"You wouldn't let me!" I cried, just as angry at him as I was at myself. "I tried to say something, but you told me just to keep my head down and stay quiet! Remember?"
"But if I'd known they were following us no matter what you said-I would have reacted a little differently, now wouldn't I?" he shot at me angrily, sarcasm shooting through his voice like a cold breeze that chilled me to the bone.
"And if I'd known you were such an arrogant prick, I probably would have left at 'Hello'!" I yelled, venting out my hurt and frustrations to him, as the tears of pain formed behind my eyes, threatening to betray just how upset I really was.
He softened substantially when he looked at me, and saw the tears. My words sunk in, and he looked like he hated himself, all of a sudden.
**
"Oh, Buffy, baby," I pulled her in to my arms, hoping to stop her tears. I couldn't stand the pain that she had to keep experiencing. Why her? Why couldn't it be me? First the gun shot. The then burns. Now this tracking dart. "It's okay, baby," I assured her, running my hands through her hair soothingly. "It'll be okay. But we have to get it out first, okay?"
She nodded in to my chest, trying to keep herself composed. I knew that if she felt it wouldn't get us caught, she would be screaming until the walls crumbled all around us.
Without even thinking, I began to undress her.
Slipping off her shirt, being careful that I didn�t apply pressure to her hand. I smiled at the picture of her skin, golden and perfect, her breast begging to be free from her black, lace bra. I slid an index finger in to the top hem of her jeans, and slid it back and forth across her skin. With a gentle slowness, I unzipped her jeans, and slid them from her body inch by precious inch, until she was bare before me, clad in some simple, white thong panties.
God she�s so perfect!
She leaned up to kiss me as her fingers slid to the button of my shirt. Taking her time to kiss me as thoroughly as she could, she slid my shirt from my shoulders, and to the floor. It pooled around my feet like a blood-red river of silk.
Sliding her hands down further, she grasped my belt buckle in her fingers, and finally worked it undone. Taking my pants off in the same manner as I had to hers, she smiled up at me.
I took her hand, and guided her back to the bed, and moved very slowly so that I was leaning against the headboard, and Buffy was settled with her back against my chest, between my widespread thighs. I kept one knee propped up to form a bit of a cradle around her. �I�m so sorry about everything that�s happened. I still can�t believe it.�
�I know. It�s just�Angel, you know I love you, right? I don�t think I�ve ever said it so bluntly, but I do love you.� She turned her face to look me in the eyes. �I just can�t believe that all of this has happened either, and in case it gets worse, I want you to know.�
�Don�t talk like that,� I silenced her with a kiss. �Don�t ever say things like that.�
Buffy turned to look at me, her eyes wide with a million different emotions. Fear. Passion. Love. Trust. But above all, desire. �Angel, if things get a lot worse, I may not be able to show you again what you mean to me.� She ran her hand through my hair and down my face, stopping at the right angle of my jaw to cup it in her palm. She pressed her lips ever so lightly to my own, letting me feel everything in her heart.
�I love you,� I told her sincerely, seizing the hand that was on my face, and pressing a tender kiss to her knuckles. �Don�t ever forget that.� Continuing to kiss her knuckles, I inhaled her perfect scent. She was aroused, I could tell, and her wetness was making it so hard for me to resist her. �God I want to make love to you right now!�
She cuddled closer, a lascivious smile on her face as she asked, �why don�t you?�
That was all it took for my willpower to leave. I gently lowered the knee that I had propped up, and Buffy turned to face me fully. She moved to straddle my hips, never losing eye contact with me as she slid my aroused member ever so slowly in to her perfect body. Her tightness was the most delightful cavern. So tight, and so wet. I watched as her eyes darkened until they were a mossy shade of green, and I felt myself tightening further with desire.
She took possession of my mouth, tempting me with playful, teasing kisses despite that intensity of the moment. These kisses reminded me of just how perfect, and innocent, she really was. Clasping her hands behind my neck, she raised herself up slowly, and seductively rotated her pelvis against mine in a series of undulating bumps and grinds, kissing me with breathless intensity the entire time.
When she felt my breath beginning to speed up as my desire grew, her smile broadened. When she knew I was ready to burst from the heat, the smile tightened like the rest of her desperate body. Her eyes fluttered to half-mast, her head fell back, and her hips began to thrust towards my own with an urgent, instinctive rhythm that was completely natural to her.
I reached between us, to unclasp her bra, needing to see her beautiful breasts. They bounced free, moving in time to the rising and falling rhythm that Buffy was losing herself in. I didn�t fondle them, only looked at them with hot, greedy eyes. It was strange, but with only the touch of my gaze, they puckered and peaked as if I had been tonguing them for minutes. They quivered with anticipation as Buffy began to shake.
I reached up and curved each hand around each breast in turn, plumping them in my palm, rolling the nipples gently and then harder between thumb and forefinger. When at last I leaned forward to lave my tongue over her right nipple, Buffy shrieked her satisfaction.
�Yes�Yes�� she urged me on.
This time, I knew I didn�t have to act so gentle for her. I knew I could do as I pleased and Buffy would find pleasure in it. There was no doubt now, that I could be as rough and unmerciful as I wanted. But I found myself longing to be as gentle as I could with Buffy. I didn�t want her fulfilling fantasies of mine like I�d had my other lovers do. I wanted Buffy to simply love me, and to love her in return.
I noticed the look on her face as she moaned her pleasure. It was as greedy, sensual, and needy as I knew my own must be. Fixing my eyes on hers, I allowed her neither to close hers, or look away. I needed to see her eyes as she came around me.
Grabbing on to her hips and beginning to quicken the pace, I felt my own breath shorten. Oh the sensations this women brought out in me were amazing! I thrust up in to her, harder and harder as she began to shriek in pleasure.
�Angelus!� she screamed as her inner walls began to flutter, signalling her approaching climax. I joined her in ecstasy, screaming her name and grabbing her lips with my own to kiss her possessively, letting her know just who it was that was bringing her such pleasure. She had to know that she was mine.
Forever.
**
In the next room, Betty turned to Gladys.
�Dear Lord, Gladys!� the elderly woman was shocked. �What kind of whore-hotel did you check us in to?!�
�It mentioned nothing of this sort in the brochure!� Gladys protested.
**
I pulled back slightly, to look in to her eyes. Dressed and standing by the door, I had to keep myself from kissing her again, and taking her back to bed and making sweet love with her forever.
"Okay, listen to me," I whispered, and she tilted her head up to see me. I had to gasp for breath when I saw the sorrow-filled look in her eyes. "Buffy, I'm going to go downstairs and make a call. I need to find out where we can go to get that out of you, okay? I need you to stay here and don't leave. No matter what. If someone comes, don't answer the door. If anything happens, I want you to take my wallet, and run. Go back to Faith. She'll keep you safe, no matter what. Okay? Can you do that for me?"
She nodded slowly, but before I left, she grabbed my hand with her good hand, and asked me, "you'll come back though, right? You're not just leaving me here, are you? Because they can find me, you're not leaving me behind, are you?"
I smiled softly down at her as her fears shot through her tough attempts at being brave. I stroked a hand through her hair and whispered, "one day you'll trust me."
With that, I headed down to the lobby.
**
I went in to the small, barely-closet-sized bathroom, and looked in the mirror. I couldn't remember ever looking this bad. This tired and worn out. I took off my jacket, and set it on the back of the toilet. I looked down at my hand, and then at my reflection in the mirror. If only I had pair of tweezers or something! Then I could get the dart out. Otherwise, it was going to be a Hell of a lot more painful to pull that sucker out of my skin.
But seeing as how I had no choice, I would have to do it the old fashioned way. I grasped the piece of metal that was sticking out of my skin with my fingernails, and tested how hard it would be to pull it out, by tugging gently. The pain that shot through me was equivalent to a bone being ripped through my skin. I screamed, and shot back against the wall.
This was not going to be as easy as I had hoped.
"Come on, Buffy," I looked at my reflection in the mirror, wiping the tears from my eyes with my good hand. "You can do this. It's just a splinter. Just think of it as a splinter." I looked down at it then, and examined the red, flashing light in my skin, and the metal hooks that had closed in to my veins. "Okay, a very BIG splinter," I added.
I looked around the bathroom for something to bite on to keep from screaming in pain again. I spotted a bar of soap. Sadly, it was the only thing. But then again, maybe the taste would take my mind off the pain of my hand slightly. It was doubtful, but a slight possibility that gave me hope.
I put the bar of soap-still wrapped in the package, in to my mouth, and took a deep breath. Gripping the metal bar sticking out of my skin once more, I shut my eyes, and pulled. I bit down, tasting the cheap soap in my mouth, and ripped the dart from my flesh. Blood splatter on the mirror in front of me and the sink in front of me. Then my nerves kicked in, and I felt the first of the pains.
I squeezed my entire body with the pain, hoping to push it out by squeezing. I had to rationalize my pain though. Tensing would only make it worse. I fell back against the wall, and slid to the ground. I had to relax my body, and just let the pain run its course.
Tears trickled down my cheeks, and I was gasping slightly for my denied breath. I spit out the remaining fragments of the soap bar that were stuck on my teeth, and caked between my molars, and sighed. What a rush!
I lifted the bloody tracking device in my hand, and glared at it. "You were almost the death of me," I told it, and sighed, shutting my eyes.
I waited a few moments, and then pulled myself to my feet. I grabbed one of the towels, and using my teeth and my good hand, I ripped it down the middle, making a tempster bandage. I wrapped it around my wound, securing it with a convenient safety pin that had been used to hold the shower curtains together. Shower curtains be damned! I think I have a much stronger emergency than the shower curtains and the maintenance staff's disapproval.
**
Downstairs, I asked the front desk where the nearest pay phone was. The informed me, and I crossed the street to the convenience store, and found the phone. I slipped in a quarter, and dialled a familiar number. The person I was calling picked up on the second ring.
"Dad!" I exclaimed, thrilled that I had gotten him and not his assistant. His assistant had a divine hate for me, and probably would have said that my father wasn't home.
"Angelus!" my dad sounded so relieved to hear from me. "Where in the Hell are you? They sent letters to Hank."
"Who sent letters? What do they say?" I asked, my fears mounting even higher with every passing second, and with every new bit of information revealed to me.
"Threats, mostly," my dad sighed, and I could hear him sitting down, probably in his study at his desk. "They say that they need Buffy. If they don't get her, they're going to take what they know to the press."
"What do they know?"
"Apparently they know every little, dirty secret of every inhabitant of Devil's Gorge. Leads me to believe it's an insider. Devil's Gorge folk don't tell strangers anything. We're pretty damn good at hiding our indiscretions, too. Only thing is that we can't hide them from each other," my father sighed.
"Did they say what the want Buffy for?" I asked.
"No," my father disappointed me. "They just said that if she wasn't handed over by tomorrow, they'd take what they know to the press, and they wouldn't stop until every last resident of Devil's Gorge was arrested. Angelus, do you know how angry that makes the neighbours 'round here? We have some very wealthy, powerful people living in Devil's Gorge, Angelus. We can't have them being threatened because you need a booty call with the new girl."
"Dad, this isn't a booty call," I groaned. "This is different. Buffy's special to me. Listen to me...I need to know what they want from her."
"No, you don't. You just need to bring her but back here, and pray to God that they don't go ahead with telling the press anyways. You, yourself, have a reputation on the line, Angelus. Or have you forgotten the little incident from two summers ago?"
"I didn't forget," I barked. "But dad, I can't just hand her over like a bag. She's everything to me. Reputation-I don't care. I'm nothing without her. What's the point in having a reputation for someone who has nothing?"
"Don't get philosophical on me, Angelus," my father was beginning to sound impatient. "I'm telling you what you need to do in order to protect your community. Your family. Your life! And hers! If you care about her like you say you do, then you'll let her go, and wait to see what happens. You don't know that they'll kill her, Angelus."
"But I don't know that they WON'T, either," I pointed out.
"You have until sundown tomorrow," my father sighed in resignation. "Angelus, if you don't bring her back, you're going to have more than one maniac hunting you down from Devil's Gorge. You'll have the whole community after you."
"Dad, I can't just let her go," I said slowly.
"Then you'd better have a brilliant plan and a wonderful hiding spot, son," my father told me. "And...If you don't bring her back, I'm going to have to look for you to, Angel."
"What?!" I exclaimed in shock.
"I love you, son. I really do. But my money, my reputation, my wife-I can't let all of that get risked for your infatuation. Just do the smart thing, Angel. Bring the girl home, and let her go. Get what you need from her, and get gone. You've done it enough before this. So do it now."
My mind was whirling with every passing second of this conversation. Maybe my father was right. I knew I was in love with Buffy, but maybe none of that mattered. Maybe I should give her up like everyone else. After all, it would save my life.
I hung up the phone and sighed. I had to have some time to think, and time wasn't exactly on-hand right now. If I was going to take Buffy back to Devil's Gorge by tomorrow night, I had to get going soon, and catch the next flight.
But how could I just let her go? How could I ignore what my heart, my soul-my entire being, was telling me. I love her. I love her more than life itself. And that's exactly what I'm willing to give for her. But I know I can't run with her. I can't hide from my community, even though I'd like to. They hunt me down like a dog by sunrise if they're stories made the evening news.
I have to take her back. I have to have a plan.
**
I knew I had to get rid of the dart, and flushing it down the toilet would be too obvious. They'd figure it out within an hour of our departure, so I thought up a plan. I needed to get the tracking dart to someone who was leaving town in a separate direction. My luck finally came when I heard the two elderly women in the room next to us, discussing the trip they were about to make to Ireland.
"Oh, Betty!" the one woman chastised her friend. "We'll call someone up to get the bags. Just put them in the hall."
"If you're sure, Gladys," Betty sighed, and I hear the sounds of the door open. I crept back in to my room, and grabbed the tracking device off the dresser. I took off my shoe, and then took off my black sock. I needed to disguise it so that if they went through any customs checks, the dart wouldn't be found. I slipped the dart in to my sock, and then rolled it up as tightly as I could. I put that sock in to my other sock, deciding that the more material blocking the dart from view-the better our chances were of getting away.
I waited with the door open a crack, listening to Gladys and Betty argue about how to set things up outside their door for the bellboy that they assumed was at this crummy hotel. I waited until they went downstairs-Gladys in search of a strong man to help with the bags, and Betty to hail a cab for their ride to the train station.
When I was sure they were gone on the elevator, I slid out of my room. I kept down to the ground, and crept over to the bags outside their hotel room door. I looked over the bags. There were make-up cases, hatboxes, and three large suitcases. One suitcase was black, one was brown, and one had flowers on it. I decided the flowered one looked the least suspicious, and no one would suspect this old woman's case would have anything like a tracking device in it.
I unzipped the side pouch of the suitcase, and slipped the socks in, setting the toothbrush, toothpaste, and everything else around it to make it less noticeable.
Suddenly I heard the sounds of Gladys dragging a man to her room to get her bags. I leapt back, and landed in front of my hotel room door. Gladys glanced at me as she walked by, and said, "well really, George, you'd think that hotels wouldn't want bleeding crack hussies in their hallways! It's very low-class, in my opinion. I mean, she's practically passed out in the hallways. Very rude."
I slid back in to my room, being careful of my hand and trying to create as little attention as possible.
Success!
~~
Angel returned to the room, looking like he'd been through an emotional Hell twice over during his ten minutes away from me.
"Okay, this is the plan," he started talking almost immediately. "Buffy, first we need to get the tracker out of your..." he trailed off when he noticed the bloody bandages on my hand. "Did you take it out on your own?"
"It's taken care of," I assured him, deciding not to tell him about the unfortunate couple of Betty and Gladys. "What do we do now?"
"There's a lot at stake here, Buffy. These people after us, really want you for some reason. If we don't get you back to Devil's Gorge by tomorrow night, things are going to be revealed to the press about the community and all of its inhabitants, and that's not something we want if we ever want to see the light of day again. If things get told, we'll have everyone after us. The police, these people who keep finding us, and the entire community of Devil's Gorge-our own families included. So I have a plan to get through all of this. You might not like it, but I know it'll work out if we stick to it," he told me.
I swallowed the lump of fear that had crept in to my throat, and said, "tell me what I need to do."
Angelus looked down for a moment, and then turned his back to me. He took off his shirt, moving to the chair in the corner of the room to take a fresh shirt out of our bag. Finally, with his bare back still turned to me, he spoke. He said, "I need to take you back to Devil's Gorge...Right now."
I exploded, "Angelus are you kidding? You're crazy! Crazy! I'm not going back there so these psychotic lunatics can just kill me! I'm not going out like that! Wesley can kill everyone around me, but I'll be damned if he kills me like he killed my mother."
**
"Killed your mother?" I asked, confused. "Wesley? Buffy, what are you talking about? I thought you said your mother's death was an accident."
"That's what everyone was supposed to believe," she said, looking down. "My mother didn't die in a car accident. My mom was killed by someone she was having an affair with. She wanted to end it, and this man-Wesley, he just couldn't take it. The next thing I know-I wake up in the middle of the night to hear an argument in the parlour. There were shots fired, and my mother was dead. I was the only witness to the crime. I'm the only thing Wesley hasn't taken care of. That's why they want me dead."
"His last name," my memory triggered a thought. Wesley Wyndham-Price. Cordelia! "Buffy, this is very important. Wesley. What's his name? His full name."
"Um, something about money," she frowned and shook her head. "Amount? Tab? Um...Price? That's it! Wyndham-Price! That's his name, Angel!"
I shut my eyes as the horrors of realization washed over me. Now everything made sense. It made sense why Cordelia was after us, and it made sense why Wesley would come out of his hiding to face me. They wanted Buffy gone, because she knew about the murder of her mother. And they wanted me gone, because of Wesley�s personal needs for revenge.
"Angel, what are you not telling me?" Buffy asked, stepping closer. "What is Wesley to you? Why was he with Cordelia; shooting at us?"
"Because I tried to kill him," I couldn't believe I'd just admitted my secret. I'd spent two years trying to pretend that it hadn't happened. But now it was here, and there was nothing I could do to hide from it. "Buffy, I almost killed Wesley."
"What?" she almost laughed. Then she realized I was serious. "No. No, you didn't," was she trying to convince me? or herself? "No, I thought that was just a rumour. You said you hadn't killed anyone!"
"But I tried," I shifted uncomfortably. "Buffy, Wesley was having an affair with Cordelia when she and I were engaged, two years ago."
"You were engaged?" I watched as her heart broke a little more with every word I spoke, and every confession I made. "And she cheated on you," Buffy began to piece things together. "You found out, and you tried to kill Wesley. But he lived."
"Yeah," I sighed, "he did." I pulled on my new shirt. "And then some."
"And he was hiding from you, in LA. That's where he met my mom." Buffy's face was ghastly pale as the frightening story became clear to her. "He must have known I was Hank's daughter."
"And everyone knows that Hank and my father are closer than close," I added.
"So he got close to my mom, and when she tried to end it-he killed her. Then I was sent to Hank, and I met you. It would have been so easy for him to kill me too, if I hadn't met you. One body, that's easy to take care of. But if it was both you AND me, the police wouldn't ignore it. That's why he's been trying to separate us! That's why Cordelia's been trying to separate us!" She laughed softly at the irony, and said, "there's just one thing that makes me wonder now."
"What?" I was confused. Everything was clear now. It all made sense to me. What could she possibly not understand?
"Did you honestly think I didn't know all along?" she asked me with one eyebrow raised inquisitively.
~~