Angel sat in his office paying little attention to the phone call that had interrupted his vacation time. He didn’t really care what the guys in shipping were having trouble with, God knows it wasn’t his responsibility; he’d more or less pass it off to Charles Gunn his sharp legal mind. He looked up as there was a knock on the door; he held his hand over the phone “Come in”.
Dawn closed the door softly behind her “Hey Angel...Oh sorry” she said once she realised Angel was on the phone.
Angel gave her a soft smile, Dawn had always felt like Angel was an older brother. He was just about as protective as Spike was; the only difference between them was that Angel was a few years older and not as daring, and Angel also had a tattoo.
Angel put his phone down on the desk and frowned at it “What’s up Dawn?”
“What’s your opinion on Riley?” she took a seat across from him and stared at him intently.
'He's a fucking moron' he thought before giving Dawn a more suitable answer. “Riley...to be completely honest, I’ve never liked him, why?” He picked up the phone and held it to his ear, quickly putting it back down after hearing the voice of an angry accountant.
“I just don’t get a good vibe off of him; I haven’t for a while now. But ever since I came home for winter break, he’s kind of been giving me the wiggins.”
Angel frowned.
“Freaking me out, making me suspicious.” Dawn started to explain.
Angel gave a laugh “I know Dawn, I’m not that far gone”.
“Right, well anyway...has he ever I don’t know....done anything violent?”
Angel frowned again “Dawn has he threatened you?”
Dawn looked up and saw fury in his eyes. “No, he hasn’t spoken to me much, but I just wanted to see if he had like a violent past....like that time you threw him out a window, why was that?”
Angel’s mind quickly went back to that day.
(flashback)
“Riley,” Angel said as a way of greeting.
“Angel,” Riley had a gleam in his eye “Buffy’s looking fine tonight.”
Angel glared at him “Yeah, she’s beautiful.”
“What’s she like in the sack?” Riley openly checked her out as she stood laughing with her friends a few feet away, never having the time to see the dangerous glint in Angel’s eyes.
“Perfect.” He said before grabbing Riley’s shirt and using the slightly taller man’s weight to his advantage.
Everyone stared as Angel pushed Riley up against the fragile glass which swiftly broke, making both men stumble before Riley went tumbling over the side, leaving a speechless crowd and a grinning Angel.
“Well, who wants punch?” Angel said casually and grabbed a cup of red liquid.
(end flashback)
“We had a misunderstanding” Angel said with a faint smile.
“Riiight, well has he ever been in prison?” she asked hopefully.
“No.... why do you want to know about Riley?”
“Well I’m just really unsure about him.” ‘That’s not a total lie’.
Angel’s eyes squinted a little “Are you trying to cause trouble?”
“NO!” she cringed along with Angel as her voice hit an unusually high octave.
“Peaches” they heard Spike’s voice, and Dawn smiled as Angel rolled his eyes.
“Yes Willy” Angel smirked as Spike opened the door with a glare.
“Darla wants us to get more fire wood.”
“Lets go” Angel quickly hung up the phone and grabbed his coat.
“Nancy boy,”
“Blondie Bear,”
“Poof,”
“Billy,”
“Captain forehead,”
Darla rolled her eyes as she heard Spike and Angel name calling. “You two are worse than five year olds and can you please hurry; I think our guests are frozen.”
Angel and Spike mock saluted her before walking out into the cold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy was staring blankly at the television in her room, eventually she’d have to go down and face Dawn, and Anya......she’d have to strangle Willow, and where the hell was Riley?
She frowned; her husband was beginning to feel like a distant relative. ‘I should go find him’ she thought, it would give her some time to get her emotions under control because at the moment the slightest thing could probably make her start bawling.
She quickly went down the stairs only muttering a quick ‘be back later’ to Oz.
She was hit with cold air as soon as she left the house. She shivered and pulled her coat tighter around her body.
After ten minutes she was starting to get worried, she’d checked the shed, the lake and the stables and was yet to see any sign of her husband. His car was still in the drive so he was still on the property.
She continued searching and noticed an old track that she hadn’t been down in years. Buffy smiled briefly as she remembered her time here as a teenager. She frowned when she noticed that there were new tyre tracks. ‘Huh Angel must have been down here...weird’.
She decided to walk down the track instead of going back to the house. She needed some more time to try and figure out how to make it up to Dawn.
After a few minutes she frowned, “what the...hell?” Buffy muttered aloud as she heard whimpering.
She travelled down the dirt road more cautiously and tried to listen for any more odd sounds.
A loud thud made her jump and she managed to hold in her shriek of surprise. “Riley?” she was more than surprised to see her husband coming out of an old shed.
“Buffy!” his eyes held traces of fear and shock but there was something else....annoyance? “What are you doing down here?” she frowned when he immediately started pushing her in the opposite direction to the shed.
“Well I could ask you the same question.” She looked over at the shed again and her eyes narrowed “Why are those windows boarded up?”
“You know Angel, always making changes to the property” he laughed nervously.
This was true, Angel was always making renovations but Buffy didn’t think Angel would even bother coming down here.
“Lets go back to the house, you know get some quality time together?” he leered at her but she just frowned.
“Umm actually I think I’ll spend some time with Anya, after all she’s like my best friend” ‘at least I hope she is’.
Riley frowned but looked relieved when they started to walk “Sure honey, what ever you want.”
Buffy gave a forced smile and they made their way back to the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When they got back everyone was sprawled around the lounge room. Dawn was near Willow and Darla. Angel and Spike were talking to Oz and Xander and Anya had just walked in with a tray.
“Are those the hot chocolates?” Dawn asked, blatantly ignoring Buffy and Riley.
“Yes, there are marshmallows too,” she smiled brightly and put the tray on the coffee table.
Dawn smiled and grabbed a handful of marshmallows and a mug.
Buffy sat down quietly on the sofa.
“Hey babe I’m going to go get some sleep” Riley pecked her on the cheek and she smiled a little bit before slumping back into the couch.
Anya sat down next to her and smiled “how are you?”
“Tired, you?” Buffy looked at her friend with forced cheeriness.
“Pretty good, it may just be my imagination but Dawn’s shooting daggers at you and if looks could kill, well you’d be six feet under” Anya looked at her friend expectantly.
“She’s upset about how things went with Spike and I” Buffy said in a low tone.
“Oh, well it’s just because he’s her brother.”
“Yeah, you know what. I think I just need a break, excuse me” Buffy stood up and made her way out the door, barely giving Anya a chance to say anything.
Dawn watched Buffy walk out the door and felt a flash of guilt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once everyone was seated around the table for dinner an awkward silence filled the room, broken only by the sound of cutlery occasionally scraping against the china.
“Anyone catch the game last night?” Angel said hoping to start a conversation.
Everyone shook their head and muttered a quiet ‘no’.
Buffy sat between Riley and Angel and could feel Dawn’s eyes on her from across the table.
“Angel, do you remember the dirt track that leads up to that old shed?” Buffy asked as she took a sip of water.
Angel thought for a few moments “Yeah I think so, why?”
“Are you making renovations to the old shed?” she asked, not noticing that Riley had tensed up and was glancing nervously at Angel.
“Nope, haven’t been down there since I was seventeen.”
‘Huh’ Buffy filed that away in her head for later.
By now conversations were being held around the table and Angel was too preoccupied to question Buffy’s curiosity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy looked at the clock on the nightstand ‘great two thirty’. She looked across to the sleeping form of Riley and quickly made a decision. She gathered some jeans and a sweater, along with her sand shoes and quickly changed.
Buffy had always been inquisitive, ever since she was a little girl, and she certainly wasn’t going to stop now. She grabbed a torch and quietly closed the door behind her, not noticing that Dawn was watching her from the window.
When she reached the shed she cautiously approached a window, she froze as she heard the sound of a struggle. ‘Settle down Buffy it’s probably just a raccoon’.
She pushed the door open and froze.
Girls, there were more than six of them.
All of them looked at her with scared and hopeful eyes.
She scanned the girls, noticing some were without clothes and had wounds in several places. Buffy’s eyes widened and she quickly moved to the closest girl ‘God she can’t be over sixteen’.
She undid the gag and the girl coughed.
“Help” her voice was raspy and she looked weak.
Buffy nodded and began undoing the ropes that bound her. Her whole body stiffened when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
“Beautiful isn’t it.”
She turned and saw Riley looking at her with a bored expression.
“My sweet Buffy, you were going to be next you know that?” he looked at her like he was actually waiting for an answer. “You were going to be the last, but your curiosity got in the way.” He chuckled and she backed away from him.
“Riley no” she said weakly, her body starting to shake with fright.
“Oh Buffy, scream and plead all you wish, it wont matter, no one will be able to hear you while I’m fucking you into the ground,” he said as he lunged for her.
Buffy shrieked and tried to dodge him, kicking and wriggling her body when he caught her.
Dawn watched frightened by the doorway before turning and sprinting back to the house, she had to get Spike.
[Reviews - 44]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 2797 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thankyou to all of you who reviewed for the last chapter, I appreciate all of the reviews. You're all awesome.
Chapter End Notes:
Reviews are like chocolate