Title: F*** Buddies
Author: DamnSkippy
Posted: 07-19-2003
Email: damnskippytoo@gmail.com
Rating: NC-17, Language and Sex
Category: Humor and Smut, Baby!
Content: C/A
Summary: Cordelia wishes for a fuck buddy and, boy howdy, does she get more than she bargained for.
Spoilers: Through Fredless of S3
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by JossWhedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution: Anywhere, but please let me know, k?
Notes: For Angel his demon thoughts are surrounded by **asterisks**, while the soul’s thoughts are italicized. Everyone else’s thoughts are italicized.
Feedback: I find I need it. I tried to abstain, but I’m just a feedback whore. So, please tell me how pretty I am and how you want to bear my children, if only...
Thanks/Dedication:Chapter 3 Continued...
Angel draped the wash cloth over the tub edge and filled his palms with more silky lather.
“Are you ready for the rest of your bath?” His eyes took on a tinge of gold which sent a burst of fresh juices to her already drenched tunnel.
“You’re in charge. You tell me.”
His brow raised at her willingness to follow his lead. “Sit up a little more.”
Cordy scooted back. As she did, her breasts rose from beneath the surface. Clumps of suds clung to them in patches while water sluiced through the valley between. The oil of the bubble bath formed beads on her skin and glistened in the candlelight like twinkling stars.
Angel rubbed his hands to warm them. He placed one hand on each side of her neck and slid down to her collar bone and across her shoulders. He repeated the journey in reverse. As he reached her jaw, Cordy tilted her head back, closed her eyes and parted her lips to take in much needed oxygen.
Her skin was already pink from her heated blood. He was fascinated that his touch acted like a magnet drawing even more blood in its wake leaving a nearly red trail on her neck and across her chest. Both he and his demon could smell the strong copper tang just below the surface. Her skin was hypnotizing.
So enthralled was he that he didn’t even realize his hands had moved on their own lower and were now silkily fondling her breasts. Only her moans of pleasure and her body pushing forward to meet him disturbed his concentration.
Now that he was aware of what was happening - the way they slipped through his grasp and rebounded, the way her breath caught when he tugged her rigid nipple and released it, the way she arched and writhed when he squeezed and massaged each full mound in his palm - he wondered how he’d ever thought of doing anything else or being anyplace else.
She looked magnificent, and he couldn’t believe that his touch brought her such ecstasy. She wasn’t screaming in fear. She wasn’t calling him vile names. She wasn’t trying to run away. She wasn’t pounding her fists against his chest. She wasn’t crying in terror. Her eyes were closed, her body was nude and totally vulnerable, and she completely trusted him.
This was different than Buffy. Buffy never forgot his demon and there were times she shied away at his touch. Moments when his cold hands brought a glimpse of fear in her eyes. Even during that day that time forgot, she didn’t completely trust. Maybe it was because she was a slayer and just couldn’t.
What was shocking him now was that he never realized he needed that trust because he’d never felt it before. Cordy was placing everything she was and all she had to give in his hands. He was amazed at the honor of it.
“Angel, more. Lower please.” She guided his left hand beneath the water’s edge to her downy lips and let her knees fall open. She pressured him to stroke her.
Angel pushed her hand back, looked into her eyes and said, “Let me.” She nodded her consent and then leaned back lowering her lids again.
He cupped her mound gently while his right hand continued to nurse her. His manipulation became slightly rougher when her hips reacted to him. He ground the heel of his palm into her nerve center. While he circled and pressed there, he spread her folds and let a finger slide around her entrance. Her hips reached for his touch over and over again. Desperately she tried to impale herself on him.
Angel’s arousal was intense. The pain was superb but unendurable for much longer. As much as he wanted to feel her inside, he didn’t want it to be with his finger.
He stretched forward over the tub’s edge. His hand moved from her breast and cradled her neck to pull her toward him. Her breath was ragged and her eyes still closed in deep concentration on that one tingling spot on her body.
Angel put his lips to her ear. “I want you, Cordy. I want you now.”
She moaned and bucked, her body like a fish on shore struggling to find life-giving water. All else was blocked from consciousness, except the sensation at her core and the word “want.”
In between gulps of air she managed to plead, “Yes...want...now.”
In an instant Angel stood, and pulled her up from the suction of the water. She was too wobbly to stand, and he wasted no time trying to dry her or himself. Scooping her in his arms he carried her to his bed, leaving a meandering river of lavender and rose scented puddles.
Her eyes fluttered open as he laid her down. Comprehension flooded her when she watched him fumble with the drawstring of his pants one second and then stand before her bare the next.
**Finally! This is where I come in.**
No it isn’t. This isn’t about you.
**Don't even try to keep me away from this!**
Angelus attempted to force his way to the surface. For several seconds, Angel’s eyes glowed gold and his features morphed back and forth between the demon and the man. The battle was short but intense, and Angel shook his head a final time. The face that remained was the familiar angelic features and dark brown eyes of the man.
Angel knew she had seen the struggle. He searched her eyes for the fear and revulsion he was used to. He found none. Instead she parted her legs and reached out her arms to welcome him saying, “I want you, too.”
He climbed between her thighs and rested his arousal on her soft curls. Leaning on his elbows, his chest rubbing against her breasts, he met her face to face. “I’m going to kiss you now for the first time. And then I’m going to slide deep inside you for the first time. I’m going to make love to you, because I do love you. Even if it’s just as friends, it’s still love. I'm not going to regret this, and I don't want you to either.”
Cordy searched his face for a hint of what he was really saying. But she didn’t see any deceit there. So she accepted his words as truth, and part of her wanted to run. She didn’t know it was going to hurt to hear him say he only loved her as a friend. That’s what he was saying. Even if it was wrapped around a shiny love package, when it opened it was still just friends.
Her heart sank a little, but just for a moment. Then she looked into his eyes and saw an intensity there that stung her heart and buoyed it a bit. He may only love her as a friend, but he desperately wanted her. And that was pretty great for now. More than she had yesterday.
She smiled and caressed his cheek. “No regrets, grr guy. I love you, too, and we’ll always be best friends. Now kiss me and let’s make wild, monkey love.”
Angel found himself chuckling as his lips truly touched hers for the first time in mutual desire, and he thought it was appropriate. Cordy was always the one to make him laugh. But once he felt her moist, warm mouth and began to relax into their tender, pursed, rhythmic mating, all his senses prickled with the unexpected tremors that coursed through him. His muscles convulsed involuntarily and his head jerked back.
Cordy wasn't expecting him to stop so quickly so her eyes were wide and curious when he did. His mouth was open, his eyes showed too much white and his brow was pushed up causing not too attractive forehead winkles. The only way to describe his appearance was complete surprise.
“What? You didn't think I had it in me?” She smirked.
“No, I didn't think I did.” He didn't wait for a witty retort.
He dove for her. Humid mouths stroked and pressed like cogs seeking their perfect fit in a never-ending circular motion. Single demure lips captured by an aggressive pair, coddled and tugged, tasted and tasted again until they swelled with beckoned blood. A lapping tongue soothed slighted areas, but finding none begged for entrance to unknown terrain.
Her lips parted at his pleading licks and Angel’s course tongue entered and felt the smoothness beneath hers. The tip traced the cord keeping her tongue attached and he growled that he couldn’t possess it completely. She fought to explore him equally, but resigned herself to being the recipient when he moaned in protest at her attempt to expel him. She took what control she could by enveloping his tongue between her lips and sucking him in further.
Cordy's hormones responded to Angel’s lips, his invading tongue, and his full, writhing body against hers. Darwinian recognition of her fittest mate. Adrenalin rushed to her body’s pump, forcing a surge of blood throughout to feed the biological hunger. Estrogen flowed to her womb preparing it to receive life. Testosterone gushed to her libido and muscles providing overpowering want and the ability to see it through.
Her hips rose and fell, her delicate folds crashing against Angel’s hardness as he matched her rhythm. She gasped each time his engorged tip pummeled her clit when his movement crested. The length of him became drenched by the mixed flood pouring from her core and his own leaking head.
The urge in him to move was overwhelming. Not just in his groin, but in every muscle. Finally releasing her mouth, his lips left a wet trail across her jaw to her ear. Nibbling, pulling, and laving around and inside the receptive area, he grew even more fervent in his strokes when she responded with screams of pleasure.
For what he was doing to her ear, Cordy could only react with desperate clutching at his muscled back and heels climbing up the back of his thighs. As he journeyed down her neck, the rest of his body shifted, and on his next thrust his tip snuggled into her opening.
He held still for a moment while she circled her hips trying to literally screw herself further onto his shaft. Raising his face to hers, he stared at her bottom lip being chewed by dull teeth and her eyes shut in intense concentration. Her look epitomized want and need, agony and ecstasy. He captured the gnawed lip between his plump ones and then plunged both his tongue and cock inside her.
She was so wet and ready for him that he slid in smoothly and deeply. When he was buried in her as far as he could go, she had to expel the air in her lungs. The powerful, satisfied sigh forced him from her mouth and sent shivers of delight over his body.
Her heavy lids finally opened and they gazed at each other for awhile as Angel caressed her cheek with the back of his hand and gracefully glided inside her, practically floating on her slickness.
Cordy’s throaty moans became deeper and louder as her need increased. Angel countered her speeded up hips by changing his angle and his petting. He reached back and lifted one of her knees guiding it to rest on his hip. He then pushed her other leg flat and somewhat straddled it so that he was now assaulting the sides of her tunnel on each plunge. He lowered himself to rest on one elbow leaving his hand and mouth free to finally devour her breasts.
A massive hand cupped her and gently plumped the weighty mound like a down-filled pillow. He opened his mouth letting his lips completely encircle her. Deep inside his moist orifice, she could feel him suckle at the same time that the tip of his tongue fluttered her nipple. Upon his release, he flattened his tongue and laved her repeatedly.
When he shifted her legs and the elbow he rested on so he could massage her other half, she lowered her gaze to watch him fondle her. Lovingly she ran her fingers through his hair and stroked his scalp as he squeezed and sucked at her tit while his hips rocked her, never breaking his rhythm. All of her senses were being stimulated at once and her womb ached to be filled.
Her fingers gripped him tighter and slid from his scalp, down his neck and clawed into his shoulders. Her back arched and pressed her blood pink breast deeper between his feasting lips. She stroked and scratched his back and arms in a frenzy for something - everything. To be closer. To be melded. To be inside him. To feel it all.
“Oh, God, Angel. Touch me, please.”
She bucked faster and Angel removed his hand from her breast and slid it between their bodies until his fingers found her pulsating clit. At his touch, she screamed and arched wildly. Angel growled loudly and clamped on her breast, biting her gently and then sucking and burying his face in her madly.
His pumping became rougher and more shallow as she began to tighten around him. He was being pulled into her core and strong, vaginal muscles refused to release him.
He had to get deeper. Everything in her beckoned him to crawl inside her and everything in him said it was home. He forced himself to leave her breast and clit with a feral rumble and pulled back. Centering his body between her thighs, he wrapped her legs around his hips. Molding his hands to her ass, he angled her higher and thrust hard.
She cried at the exquisite pain, throwing her head back and arching into the beating. He grunted with each manic plunge and nuzzled his face in her neck, his rough cheeks scraping her tender skin raw.
Her heart pumped rapidly and blood flushed her chest and neck. Angel screamed at the smell of her life essence so close to the surface. Refusing to succumb to his natural urge to bite, his frustration manifested in grueling thrashes and shouts begging a deity he didn’t believe in for release.
Angel’s muscles were coiled. His balls so tight against his body, they barely moved except in unison with his painful erection. And then her walls collapsed and locked him inside her. One last tug and he exploded sending his icy seed crashing against her cervix.
It was amazing. She could actually feel his cool life blood spilling in her. The thought of what it represented thrilled her and drove her over the edge. Flinging her arms around his hips, cupping his cheeks, she held him steady while she pushed herself onto him as hard as she could. Over and over she bucked as the spasms rolled inside her.
Her vibrating muscles milked his cock for what seemed like days. He didn’t think he would ever stop coming, spilling a little more each time her thrusts gripped him just a little tighter. But finally her inner muscles relaxed and gave him permission to leave which he politely refused.
Cordy’s fingers unclenched and she gently squeezed his ass. She could feel his lips curl up in a smile against her cheek where his head finally rested. She turned to face him and softly brushed her lips against his as she dragged the tips of her fingers up his back.
“Mmmmm...that’s nice. Don’t stop,” he purred.
“You’re in charge.” She met his grin with her own and then wet his lips with her tongue. She was finally allowed to explore his mouth as he parted his lips in invitation. Her movements were more loving and graceful than his earlier impassioned foraging, and they both moaned at the sweet tenderness of the moment.
She brought a hand up to caress his cheek and he cupped her breast and gingerly brushed his thumb over her nipple eliciting more satisfied moans.
Reluctantly, she ended the kiss but kept his gaze while she moved her hand to his hair. Cordy was completely relaxed and pain free. Even if Angel couldn’t feel perfect bliss, she could and did.
“You know, even if this fuck buddy thing doesn’t work out, I’m thinkin’ after-vision-pity-fuck not a bad idea.”
“Shall I pencil you in then?” Angel teased.
“Hmmmm. Better use a pen.” She leaned in and took his lips. He gave them up with no resistance.
He was wrong. There’d be very little sleep tonight.
Chapter 4
“You're driving me insane.” His eyes were wild with lusty desire just for her.
“Not a very long trip,” she teased as she plunged the tip of her taut tongue into his cock's eye and then relaxed it to slip her lips around the helmet and suck.
“God, woman.” He grabbed a fistful of hair and jerked her mouth free. “I want in your hot cunt now.”
“And they say chivalry's dead.”
Cordy slammed the novel down and humphed. “No, apparently just good smut.”
Of course she might be a bit prejudiced. After being on the receiving end of the most romantic, tender, passionate evening of her life, melodramatic romance novels just seemed so cold and…well…nasty now. Angel hadn't treated her like a hooker. Yeah, he'd been in charge, but he hadn't ordered her around and talked to her like she was trash. He had taken control and gently guided her to follow his movements, but anything she had asked, he'd given her.
And the words he'd used. Nothing as crass as cunt or pussy. Every word was like a tender caress or, in the most heated moments, a caring plea. He talked to her like she was…a lover.
Oh, God. Please just let me be really horny. That's it! I'm not used to all this affection. All the sudden touching and kissing has just awakened my sleeping slut. My head is spinning because all that panting left me oxygen deprived. And I'm shivering because of this damn drafty hotel, not because I'm remembering Angel whispering that I'm beautiful and sexy and imagining his cool touch on my breasts and between my thighs and on my…. I am NOT falling in love with him. I can’t, because...duh...he couldn’t possibly love me. I’m nothing like Buffy. And since she was the be-all, end-all of his existence, there's no way he could love someone so far from his type. And, I am NOT going to be the one with the rebar in her heart this time.
“Right, Cor. Got any other rivers in Egypt you want to float on?”
“You going to Egypt?”
Reality bites. God, the biting! Shit that was hot.
“Cordy?” Fred poked her arm timidly.
Cordy jumped and grabbed her racing heart. “Fred! I didn’t see you right there in front of me staring at me like I’m crazy. Guess I was someplace else.”
“Like Egypt? ‘Cause you said...”
“Yes, I know I said Egypt. But, no, I was just thinking really hard about something so I was ‘that’ someplace else. Not a different country.”
Cordy appeared tired and disturbed and Fred had a pretty good idea why. “Are you okay? You look a little worn out.”
Put on the fake smile and run like hell. “I’m fine! Just had a rough night in bed.” Up and at the coffee maker in record time, Cordy missed Fred’s mumbled reply.
“Yeah, I heard.” Dogging Cordy as she walked around the counter with her coffee, Fred almost scraped the seer’s heels when she stopped abruptly at the cocktail table to pick up a magazine.
“Fred, are you following me?”
“No! Well, just now, yeah. But in general, no. I was just wondering what kind of a rough night you had. Because I know a little something about rough nights in bed, and maybe I can give you some pointers about how to, ya know, get over the hump.”
Whoo, doggy, and what a hump it is. Sorry, Fred, not the kind of hump you can help me with. And I’m not sure I want to get over it. On it, you betcha. Dammit, Cordy. Not everything is about Angel’s penis. Mmmm...but it should be...
The show that played behind her closed eyes was triple X. Cordy’s contented smile was clear evidence that she was happy in that hot spot in her mind, and she didn’t hear another word Fred droned.
“Cordy? Cordy are you asleep? I’ve heard about people being able to sleep standing up but I’ve never seen it happen. Course if you’re asleep, you can’t really hear me or talk to me to tell me you’re asleep, so it’s pretty pointless for me to stand here and talk to a standing, sleeping person. So, um, I’m just going to go find Gunn and see if he’s awake. Okay, then. See ya later. Don’t fall over.”
This is bad. Really, really bad. Fred backed away from the entranced woman and bounded up the stairs to call for backup. No contraption she could invent would be able to slice and dice this monster.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“I’m not crazy!”
“Shush, girl. You want to wake the undead?” Gunn pulled the fidgety physicist around the potted palm and into the shadowed hallway by the basement door.
“Now calm down and tell me this crazy ass theory again.”
Fred sighed and scrunched her shoulders and forehead simultaneously. She wasn’t really a patient person despite all yammering evidence to the contrary.
“Angel and Cordelia are up to somethin’, and I don’t think it’s a midnight Monopoly competition. At least not any Monopoly I’ve ever played. Unless Angel was trying to fit that little metal top hat on his head when he screamed ‘Oh, God, it’s so tight’ and Cordy was mounting that tiny horse piece when she yelled “I could ride you all night.” I know I’m not like the most experienced ho in the world...”
“Whoa, whoa. You cannot say ‘ho’.” Gunn was already flushed by the Angel and Cordy quotes falling from Fred’s mouth but the word ‘ho’ sent him over the this-is-not-happening edge.
“That’s not the important part here, and why can’t I?”
“Because coming from your innocent lips it can only mean a tool used to plant turnips.”
“Oh. I get that. You think my lips are innocent?” The unwanted hot pink flash covered her cheeks and chest as she shyly avoided his eyes.
Suddenly pinned to the wall with his words, he couldn’t look at her and shuffled his huge booted feet softly. “Uh, yeah, I do.” Could this girl be any cuter?
The moment was shattered by Fred’s uncanny ability to shift gears and thoughts with seemingly no rhyme or reason.
“Food! That’s how I found out. Maybe it’s left over from three o’clock feedings as a baby, but I wake up starving every night and raid the kitchen. Two nights ago I went to get a snack and heard music coming from Angel’s room and thought I heard Cordy’s voice. I didn’t think much about it figurin’ maybe it was just the radio, but last night there was no mistakin’ both of them. I mean they were loud, Charles, and what they were saying was...well...where I come from you could get five to ten for just thinkin’ about doin’ that stuff.”
“Okay, say you’re right. What’s the problem? If the two of them want to take care of business, I say more power to 'em.”
“Charles! This is Angel. You know. The vampire with the curse? Cordy told me all about it. Maybe you don’t care if the Scourge of Europe pays a visit, but I’m bunkin’ just down the hall from him so excuse me if I’m a little jumpy about possibly dying or undying dependin' on if he’s just peckish or peckish and horny. Although I guess Cordy would be the first to go so he’d probably get the horniness factor satisfied with her and just break my scrawny neck. I guess I should be thankful for small favors.”
She had worked herself into a wide-eyed, bobbing-head frenzy at the thought of death by Angelus. Grabbing her shoulders, Gunn shook her gently to get her to shut up and look at him.
“Fred! Okay, I get it. Calm down, okay? If what you’re saying is true, then Angelus should’ve already shown himself. I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet Barbie was more than capable of giving Angel one moment of perfect happiness.”
“I think he’d have to be really, truly in love with her to lose his soul. So, maybe he’s not in love with her. Yet. But, if they’re bumpin’ uglies now, it won’t be long before he will be.”
“Okay, first, there’s just nothing you can call sex that sounds right coming from your mouth, so stop trying. Second, you could be right. Angel’s pretty stubborn and it’d be just like him to not admit to himself, much less to anybody else, that he was in love. So, what do you think we should or could do about it?”
“Nothing. I mean we shouldn’t say anything to them yet. I wouldn’t know what to say. Not without evidence anyway. I was thinkin’ we should just watch them today and see if they act…ya know…weird around each other.”
“And then what? Get them both fitted with chastity belts? I don't know about convincing Angel to cool it, but I do know I will NOT be anywhere near this city when somebody tries to tell Cordy what she can and cannot do. Good luck with that, Fred.”
Trying to bolt from the conversation, Gunn was jerked back in by Fred's surprisingly quick vise-like grip on his wrist.
“Charles! This is serious. You don't have to talk to them, just help me keep an eye on them today. If they slip up, then we'll talk to Wesley about what to do next. Okay?”
Women have it easy and men are easy. At least with these two at this moment. All it took was the pouty lip, the upswept pleading eyes, and that heart-tugging head tilt to make a towering and resolute man of steel collapse into a molten puddle of compliance.
With a sigh and an eye roll, he gave up. “Damn! What do you want me to do?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Yo, dawg. If I wasn’t such a nice vampire killer, you’d been about ten times more dusty than you are right now. Where is your head, man?”
Angel’s chest heaved. The training with Gunn wasn’t going well. Actually it was going great for Gunn, since he’d narrowly missed being staked numerous times at his hands. Too bad he couldn’t tell him his excuse for being so out of it. Where his head was had nothing to do with wooden stakes and everything to do with woodies. Specifically, the one he got every time his mind drifted back to last night.
**So, are you going to tell him or am I? Hey, Gunn, my man! Get a load of the load in Angel’s pants. That’s where his head is.**
I really don't need your input right now.
**I haven’t even started. You will pay for cutting me off last night.**
“Sorry, Gunn. I’m just off my game today, I guess. I’ve got some things on my mind.”
Gunn relaxed his stance sensing an opening to find out if Fred’s theory had any merit. “Yeah? Like what? Something I can help you with?”
“I don’t think so. It’s something I’ve got to figure out on my own.”
**Like that'll ever happen. Tell me one thing you've figured out on your own so far.**
You mean besides I don't need you to make a woman scream.
**You call that screaming? Please. It ain't a scream unless the whole village wakes up and chases you with pitchforks.**
Something clicked in Gunn's mind. Maybe this won't be so hard after all.
“You know…the last time you were so distracted that you couldn’t whip my ass twelve ways from Sunday, it was because of a woman. Who is she?”
Flustered, Angel jerked his head to stare at his inquisitor's quizzical expression.
Shit. What do I do now?
**Are you asking me? Because, last I heard I wasn't any part of this.**
Fine. You want to be the broody one now?
**Sure, why not. You make ‘em scream and I’ll sulk. I need a break anyway. By the way, the man asked you a question which I can’t wait to hear the answer to. Do I have time to fix a refreshing beverage?**
Without his demon backing him up, Angel felt defenseless. “Huh?”
“I said, who is she?”
“Who’s who?”
“The woman that’s gonna get you killed if you don’t stop obsessing about her. C’mon man. Talk to me.”
**You know, this brooding thing is really working for me. I can see why you got so addicted to it. It’s fuckin’ great not have to deal with anything. It’s so…peaceful. Want a bonbon?**
Angel was seething with hatred for his demon and fear that he was going to lose all control and blurt out everything to Gunn. But, then the thought of Cordelia slicing off his flaccid penis in retaliation for betraying her privacy tied his tongue into a tangle of knots.
“Uh…errr…humph. Woman? No…not….uhhh….ohmygodisthatthetime?” Angle slammed his sword in the cabinet with the other weapons causing them all to noisily crash to the floor in a metallic heap. Not bothering to clean up his mess, he flew up the basement steps in a flash. “Sorry, Gunn, gotta go. Thanks for the…uhhh…you know…fighty stuff…”
Gunn just stood dumbfounded. “‘Fighty stuff’? Oh, he’s got it bad.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cordelia was practically skipping and every once in awhile she’d giggle to herself. Well, why not? She was going to make her vampire fall in love with her, and she was understandably giddy about it.
After several hours of torturing herself with the reruns of what Angel did to her body last night, she finally came to a conclusion. She wanted him. No more ‘what ifs’. No more living in Buffy’s shadow. It was good that she was totally different from the slayer. That hadn’t worked out for either of them, so why would he want a duplicate anyway?
The problem wasn’t Buffy. It was her. It was how Angel saw her. She was his seer and his best friend. The person who drooled during a vision, served him blood, patched his wounds and dusted. She had to get him to see her as a woman. Through fresh eyes. Someone new…mysterious…hot…totally desirable. A stranger.
She’d rewritten the letter at least five times and was finally satisfied. Placing the crisp white envelope on Angel’s so-called desk propped against his pencil holder, she sashayed toward the exit waving as she left.
“Goodnight Wes, I’m leaving,” she shouted not waiting for a response from his Watcher’s cave. As she passed Fred and Gunn on the pouf, she said her goodbyes but then stopped and turned back.
“Oh, Fred. When Angel wakes up from his luxury nap, will you make sure he gets the note I left on his desk tonight. It’s kind of important.”
“Sure, Cordy. Night!”
“Thanks. See you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Cor,” Gunn said as she floated out the door.
They waited a beat before they looked at each other and then both looked toward the office.
“You think it’s glued shut?” Fred asked.
“Only one way to find out, Sherlock.”
Gunn blocked Wes’s view of Fred’s evil invasion of privacy. He had a little problem with sneaking around like this, but if it meant keeping Angelus from killing the people he cared about, it was worth it.
Fred’s fingers trembled as she quietly fumbled with the merely inserted flap. It was difficult to open the blasted stiff paper while trying to keep an eye out for an approaching vampire and avoid paper cuts at the same time. Snooping was nerve-wracking business and this was just spying on friends. I’d be a wreck if this was a real case and I was possibly going to get whacked by the Mafia guy I was investigatin’. I don’t know how Angel does it.
Finally the flap was freed and she slipped the folded note out. Four eyes grew steadily wider as Gunn read the note over Fred’s shoulder. When they reached the end both gasped. Fred turned to Gunn and silently mouthed “Oh, my God.” He nodded his agreement with that assessment and both jumped when they heard Angel’s hooves pounding down the steps.
Gunn quickly moved in front of Fred to block Angel’s possible view. Fred hurriedly put the note back in the envelope and placed it where she’d found it just as Angel rounded the corner of the weapons cabinet.
“Hey, Angel. Have a good nap?” Gunn asked, rather over enthusiastically.
“Yeah, it was…you know…a nap. Always good I guess. Hey, Fred. I didn’t see you back there.”
Fred peeked out from behind Gunn’s shoulder. “Hi. Glad to hear your nap was good and nappy.”
Angel ignored her strange comment being more interested in finding out about the missing member of the group. “Where’s Cordy. Did she leave already?”
Fred scooted around Gunn and tried to nonchalantly glide back to the pouf. “Uh, yeah, she just left. She told me to tell you there’s a note for you on your desk.”
“Oh, thanks.” Angel and Gunn did a little two-step as Angel tried to get around him to reach the message. He was sure it must be about tonight since they hadn’t been alone long enough to discuss any plans earlier.
**A little anxious are we?**
I thought you were brooding. You obviously need more practice.
**Shoot me. It’s fucking boring.**
He didn’t feel like arguing with his demon right now. The letter was holding his complete attention.
Stranger,
You don’t know me, but I’ve been watching you. And I like what I see. I like how you look, the way you move, your voice. But, your smile…I’ve drowned a hundred times in your smile. Meet me tonight and leave me breathless. Night Moves…eleven o’clock. Wait for me at the bar. I promise you…unforgettable.
**I’ll give her some strange. You will NOT hold me back tonight. I AM getting a piece...**
Yes, you are.
**I am? Ahem. I mean, damn straight I am.**
But only a piece! We need to ease her into the whole demon sex aspect slowly.
**I think you’re totally misjudging our little seer, but I’ll play nice tonight. Now, let’s talk wardrobe. I think this outing screams for leather.**
Oh, I totally agree.
Gunn and Fred sat watching as Angel read and then seemingly reread the letter. Unfortunately, his back was toward them so they didn’t see his initial confused expression. Nor did they see that change into satisfied comprehension and finally into excited anticipation.
What they did see was his body shake as if he suddenly had shivers. Next his head rose and his shoulders straightened. He stared at the ceiling a few times and shook his head up and down before finally slipping the note into his pants’ pocket and coughing to clear his throat. By the time he turned to them, his face looked typically noncommittal. He gave them a small smile and some covering chat as he tried to appear casual about leaving again so soon.
“Well, I think I’ll just go back up to my room. Everything seems quiet down here. So, I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Have a good night.”
“Uh, Angel. Why don’t you stay with us and we can get a movie or play some cards or something?” Fred wasn’t just being polite or testing him. She desperately didn’t want him to meet Cordy. That way led to bad, bad things and all of them were deadly.
“Yeah, man. Maybe some Bruce Willis “Die Hard” action or you can clean me out at poker.” Gunn was just as desperate to keep him away from Cordy’s unforgettable evening.
Angel waved them off and said as he vanished, “Thanks, but I’ve got a book I’ve been dying to read, and I’m in the mood to really get into it. So you guys have fun and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I know what kinda book he’s gonna read. The kind that starts with him doin’ the wild thing and ending up the wild thing.”
“Fred, please stop talking about sex. It’s really freaking me out. And, I think it’s time we told Wes about this.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Night Moves was not what she’d expected. For some reason, Fred thought it would be dark and smoky, with a piano player or small jazz quartet in a corner. It was difficult in this trendy hole to find a secluded, shadowed corner for her and Gunn to be inconspicuous in.
They’d gotten there at 10:30, well ahead of Angel and Cordy, so they could scope out the place and find the best vantage point from which to observe. It had to be out of the way, as dark as possible and far enough away from the bar that Angel’s highly developed nose wouldn’t catch a whiff of them. Luckily, there was a balcony perpendicular to the bar which gave enough shelter for them to feel comfortable sleuthing from.
“Why exactly are we here again? We both heard Wes say that the curse isn’t a problem any more, so...again...our purpose here is what?”
“Oh, like you’ve never lied to get into some woman’s pants before.” Fred rolled her eyes. Men are so dense sometimes.
“Fred, Angel wouldn’t lie about that. He doesn’t want Angelus coming out any more than the rest of us, and he for sure wouldn’t put Cordy’s life in danger just to get some nooky.”
“Okay, maybe it’s not a lie, but it could definitely just be wishful thinkin’. Wesley said that Angel was the one who told him it wasn’t a problem. There’s no proof. Right now it’s just a theory. A theory made up by a man who hasn’t had sex in a long time. As a scientist, I can definitely say there are some major flaws with Angel’s research methodology.”
Gunn beamed at the tiny Texan. He adored her brain and the little bean head that surrounded it.
“And, I don’t think anyone, especially Angel, would ever forgive us if his awfully convenient hypothesis-that-allows-me-to-have-sex was proved wrong and Cordy died because we just took his word for it.” She punctuated the finality of her remarks by taking a quick swig from her drink, her nose scrunching as Wild Turkey burned all the way down her throat.
“Okay, you’re right. But, I still don’t know what we’re going to do except watch. I mean I am definitely not doing any peeping tom action once they start to...you know.”
“Bang like a shithouse door in a gale?”
“Fred! My, God woman. I am totally deaf now.”
“Quiet, Charles. There’s Angel.”
Their eyes immediately focused on the manpire of the evening as he worked his way through the crowd to the bar.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The stranger immediately noticed the music. It was too loud and too upbeat. The techno trash wasn’t appropriate. It was hard...fast...cold...apish. The lights were bright, harsh flashing strobes of yellow, pink and blue like a disturbed clown running at lightning speed around the room. Too tacky...ugly...common.
The mass of dancing, writhing humanity around him smelled of hot, coursing blood too close to the surface. The weight of it assaulted him and left him dizzy. Immediately he motioned the bartender for a whiskey straight up and was relieved to have something to hold to focus all of his senses on.
He took a sip and let the warm, amber swill over his cool tongue before allowing it to coat his throat and heat his chest. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the sensation within and left the torrent of discordant stimuli around him fade into white noise.
A moment later he knew. She was there. Her unique scent pierced his meditative state and drew his body to the right and its origin. He opened his eyes and found hazel jewels floating towards him.
She was the total antithesis of her surroundings. A black pearl among glass beads.
Her music was smooth...slow...hot...sophisticated. Her essence shown of pure class...stunning beauty...royalty.
The silk, violet slip dress swayed with her hips and defined her thighs with every step. Excess fabric pooled perfectly across her breasts, forming a natural ‘V’ between them revealing just the right amount of cleavage. The hem cut several inches above her knees exposed enough leg to confirm that the part that was hidden was just as delectable. And, from the brief moments of side view that he glimpsed as she weaved through the crowd, he was certain her back was totally bare and he burned to touch it.
Every male within sniffing distance had raised their noses in her direction as she passed, but most had immediately sensed her superiority and settled for less. A few foolishly allowed their egos to lead them, but she cleverly and immediately sent them back to their caves to recover from her rebuke.
Watching her approach - her eyes shining with confidence; her lavender lips glistening from her own moisture; her dark mane grazing satin shoulders; her graceful body surging with life; the laughing, gentle way she handled the unwanted suitors - he understood now why she had chosen this place. She wanted him to see who she truly was. She absolutely glowed of all that was rare and special against this black sea of banality. It shocked him how blind he’d been and how easy it was at this moment to see the truth.
The girl he once knew was now a magnificent woman. A woman who was a stranger. As long as they’d known each other, as much as he thought he knew her, he now realized he knew nothing. Nothing about this unique work of art before him. He made up his mind that his goal for tonight and possibly the rest of his life was to study each and every brushstroke and hue that created her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
He was there. At the bar waiting for her. Tall. Dark. Strong. Confident but not vain. Piercing black eyes beneath an ancient brow that saw everything and wanted more. Strong arms and proud chest were covered by flimsy, maroon fabric that clung to those features but then flowed freely untucked at his waist. Black leather hugged muscular thighs and a tight rear end that her hands longed to squeeze.
He was the epitome of masculinity and her femininity ached to be near it.
Crossing the playing field toward him, the crowd began to part knowing as she did that he was the chosen one. He commanded her attention and she granted it, watching his every move. Shoulders back, head tilted seductively toward her, she floated closer on the hot air passing between them.
Their meeting was thunderous. Too pressure systems colliding, hot and cold, clashing with lightening and sonic booms. No words were needed. A massive hand was proffered and then wrapped around delicate, accepting fingers.
The dance of strangers began.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The heat radiated off Fred’s cheeks, and the makeshift cardboard coaster fan she used to cool down with sent the moist air slamming into Gunn’s face.
“Oh, my God. Did you see that? It’s like watching a really good porn movie. And that was just them looking at each other. I’m burning up. Are you hot?”
Gunn wasn’t sure how to answer that. He was definitely hot, but not because of Angel and Cordy. Well, maybe a little because of them, but only because they jump started his own timid desires.
“Yeah, I’m pretty warm. Have you really watched porn movies before?”
She tore her eyes from the couple and looked at his shocked face. She giggled softly saying, “Charles, I’m not a nun.” Her heated cheeks now flushed pink as she turned back to find the two strangers. Spying them again, the sight of their meshed bodies slowly swaying totally in opposition to the music and frenzy around them made her gasp.
“I can’t believe how hot they are. Look at them, Charles. He’s dancing with her and they just...fit. They’re just so beautiful together. I don’t think they’ve taken their eyes off each other for one second.”
“I know just how he feels.”
Fred turned to see Charles resting his cheek in his palm, his elbow propped on the table staring at her with the most mischievous, loving expression she’d ever seen a man send in her direction.
She couldn’t help the happy tingle in her stomach moving up and spreading across her face until her lips drew back and a nervous laugh escaped through them. “Oh, my.”