I look out the small window above the sink, as I drain the grease into a small can in the sink. The motorcycles turn into our driveway and cut their engines. Thankfully there are only two of them the group from earlier traveled in a pack. I set the pan back on the stove and grab my homemade taco seasoning to sprinkle on the meat. The front door slams and I hear Travis talking to them as they enter. Their voices get closer as I continue to stir the meat around in the pan.

"Chloe," Travis calls.

I turn around and standing in my kitchen are two of the five guys from earlier today, Merle being one of them. Fuck my life. The quiet guy comes in looking all bad ass with his sleeveless shirt and smug look on his face. He crosses his arms and leans up against the ugly flowered wall paper.

"Chloe," Merle says.

"Chloe, this is Merle and Daryl Dixon. They'll be staying in the basement for a few weeks. Be nice okay?" he questions.

He also knows I don't really take any shit from any of the people he works with or rents out the basement to. We've had some winners. Merle steps closer to inspect what I'm making. He leans over as his arm brushes against my boob. I'm about to smack him, but Travis is watching.

"Smell's good sugar lips," he says.

I want to say some smart ass remark, but I know not to mess with Travis's clients in front of him. He walks out of the room leaving me and the asshole brothers. Merle smirks and takes his hand up to touch my face. I turn my head and grit my teeth.

"This should be fun," he whispers in my ear.

"Merle," Daryl calls.

Merle sneers and looks over at his brother. Daryl clearly looks annoyed by his brother's actions just as he did at the restaurant.

"Yes brother," he says.

"Let's go we've got work to do," Daryl says.

"Right. Work. It's nice to officially meet you Chloe," he says eyeing me.

I want to say something, but I don't. I turn back around to check on my tacos. I crane my neck for a second hoping they've both left. Daryl is about to walk out, but turns back. His blue eyes find mine and my heart does a weird flip. He grunts and turns to walk out.

I sigh loudly and go find Liam. His door is open a crack and I peak in. He's sitting on his bed with his Gameboy in hand. I flip the lights on and off to get his attention. He looks up with a smile. I shake my head and ask him if he's finished his homework. He pursues his lips and moves his eyes back and forth. I warn him that he needs to finish after dinner. He lets out a breath and rolls his eyes. I tell him dinners ready, and he asks what I made. I tell him and he literally darts out the door. I can't help but laugh.

Liam and I are sitting at the table alone as usual. I'm not sure if my mom plans on eating, but she didn't answer when I knocked on her door. Liam and I talk about his day at school, and he tells me about some fight. I love when he tells a story he gets so into it. I swear he'll be an actor one day, he literally plays out every part of the story.

"S'cuse me," I hear a voice ask from the doorway.

I look up and Daryl is staring at me with those stupid blue eyes.

"Mm," I respond.

"Your dad said..."

"Stepdad," I correct.

"Okay," he mumbles. "Your stepdad said there'd be food?" he asks.

I nod and point to the stove. "Everything is over there," I say.

I set up a nice little buffet of food on the counter. I put out tortilla chips, shells, cheese, lettuce and tomato neatly lined up in small bowls. Daryl nods and walks over quietly putting food on the plates I left out in case anyone else was going to eat.

Liam waves to get my attention. I turn back to him and he asks me who Daryl is. I sign that he's the new tenant downstairs. Liam doesn't know what goes on, or what Travis does all he knows is that people live downstairs sometimes. Liam looks up at Daryl as he walks by, and waves hi.

"Hey," Daryl says nodding his head.

Daryl's voice is intense, it's raspy and has a bit of an edge to it. I watch him walk out of the room. Liam waves his hands to get my attention and makes a kissy face. I hit his arm lightly and laugh.

Morning comes way too soon, but I need to get ready and take Liam over to the sitters. I would leave him here, but he'd be on his own. He'd probably be okay, but if something were to happen he probably would get lost in the shuffle. I hate the thought of him not knowing what's going on around him.

My bedroom is a disaster, drawers hang open with clothes draped over the edge. I have dirty clothes on the floor that need to get washed, I can only do so much. I usually do the laundry on Sunday's, I do what I can. Sometimes I have to wear the same jeans three days or more in a row until I can get some laundry done. I take some fresh clothes and head to the bathroom for a shower.

The house is quiet, everyone is either still asleep or out. I close the bathroom door and get ready for my shower. The hot water feels amazing and if we had more oil in the tank I'd stay in here a lot longer. I shut the water and shiver as the cold air hits my body. I open the glass shower doors to step out. As I'm about to put the towel around me Daryl comes bursting into the bathroom like he owns the place. I still don't have my towel on and when his eyes find mine he stills.

"Shit," is all he says.

"Dude really? What the fuck? Get out!" I yell.

I quickly wrap the dark blue towel around my body and my feet hit the shag carpet. Daryl's still standing there and I give him a look. He's not looking at me his eyes are on the ugly tile floor.

"What are you doing in here anyway?" I ask.

With confidence he looks up, and brushes some of his hair to the side with his hand.

"Your father." He starts, and I don't correct him this time. "He said we could use this bathroom to shower," he tells me.

"Towels are in the linen closet in the hallway," I point out.

He makes a grunting sound and retreats from the room. It only takes him a second to find a towel. He doesn't seem to care that I'm still in here when he starts stripping down. I catch a glimpse of his body in the mirror and nearly lose my shit. His muscles constrict as he pulls his shirt off, and then my eyes wander down his back as he tugs off his jeans. I notice some intense scars on his back. I avert my eyes because I don't want him to see my gawking at them. He maneuvers his body to drop his clothes on the floor, and our eyes meet again. There's something about them. He's different than his brother, but I know he's trouble. The quiet ones are always trouble.

I look down into the sink and spit, then wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. I shake off my brush as he turns on the water. I can see he's struggling to get the shower head to work. I walk over and lean into the tub.

"You've gotta jiggle the nob a bit, sometimes it gets stuck," I warn.

Water cascades down from the shower head as I pull back. I trip over the damn rug and fall into Daryl.

"Woah," he says.

My hands touch his bare chest and I can feel my face flush with embarrassment. We look at each other for a brief second before I hear Travis coughing in the hallway. I pull away quick then grab my clothes and run out the door. I shut my bedroom door and lean up against it for a minute. My heart is racing and it takes me a few minutes to calm myself to get dressed.

I go to check on Liam and he's already dressed and sitting at his desk doing his homework. I flip the lights and he looks up and smiles. I let him know that we will be leaving in a little while to head to the sitters. Then I ask if he's eaten, he says mom made him a bowl of cereal. I'm in a bit of shock and have to see for myself. I leave Liam and walk into the kitchen. She's sitting at the small beat up wooden table in the corner. She's staring off into space, but pulls out of it when she hears the floorboards creak.

"Morning," she says.

"Awake today I see?"

"Don't start with me," she grumbles.

She takes a sip of something in a mug, it's probably not coffee. I start rummaging through the cabinets to make breakfast for myself. I decide on cereal as well it's simple. I rarely make breakfast for everyone, it's usually just Liam and myself. I stand at the sink to eat my food and then throw the bowl in when I'm done. Mom doesn't say anything.

"I'm bringing Liam to Lizzy's, I'll be out most of the day," I warn.

When she doesn't respond I growl and stalk out of the room. This is crazy she's like a fucking zombie, just sits there all damn day. I take care of her kid, I do everything around here and quite frankly I'm getting tired of it. I know I should find my own place, but I don't want to live paycheck to paycheck so I need to save up a little bit more.

I just dropped Liam off at Lizzy's, she's been an amazing sitter and takes him anytime I need. She's a stay at home mom and has a little boy around Liam's age and they get along well. I pull back up to the house right behind the motorcycles. As I get out of the car I hear voices, its Daryl and Merle they are coming out from behind the house. Merle reeks of weed and alcohol. He smirks because he knows that since my stepfather isn't here he has full authority to tease me. Daryl grabs him by the shirt and Merle nearly punches him. The sound of Ethan's truck distracts me from their argument. I pull my messenger bag from the passenger seat and start walking to Ethan. He opens the door and peeks his head out of his blue f150.

I walk around to the driver's side and he hops down. He eyes Daryl and Merle and then looks back at me. I reach up and throw my arms around his neck, as he puts his hands on my waist.

"Who are they?" he asks.

"They are renting out the basement for a few weeks," I inform him.

"Oh," he says looking back over at them.

I turn to see what he's staring at and notice Daryl watching me over Merle's shoulder. I turn back to Ethan and smile. He's so different than them in so many ways. When we met in High School he played football and was the team captain. Everyone liked Ethan and I was honestly surprised he started talking to me. In my old school back in New York I hung out with people who skipped out on classes to smoke under the bleachers.

"Should we go?" I question.

He nods, and I walk around the front of the truck to hop in. I hear the motorcycles start up as I hop in. I guess Travis is making them running errands for him. Mostly instead of paying for rent the people who stay here do the dirty work for him. Ethan waits until they ride down the driveway and out of sight before turning around to head back onto the main road.

Apparently Ethan had told Katelyn that we wanted to be alone, which was totally unnecessary. All he wanted to do was go into an empty lot and make-out. I feel like he's changed a lot since college. He's not the same Ethan he was in high school. He's finishing up his two years at community college since he didn't get the sports scholarship he was hoping. He's a little bitter about it and takes it out on everyone including me. We have gotten into more screaming matches in the past year than we ever did.

Two hours later he drops me back off at home so that I can get ready for work. I have to leave in forty five minutes. I hear voices yelling in the backyard followed by a loud crash. I run around back to see the Dixon brothers going at it with each other. Daryl is laying in a pile of fire wood that was piled up on the side of the house. The wooden logs are scattered everywhere. Merle can barely stand, he's probably drunk or high, maybe both.

"I have neighbors you know," I yell.

"Mind your damn business," Daryl yells.

"It is my business this is my house asshole," I yell.

Daryl stands and wipes himself off. Merle looks over with an amused look on his face. I walk over to them. Most of our neighbors know that this is a trashy house, but I don't need anyone calling them cops.

"If you want to fight take it off my damn property."

"I don't need to listen to a little bitch," he says.

"S'cuse me?"

He's coming closer and suddenly he's forgotten all about Merle. We stop inches away, he turns and spits. Real nice. He's got a black eye and some cuts on his face. Merle comes walking over still smiling like he finds the situation hilarious.

"This is between my brother and me it's got noth'n to do with you," he yells in my face.

"I don't give a shit. Take it somewhere else," I tell him.

He turns and spits again. Merle chuckles and Daryl pushes him as he walks around me towards his motorcycle. He revs the engine and peels out of the driveway leaving me alone with Merle. I totally didn't think this through.

"Well that's one way to get me alone with you," he smirks.

"Oh please," I say rolling my eyes and turning for the door.

"Hey little girl," he says grabbing my wrist.

He spins me so that I'm facing him. His bloodshot eyes stare me down. After a few seconds of staring he lets go and laughs like he's gone mad. He walks away towards his bike and hops on. Before he goes he winks and then revs the engine. I roll my eyes and head inside to get ready for work.