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A/N: A second chapter...wonders will never cease! And I'm busy working on the third...



– Five years earlier –

Wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans, Buffy followed Wesley Wyndham-Price into the club. When she’d first met him, Wesley was the last person she’d have pictured as the manager of an up and coming rock band. He had an upper class English accent, thin, wire-framed glasses and a slight stutter.

Wesley had long been a regular at the downtown café where she worked, always choosing the same booth where he sat reading and drinking tea. He often stayed late and since she usually worked the graveyard shift, she saw him most nights. Then one night, she’d been cleaning up and singing along to the radio when he’d come up to the counter and slid his card across it, before telling her that he was the manager of a band who were looking for a female vocalist and he wanted her to come to an audition the following day.

And so here she was, wondering how on earth she could have thought this was a good idea. She was not a singer. Sure, she sang along to the radio and in the shower, but there was a big difference between that and singing in a band. On stage. In front of people. But she swallowed the lump in her throat as Wesley lead her over to a group of guys she assumed must be the members of the band.

“Er, boys, may I introduce Buffy Summers,” he said, as three heads looked up. “That’s Xander, who plays drums…”

He pointed to a tall dark haired guy who stopped fiddling with the screw on one of his cymbals long enough to say “hey”.

“…Oz, who plays bass…”

A short red haired guy looked up from where he sat on a chair plucking away and nodded.

“…Gunn, one of our guitarists…”

Gunn was a tall black guy with a cute smile which he threw in her direction.

“…and this,” he finished, indicating another guy who’d just walked in the door, “is Spike, the other guitarist, lead male vocals and the resident songwriter of the group. And also my cousin.”

The only similarity between Wesley and Spike that Buffy could see was that they both had lean frames. Other than that they were as different as night and day. Wesley looked as though he’d be more at home wearing tweed and surrounded by piles of musty smelling books, while Spike looked every inch the quintessential rock musician. He was wearing tight blue jeans that left little to the imagination and a tight black t-shirt which outlined his muscular torso. His hair was bleached platinum blond and he was wearing a pair of sunglasses.

Buffy couldn’t help the way her pulse started thudding when he sauntered over to her and Wesley and held out his hand.

“‘Ello, pet,” he said, his voice less cultured than his cousin’s which made it all that more sexy, especially combined with the incredible blue eyes he uncovered after removing his sunglasses.

“Hey,” she replied.

“So,” Wesley said. “Are you ready to show the boys what you’ve got?”

“Um…ok,” Buffy said, tearing her eyes away from Spike’s. “What do you want me to sing?”

Wesley pointed to a laptop set up on the bar. “Well, its, er, up to you. We’ve got the instrumental tracks from over ten thousand songs on there. Just pick one.”

After perusing the list, she selected a track and then took her place behind the mike as the band gathered round to watch. After hearing the opening bars, she began to sing.

~Digging deep, I feel my conscience burn.
I need to know who and what I am.
This hunger jolts me from complacency.
It rocks me, and makes me meet myself~

~Cause Jacob walked a limp to remind him
Of the greater gift of the greater one.
But when I fell, I fell to my own resources
How can I carry the truth if I can't crawl to you?~

As she sang, she looked at the guys sitting in front of her assessing her performance. Xander sat tapping his hand on his leg, while Oz bopped his head to the beat. Gunn had the same grin on his face as before and Wesley was smiling too. Her eyes moved to Spike and she almost forgot to breathe when she saw the intensity in his crystalline blue gaze.

~I wanna feel something sweeter than this sin.
Cover me in leaves, roll me over again.
Cause I've been everybody else now I want to be
Something closer to myself~

Her skin prickled under his scrutiny. She had never felt such an attraction before and certainly not in such a short space of time. Even with her ex-boyfriend, Riley Finn, who she’d been with for four years of college – she’d been attracted to him in her own way but she’d never felt the all-consuming pull that she was feeling now only minutes after meeting Spike.

~Paint me in a different light, shed me yet another coat of skin.
Mark me with ash until I'm clean again.
'Cause I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired.
I know I can love you, I know that I can~

~I wanna feel something sweeter than this sin.
Cover me in leaves, roll me over again.
I've been everybody else now I want to be
Something closer to myself~

She had broken up with Riley mainly because she knew she’d never love him the way he seemed to love her. And also because he’d never really understood her. After graduating from college, she’d decided to take some time out to go travelling instead of getting a job. It was for this reason that she was currently working in the café – it was an easy way of saving up the cash to fund her travels. In Riley’s mind – and words – her plans were just a silly dream and she was wasting her psychology degree by not taking the job she’d been offered on the Sunnydale Memorial psych ward – where incidentally, he also worked.

~I wanna feel something sweeter than this sin.
Cover me in leaves, roll me over again.
Cause I've been everybody else now I want to be
Something closer to myself~

~And I wanna feel something sweeter than this sin.
Cover me in leaves, roll me over again.
I've been everybody else now I want to be
Something closer to myself~

As the music died away, Gunn walked towards her, his smile even bigger than before.

“Buffy, that was great.”

“Yeah, you were brilliant,” Xander added.

Buffy smiled back, still a little overwhelmed by the whole experience. Did they really think she had what it took to co-front a rock band?

“I must say,” Wesley said. “You exceeded my expectations. Of course the final decision lies with the boys.”

Spike spoke up then and Buffy turned to face him feeling herself almost drown in his eyes.

“I think she’s perfect.”

****

Several hours later, Buffy sat at a table in the club. After the success of her audition, the band minus Wesley had decided on having a few drinks to celebrate. After a few beers, Xander, Oz and Gunn left, claiming dinner plans with their respective partners, leaving Buffy alone with Spike.

Despite her limited experience with men – she’d only ever slept with Riley and her high school boyfriend, Billy Fordham – Buffy knew exactly where they were headed and she couldn’t deny that she wanted it. Ok, so she’d never slept with someone she’d only just met, but there was something about Spike that made her want to give in to her baser urges for a change, especially when he pressed his knee against hers under the table, sending tingles through her body.

“Well, I think it’s my round,” she said, holding up her empty bottle. “You want another?”

“Thanks, luv,” Spike said. “But just tell Scott to put it on the band’s tab. You’re one of us now so you don’t need to be spending no money tonight.”

Buffy smiled and headed over to the bar to order a Jack Daniels and coke for Spike and a beer for herself, before returning to the booth they were occupying in a dark corner of the club, which was now buzzing with people. She handed Spike his drink and he held it up, proposing a toast. “To the newest member of Aurelius.”

Buffy clinked her bottle against his glass. “This all seems kind of surreal. Of all the things I’ve ever thought of doing in my life, joining a rock band was nowhere on the list.”

Spike grinned. “Life’s full of surprises, luv. The thing is, in the music industry, it’s all about marketability. If a label reckons they can sell us, then they’re more likely to offer us a deal. Now you’ve got a great voice, but you’ve also got something else, something special. I knew it the moment I saw you on stage. Like you were made to be there.”

Buffy found his hypothesis somewhat amusing considering she’d found the idea of her being in a rock band rather laughable – before, during and even after her audition.

“Plus,” he said, leaning closer so his breath teased her ear. “You’re sexy as hell.”

He pulled back slightly, their eyes meeting and whatever reservations she may have had about sleeping with Spike were well and truly quelled by the heat she saw there. Heat she knew was reflected in her own eyes.

Her breath caught as his lips descended, her mouth opening under his and his tongue touching hers. He tasted of a mixture of whiskey, tobacco and something that was uniquely Spike. The kiss quickly grew heated as he pulled her into his lap, his hands sliding under her shirt as she grabbed onto the lapels of his jacket.

“Buffy, kitten…you taste so sweet,” he groaned, pulling away to suck on her pulse point, making her moan.

She could feel his hard cock pressing against her through the heavy denim of his jeans and the thought of it inside her was making her wet. She brought his mouth back to hers, before pressing a line of kisses along the line of his jaw to his ear and whispering the words that would bring the fire between them to its natural conclusion.

“Let’s get out of here.”




A/N: What's gonna happen next I wonder? Everyone knows more reviews mean chapters posted more quickly - its blackmail but its true!

A/N #2: 'Closer To Myself' is by Kendall Payne (Jordan's Sister, 1999)





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