Angel chuckled a little. “I wouldn’t go that far. Though, I’ve been over at his place a couple of times.” He didn’t say any more about it, leaving Buffy more confused than ever.
“Why would you go to his place if you weren’t friends?” She frowned. “And why am I still talking to you?” She turned around to leave, when Angel spoke, causing her to stop.
“You know, I’d be careful around Spike if I were you.”
Buffy spun around, glaring at him. “And what the hell’s that suppose to mean?”
He shrugged. “Just saying. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, right, like you’d care. Thank you so much for your concern. Now, leave me alone!” Buffy started to leave, but Angel followed. She stopped again, sighing. “Tell me, what part of ‘leave me alone’ didn’t you get?”
Angel looked annoyed. “I mean it, Buffy, the guy’s bad news. You shouldn’t be with him.”
Buffy snorted. “Angel, please! You’re starting to get pathetic.” She hesitated. “Did I say ‘starting to’?”
“Fine, you don’t believe me? Ask Drusilla then. Except you can’t do that now, can you? ‘Cause she’s dead.”
Buffy just stared at him for a moment, then opened her mouth to speak. But before she could say anything, someone grabbed Angel from behind and pushed him away.
“You stay the bloody hell away from her, you hear?! Spike glared at Angel, taking a step towards him, but Buffy hurried to get between them.
“Spike, don’t!” The relief she’d felt over finally finding him was suddenly mixed with anxiety. Spike was clearly drunk, and the fact that he’d seen her talking to Angel would obviously not make the situation any better. She gave him a pleading look. “Can we please just go home?”
Spike seemed to forget about Angel for a moment and looked at her. Then he let out a bitter laugh. “Wanna go home with me?” The slurring in his voice told Buffy that he’d had more than enough to drink.
She nodded eagerly. “Yes, of course I do.”
He laughed again. “Funny, ‘cause from where I was looking, you seemed to be rather busy.”
Buffy closed her eyes for a second, counting to five. “Don’t be ridiculous! Why the hell do you think I came here in the first place? I was looking for you, dammit!”
Spike seemed to be thinking about it for a moment. “You’re not mad at me then?”
She sighed, Angel forgotten. “No, Spike. Maybe I was, a little, but… We’ll talk about that later, okay? Let’s just get out of here.”
He cocked his head, looking her deep in the eyes like he was trying to see if she meant it. Then he nodded. “Right.”
Buffy let out the breath she’d been holding, relieved that there wouldn’t be any more trouble. But it turned out that she’d been too eager in her assumption. Suddenly Angel was standing next to her again, a smug look on his face. “Did he tell you that he used to beat up his girlfriend, just for fun?”
Before Buffy had the chance to react, or even let the words sink in, Spike threw himself at Angel, punching him hard in his face. Angel was taken by surprise, and went down immediately. Spike didn’t give him the chance to get back up before delivering a series of hard kicks to the other man’s stomach.
Finally snapping out of it, Buffy rushed over to pull Spike away from the now unconscious man on the floor. Without looking at her, only focusing on beating the crap out of Angel, Spike pushed her away, hard. She gasped in shock, desperately trying to keep her balance. Then his eyes widened as he realized what he’d done. “God, Buffy, I’m sorry!”
He reached out for her, but she took a step back. Then she saw the security guard making his way towards them. Trying not to panic, she grabbed Spike’s arm and pulled him with her, away from the scene. Luckily, he didn’t object, and followed her towards the exit.
Half an hour later, back in Spike’s apartment, Buffy walked in to the living room, finding Spike on the couch where she’d left him. She offered him the cup of coffee she’d been carrying. “Here. Drink this.” He made no efforts to take it, so she put it down on the table. Not knowing what to do, or say, she remained standing.
Spike looked up at her. “You don’t wanna sit next to me. You’re afraid of me now.”
He looked so devastated, and she didn’t have the heart telling him that what she was most afraid of right now was that he’d might throw up on her. Then she remembered how he’d taken care of her a few nights ago, thought ‘hell with it’, and sat down. “No, I’m not.”
He gave her a disbelieving look, tears welling up in his eyes. “You should be. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
Buffy reached for his hand. “It doesn’t matter now, sweetie. You should try to get some sleep, we’ll talk about it in the morning.”
“Are you daft?! How can you say it doesn’t matter?! After what I did…” Spike stopped, looking down at his hands.
She sighed. “Spike, I’m not gonna lie and say that you didn’t scare me tonight. Angel’s a jerk, and I don’t know what game he’s trying to play, but I wish you hadn’t let him get to you like that. What if he’ll tell the cops on you, you could get charged for assault.”
Spike snorted. “I don’t care about him, bloody poof deserved what he got.” He took a shaky breath. “I hurt you.”
“Spike, I’m fine, don’t worry about it. But I hope you do know that I would never…” Buffy hesitated, unsure of how to go on. “I used to date Angel, about a year ago, and it ended badly. I haven’t seen him since, until tonight, that is. I think he wants me back.”
Spike opened his mouth to say something, but she hurriedly went on. “Not that there would be a chance in hell I’d take him back, the nerve of him!”
“Buffy, about what he said…” Suddenly, he didn’t seem to want to look her in the eyes.
Buffy looked confused for a moment, before recalling what Angel had said just before Spike jumped him. She rolled her eyes. “Forget about it, I have. He has to be even more stupid than I thought if he thinks for one second that I’d believe something like that.”
He still refused to look at her, swallowing hard. “What if I told you he was right?”
TBC