Chapter 3 - Open Arms
This empty house seems so cold
Wanting you near
How much I wanted you home
But now that you've come back
Turned night into day
I need you to stay
Journey
I waited nearly an hour before I went looking for her. She wasn't downstairs in
the bedroom, which left only one other place for her to be. The caretaker's house.
It was an old abandoned house that was in the corner of the cemetery. At one time
a couple would live on the grounds to maintain the place but vamps probably got
them. Anyway the place was empty now. I used it to take showers and stuff. The
water and the electric were part of the cemetery's system and were still usable.
I had torn down the wall to get into the basement of the place and then had free
run of the place.
Making my way slowly up the stairs listening for any sounds that would indicate
where she was. The place was silent at first and then I heard water lapping. Buffy
had to be in the bathroom. I walked as quietly down the hall as I could. The bathroom
door was open and in the mirror I could see into the room. On the bathroom counter
there were a few lit candles. Their flames dancing in the drafty air. At first
I didn't see her but then she moved casting a shadow on the wall. She was laying
back in the tub covered in bubbles. I froze. This woman was going to drive me
right into an insane asylum soon. My tongue slowly licked my lips. Then threw
my head back in frustration as the sexual need coursed threw me.
"Spike, are you going to stand there all night or come in and talk to me?"
I could hear the laughter in her voice. That was the second time in the last few
hours that she had found enjoyment in my wanting her. I made my way into the bathroom
and took a seat on the toilet facing her. My eyes slowly moved down the tub trying
to see what the bubbles covered. She just watched me as she took a swallow of
her drink. Looking back at her I started to ask the questions that were picking
at my brain.
"So, what happened with Dawn?"
Buffy closed her eyes and put her glass down on the floor.
"It was about three weeks after you left. I had come over here to see if
I could find where you had gone. And as I was leaving I grabbed one of your bottles."
She swallowed as my heart took a leap at her words. She had been looking for me.
"I went home and got drunk. Just sat on the couch and got myself plastered."
"You drank the whole bottle?" My eyes opened wide at the thought of
her drinking so much. Right before I had left we had been drinking together. But
she had been fighting the taste the whole time.
"Yeah." She looked up at me with so much pain in her eyes. "Then
I passed out. I didn't walk up until the next morning. When Doris Kroger, the
social worker was pounding on the door. The school had called her when Dawn didn't
show up. Again."
The picture she was painting was beginning to become clear. My heart hurt for
her and for Dawn. It had to have been a nightmare for both of them.
"She just told Dawn to pack a bag that she was going to go with her. Dawn
refused at first but Ms. Kroger told her that she would call the police to haul
her out in handcuffs."
"That soddin bitch." The thought of that woman terrorizing Dawn made
me want to go and give her a little of my brand of fear. That is if I didn't have
that bloody chip in my head. Buffy reached down to pick up her glass again. This
time she drained it.
"I told Dawn to go with her. That I would find a way to get her out."
Her voice was cracking with emotion.
"That's when you called Giles?"
Buffy nodded her head in agreement.
"Yeah, and I begged him to help Dawn. He pulled some strings to get her out
and in his custody. But I had to sign over guardianship to him. And then I gave
him the house too."
"He took everything away from you? I went by the house looking for you and
he practically slammed the door in my face."
Her eyes opened and looked at me.
"Don't be angry at him. They didn't want to let him have custody. They're
watching every move he makes. He's just trying to protect her."
"And you, pet? Do you get to see her at all?"
"Every Tuesday at 10 AM for one hour. With a social worker supervising."
Her voice had become flat. She was holding everything in and must have been for
a while. It was too much for one person to handle by herself. Where were her friends?
"What about the others? Where were they?"
"You have been gone a while, haven't you?" She gave a harsh little laugh.
"Xander left Anya at the altar. Tara broke up with Willow because she was
using too much magic. So, they have been dealing with their own stuff. They don't
have time to deal with depressed girl."
Now I knew why Buffy was here. Her support had always been her mum and friends.
Her mum was gone now and her friends weren't there for her. The fools had brought
her back, expected her to be all happy that they had yanked her out of heaven
and then weren't there to help her deal. Bloody typical of the selfish little
bastards. Buffy was supposed to take care of everything and everybody. But not
a one of them could be there for her.
"Oh, and here's a good kicker for the past few months. Riley came back."
My head jerked around to look at her in surprise. She was leaning back again with
her eyes closed. Her hand was softly churning the water.
"And?"
"He's married. To the perfect woman. Totally unlike me." She sounded
so heart broken which just stoked the jealousy.
"You are perfect, Love." To me she was.
She snorted rather unladylike.
"That's just because you want me." Her voice dropped to a teasing level.
"Yeah, I do."
If she was going to play so was I. I dropped my hand into the side of the tub
slowly swirling the water around. My fingers encountered the calf of her leg and
I softly caressed it with the back of my hand. When she brought her leg up I figured
the game was over but she brought it over the edge of the tub. Her eyes met mine
as her foot came toward me. She touched my knee with her toes pushing it to the
side. Then her foot went between my legs and came to rest on my crotch.
I inhaled sharply as chills ran through me rapidly. Her toes were slowly outlining
my hard cock beneath my jeans. My mind and body kept going yes. That before this
night was over Buffy would be mine. Then my heart just had to voice its opinion
and ruin everything. It whispered to the rest of us, asking us why Buffy was doing
this. She wasn't that experienced when I had left. As far as I knew Riley had
been the only person she had been with more than once. When did she become so
comfortable about sex? As the jealousy and hurt took hold, my mouth just opened
and really fucked things up.
"So, are you a whore now as well as a drunk?"
The foot was jerked away from my yearning dick and dropped back in the water.
Buffy stood quickly grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her.
"That is none of your business."
She started out of the bathroom with me right behind her.
I danced around her and blocked her with my arm. She pushed at me but I wouldn't
budge. Winding my fingers into her hair, I tilted her head back to make her look
at me.
"It is my business. You are living in my crypt, wearing my clothes, using
my things and sleeping in my bed. How many men have you fucked since I have been
gone?"
I coldly pronounced each syllable. My heart was begging for my suspicions to be
wrong. The thought of Buffy spreading her legs for anyone else tore at me. I had
loved her for so long and wanted her so long there was no way I was going to let
her go without a fight. And I sure wasn't going to share. Done enough of that
before.
Something in my tone must have told her not to push me anymore. She sighed in
resignation. Her bravado was gone.
"There hasn't been anyone, Spike. No one since Riley. Just the kiss between
us."
She slid down the wall and under my arm. I let her go. She wasn't lying to me.
Her little sex act was just that an act. Trying to prove how bad she really was.
She wasn't, she was just running scared trying to push the people who cared away.
I just hoped she understood that if she offered I wasn't going to refuse. I wasn't
going to play grown up games with a little girl.
Deciding to give her and myself a few minutes to cool off I went back into the
bathroom. I let the water out of the bathtub and bent down to pick up her dirty
clothes. As I picked up her shorts her panties fell out onto the floor. Red lace
just like the bra. I picked them up and let them fall over my hand. Straightening
up I fondled the damp lace. Looking quickly over my shoulder to make sure she
wasn't coming back I brought the material up to my face and inhaled deeply. I
had never smelled anything so sweet before.
Unable to resist anymore I turned to lean against the counter. This way I could
see or hear her coming. I dropped the rest of her clothes and just held the panties.
My other hand dropped down to my crotch. I rubbed myself through my jeans then
quickly unzipped them. My cock reached upwards straining for release. Wrapping
my fist around it I started to stroke it as I inhaled the scent of her. My mind
kept running pictures of her in the outfit from the bar, sitting behind me on
the bike and her in the bathtub. It didn't take very long, just a few strokes,
before I came. The tension had been building all night and it felt good to release
some of it. Not as good as cumming inside of her but for now it would have to
do.
After I got cleaned up I headed back to the crypt. Buffy was busy putting stuff
into boxes when I walked into the bedroom.
"What are you doing?" I asked her.
"Getting out of your way." She didn't look at me just grabbed another
stack to put in the box.
"I know what your doing, pet."
She laughed but didn't say anything.
"You can't live up to their expectations so you came here. Started acting
like a bad ass. You figured that by being in the evil vampire's crypt they even
might start hating you. Which means they will leave you alone and you don't have
to try to be their hero anymore."
She had stopped moving as I spelled out her own thoughts to her. I made my way
over to her stopping in front of her. Taking the stack out of her hands I threw
them back in the dresser. She was staring somewhere in the vicinity of the middle
of my chest.
"Just think how much they will run with me actually being here." Then
I relieved her next thoughts. The ones where her bluffs were taken and she actually
had to be the bad girl she was pretending to be. "And as long as you stop
the games nothing is going to happen until you want it to."
Turning I started up the ladder to the upper level. Her voice came softly to me.
"Thank you, Spike.'
This is how we came to share my place. It was going to kill me to have her here
and not touch her. But I didn't think it would take long before she wanted. She
already did. She just wasn't ready to admit it to herself. I could wait until
she did. A grin settled on my face as I thought of the time when she did. It would
be worth the wait. But I sure didn't know that it wouldn't take as long as I thought.
And to think I could thank Xander for bringing it about.
Chapter 4
