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Chapter 9

I’m sure he’s okay.

Buffy paced the living room floor, stopping every few seconds to look out the window.

He’ll drive by soon and then I’ll meet him at the motel and everything will be fine.

Her stomach flipped, disagreeing with her and knowing that William had been gone for too long.

He’s alright…he has to be alright.

She paced faster trying to keep her overactive mind occupied so she wouldn’t worry about William. “Somewhere beyond the sea, somewhere waiting for me, my lover stands on golden sands and straight to my arms he’ll come sailing.”

Buffy sang weakly an improvised version of their song, the song her and William had belted nights before.

Oh, no…now that brings up…he was so…so sweet this morning.

Buffy rubbed her arms with her hands, annoyed, trying to will away her goosebumps.

There was the cuddling and the kisses and then he even demanded that I take him seriously.

Buffy smiled, suddenly not ashamed to.

I never thought he’d have the guts to say those things…to say that he wanted us to be together…I never thought he’d take the first step…

Buffy’s stomach flipped again, causing her to run to the window.

I’m sure he’s okay.

He has to be okay.
***

William had never felt so tired in his life. His arms were stinging, peppered with tiny cuts and with the remnants of weeds from hiding in too many ditches. He hid for what felt like days before he decided it was safe for him to start his long walk home. He was shocked that his plan had worked and that the hitchhiker was willing to take his car, taking on William’s high speed chase in the process.

That bloke did kinda look familiar, William shrugged, not caring. But I got away and that’s all that counts.

His entire body was covered in sweat and dirt as he slowly walked down the side of the road, blisters forming on the balls of his feet.

Wiping his gritty forehead with the back of his hand, William grimaced; wishing rain would fall in the desert, just once, and just for him.

Why would I be that lucky?

He blinked away frustrated tears.

So this is what it feels like to be road kill…
***

Riley Finn would not be discouraged. Traveling mindlessly in the Arizona heat was not going to put a damper on his sprits. Hank Summers wasn’t helping Riley at all, even though Riley called him on a daily basis, pleading for information and leads.

I’ll find her. I’ll save her and take her away from that mad man and then when I ask her to marry me again; she’ll have to say yes.

Riley pulled into another restaurant, with his interview questions burning in his mind.

I’ll find them, sooner or later, but when I do…he’ll be sorry for taking my Buffy away from me.
***

“Take one more step and I’ll shot you.” Buffy stood under the single porch light aiming her unloaded gun at the stranger that was walking up the drive in the middle of the night. “Put your hands up please and come into the light so I can see you before I kill you.”

Buffy waited, her heart pounding. She had waited for countless hours for William to return and she had given up hope after the sun had gone down. She knew whoever this person was; he was coming to take her back to Hank.

Buffy was not going back.

“Come on, I don’t have all night.” She stepped away from the front door and squinted into the darkness. “Oh, God. Oh my God. William.” She dropped her harmless weapon and ran to him.
***

Buffy was slowly getting madder with each passing minutes. William had not said a word, he was dirty and in pain and he wasn’t telling her why.

What the hell did they do to him? She gritted her teeth while fixing William something to eat; ripping her father into pieces flooded her thoughts.

“After you eat you need to take a shower.” Buffy put his plate before him as William sat at the kitchen table. She fumed when he picked at his food. “Eat what you can but drink the water, you must be dehydrated.”

Buffy’s stomach gurgled when she sat next to him, but she ignored it. She hadn’t eaten a thing since William had left in the afternoon. She knew eating would just result in throwing it back up. Before she was too scared to eat and now she didn’t know how she was feeling.

She studied William, the tempo of her heart rose and the feeling of wanting to bawl like a baby and hold William and make sure he was protected and never hurt again irked Buffy.

“And then you can sleep for days if you’d like.” She mumbled touching his hand briefly and then pulling at back when she got no response.

I feel like an idiot…he wants nothing to do with me.

She swallowed; unshed tears stinging her eyes, making her more confused about her feelings. “I’ll be…I’ll be in the other room if you need me.”
***

William had walked silently to the bathroom over half an hour ago. Buffy sat in the living room and struggled, pretending to read her book. She hadn’t heard any water running and she was getting a headache from worry.

Asshole.

She slammed the book close and stomped into the bedroom.

“William!” Buffy banged on the bathroom door. “I’m coming in, damn it and I’m helping you!” She opened the door and found him sitting on the closed toilet seat in a daze. “Arms up.” Standing before him she took off his shirt gently over his head. She bit her lip and batted at the twigs and dust that clung to his blond hair that was awfully messy, a few hairs forming little spikes. Feeling suddenly lightheaded from her pounding headache, Buffy lightly rested her hands on William’s shoulders and closed her eyes tight.

“Are you alright?”

“Those are your first words after all this time? You want to know if I’m alright?” She opened her eyes and saw him finally looking at her.

Oh God, this can’t be good.

Her knees gave out and Buffy sank towards the bathroom floor but William’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her into him instead. She gasped as he sobbed into her hair, her own tears blurring her vision but never falling. Buffy didn’t know what to do so she held him as tightly as he held her.
***

“Sorry. Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Let’s get you cleaned up and then you’ll tell me everything…right? Please William, I need to know. I want to know.” She let go of his waist and cupped his tear-streaked face, rubbing her thumbs on his cheeks to reassure him. “Whatever happened…they won’t get away with it. I’ll get the water started for you.” Instead of standing immediately, her hands moved to cup the back of his head and brought him close, her mouth playing with and tugged his lower lip in a sweet kiss, “I need to help you feel better, I don’t know why…but I must, so let me…please?”

William nodded and tilted his head, confused by Buffy’s confession and loving actions. “I’ll tell you everything but…I’m not looking forward to the verbal lashings you’re going to give me.”

“William, I won’t--.”

“You go; I can wash myself and I don’t plan on drowning. You’ve helped more than you could ever imagine already, just look at your shirt.” He sighed. “Thank you for that. Sorry for unleashing the bloody waterworks on you…today was a little more than I could bear.”

“I can--.”

“Go, I’ll be fine, Buffy.”

“Alright, I’ll be waiting.”
***

“Feeling better?”

“Yes, very much.” William yawned and got into bed, lying on his back, his shoulder touching Buffy’s.

“Good.” She looked up at the spinning ceiling fan and didn’t know where to start with her questions. “What happened to the car?”

“I gave it away. To a hitchhiker, after I nearly plowed him down, I was being followed.”

“So you gave the car to someone else…”

“So I could hide and get the bad guys off my tail, following the other guy.”

“That was very clever.”

“I guess it was…looking back.”

“Was that when you got dirty? Hiding?”

“Well, I’ve been crawling in nasty ditches all day really and it all added to the dirty state I was in earlier. I first dove in a bunch of weeds and other rubble to get out of the way of the machine gun.”

“Machine gun?” Buffy found William’s hand and threaded their fingers together.

“Maybe not a machine gun but it was an automatic gun with flying bullets all aimed at my pretty little noggin.”

“You just showed up and they started shooting? How many people were involved?”

“Never saw the person or persons behind everything. I got to the car and it was abandoned. I looked in the trunk and—and there was a bomb.”

“No.”

“Yes. No money. Just a bomb. It went: bomb, carrots, bullets, car chase, with a lot of hiding in bushes and then walking home.”

“Carrots? What poisonous carrots or something?”

“No, no, the bomb was there just to scare the shit out of me. It was like those roadrunner cartoons, you know? The dynamite ended up really being a bundle of rabbit food.”

“I don’t understand, what my father was trying to accomplish? It sounds like whoever’s he’s hired only wants to confuse and frighten you and not kill you.”

“You mean they want to fully confuse and scare the shit out of me before they kill me. I’ve never been so fucking scared in my life,” he added quietly, glad that Buffy wasn’t looking at him. “You can yell at me now, I’m ready.”

“Why would I yell at you? You did exactly what I wanted: you didn’t get caught and you came back in one piece--.”

“Yeah, without no money and now we don’t have a car. We both know it’s not easy for me just to get another. I fucked everything up.” William let go of her hand and turned to his back.

“William, don’t be like this.”

“I can be any way I bloody well please.”

“William.”

“Sod off.” He grumbled and resisted her attempt to roll him over.

“What off? Why are you talking about grass? Look at me.”

“No, I’d rather brood until I fall asleep.”

“William.”

“No.”

Buffy growled and forcefully turned him on his back, sitting on him when he wouldn’t remain still. “I won’t let you brood, William. Look at me when I’m talking to you.” She grabbed his wrists and held them over his head.

This is nice. I like this so much more than being the sweet and caring Buffy, too bad he’s being such an idiot this could be a fun act of foreplay.

“Buffy, I just want--.”

“I’m proud of you.”

“What?”

“You heard me. I’m so proud of you William I could…I don’t know, but the last thing I want to do is yell at you but you’re being so difficult. You did nothing wrong. Will you behave if I let go?”

“You’re proud? Of me? You’re not just--.”

Buffy rolled her eyes and covered his mouth with the palm of her hand. “I think you were very, very brave and I’m not just saying these things to cheer you up, I’m saying these things because I want you to hear them and sure, I don’t think you should be moping but that’s beside the point.” She glared at him before freeing his mouth, daring him to say something negative. When he swallowed and said nothing, Buffy began shifting on his body. “But I’m trying to be the good girlfriend here and you aren’t even letting me try and that is pissing me off, that is the only thing that is pissing me off.” She stopped fidgeting once she was laying comfortably on him, her arms around him and her legs straddling his thigh.

“Girlfriend?”

“Yes, isn’t that what you wanted? If not, too bad for you, you’re stuck with me, William. You are now my boyfriend, I paid attention to you this morning.”

William couldn’t tell by her bossy tone with if was teasing him or not. As a test he wrapped his arms around her and was pleased when she wiggled deeper into him, grinding her hips against him, her movements allowing his hand to fall on her ass. “You’re serious?”

“Weren’t you serious? This morning?”

“Yes.”

“Well, there’s your answer.” She held her head high, “Kiss me.”

“Say please.”

Buffy smirked, knowing William was finally joining the fun. “Please?”

“Try harder than that, princess.”

“Pretty, pretty please oh brave and death defying William?”

“That all you’ve got?”

“For now, I don’t want to use up all my compliments up right now, I’ll need them when I beg for sex tomorrow.”

“You’re insane, Buffy.”

“But you like it.”

“I do.”
***





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