Author's Chapter Notes:
Please don't kill me for starting another WIP. It kept trying to interject itself into my other stories so often that I just had to separate the nasty little plot bunny and give it some space. I'm unsure how this will be received.

I'm coming out of my cage
And I’ve been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this?
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
Now I’m falling asleep
And she’s calling a cab
While he’s having a smoke
And she’s taking a drag
Now they’re going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it’s all in my head
But she’s touching his chest
Now, he takes off her dress
Now, let me go

And I just can’t look - it's killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Turning through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it’s just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
‘Cause I’m Mr Brightside

I’m coming out of my cage
And I’ve been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this?
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
Now I’m falling asleep
And she’s calling a cab
While he’s having a smoke
And she’s taking a drag
Now they’re going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it’s all in my head
But she’s touching his chest
Now, he takes off her dress
Now, let me go

'Cause I just can’t look - it's killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Turning through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it’s just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
‘Cause I’m Mr Brightside

I never...
I never...
I never...
I never...


If she really thought about it, everything ultimately came down to rhythm. She saw it in the way that everyday pedestrians moved, their hips swinging to some internal beat that marched them along with their lives. Nature itself, revolved on the constant ebb and flow of the seasons, the same way that the man underneath relied on her hips for completion.

Up… and… down … up… and… down… breathe… up… and… down.

Buffy tilted her head back as though she was enjoying herself and squeezed harder. The customer moaned in response.

It was quickly becoming more difficult to amuse herself during work hours. Angelus liked to play it off as her being good at the job but the reality was that the men who she visited made her feel empty. As soon as she would walk through the door a mask would slip on, ranging from coy and shy to a seductress. The more clothes that would fall off, the heavier her walls would rise up until she could happily ride a man into oblivion and not even shudder. Their faces whether handsome or gross never evicted a response except for her to stare them straight in the eyes and block out everything else.

Angelus said that the technique is what made her ‘the Slayer’.

Personally she hated the nickname. It was what tore her from a normal life where she was the adult and in control. When she played that role it was as though her past experiences became nothing more than a dream. The Slayer was the one persona that was completely artificial.

Buffy ground down her hips, striving to make the man cum so she could finally leave. As soon as she felt the shudders and familiar tingles in the male mass beneath her, she pretended to cry out in release.

It only took five minutes to pull on her clothes and bid him goodbye. His lips mashed roughly against hers, slipping in a thick tongue. Buffy fought the urge to bite it instead moaning in pretence. The guy was certainly in the mood to continue something that he had not yet paid for. Angelus would be pleased that he was still interested. Buffy was sure that the guy had known her attention was wavering. Her hands pushed away after she counted to ten, feeling the rhythm soothe her.

Buffy only registered the dry feel of paper sliding into her hand as she exited the house.

***

He didn’t know why he had ever agreed to go on the stupid sodding date. Sure Cecily didn’t want him but that didn’t mean that he had to torture himself with the notion of loving another woman. Anya for all her looks and openness could never replace the brunette that he so desperately wanted.

“I’ll do anything. Anything you want” mimicked Spike in a falsetto voice. “How did you not see that coming to bite you in arse you stupid git?” William held his tongue as Anya commented callously on another woman’s dress sense. So loud in fact that the bird heard her and stalked off in a huff. I need to get out of here.

He started to excuse himself when Cecily’s face flashed across his mind.

Bloody buggering hell.

Her dismissal of him the night before had severely tested his patience. If anyone else had overheard they would have considered him a glutton for punishment. Unbidden the events replayed once again.

flashback.

“Cecily please…” William had once again found himself begging as the object of his desires tried to dissuade him from continuing. Another poem torn to shreds… The man had hoped that this time Cecily Underwood would do something other than sniff in disdain. Numerous hours had been spent trying to convey his feelings on paper. They were only words but he still believed that they held some value.

Obviously the woman before him felt differently.

William came from an upper class upbringing. His mother had finally decided that after five years of not even sending him a card that ‘her dear boy must come home.’ Never mind the fact that Will had been born in merry old England and had been quite happy to stay there. In the end he’d dug his heels in and desperately clung to the one place he felt safe.

It was only the death of his father that finally landed him on the old hag’s doorstep.

William could state with conviction that in the time they’d been separated, the years had not been kind at all to Margaret Walsh. A cold thin exterior had only remained however the new analytical mannerisms and biting comments were a new development. He’d heard more than one student call her the ‘evil bitch monster’ of the university. Whilst not put very eloquently the name summed up Margaret Anne Walsh perfectly. She’d reverted back to her maiden name and was now a professor teaching psychology.

What a bleeding surprise that was.

His hands dug deep into his pockets as he attempted to coerce her to listen to him. A part of the man still cherished her initial warmth, before she found out that he was a pauper in the eyes of British aristocracy. You’d think they would have moved on from that, considering it’s the bleeding twenty first century.

Cecily’s voice drew him from his musings.

“What would you be willing to do, in order to prove that you are right William?” Thick brown ringlets were swept up from the woman’s face, making her appear rigid and stern. It was an accurate portrayal according to the few people that associated with her.

Even William knew in his heart that she was a snob. He’d never dare say it though.

“I’ll do anything. Anything you want Cecily. Just give me a chance.”

A look of pure ecstasy washed over a prim mouth that seemed to be constantly fixed in a state of disgust.

“Would you be willing to date other women?” she asked. “I always like to make sure that prospective boyfriends want to be with me only. If you did that, I can be certain that you actually care." She sniffed daintly at the poem she had ripped to peices just moments before. "Hopefully you're more flattering than those awful words you write. They're so entirely trivial. Please don't make me regret giving you this chance William. I don’t want to associate myself with someone who is solely interested in me for my father’s money.”

William didn’t bother to state his good intentions. She had heard it all before and dismissed then with a flick of her wrist. “I guess I could do that” he replied half heartedly.

Cecily grinned, patting his cheek before waltzing over to her car. “Excellent. I’ll have her call you tonight.”

end flashback.

William groaned into his wine glass as Anya openly perused their waiter. In between her open comments she was charming and intelligent. And completely not for you.

He had to wonder just what Cecily had hoped to accomplish by setting him up for this mockery of a date besides a healthy dose of entertainment. It stung that for all his effort she thought of him as nothing more than a dog, waiting to follow or take whatever she offered.

If William was more of a man he would go home and call the silly bint up and tell her exactly where she could stick her ‘trials’.

He felt his heart break a little more when he knew that the scenario had absolutely no bleeding chance of happening.

Always was love’s bitch.

A/N: Please review me and tell me whether there is an interest in this fic. Sauntering will continue to be updated regularly.





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