Memory Redux

A/N: If you voted for Memory Redux for Fantastic Fic in the Eternal Devotion awards, thanks so much. In fact, I have had a couple of people drop me a line that they have voted once each day which is allowed. If you have done this or going to do this, I can’t thank you enough. If you haven’t voted yet, please, please, please help Memory Redux. http://shippy.karma-hotel/awa/awards/main.html


Chapter 15: Have Trunk, Will Travel


Moving up the sidewalk of a moderately large home lit up as if it was trying to guide a 747 in for a landing, Spike was left with an easy guess that a New Year’s Eve party was raging full tilt. ‘Bugger, I was hoping the prat would be out for the night.’ Looking in the windows, he saw college aged pups, consisting of buff football player types and girls whose clothes were two sizes too small, all of which ninety-five percent were talking with a beer or some kind of drink in their hands. All were trying to appear more mentally mature then they were in actuality.

Groaning, Spike thought back to earlier that day. He could picture Beth lying on her stomach in a tangle of his sheets, with emphasis on “his” sheets. While he was next to her on his side stroking her back and buttocks, he off handedly had asked, “It’s New Year’s Eve, pet. So what do you fancy we do tonight?” After that morning when she had declared her love for him, Spike would have done anything she asked. ‘What a cock up, that was, you pussy whipped, push over, lap dog, love’s bitch, ponce,’h, sh, she had asked to go with him on a job. “No, love, I don’t think that would be such a good idea. How about some nicetaurtaurant and then find a party to ring in the New Year right and proper? With that plan, we can snog at midnight, again later here at the flat, and then shag again, and again and again.”

“What a rip. You let Xander go with you. What’s the big diff if I go?” Beth tried to pout convincingly.

When they had pulled up in front of the skip jumper’use,use, Beth started niggling him again. “But I want to go up to the door with you. Please, you said I could go with you tonight. As in WITH you. Let me just at least come up to the door.” Beth pulled out the all tSummSummers’ favorite, sure fire method. Yes, the big puppy dog eyes. “Pllleeeeaaaasssee…”

Her tactic reminded Spike of Dawn from the old reality. The Dawn that no longer existed. The Dawn that his heart continued to miss. Thinking of the Nibblet, he started to soften up a bit, but he caught himself before he opened his mouth. ‘Good save, mate.’ Trying to glare at her but botching that up also, but still managed to hold firm. “What part of ‘no’ didn’t you understand, pet? The ‘n’ or the ‘o’? No means no and that well means…ah…let me think…NO. If you remember, my first response to your nagging was ‘no bloody fucking way. Be happy that I am at least more polite this time.”

“B

Holding up his hand, Spike stopped her before she started a new tactic. “Before we go on with this Pleeaassee…No…Pleeaassee…No, remember that you are lucky that I let you come at all. In fact, I have a new policy. Do not commit to anything you ask of me until at least thirty minutes after you tell me you love me, or after we make love. And there are no appeals to this rule.”

“But William, I didn’t plan to take advantage of your love.” This time she tried the lower lip jutting out approach, knowing he was a er fer for that.

Regardless, Spike wasn’t buying her pleas again. “Oh, I believe you, kitten, and the Queen Mother sunbathes topless on the French Riviera. Now not another word, missy, and keep your cute arse in the. T. That means DON’T get out of the car for ANY reason.”

Beth accept that William had now moved behind a wall of determination, granted a paper thin wall but still a wall. In regard to her further participation, Beth kept her mouth shut with great effort, similar to resisting your favorite ice cream type of effort. Surely on the next job she goes on, she would make his unyielding wall crumble.

So, instead of again making love with her in his bed, here he was taking her on one of his jobs. He kicked his own arse all the way to the bondsman’s office, and once there, he had searched through the files, looking for a cushy job. The lucky winner was a nineteen year old percy that had three strikes against him: busted for drinking underage, public xicaxication, and resisting arrest. A pup with his brain chocked with false bravado instead of a leash.

So there were now at the skip’s house. Spike looked back at the car for the third time, and for the third time she grinned a little too brightly as she waved him on. Throwing another glare the best he could over his shoulder toward Beth, Spike approached the front door. One half of him worried for Beth’s safety, and the other half knew better than to trust her to follow his directions. He grumbled to himself about how they should be eating at a nice, romantic restnt. nt. However, yet again she had proven that he was wrapped around her finger, but the saving grace was that he now knew that he was wrapped around her heart. And what a lovely finger hers was and what that finger could do to him made him shiver at just the thought.

When he reached the door, Spike put his best non-aggressive, pleasant smile on his face before ringing the door bell. A brunette opened the door. The greeter wore tight jeans and a red tank top with her nipples standing out in the cool air blowing into the open door from outside. Or she first had pinched them before answering the door. Whichever. But she hav have the headlights on. Getting a good look at him, she quickly opened the door further, which caused her arm to come closer and in turn pushed her tits up. This action told Spike two things. She showed her interest in him and for him to come in, and secondly, she had no hesitancy to flaunting her cleavage. Spike changed his pleasant smile to one of his most all male, high wattage smile, one designed to melt any woman’s heart and heat her up between her legs.

While licking her lips, Miss Too Tight Tank Top looked him up and down with hunger in her eyes. Spike kept from chuckling. Little did the silly bint know that she should be his meal not vice versa. When she finally made it back up to his face, she was practically purring. “Please tell me you are here for the party and to become my very…very close friend.”

Giving the scantily clad trollop an accessing look equal to her own, Spike replied in a smooth, sexy voice, “Always ready for a good party, luv, and to make a new friend. Actually, I am looking for Randall. He told me to drop by. So tell me, kitten, is he here?”

Running her tongue across her upper lip, she looked down to his crotch and back to his lips. “Ooohh, Irish accents are sooo sexy.”

Spike interrupted her before she put her foot further in her mouth up to the empty cavity where her brain should reside. “This is an English accent, ducks.”

“Oh, no problem. I don’t mind. English, Irish, no big. Well, hottie, Randall went with some of the more sober guys on a beer run. Do you want to come in and wait with me…or anything else with me?” She asked with a wink that promised him that she would show him a good time, a good time that entailed hot sweaty bodies slapping together and much swapping of bodily fluids. “I am sure I can make it worth your while to come in and play,” the brunette suggested as she stepped back to allow Spike to enter the house.

Spike started to step across the threshold but paused, cussing the bloody, inconvenient vampire invitation clause. “Pet, do *you* live hear?”

“Yeah. I’m Julianne, Randall’s wickedly ssistsister. Come on in, and I’ll show you my bed…I mean bedroom to prove I live here.”

From the Jaguar, Beth watched the exchange at the door with increasing ire. To her, it looked like the bitch in heat was trying to put the moves on William, HER boyfriend. Beth had no doubt that William would be major leagued pissed off if she barge into the house playing the part of the crazy, insanely jealous girlfriend in his little theatrics. So she tried to control herself as the brunette grabbed Spike’s right arm and pulled him inside. The next time Beth could see William was when he was led by the skank to a spot in front a large bay window. To make matters worse, William and Miss “Nice to meet you, let’s go fuck” were soon joined by a pair of blonde boob jobs.

Inside the house, Spike hid his laughter behind his smile. He knew that Beth could see him through the window. The sassy minx had talked him into taking her on “an adventure,” otherwise known as his job. So he decided to let her have a taste of jealousy for using the “I love you” card in order to play him so she could go on this adventure.

When all three ho’s began hanging all over him and one even dared to kiss her boyfriend on the cheek, Beth now had flames shooting out of her ears, smoke rising above her head. Job or no job, Beth started to go in to drag him out by his precious, bleach blonde hair. However, she kept hold of herself, but just barely. She settled for getting out of the car and leaning against its side, still watching the show in the big picture window. If it got any worse in that “picture window,” she was going to break up their show with a large, glass popcorn bowl against their heads. Maybe or maybe not against William’s. She’d have to see. A few minutes after leaning against the car, a SUV pulled up in the drive way, and four guys fell out of the car. Looking from the four drunks back to the house, Beth noticed that William was no longer in view. Damn. Now she was left hoping the drunken idiots didn’t notice her, hoping William was alright, and hoping that he wasn’t having wild monkey love, a four way kinda sex with those sluts.

Luckily Beth wasn’t gambling tonight because her luck must have taken a vacation to Hawaii. The tallest drunk of the group handed off his case of beer to another of his drunk pals, and on unsteady legs, headed for Beth. Actually, more like he swayed towards her. “Hey, gorgeous, what are you doing out here?” He tried to give Buffy a smile but ruined it when he stumbled on the curb, almost falling down. “Common in and party with me. I’ll get you a beer, and we can have fun.”

“Well, I give that pick-up line a one on the Stinking Drunk Originality Scale.” Beth could smell the beer on his breath from several feet away, and that definitely wasn’t enough distance between them by a long shot. From the North Pole to the South Pole wouldn’t be far enough, and let the penguins have him. “No thanks, lush boy. I’m waiting from someone that doesn’t the reek of bear rolling off of him in waves.” She hoped his smell would join her luck on that vacation in Hawaii. “You go on back in, be all manly and keep drinking until you puke up your lungs. And bonus for me! No lungs, no talking.”

But Mr. Brewery didn’t know when to stop. “Would it be a ‘he’ one one or a ‘she’ someone?” He leaned against the car next to her, probably to hold himself up more than wanting to get closer to her. He rested his hand on the roof so close to her shoulder as possible without actually touching her and pulled a lock of her hair from her shoulder clumsily trying to twirl the strands around his finger. Beth whipped her head around, pulling her hair free from his grasp. She looked at him. Face to face. Sober to sloshed.

And Mr. Sloshed kept spewing. “Must not be much of a man to leave a hottie like you standing out here all by your lonesome. How about I keep you company until he gets back? Or after we get to know each other better, you just might want to stay with me instead of him.”

“Take your hormones walking. Now.” Beth batted his hand away that reached out to touch her hair again, and at the same time, over his shoulder she caught glimpse of five, long haired guys coming from the back of the house towards the street. Three were carrying a good sized rug upon their shoulders. ‘Who the hell would be hauling a large rug around on New Year’s Eve? Martha Stewart?’ Long hair number four opened the trunk of a Lincoln Town Car while the others lowered their load. As they swung the rug around, Beth caught a flash of something bright in the street lamps light. White blonde hair. Very familiar white blonde hair. As they jostled their load around in order to stuff it into the very spacious trunk of the late model Lincoln. Beth had no doubt that she was looking at William now wrapped up as a human sized burrito and being kidnapped. Horrified, Beth watched as the trunk was slammed shut, William and the rug abruptly disappeared from sight.

When all the kidnappers started to pile into the car, Beth knew that she needed to move fast. However, Beth hadn’t even noticed but the lush beside her was now playing with the sleeve of her shirt. “Sorry, beer boy, gotto go.” With no patience left, Beth sharply elbowed the drunk in the stomach, and when he fell on his ass, sprawled on the sidewalk out of her way, she jumped in the driver’s seat of William’s jaguar. Finding that Spike had thankfully left the keys in the ignition, Beth started the engine and pulled out behind the kidnappers’ car. Trying to be inconspicuous, she followed them down the street and through town until she noticed that they were slowly making their way towards a less populated area on the outskirts of greater Sacramento.

Beth followed for nearly twenty minutes until the Lincoln unexpectedly turned off onto a narrow, dirt road. Lucky for her, she could still see their headlights, making it possible for her to keep tailing them. Knowing that the kidnappers could see her for the same reason, Beth shut off her own lights before turning down the same road. She prayed they couldn’t see the car or that she wouldn’t land herself along with William’s Jaguar in a ditch. Finally after a sharp bend in the road, the Lincoln stopped. Before the turn, Beth stopped, leaving some trees between them for camouflage. ‘Ok Beth, the Private Investigator, you have officially and successfully tailed your first car. Now what the hell are you going to do now, and since this is not the Super Bowl, saying you are going to Disney World just won’t cut it as an answer.’

Beth instinctually knew that she had to stop being Voyeur Buffy and become Action Buffy. So with a sketchy plan in mind, she ripped her skirt, making it extremely short, and tore off the bottom of her shirt, displaying the skin below her breasts. Ready as possible in such short notice, Beth turned on her headlights and made her way around the corner and towards the Lincoln.

All five of the men from the party were already out of their car and headed toward the back of the vehicle as she pulled up. In fact, one of them was at the back of the car starting to lean down, obviously unlocking the truck. He had turned the key but was distracted when Buffy started talking.

‘Damn. And I will raise you two more damns! I really should have taken that drama class with Willow,’ Beth chastised herself. ‘Alright, it’s show time!’ She got out of her car with her mouth moving before her shoes even hit the rock road. “Excuse me. Eexxccuuussee meee! I am so glad you men are here.” She waved at them while swinging her hips, trying to be uber seductive. “Ya see, I don’t know anything about cars.” She walked up to the side of her headlights so they could get a good eye full of her short skirt and bare stomach. “But I think something is wrong with one of my tires.” Walking in front of the headlights, giving each of them another view through her clothing this time before she bent over, pretending to be looking at the passenger side front tire. Of course, she was purposely bending away from them so that all five kidnappers a great view of her ass and probably part of her thong judging from how short she had ripped off her skirt. After a few moments of acting like she was trying to check the tire, she stood up and turned around to face them.

She was pleased to see their mouths hanging open, but Beth was happier to see the trunk of the Lincoln open a few inches, and even better, all five were now facing her, leering at her. For them, the trunk was forgotten. “I really need to get this tire changed. If you gentlemen could change it for me, I would do anything…anything to thank you.” Beth gave the long haired hippies a few moments to let her offer sink in. As the five looked at each other, wondering if they were dreaming this turn of good luck, Beth tried to in consciously see over their shoulders again, trying to see if William was making his way out of the trunk.

Inside the trunk, Spike waited and fumed. ‘Bloody hell. What a way to ring in the New Year in a soddin’ trunk. Who would have thought that pwrhors demons would be at a human prat’s party? Five pwrhors demons. Stupid buggers anyway who thought undead flesh was a delicacy, especially vampires al a carte. Unfortunately the blighters decided that I looked like a nummy treat. Go figure. Only Beth has the honor of tasting me,’ Spike thought with a smirk. During the drive, he had pulled out a knife from its strap on the lower part of his calf, a little something that he always took on jobs. He went to work on the rug, getting himself loose, preparing for when the car stopped, and getting ready to give as good as he got when the trunk was opened.

TBC

If you like this story, Memory Redux, please vote for it in the Eternal Devotion Awards. Yes, I am begging again, but vote again. : ) http://shippy.karma-hotel.net/awards/main.html I can’t thank you enough. Dana