'Oh God no!' Buffy's mind screamed, but all she could do was just sit and stare and Riley.
"Buffy, who is this?" Angel asked
"I'm her fiancée', who are you?" Riley demanded. Walking in on his girlfriend naked in bed with another man didn't do much for Riley's mood. He hadn't even slept with her yet and she was already cheating on him!
"Fiancée!" Angel looked towards Buffy. She still sat there unmoving. She didn't know what to do; she had been playing the two of them for weeks. "Buffy, what going on here?" Angel growled
"I... well you see..." she fell silent. What was she supposed to say to the two of them? 'Well Angel this is my fiancée Riley and Riley this is the man that I truly love and who I have given my heart and soul too. Oh and I slept with him too.' Yeah, that would work great.
"Buffy, you better explain just what the hell is going on here!" Riley shouted at her.
"Hey, don't yell at my girlfriend!" Angel yelled back
"Girlfriend! No I think your mistaken pal, she is not your girlfriend, she's mine."
"Really," Angel said, his half smile slipping into place. "Who's the one in bed with her right now?"
Riley glared. How dare this man say this to him. "I don't know, maybe she got drunk and went after the first thing that moved."
"HEY!" Buffy yelled. "She is sitting right here!" Both men turned to her. "Listen, there is no way any talking is going to get done like this. Riley, go outside so Angel..."
"Oh, he has a name?"
Buffy ignored him "So Angel and I can get dressed. Then we can talk."
"No." Riley simply stated
"Excuse me?"
"No. I'm not leaving the two of you in here alone so you can have a quickie to calm your nerves." Riley said looking straight at Angel.
Angel growled, trying to keep his game face under control "Don't push me boy."
"Like you could do anything to me."
"Riley." Buffy said warningly. Buffy knew that if Angel really wanted too, he could rip Riley from limb to limb in a matter of seconds. On second thought, maybe that would be a good thing. That way she wouldn't have to deal with this situation.
"Buffy," Angel said keeping his gaze on Riley. "What the hell is going on?"
Buffy took a deep breath. She was caught; there was no way she would be able to get out of it. She had done something wrong, thinking she could get away with it and it finally caught up with her.
"Angel," she said, reaching her hands up to turn his gaze towards her. "This is my fiancée, Riley." Looking down into her lap she said, "Riley, this is Angel, my boyfriend."
Both men just sat and looked at her, neither one knowing what to say. They couldn't believe what Buffy had done that to them. She knowingly cheated on the other one.
"Riley, you're a really great guy. I just... I don't love you. I never really did. I didn't realize this until Angel came back. He left and... and I thought he was dead so I tried to move on and..."
"And what? I was just convenient?"
"Yes. NO! Riley... I've loved Angel since I was sixteen. When he left, a part of me died. He showed up the night you proposed. Since I already accepted your proposal, I didn't know how to tell you that I couldn't go through with it."
"So you slept with him?!"
Buffy looked down at her hands. She felt so guilty. Why hadn't she ended this sooner, before it all came undone? The way things were going, she wasn't even going to have Angel when this was all over with. "I slept with him, yes. I don't know what I can say to make this better or to justify my actions. I was wrong. I should have told you. I shouldn't have slept with him since we were still together."
"And what Buffy, did you just decide to sleep with him and date me, maybe deciding who you want to spend the rest of your life with?!"
"NO! No, that wasn't it at all! I... I tried to break it off with you but... I don't know, I... I guess I just didn't want to hurt you."
"Well, you did a fine job in doing just that."
"Riley.... I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say." Buffy whispered
"Nothing. Don't say anything." And with that, Riley walked out of the room. Buffy starred after his retreating figure. She knew that she now had to face Angel. This was going to be so much harder then her facing Riley. She loved Angel, and she knew that he loved her. But it didn't matter. She had kept a secret from him that she shouldn't have and she saw no way he could trust her after this.
Slowly she turned her body so she was facing him. He had been silent through the whole conversation with Riley. He sat there starring idly at the wall ahead.
"Angel." She said tentatively, reaching her hand out to touch him. Before she did though he jerked away. Getting up from the bed, he moved over to where his clothes laid in a heap on the floor. He hastily put them on.
"Angel don't. Please..."
"Please. Please what Buffy? Stay here with you? Do you need me to comfort you from your horrible break up with your finance'?" Zipping up the fly of his pants he looked her dead in the eye. "Don't you dare ask anything of me."
"Angel, let me explain." She said, the first of the tears starting to fall down her face.
"Explain what? That you slept with me while you were engaged? That you cheated on him and kept coming back for more knowing full well what you were doing? That you were engaged and you let me kiss you and make love to you and you didn't even have the nerve to tell me about him? What is there to explain Buffy?"
"Angel, you know that I love you. That I've always loved you."
Angel put on his shirt and then looked down at the ground. "If you really loved me, then you would have told me. What you did was wrong, to me and to Riley." His eyes angled up towards hers. There, Buffy saw all the pain that she had caused him. "I can't be with someone who does that." He whispered to her.
"Angel please..." she was crying full out now. She frantically crawled off the bed to go to him. All he could do though was push her away and start to crawl out the window into the pitch of night.
"Angel. I love you."
In mid climb, he froze. Not turning around his voice carried to her. "No you don't." And then he was gone.