and not going down."

"The army?" she asked.

"Okay darling, you have got to explain what's going on. You act like you weren't there."

"I wasn't," she shrugged, finally pushing herself up from lying on her side, crossing her legs pretzel-style on the couch with her hands rested in her lap. She took a deep breath and locked eyes with him. "I was kidnapped, uh, by a guy from my hometown...I was there for a while with some other girls and when we got out...well, when I got out," she took another quick breath to keep herself composed, pushing aside the image of Cindy being attacked by the corpse of the man who had kidnapped them just before she was able to get her freedom. "When I got out, everything was gone. I went home and..." she trailed off, not needing to finish the sentence.