Masquerade.
Part 12.
"Please!.. Please put me down!" Buffy gasped, finding herself gripped so tightly against a strong masculine chest, that she could hardly find the air to breathe. For a second, her whole body froze as a wave of panic crashed over her and almost scared her rigid.
When unknown fingers started brushing against places they had no right to touch, Buffy frantically searched for a name, a memory, anything that would explain why she was being molested and nearly crushed to death by a complete stranger. But no matter how hard she searched the black void that had temporarily replaced her memory, she found nothing about this man that would help.
"Please! Put... Me... Down." Buffy gasped again, her eyes widening in horror as warm lips slipped across her earlobe.
At this second urgent plea, his large hands slowly released their grip and gently lowered her feet back to the ground. Backing away, Buffy reached out her trembling fingers and gripped the edge of the desk for support.
Struggling to restart her breathing, she tilted her head and stared hard at the handsome face grinning excitedly in front of her.
He didn't look like your average psychopath.
Her would be molester was strikingly handsome. With short bleached blonde hair, exquisite cheekbones and boyish good looks, he definitely had the word *honey* stamped all over him. But it was his eyes that Buffy was drawn to.
Staring deeply, she noticed that his eyes were now more green than blue and, when the sunlight danced lightly across them, they twinkled with mischief and just the tiniest hint of danger. The small jagged scar that crossed his left eyebrow only added to the mystery.
"God! I've missed you, Summers" He chuckled and the colour of his eyes changed yet again.
**Summers?**
Buffy opened her mouth but suddenly found herself speechless.
Raising his hand, her good looking stranger ran his fingers lightly across her cheek, his happy grin turning slightly into a frown as he noticed the almost faded bruising.
"Are you all right, pet? You've gone a bit white"
When he spoke his voice was a mixture of laughter and concern, and something else. Buffy thought hard for a moment and then it came to her. His accent wasn't American like hers, it was English.
Looking deeply into her dubious eyes, he smiled and took a step forward and she in return, took one back.
As she apprehensively stepped away, Buffy's back bumped into the corner of the glass counter and she froze again as her withdrawal came to an abrupt end.
"I heard about the accident " He took a another small step forward, his eyes twinkling as they took in the changes in her appearance.
Buffy flinched as her back pressed harder into the cool glass display cabinet.
Under this stranger's hungry gaze, she suddenly started to feel uncomfortable. Growing slightly nervous at the closeness of his lean, tanned body, she silently cursed herself for sending Liam to his office and leaving her alone and vulnerable.
The visitor took a final step forward and his gaze bore directly into Buffy's eyes.
Buffy felt her heartbeat increase and she tensed as he started to speak.
"Why didn't you call me? Are you okay?" His soft voice asked tenderly.
When he tried to reach for her again, Buffy quickly side stepped him and moved away.
"Buffy? What the f..."
"I'm sorry... I... do I know you?" She blurted out her reply before he had a chance to finish his curse.
"Know me" The man blinked, then laughed at the absurdity of the question.
Buffy looked at him curiously.
" I was hurt in the crash and it affected my memory" She explained as simply as she could. The last thing she wanted to do at that moment was go into personal details with a complete stranger.
But even as the thought entered her head, Buffy could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew her even if she had no memory of him.
She was right.
"You don't remember me?" A tiny flicker of confusion wrinkled his brow.
Buffy shook her head.
"It's Will, Buffy. William Pennington " He waited patiently for a few seconds for her to make the connection.
Buffy ran the name inside her head but it still came up blank.
At his expectant look, she felt the absurd impulse to say. 'How do you do' but realising that it would sound like a slap in the face, she just shook her head again in polite regret.
"I don't believe this, are you playing games with me?"
"I'm not playing games, I'm not playing anything" she argued thinly "I have amnesia"
"Amnesia? " The small word almost choked him with disbelief.
Buffy nodded and sighed.
" I've lost almost 90% of my memory. I'm sorry, but like I said before, I have absolutely no idea who you are"
He didn't speak, his intense eyes studying her face for signs that she was joking, or worse still, lying.
Feeling even more uncomfortable, Buffy cleared her throat.
"I guess we must be friends then, it's just..?" She paused, not knowing what to say next.
"Friends! I think that's got to be the understatement of the year, luv"
This time when he laughed it was cold and humourless and the sound made Buffy shiver from her head right down to her toes.
At her bewildered expression he snorted, and then continued.
" No, I wouldn't really call us friends, pet. I'm not sure what you'd call us these days, but we have been sleeping together for over a year"
Buffy watched his lips move and heard the words form but, for all the sense they made, he might as well have been speaking a foreign language.
"That's not true" She instinctively denied the allegation. The thought that she could have cheated on her husband was so alien to her that it was almost impossible to conceive.
**If she had ever made love to this man she would have remembered** Buffy silently argued, desperate for his words to be a lie.
**But you didn't remember Liam when you first saw him** A small voice in her head argued back
**But my heart remembers Liam, my body remembers Liam**
A vision of her husband's face then came to her mind and her heart sank.
Ignoring her pain, William leaned against the counter and reaching into the back pocket of his tight jeans, he removed a packet of cigarettes. Realising that they were empty, he screwed up the wrapper and angrily tossed it to the wastepaper bin at his feet.
"I can't be sleeping with you... I'm married" Buffy spoke quietly.
She suddenly remembered her wedding video and the way her eyes had looked adoringly towards her new husband. There was no way a few short months later she would have taken a lover.
**Would I? **
As she studied the cocky expression on his face Buffy feared that William Pennington looked far too sure of himself.
"Yeah, I know you're married, but it never worried you before. Your old man was such an arsehole you couldn't wait to jump between my sheets. For your information, *you* chased *me* Summers, not that I'm complaining." He smirked and his eyes narrowed slightly.
"It's not possible." Buffy denied the allegation again in total disbelief as all the colour drained from her face. She couldn't believe that something this important had been so seriously overlooked.
William just stared at her with stormy eyes.
"You're serious, aren't you" He said at last "You really don't remember me?"
Buffy moistened her lips
"My memory before the accident is almost blank, we're hoping..."
"We? Not that bastard husband of yours. Did you remember him?" William's voice rose and his eyes changed from stormy to almost deadly.
Buffy shivered, realising there was obviously no love lost between the two men.
**And yet if Liam knew, why hadn't he said anything** The thought bothered her.
"Liam, well..." Buffy started to explain but before she could complete the sentence her words were lost in an angry outburst.
"So! You can remember him, but not me?" William's handsome face grew pale, his eyes darkened and for an instant, Buffy felt a small tremor of fear.
Then, in less than a heartbeat, he reached out, and taking Buffy's face firmly between his hands, William brought his mouth crashing down on her lips. Startled, Buffy struggled as his long arms wrapped themselves around her body and pulled her closer into his arms. As his tongue slipped into her mouth Buffy pulled violently away.
**This is wrong** A thousand tiny voices cried into her head. She didn't have one memory of ever kissing this man before.
Although his kiss was warm and passionate Buffy knew she couldn't respond. She knew deep in her heart that kissing this man wasn't right. There wasn't any logic in her thinking, just a strong gut reaction and that reaction told her that something about this man just didn't add up.
"Don't touch me" Buffy struggled to reclaim her composure as her large hazel eyes flashed her distrust.
She needed to think.
Stepping back, William let out a deep sigh of frustration and ran his hands through his short blonde hair.
"Buffy, I think that knock to your head did more than just wipe out a few memory cells. What on earth's gotten into you? I've already told you that we're lovers, I've had you on that office floor more times than I can count and now suddenly you can't bear to even kiss me " He shouted angrily.
Although he sounded genuine Buffy still couldn't find it in her heart to believe him.
"I need time to think about this, I want you to leave."
"What is there to think about? I love you and you love me" William shrugged his shoulders. In his eyes it was as simple as that.
"No!" Buffy shook her head violently "How can I love you when I can't even remember you"
"But you remember that bastard, Angelus" William spat out in fury. His fists curled and he had a strong urge to smash them through the glass counter in temper.
Buffy glared back.
"Don't call him that" She defended her husband without a second thought..
"I don't bloody believe this". William closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm the raging fire that burned through his body. As he opened his eyes again, he looked into Buffy's face and hardly recognised her frightened features.
"So now what, you're suddenly in love with him all over again? " He demanded furiously. He didn't give her time to answer. "The next thing you'll be telling me is you let the sod back in your bed"
At the slight rise in the colour of her cheeks, William's last thread of control snapped.
"You already have, haven't you. Dammit Buffy, you're sleeping with the bastard again?" His voice exploded.
"That's none of your business"
Buffy's eyes flickered around the room looking for an escape route. She didn't really believe that he was dangerous but she doubted she had ever seen anybody that angry and frustrated before.
"None of my bloody business???..... The hell it is. How much of your life do you remember with him? You left him once and now you're right back where you started"
"I asked you to leave. Please, if you care about me you'll give me time to sort this mess out, once and for all" Buffy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if searching for some inner strength to continue.
William sighed, but then reluctantly nodded his head.
"Okay, I'll give you the space you need. But, like it or not, I'm in your life, you can't just shut me out."
"I'm not shutting you out, I simply need time to remember"
"Yeah, right. Okay, you win, I'll give you what you want but, I'm warning you, don't trust him, not for a second, luv. He'll rip your bleeding heart out " William finished and when he looked back up, Buffy watched as the anger drained from his face, leaving his eyes full of pain.
Shaking his head sadly, he turned away from her so that she wouldn't see his heart shatter into a million pieces, and slowly walked away.
When William reached the front door he stopped and leaned his forehead against the cold glass, keeping his face forward, not wanting to see the confusion on her face as he delivered his final words.
"Hopefully, when you finally come to your senses, you'll remember that I love you much more than he *ever* did, and when he breaks your heart again..." William swallowed hard and his voice lowered down into a painful whisper.
"I'll still be here waiting, and Buffy, I'll still love you" With those last words the unhappy young man, flung open the door and disappeared down the street.
Buffy stood very still as the door swung closed, the small bell, over head, ringing its heart out.
In the space of a few minutes, her complicated life had once again been thrust into the dark. As she fought to come to terms with the new information, two very different voices replayed over and over inside her head.
** No. We're not friends, Buffy. You're my wife**
**No, I wouldn't really call us friends, pet. I'm not sure what you'd call us these days, but we have been sleeping together for over a year**
Buffy gripped the counter until her knuckles turned white, as more and more memories from the recent week replayed before her eyes. Two men, so different in appearance and yet both claiming to know her better than she knew herself, fought each other inside her head.
**I've had you on that office floor more times than I can count and suddenly you can't bear to kiss me**
William's arrogant boast was quickly replaced with her husband's gentle words of reassurance.
**There's no need to be afraid. I've got you**
He had been right, in Angel's arms she wasn't afraid.
Buffy sighed, desperately needing those arms around her at that moment.
**When you come to your senses, hopefully you'll remember that I love you much more that he ever did, and when he breaks your heart again...I'll still be here and Buffy, I'll still love you**
**I won't let anybody hurt you, not ever again**
Buffy closed her eyes as a solitary tear trickled down her cheek. Just when the light was beginning to break through her nightmarish life, William Pennington breezes in and extinguishes it. Standing there, still clinging to the counter for support, her heart raced uncomfortably fast and her throat started to close in, suffocating her.
**Was it really possible that she had cheated on Liam?**
Every instinct rejected the idea. Liam had been kind, considerate and loving, nowhere near the monster that William had painted. But why would William lie? He had seemed genuinely shocked to hear about the amnesia.
**What could he possibly gain by lying?** Buffy asked herself as more words returned to haunt her mind.
** How much of your life do you remember with him? You left him once and now you're right back where you started**
"Left him?" Buffy gasped out loud, anguish and pain laced her voice as she relived her so-called lover's words. It was only now, when she had time to reflect, that the true meaning of the statement sunk in to her head.
**It feels as if I've not been here for years.. Liam, just how long was I away?**
**A little over three months**
**What happened to my clothes? I mean all the hangers in my room are empty**
"Oh God" Buffy gasped as the pieces of her life started to fall into place. Bending over, she clutching her stomach with one hand while the other flew to cover her mouth, but she was too late, as her insides violently clenched, most of her breakfast decorated the floor...
TBC.....
Part 12.
"Please!.. Please put me down!" Buffy gasped, finding herself gripped so tightly against a strong masculine chest, that she could hardly find the air to breathe. For a second, her whole body froze as a wave of panic crashed over her and almost scared her rigid.
When unknown fingers started brushing against places they had no right to touch, Buffy frantically searched for a name, a memory, anything that would explain why she was being molested and nearly crushed to death by a complete stranger. But no matter how hard she searched the black void that had temporarily replaced her memory, she found nothing about this man that would help.
"Please! Put... Me... Down." Buffy gasped again, her eyes widening in horror as warm lips slipped across her earlobe.
At this second urgent plea, his large hands slowly released their grip and gently lowered her feet back to the ground. Backing away, Buffy reached out her trembling fingers and gripped the edge of the desk for support.
Struggling to restart her breathing, she tilted her head and stared hard at the handsome face grinning excitedly in front of her.
He didn't look like your average psychopath.
Her would be molester was strikingly handsome. With short bleached blonde hair, exquisite cheekbones and boyish good looks, he definitely had the word *honey* stamped all over him. But it was his eyes that Buffy was drawn to.
Staring deeply, she noticed that his eyes were now more green than blue and, when the sunlight danced lightly across them, they twinkled with mischief and just the tiniest hint of danger. The small jagged scar that crossed his left eyebrow only added to the mystery.
"God! I've missed you, Summers" He chuckled and the colour of his eyes changed yet again.
**Summers?**
Buffy opened her mouth but suddenly found herself speechless.
Raising his hand, her good looking stranger ran his fingers lightly across her cheek, his happy grin turning slightly into a frown as he noticed the almost faded bruising.
"Are you all right, pet? You've gone a bit white"
When he spoke his voice was a mixture of laughter and concern, and something else. Buffy thought hard for a moment and then it came to her. His accent wasn't American like hers, it was English.
Looking deeply into her dubious eyes, he smiled and took a step forward and she in return, took one back.
As she apprehensively stepped away, Buffy's back bumped into the corner of the glass counter and she froze again as her withdrawal came to an abrupt end.
"I heard about the accident " He took a another small step forward, his eyes twinkling as they took in the changes in her appearance.
Buffy flinched as her back pressed harder into the cool glass display cabinet.
Under this stranger's hungry gaze, she suddenly started to feel uncomfortable. Growing slightly nervous at the closeness of his lean, tanned body, she silently cursed herself for sending Liam to his office and leaving her alone and vulnerable.
The visitor took a final step forward and his gaze bore directly into Buffy's eyes.
Buffy felt her heartbeat increase and she tensed as he started to speak.
"Why didn't you call me? Are you okay?" His soft voice asked tenderly.
When he tried to reach for her again, Buffy quickly side stepped him and moved away.
"Buffy? What the f..."
"I'm sorry... I... do I know you?" She blurted out her reply before he had a chance to finish his curse.
"Know me" The man blinked, then laughed at the absurdity of the question.
Buffy looked at him curiously.
" I was hurt in the crash and it affected my memory" She explained as simply as she could. The last thing she wanted to do at that moment was go into personal details with a complete stranger.
But even as the thought entered her head, Buffy could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew her even if she had no memory of him.
She was right.
"You don't remember me?" A tiny flicker of confusion wrinkled his brow.
Buffy shook her head.
"It's Will, Buffy. William Pennington " He waited patiently for a few seconds for her to make the connection.
Buffy ran the name inside her head but it still came up blank.
At his expectant look, she felt the absurd impulse to say. 'How do you do' but realising that it would sound like a slap in the face, she just shook her head again in polite regret.
"I don't believe this, are you playing games with me?"
"I'm not playing games, I'm not playing anything" she argued thinly "I have amnesia"
"Amnesia? " The small word almost choked him with disbelief.
Buffy nodded and sighed.
" I've lost almost 90% of my memory. I'm sorry, but like I said before, I have absolutely no idea who you are"
He didn't speak, his intense eyes studying her face for signs that she was joking, or worse still, lying.
Feeling even more uncomfortable, Buffy cleared her throat.
"I guess we must be friends then, it's just..?" She paused, not knowing what to say next.
"Friends! I think that's got to be the understatement of the year, luv"
This time when he laughed it was cold and humourless and the sound made Buffy shiver from her head right down to her toes.
At her bewildered expression he snorted, and then continued.
" No, I wouldn't really call us friends, pet. I'm not sure what you'd call us these days, but we have been sleeping together for over a year"
Buffy watched his lips move and heard the words form but, for all the sense they made, he might as well have been speaking a foreign language.
"That's not true" She instinctively denied the allegation. The thought that she could have cheated on her husband was so alien to her that it was almost impossible to conceive.
**If she had ever made love to this man she would have remembered** Buffy silently argued, desperate for his words to be a lie.
**But you didn't remember Liam when you first saw him** A small voice in her head argued back
**But my heart remembers Liam, my body remembers Liam**
A vision of her husband's face then came to her mind and her heart sank.
Ignoring her pain, William leaned against the counter and reaching into the back pocket of his tight jeans, he removed a packet of cigarettes. Realising that they were empty, he screwed up the wrapper and angrily tossed it to the wastepaper bin at his feet.
"I can't be sleeping with you... I'm married" Buffy spoke quietly.
She suddenly remembered her wedding video and the way her eyes had looked adoringly towards her new husband. There was no way a few short months later she would have taken a lover.
**Would I? **
As she studied the cocky expression on his face Buffy feared that William Pennington looked far too sure of himself.
"Yeah, I know you're married, but it never worried you before. Your old man was such an arsehole you couldn't wait to jump between my sheets. For your information, *you* chased *me* Summers, not that I'm complaining." He smirked and his eyes narrowed slightly.
"It's not possible." Buffy denied the allegation again in total disbelief as all the colour drained from her face. She couldn't believe that something this important had been so seriously overlooked.
William just stared at her with stormy eyes.
"You're serious, aren't you" He said at last "You really don't remember me?"
Buffy moistened her lips
"My memory before the accident is almost blank, we're hoping..."
"We? Not that bastard husband of yours. Did you remember him?" William's voice rose and his eyes changed from stormy to almost deadly.
Buffy shivered, realising there was obviously no love lost between the two men.
**And yet if Liam knew, why hadn't he said anything** The thought bothered her.
"Liam, well..." Buffy started to explain but before she could complete the sentence her words were lost in an angry outburst.
"So! You can remember him, but not me?" William's handsome face grew pale, his eyes darkened and for an instant, Buffy felt a small tremor of fear.
Then, in less than a heartbeat, he reached out, and taking Buffy's face firmly between his hands, William brought his mouth crashing down on her lips. Startled, Buffy struggled as his long arms wrapped themselves around her body and pulled her closer into his arms. As his tongue slipped into her mouth Buffy pulled violently away.
**This is wrong** A thousand tiny voices cried into her head. She didn't have one memory of ever kissing this man before.
Although his kiss was warm and passionate Buffy knew she couldn't respond. She knew deep in her heart that kissing this man wasn't right. There wasn't any logic in her thinking, just a strong gut reaction and that reaction told her that something about this man just didn't add up.
"Don't touch me" Buffy struggled to reclaim her composure as her large hazel eyes flashed her distrust.
She needed to think.
Stepping back, William let out a deep sigh of frustration and ran his hands through his short blonde hair.
"Buffy, I think that knock to your head did more than just wipe out a few memory cells. What on earth's gotten into you? I've already told you that we're lovers, I've had you on that office floor more times than I can count and now suddenly you can't bear to even kiss me " He shouted angrily.
Although he sounded genuine Buffy still couldn't find it in her heart to believe him.
"I need time to think about this, I want you to leave."
"What is there to think about? I love you and you love me" William shrugged his shoulders. In his eyes it was as simple as that.
"No!" Buffy shook her head violently "How can I love you when I can't even remember you"
"But you remember that bastard, Angelus" William spat out in fury. His fists curled and he had a strong urge to smash them through the glass counter in temper.
Buffy glared back.
"Don't call him that" She defended her husband without a second thought..
"I don't bloody believe this". William closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm the raging fire that burned through his body. As he opened his eyes again, he looked into Buffy's face and hardly recognised her frightened features.
"So now what, you're suddenly in love with him all over again? " He demanded furiously. He didn't give her time to answer. "The next thing you'll be telling me is you let the sod back in your bed"
At the slight rise in the colour of her cheeks, William's last thread of control snapped.
"You already have, haven't you. Dammit Buffy, you're sleeping with the bastard again?" His voice exploded.
"That's none of your business"
Buffy's eyes flickered around the room looking for an escape route. She didn't really believe that he was dangerous but she doubted she had ever seen anybody that angry and frustrated before.
"None of my bloody business???..... The hell it is. How much of your life do you remember with him? You left him once and now you're right back where you started"
"I asked you to leave. Please, if you care about me you'll give me time to sort this mess out, once and for all" Buffy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if searching for some inner strength to continue.
William sighed, but then reluctantly nodded his head.
"Okay, I'll give you the space you need. But, like it or not, I'm in your life, you can't just shut me out."
"I'm not shutting you out, I simply need time to remember"
"Yeah, right. Okay, you win, I'll give you what you want but, I'm warning you, don't trust him, not for a second, luv. He'll rip your bleeding heart out " William finished and when he looked back up, Buffy watched as the anger drained from his face, leaving his eyes full of pain.
Shaking his head sadly, he turned away from her so that she wouldn't see his heart shatter into a million pieces, and slowly walked away.
When William reached the front door he stopped and leaned his forehead against the cold glass, keeping his face forward, not wanting to see the confusion on her face as he delivered his final words.
"Hopefully, when you finally come to your senses, you'll remember that I love you much more than he *ever* did, and when he breaks your heart again..." William swallowed hard and his voice lowered down into a painful whisper.
"I'll still be here waiting, and Buffy, I'll still love you" With those last words the unhappy young man, flung open the door and disappeared down the street.
Buffy stood very still as the door swung closed, the small bell, over head, ringing its heart out.
In the space of a few minutes, her complicated life had once again been thrust into the dark. As she fought to come to terms with the new information, two very different voices replayed over and over inside her head.
** No. We're not friends, Buffy. You're my wife**
**No, I wouldn't really call us friends, pet. I'm not sure what you'd call us these days, but we have been sleeping together for over a year**
Buffy gripped the counter until her knuckles turned white, as more and more memories from the recent week replayed before her eyes. Two men, so different in appearance and yet both claiming to know her better than she knew herself, fought each other inside her head.
**I've had you on that office floor more times than I can count and suddenly you can't bear to kiss me**
William's arrogant boast was quickly replaced with her husband's gentle words of reassurance.
**There's no need to be afraid. I've got you**
He had been right, in Angel's arms she wasn't afraid.
Buffy sighed, desperately needing those arms around her at that moment.
**When you come to your senses, hopefully you'll remember that I love you much more that he ever did, and when he breaks your heart again...I'll still be here and Buffy, I'll still love you**
**I won't let anybody hurt you, not ever again**
Buffy closed her eyes as a solitary tear trickled down her cheek. Just when the light was beginning to break through her nightmarish life, William Pennington breezes in and extinguishes it. Standing there, still clinging to the counter for support, her heart raced uncomfortably fast and her throat started to close in, suffocating her.
**Was it really possible that she had cheated on Liam?**
Every instinct rejected the idea. Liam had been kind, considerate and loving, nowhere near the monster that William had painted. But why would William lie? He had seemed genuinely shocked to hear about the amnesia.
**What could he possibly gain by lying?** Buffy asked herself as more words returned to haunt her mind.
** How much of your life do you remember with him? You left him once and now you're right back where you started**
"Left him?" Buffy gasped out loud, anguish and pain laced her voice as she relived her so-called lover's words. It was only now, when she had time to reflect, that the true meaning of the statement sunk in to her head.
**It feels as if I've not been here for years.. Liam, just how long was I away?**
**A little over three months**
**What happened to my clothes? I mean all the hangers in my room are empty**
"Oh God" Buffy gasped as the pieces of her life started to fall into place. Bending over, she clutching her stomach with one hand while the other flew to cover her mouth, but she was too late, as her insides violently clenched, most of her breakfast decorated the floor...
TBC.....
