#The driver sort of “shakes” the truck down the bed when it is sloped

[trivialbob]

Tonight the tavern by my house is hosting a parking lot party. Beer and food are sold in tents. Games and activities are available for kids. One end of the lot was covered in corn hole boards. At the other end a country band was getting set up on a portable stage while I was there.

Sheila is working. I walked over by myself for a beer and a bratwurst. Today has been unseasonably warm and muggy. Earlier I rode my bicycle around the Minneapolis lakes. Then I took my motorcycle around Lake Minnetonka. After all that I was moist and stinky. The Twin Cities Marathon is tomorrow. With this weather some are predicting spontaneous human combustion along the 26.2 mile course. I may bike over there tomorrow just to see the flames.

My point? Oh yeah, that parking lot beer really hit the spot. The brat, not so much. It was boiled instead of grilled, which should be a crime. The bun was dry and too big. I tore off each end just so I would have some brat in each bite.

I didn't see anyone I knew so when I was done eating and drinking I walked home. Along the way I saw a cop car and tow truck. Yesterday I'd noticed someone had ditched a pickup truck behind the grocery store.

I love watching tow trucks in operation. While I observed, I said hi to the cop. He explained that the truck wasn't stolen. Someone had crashed it around, then left a note that undrivable truck would be picked up later. But one person's "later" is the police department's "that is long enough."

The tow driver had to try a few different things, due to the way the pickup was wedged against the curb, before the pickup was secured to the bed.

Once again another tow truck driver would not let me help at all. They always spout something about "insurance regulations" and "the boss" preventing them from letting me operate any of the levers to move the bed or to turn the powerful winch.

[neganandblake]

I think I liked you better when you didn’t have a knife in your hand, Peaches...Chapter 69 - A birthday surprise

When Blake finds herself sold out to the Saviours by her abusive fiancé, she realises that she's certainly not on her own anymore and finds an unlikely friend in Negan. And Negan does NOT like men who beat their girlfriends, one tiny bit…

MASTERLIST

Chapter 69 - A birthday surprise

[Negan takes Blake somewhere special for her birthday...]

"After you," said Negan with a wide grin, offering a gloved hand out towards the open door, leading up and into the RV.

Blake rolled her eyes, knowing exactly why he was being so kind, as she, strutting up the next few steps, heard the predictable growl of want from behind her.

"Fuck me, Darlin'" he said with his lip caught now between his teeth. "…you tryin' to kill me with those goddamn panties of yours?"

Blake took in a tired breath of air.

"Is it a crime to wear underwear now?" she sighed, her hand moving back to brush down the rear hem of her dress.

But Negan gave a wolfish whistle of appreciation. "With a pussy like yours, it should be," he said in a delicious voice, causing Blake to smile and shake her head, tutting, as she reached the top of the narrow steps and stared around at the interior of the RV.

It was plush in here, with leather and dark mahogany furnishings wrapping around the entire vehicle. The space in front of them looked like a sort-of living area, with a small table, comfy-looking benches, a couple of large grey fitted couches, and a small kitchenette. There were two doors off to the right, and to her left she could see the driver's seat up front.

Blake could tell a lot of effort had been made to make the place look nice, with a couple of extra throw pillows on the couches, and a large pile of food and supplies laid across the table. There looked to be fresh fruit, bread, crackers, and even a bottle of wine…

…and Blake couldn't help but smile as she pressed herself back against one of the cabinets, allowing Negan enough room to climb the last few stairs behind her.

"Looks nice," she said in a an eager tone, biting down hard onto her lip and peering up at him ,as he leered over her.

"Oh darling, you ain't seen nothing yet," he said in a husky tone, his face hovering a mere breath away from hers as he grasped her hand in his free one, and pulled her over to the closed-off doors on their left.

"Bathroom's busted so you're gonna have to go outside," he explained, nodding matter-of-factly to the first door. "But this….is the bedroom…"

Negan gave the door ahead of him a short shove open, to reveal a large king sized bed, covered in what looked like hundreds of fake rose petals.

Blake at this, gave an enormous smile, unable to help the laugh that escaped her lips.

"Are you serious?" she said airily, taking a step further into the room and allowing her hand to slip from his.

But Negan behind her, gave a defensive frown.

"Mmmhmmm," he replied easily. "I thought we could stay over tonight."

Never in a million years had Blake expected this.

She let out another giggle before turning back to the dark-haired man.

"I never had you down for the romantic type…" she said shaking her head bemusedly.

But Negan ran a hand over his stubbly beard, tensing his jaw slightly as he looked down at her.

"Well it is your goddamn birthday, so I thought I'd make a fuckin' effort, Darlin'," he uttered in a slightly irritable tone, placing a hand to the small of her back and beginning to lead her out of the room with an annoyed shove. "But if you're gonna be so fuckin' ungrateful…"

Blake laughed, hurriedly clutching hold of his leather sleeve and turning to face him, pressing her body close to his.

"I love it," she purred up him earnestly, pressing her face into his collarbone. "I just never expected it…"

And with that Blake pressed a gently kiss to his throat.

No one had ever made this much effort for her in her life.

Even David had used Blake's own grandmothers engagement ring to propose with….getting down on one knee in a restaurant they had had a fifty percent voucher off at.

So this small gesture from the dark-haired man before her, was not insignificant to Blake….

Not at all.

"Thank you," she murmured into his skin, the moment she pulled away….feeling Negan's free hand shift around her waist, his fingers, gliding over the small of her back possessively.

Things had changed between them now, since Blake's return from Alexandria. And the caramel-blonde woman, more than ever before, felt an desperate urge to be close to him, to never have to leave his side again. And from the way in which Negan had been these past couple of days, using any excuse to touch her, to hold her body close to his, she had a feeling, he felt exactly the same.

Was this crazy?

Feeling this way about a man that others, despised….feared…..revered…?

A man who had five wives sitting upstairs at the Sanctuary waiting to be called on at any moment…

A man who had killed people Blake had known…

But she couldn't help it. Things had altered so much in Blake's life since David. She wasn't the tiny mouse she once had been….she felt stronger….less willing to put up with shit from people….

And the strange thing was, Blake didn't even need Negan's protection. That wasn't why she was here.

She was here because she felt like his equal…a personal who could challenge him as much as he could challenge her.

They were a good fit together…

But Blake feared how long all this would last.

There were no fairy-tale endings in this world…not for someone like Blake at least.

"You all set to get goin', Doll-face?" Negan suddenly asked, breaking Blake from her thoughts. "'Cause this place I'm taking you to, it's gonna take a couple of hours to get there, at least…an' I kinda wanna make it there by sunset."

Blake shook herself and gave a bright smile, her hands pawing at his chest, as she leaned into him.

"If I didn't know any better, baby, I'd think you were going to propose…" she said in a teasing voice, as she pushed herself from him finally.

But Negan merely chuckled, digging his cheek with his tongue.

"Oh I fuckin' would, Sweetheart," he replied, raising his eyebrows into his hairline. "…if I didn't think that you'd say no."

But the caramel-blonde woman gave a sigh.

"Well, you obviously know me too well," she said eyeing him playfully, as she turned on her heel heading back into the living quarters….as the dark-haired Saviour slowly followed behind, letting out a long troubled sigh of his own.

The truck sped down the road now, as the hazy warm summer sun drifted lower and lower in the sky.

They had been out here for over two hours, with Negan up front and in the driver's seat and Blake going back and forth between sitting in the passenger's side, on his right, still in her skimpy blue dress, and moving back into the living quarters of the truck, picking at the food sat upon the table and bringing out bit and pieces for Negan to enjoy as he drove.

The pair had chatted for a long while….laughed…joked…teased each other endlessly…with Negan even goading Blake into feeding him grapes directly into his mouth, at some point, before he had made a classic Negan move, and let out a token joke at her expense, causing her to tut and slope off back into the rear of the RV again in annoyance.

But it was twenty minutes ago, that after a brief playful chat about nothing in particular, Blake, enjoying the warm sunshine, had propped her head up against her elbow and dozed neatly off, her head falling onto her shoulder tiredly.

For these last few days had been exhausting, despite Blake's lie in this morning. She had gone from being locked inside her own house for days on end, been torn apart by the people she considered her friends, almost killed in a car wreck, and then brought all the way back to the Sanctuary. Back to the place she considered her home now. And amongst all that, things with Negan had of course become a lot more hot and heavy.

Not that she minded that of course…

But it was easy to see how things had taken their toll on her, Blake now drifting off into a comfortable slumber as the van rumbled down the empty road.

Although it didn't feel like she had been asleep very long, before she heard a short, sharp whistle, from her left, waking her at once.

Blake blinked her eyes open, gazing around to find that the RV had slowed slightly, heading now through two lines of tall redwoods on either side of the road ahead.

"We're almost there, Doll-face," Negan said, throwing her a slow, blinking smile over his leather clad shoulder, eyeing her as she stretched and yawned at his side. "An' I wanted to make sure you see this fuckin' view…."

Blake pursed her lips together, smirking, as a frown twitched its way between her brows.

"What view-" she asked questioningly.

But the blonde woman was cut off suddenly, as a single shaft of warm orange light appeared from around the tress.

Her eyes widened into huge orbs, as she parted her lips, gazing out at the spectacular sight before her eyes, as Negan rounded the corner and slowed the RV to a stop on, what looked like the edge of large viewpoint, overlooking the valley of trees below.

But it wasn't just the view that seemed to take Blake's breath away, but the sight of the huge sun setting in the sky before them, throwing a beautiful orange glow over both them, and the entire rolling landscape before them.

"…Wow…." she breathed out, feeling Negan look instantly her way, his face blank and unreadable, as if waiting for her reaction.

And right now, that reaction was truly sincere.

Never in her life had Blake seen something so beautiful….so pure and warm in this fucked up world….

She felt like the sun was creating this beauty for her eyes only.

Like her and Negan were the only people who would appreciate this moment for what it was…and not just the oncoming night….where walkers were more rife than the day time.

But here, with the dark-haired Saviour at her side, Blake felt all her worries all her concerns disappearing completely.

With him she felt safe….

….and for once in her life, at home… with him…

"Thank you," she whispered out, dragging her eyes away for just the tiniest of moments, and staring over at Negan who was gazing back at her….his eyes honest…waiting…

And she truly meant it. Knowing that, all of this….it was for her…

This crazy, frightening man being the first person in Blake's life to ever go out of their way to do something special just for her. To make her feel like, maybe, just maybe, she was worth something more than just a sorry excuse.

Blake knew what she felt about him. Wanting so much to tell him right now…taking in a deep breath…

….but before she could speak, Negan opened his mouth…

"Happy birthday, Peaches," Negan uttered in a low voice, his face breaking finally into a wide, devoted grin.

And Blake, as much as she very much wanted to kiss him right now, just smiled, her heart filled with such overwhelming happiness…

… turning back to the beautiful sunset once more….

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged/untagged in this fic. More coming soon…

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