Getting On...

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PART 14

Lindsey MacDonald was still unsettled. Unsettled and—he admitted silently to himself—pulling an Angel, meaning… he was brooding like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Not that Angel had been brooding so much lately. Not since the Giles girl had walked up to him at that charity tennis tournament a few months earlier and basically proceeded to wrap the big man around her tiny little finger.

Still, he was definitely brooding and he honestly didn’t know why.

He’d been the one to end things with William when it had become clear that the man wasn’t ever going to be the Spike he remembered. Seeing the disfiguring scars and knowing they’d never disappear completely had been the final nail in that coffin for him.

And Angel was right. He was superficial, but Lindsey had never claimed to be anything else, had he?

Well, no. And why should he be? He was one of the wealthiest young people in Texas, as were most of his friends and all of his lovers. He could afford to be picky.

And yet… William had moved on. To a peasant!

That had to be what was really bothering him, Lindsey figured.

It wasn’t that William had apparently gotten over him but that the blond had basically ignored him in favor of whatever uneducated, uncouth shit-head he’d hooked up with. And what had Angel said the guy’s name was? Something… strange.

Zipper… Zippy… no, that wasn’t it.

Lindsey frowned into his tequila as he tried to replay the earlier conversation.

“Harris. Something Harris. Zephyr…? Zapper… Xander! That’s it! Xander Harris!”

His frown deepened. “What the fuck kind of stupid name is that?”

He let himself brood for a little while longer then finally tossed back his shot and made his slightly stumbling way to the door. “Jacket,” he muttered. “Can’t forget that. Has my keys in it.” He laughed.

It was as he was shrugging into the lightweight black suede that he heard the ring tone and a moment later he’d traced it to Sp… William’s raw silk.

He dug through the pockets, then smirked when he found the phone and saw who was calling.

“H’lo? This is Lindsey, who’s this?” His smirk grew, even while he tried to sound baffled. “Huh. Never heard of you. Why are you calling William?”

He listened to the stammering voice, congratulating himself on just how right he was about William’s so-called boyfriend. Hell, the guy couldn’t even manage a complete sentence.

Then again, maybe that was the attraction for Will, he realized. He could be the smart one for a change.

Yeah… this Xander Harris was obviously all brawn and no brain. Much like every other construction worker in the world, Lindsey suspected.

“Yeah, well. I’ll tell him you called, Xavier. But he’s kind of… busy right now. It might take him a while to get back to you.”

He ended the call with a smug grin and slipped the phone back into William’s jacket then slid out through the front door and into the night.

* * * * *

“What the fuck?” Xander demanded of his empty room, eyes still staring at his mobile. “Lindsey? That was Lindsey answering Will’s phone? But… what the fuck is he even doing anywhere near Will?”

Oh, God. He should have known, should have suspected something when Will hadn’t been more upset that he was leaving, but he hadn’t and he’d called and… and that fucker had answered and where the hell was Will? Why was some other guy—and especially Will’s ex—answering Will’s phone?

“He… he’s been playing me this whole time,” Xander whispered, swallowing hard. “Leading me on, making me love him, and all the while he’s been seeing that fucking prick behind my back and…”

His voice faded and Xander took repeated deep breaths, trying to turn the building tears into rage. He had every right to be angry, after all.

Or did he, some rational part of his brain wondered. He’d spent every night with William in that big, soft bed his lover adored so much. He’d seen him each and every morning and they’d shared the sweetest kisses… the most passionate moments.

And from what Will had said, Lindsey and he weren’t even friends, much less anything more and while the words could possibly have been lies, he truly didn’t think Will could fake the disgusted tone of voice he always seemed to slip into whenever the other man was mentioned, and… Lindsey was friends with William’s brother, or so Will had said, so maybe Will was at Angel’s for some reason and left his phone out or something, or Lindsey was just trying to make trouble.

He didn’t know the Texan himself but it sounded like the kind of thing a guy who’d be so cruel to a man like Will would do.

There was only one way to find out for sure, though, Xander figured.

He took a shaky breath and forced himself to call again, and this time he smiled when the voice mail picked up.

“Hey, baby… it’s me. I’ve been having some… trouble reaching you tonight. I guess you didn’t hear the ring, so… God, Will. Call me back when you get this, okay? I… I don’t care what time it is; I just need to hear your voice.” He sighed, running the fingers of his free hand through his hair. “I won’t sleep until I talk to you, baby. I… fuck, Will. I wish you were here. I really, really do. Just… call me.” Xander sighed again. “Love you, Will. God… okay, going now. I’ll be waiting.”

As soon as he closed his phone, Xander groaned at how incredibly needy his message had sounded but he hadn’t been able to help it. He’d meant every word.

Meaning it or not, he was still beating himself up a good forty-five minutes later when his phone finally chimed out an incredibly muzak version of ‘Endless Love’. He was blushing even as he opened it and held it to his ear.

“Will…?” he checked before letting the truly huge and sappy smile spread when he heard the soft voice answering, “Where are you, baby?”

* * * * *

So far, spending time with Willow had been the only good part of his visit.

Well, that and finally understanding Ethan a little bit better… and the phone call with William the night before that had led to some truly inspired dirty talk once Xander had discovered that he was right and Will really had been at Angel’s… and that Lindsey had been there but they hadn’t spent more than a few minutes together.

Xander had kept himself from mentioning that he’d spoken with the fucker himself; he figured William didn’t need to know what an enormous shit-head his ex was. It was enough that Xander knew.

So maybe the visit hadn’t been entirely horrible yet, but there were still six days to go and…

It was day two and he’d had barely a glimpse of his father so far, much less had an actual conversation with the man.

Of course, they’d spoken frequently on the phone over the past year but it wasn’t the same as a face to face talk and he really wanted to tell his Dad about William in person.

“Is he available? At all?” he asked Daniel, his father’s personal assistant for the week, though the young man usually acted as senior programmer for GSI’s technical division. “Even five minutes would be fine, okay? I just…”

The redheaded young man behind the desk grimaced slightly. He’d known Xander for years, ever since his own father had gone to work for Mr. Giles in the same position Daniel currently enjoyed, but it was still a little bit awkward.

They’d become friends after Daniel’s mother had gone back to work; mostly because when Xander’s father had found out, he’d insisted that Roger Osborne bring his young son to the house instead of putting him in daycare. ‘Built-in playmates for my own brood, as well as your boy’, the Englishman had called it.

That had been all well and good, but Roger had never let Daniel forget that they weren’t the equals of the Gileses, and now that Roger had been dead and gone for two years and Daniel had taken over his father’s job, he still wasn’t quite sure of how to speak to the much taller and somewhat older young man whom he’d seen crying more than once as a child.

It didn’t help that he was also dating Mr. Giles’s daughter Willow behind everyone’s backs. It made him… nervous, even though it had been his own idea to keep their relationship a secret until she finished school.

“Come on, Oz,” Xander tried again, using the old nickname easily because that was still how he thought of the guy, “I really need to tell him something. It’s… important, okay?”

Daniel gave the man a sunny smile at the reminder of their shared past. “And he’s your Dad and you haven’t seen him up close yet, right?” And suddenly he wasn’t feeling so awkward anymore. “Let me see what I can do, okay?”

Xander relaxed slightly as his old friend scanned the schedule on the laptop in front of him. It had been years since they’d spent any real time just hanging out but he knew Oz well enough to know that when the smaller man set his mind to something, it usually worked out however he wanted it to.

They’d tried to keep in touch after Xander had graduated from Sunnydale Prep, but their lives had gone in different directions and they’d just… fell out of the habit, Xander supposed. But that didn’t mean it had to stay that way, and…

“Got it,” Daniel announced with a good deal of satisfaction in his voice. “I can shift your Dad’s lunch today with the Wyndham-Pryce kid to the day after tomorrow. They’re here for the whole week anyway and I’m pretty sure he just wants to try talking your Dad into investing in whatever hair-brained scheme he’s got going now.” He grinned and lowered his voice even further. “Last I heard, he wanted to start his own business. Bounty hunting or something… because he’s another ‘Dog’. In his own mind, I guess. His own father isn’t willing to invest, so I don’t know why he thinks yours would, but…”

Brown eyes blinked wide as Xander’s mind boggled at the unexpected number of words coming from the smaller man. Something was clearly going on with Oz, but he’d find out what it was later. Right then he was more concerned with “Where and when, buddy?”

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tbc...