Chapter 34
“I feel like some sort
of star! When that guy was holding up a card at the airport printed ‘Riley Finn’ – and then he took us to
the waiting limo – oh god! Riley – JUST LOOK AT THE BATHROOM!”
Sam hadn’t stopped beaming
since they boarded the plane back home.
“I know…and look,
here’s the hotel brochure, it’s got an Olympic sized swimming pool, a fully equipped gym, a solarium, a sauna
– tennis courts – and they’ll be enough time to go site-seeing after the TV studios tomorrow!”
Riley cuddled his wife up
– who thought all her birthdays and Christmas had come at once!
“So, are you going to
tell me about the studio? – Are you a game show contestant or what?”
“You wait and find –
oh…hang on” Riley opened the door and two waiters came in, one carrying a bottle of Champagne
in an ice-bucket, the other a big fancy box of candy.
“Wow – thankyou
– um…here!” he tipped them and they left. Closing the door behind them.
“Here you go baby………hmm…just
look at those luscious looking grapes in the fruit-basket”
“Champagne! Hey…remember the last time we had Champagne?”
“That would be…our
wedding night, we took a bottle and sneaked to our honeymoon suite!” Riley said grinning
“Uh huh…and do
you remember what we were doing, in between drinking it?” Sam giggled
“I do indeed…you
took my innocence!” Sam shrieked with laughter, swatting her husband on the arm
“WHAT! - it was
me that was innocent!” She flopped back on the four-poster bed, still giggling
Then Riley suggested (with
a glint in his eye) that they could re-enact their wedding night now, pouncing on the bed, right next to her………
**********
“Come to mine Kitten,
I promise you, if all you want to do is have a bath and go to bed to sleep, then that’s what you can do”
“I was thinking we could
–oh” Buffy had her arms loosely around Spike’s neck.
“Sorry! Sorry…this
is getting to be a bad habit of mine, isn’t it…I’m sorry to disturb you, but um…we’ve got a
problem,” Xander said. Buffy dropped her arms and Spike frowned
“What now?”
“There’s a failure
on the mixing desk, a fuse blew and the computers automatically shut down to save the work, but we can’t get them back
on-line again – the auto transmission’s gone kerbluey” Xander said.
Spike closed his eyes and
rubbed his forehead.
“Well, send for the
engineers…I can’t be doing with it – I know I usually fix it – but well…t’isn’t
my job. Send for………here you go, Eddie Dempsey – he knows what he’s doing” Spike went to
his desk and wrote down a number and gave it to Xander, who took it and then he looked at Spike.
“You want to keep that
number Xand – what that guy doesn’t know about mixing desks from the 1960’s to the modern digital ones –
isn’t worth knowing, he’ll never let you down”
“Why would I want to
do that? – If you’re around, I can always get it from you, can’t I?” Xander reasoned, but Spike didn’t
answer, or even smile, he just looked down at his shoes, and then at Buffy.
Xander looked at the couple,
and decided to scoot, that was the second time he’d interrupted them.
“So Kitten, what’s
it to be, hmm? Back to mine or do you want me to take you home?”
“Back to yours please?”
She looked a little worried, but Spike grinned, and pulled her close and kissed her forehead and said,
“Good, I’m SO
glad you said that!”
**********
“There you are, sir.
There’s a $200 limit on room service and bar for you, and breakfast is served from 7.30-9am on a ‘help-yourself’
buffet regime”
The bellhop opened the door
to room 312, handed him the key-card and placed his holdall on a chair.
Hank Summers smiled and said
‘thankyou’, tipped the bellhop who left. He immediately went over to the window, opened it, then he turned and
surveyed the room – it was very nice. Painted a cool mint green, there was a huge bed, large TV - and the bathroom
had walk-in shower big enough for – well…he came and sat on one of the leather recliners. All this, at somebody
else’s expense, AND he was going to surprise and see his daughter too!
**********
The Winds cocktail bar was
full. Not heaving full, because Giles didn’t like crowds. But it was full enough for him, and everyone a famous face.
He and Anya were perched on barstools, waiting for Jenny Calendar to arrive.
From the restaurant downstairs
the M’aitre D phoned the bar upstairs.
“Sir, Miss Calendar’s
arrived, shall Henri send her up?”
“Please” Giles
said
“Time for me to powder
my nose…I won’t be long” Anya said, slipping off the stool
She and Giles had agreed that
Giles would tell Jenny about their relationship, and then Anya would come back to her seat and they would take it from there,
all nice and civilised.
“Okay baby”
Meanwhile, a little distance
from the bar………
“Hey, Lilah…Li,
look”
“What?”
“This could be interesting”
“What could?”
Lilah finished her cocktail and turned to look where Faith was grinning at.
“DON’T turn around!
– You’ll make it look obvious…come sit next to me”
“Okay………………right,
what am I supposed to be looking at?”
“I reckon that there’s
more to old Rupe’s than meets the eye!”
Lilah gave Faith a, huh? Look,
and Faith continued.
“Well, you know that
mouthy cow, Anya ‘I say what I think’ Anya, I hasten to add…”
“Yeah, what about her
– where is she?”
“Gone to the restroom…look
who’s now canoodling up to Giles now while she’s gone………”
“Who’s that then?”
“I don’t know,
but she’s pretty………seems strange, Anya leaves, and another arrives and slips onto the still warm stool
– oh hey –see that!”
“What, he kissed that
new one on the cheek – yeah, so what?”
“SHE looked like she
wanted to, you know, give him the works – a proper kiss!”
“And he didn’t
let her, so?”
“Shut up and watch…there’s
something going on here, I just know it!”
Lilah shrugged, grabbed her
glass and said,
“Want another?”
Faith grinned and stood, draining
her glass.
“I’m coming with
you………their conversation could be interesting - quick, look who’s coming out of the restroom
– get to that space by the bar!”
“But…but I don’t
understand Rupert – you – I thought that you and Anya were just friends!” Jenny said, frowning.
“We were, to start with”
Anya said, sliding her arm around Giles’s shoulders. Giles slipped his arm around Anya’s middle, hugging her to
him.
“Isn’t that how
the best relationships start? – As friends…we realised that we are good together, VERY good, in fact were going
into partnership in more ways than one, Giles is going to open a lounge bar and I’m going to-“
Jenny stood up angrily and
shouted,
“You couldn’t
wait, could you!”
“Wha-what – wait
for what?” Anya dropped her arm from around Giles’s shoulder.
Everybody stopped talking
and looked at Jenny. The barman looked slightly alarmed at his boss, who was looking everywhere except at the two women, but
he said,
“Jenny, be quiet before
you say something you might regr-“
“I WON’T REGRET
IT! You, you low down thieving little TRAMP! – As soon as you hear he’s an absolute stallion in bed, as SOON as
I tell you he’s got a foot long cock – that’s it, you’re there – you just couldn’t resist
it!
Giles leant his elbow on the
bar and covered his eyes.
“Oh dear Lord!”
Everybody else around exchanged
highly amused grins, including Faith and Lilah, the latter whispering to her friend,
“A foot long cock –
Aye Carrumba!!”
“An absolute STALLION
in bed eh?” Faith said, grinning
A catfight ensued, Jenny grabbing
handfuls of Anya’s hair, they were screaming and thumping and scratching and hair pulling, screeching insults at each
other. Giles got up off his stool, turned to the barman to call security, but the barman had already pre-empt his boss’s
request and was on the phone. Giles backed away from the two fighting girls…so much for not causing a scene and being
civilised………
“Giles! Dear, dear…it
used to be so lovely and quiet up here…why don’t you come and sit and have a drink with Faith, and me hmm? Leave
those two…’wildcats’ to their little spat” Lilah drawled.
Security came up and parted
the two girls, each guy holding a girl around the waist and picking them up off the floor, so they were flailing arms and
kicking legs trying to reach each other, still shouting obscenities at each other…
“Hmm? – Sorry?”
Giles looked at Lilah
“Come and sit with us…I
think everything’s under control now…yes, look, security have sorted them out…” She patted the plush
velvet seat in between her and Faith
“I must go and, um,
oh dear Lord…”
“If you ignore it, it’ll
go away – SIT!”
Faith pulled him down by his
elbow, and Giles plonked down heavily in the seat.
“Here, drink this, it’ll
calm you down” Lilah handed him what appeared to be a glass of white wine.
All around people were highly
amused about this new bit of information about Giles…’Mr Foot-long’………
Giles grabbed the glass and
downed it. Faith and Lilah grinned at each other…Tonight looked like being fun after all!
Except Giles suddenly jumped
up, and said
“I must go to Anya!
– Sorry girls………Harry…Harry!” The barman looked up
“Give these two ladies
a complimentary bottle of Champagne, would you please?” The barman nodded and opened the fridge.
“Oh well…we got
a bottle of champers out of it” Lilah sighed
“Yes, but I wanted to-“
“I KNOW what you wanted
Fay………I did too, still, look at it this way…we can always be on hand to ‘console’ him,
if anything happens between him and little miss Tinkle the Ivories!”
**********
“Don’t go too
mad darling, I mean have what you want, but the oysters are SO expensive!” Riley said
“Ew, I don’t want
oysters – god, isn’t it lovely here, anyway, dinner is in the package, I checked!”
“Is it –oh, well,
great! So, what are you having?”
“Um…the melon
basket with berries to start………then the char-broiled pork tender-loin wrapped in bacon and sage with a calvados
cream sauce. What are you having?”
“A steak”
“Oh Riley!”
“What?”
“You ALWAYS have a steak
when we go out!”
“So, I’m having
one now, I like steak!”
They grinned at each other
over the hotel menu. Sam couldn’t stop grinning – the whole trip was just so WOW – and tomorrow she’d
find out at last about the TV show - she could hardly wait!
**********
“Come on Kitten, you’ve
got to eat something, you’ve got nothing in your tummy, you’ll make yourself ill”
Buffy cuddled up to Spike
and murmured something that he didn’t hear.
He shifted so he could listen
to her and said,
“What’s wrong
baby, hmm?”
“Nothing…well…I’m
just a bit worried, that’s all” Spike moved around and sat up completely to face her, and then he cupped her cheek.
“What are you worried
about kitten, tell me – is it this show, coz if you don’t want to do it, then don’t. Sod the expense, I’ll
pay it myself!”
“No, no it’s not
that…Glory – (she waved a dismissive hand) – bring her on. No, what would happen if…well just say
on Monday, Sweet-“
“I’ll stop you
there, Kitten. Don’t worry about Monday, nothing bad will happen, I promise you” Buffy looked at him with large
luminous eyes.
“You’ll still
be my manager?” Spike grinned and gently pulled her close.
“Oh Kitten…is
that what you are worried about? – Come here, let me cuddle you and I’ll tell you something.”
Buffy rested her back
against his chest, leaning her head in his neck. She played with his fingers as he spoke.
“Ok Kitten, just say
worst case scenario, and Sweet sacks me, yes?” Buffy nodded
“Well, then it would
be somebody like Xander who would take you on”
“But…what would
you do, where would you go?”
“You mean job wise?”
Again Buffy nodded
“Well, I don’t
really know, I haven’t thought about it, but well, this house is mine, so I wouldn’t be homeless, and I’ve
got a fair bit put by, so I could think on my options for a few months – and although I say it myself, I’m pretty
good at my job, I’ve got contacts all over, I wouldn’t be out of work long”
“But, well…would
you still want to be with me?” Buffy asked in a tiny little voice. Spike frowned
“Of course! I LOVE you
Buffy…Oh baby, don’t doubt it, please…you are my one constant at the moment” Buffy felt relief flood
through her and she turned and knelt up to face him and began to kiss him passionately.
“Love you…don’t
leave me will you?”
“Never, I promise baby”
Buffy began to push him back
on the sofa, Spike let her, he had absolutely no objections when she started to undo his shirt, then his pants and kiss him
down his neck, over his chest and six-pack, down the fine line of downy hairs that led to –
“OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Spike pressed his head back
into the sofa arm and raised his hips slightly as Buffy’s warm wet lips slid over the head of his rock hard length,
sucking and gently pumping him. She cupped his balls, massaging and lightly tugging them, making Spike groan with delight.
She took as much of him into
her mouth as she could, flicking her tongue over the sensitive glands, making him buck and writhe. His hand tangled in her
hair and Buffy could feel the slight pull when she did something he particularly liked…
“Hhhhmmmmmmmmmm…that
good baby?” Buffy stroked and pumped, licked and sucked for twenty minutes, teasing, bringing him right to the edge,
then easing off…
“Yeah………oh
yes babe, don’t stop!” Spike gasped out, and Buffy knew he wouldn’t last, she pumped for all she was worth,
clamping her mouth over the head, still sucking, she flicked her tongue back and forth over the little slit as his essence
filled her mouth, Spike crying out in sheer ecstasy.
She let him slip from her
mouth, and smiled she asked softly,
“That good baby?”
Spike’s head lolled and he croaked it was the best. He sat up, pulling her to him, kissing her, their tongues fighting
a duel.
Eventually Spike broke the
kiss and whispered,
“Lets go upstairs and
be comfy…I want to make love to you all night” Buffy eagerly jumped up, holding out her hand to him she pulled
him up off the sofa, Spike followed, just holding up his pants as he trotted upstairs.
**********
Hank Summers lay propped up
on the bed, drinking out of a bottle of beer. He had a whisky chaser on the nightstand, and a Lakers game on the TV.
The irony of this didn’t
strike him, the fact that if he’d been at home, rather than this plush hotel, he’d have been doing the same thing,
except it would be a can of beer rather than a bottle, but it would be the same lying on the bed watching the ballgame.
The other thing that was different
was that he’d had a good steak dinner, rather than the usual take-away Chinese or some such, and somebody else was paying.
Life was sweet.
**********
“What shall we do now?”
“Give you three guesses!”
Riley trailed his fingers up his wife’s leg.
“Riley!”
“What – we ARE
married – we are in the swankiest hotel we’ve ever been in…and I’m dying to try the massage bed…”
“But on a full stomach?”
“Won’t hurt, just
for once!”
“Once…you said
that this afternoon!”
“Shh…lie back…where’s
the remote for the massager………………there, that’s slow
ooooohhhhh, that’s nice………shall
I go to number 2…………now three………”
“Ah, turn it down…it’ll
shake my dinner up!” Sam lay back and closed her eyes.
“You have too many clothes
on Mrs Finn…”
“Well, do something
about it then!”
**********
“Pookie…do you
think Spike will leave – will Sweet sack him do you think?”
“No”
“But Pookie…are
you SURE, because, well, he seemed pretty mad when he left, you said so, I hope he doesn’t sack Spike…Buffy’ll
be all upset”
They were both sitting on
the sofa, having eaten a pizza, and Xander was watching TV. Harmony was feeling neglected.
“Hmm, what – no,
course not………he’d be an idiot if he – oh yes, go on……go on – yes – SCORE!”
Xander was engrossed in the game, so Harmony stood, went behind the sofa and took off her top and jeans to reveal a very sexy
Victoria’s Secret satin and lace bra in pale green, with a matching thong, with a little kitten gold charm on the front,
her current favourites. Smiling, she came and stood in front of Xander.
“Game’s over”
“No it’s not -aye,
yay-yay! WOW!” Xander almost went cross-eyed confronted with Harmony’s delicious golden curves undulating right
before his eyes.
“Game IS over, isn’t
it?” Harmony picked up the TV remote and switched off. Xander concurred, the ballgame was DEFINITLY over!
**********
Glory snatched up her ringing
cell-phone, answered and said,
“Yes, what? –
Tell me some good news!”
“Sorry – same
old story Glory, nobody has seen him, he’s not at work, or his home, he’s just gone to ground – so when
do we get paid?……………………… Glory, I said when do we-“
“When you do I as fuckin’
ask, and bring that snivelling little wimp to me, that’s when!” Glory hissed through gritted teeth, ending the
call.
She resisted the temptation
to throw it against the wall, people needed to contact her…not that anybody had anything good to tell her lately. Moodily
she got up and went over to the drinks cabinet.
Snatching the stopper out
of the brandy decanter, she poured herself another generous measure and downed half of it, topped her glass up with a little
more and reached for her cigarettes, lighting one angrily so the sparks flew off it.
“Useless! Useless fucking
no-good oh!………Where do I find these bloody morons…they couldn’t find their own ass’s with
both hands, never mind Willy or Al!”
Glory was talking to herself.
She found she got more sense that way…she was, she decided, surrounded by morons and imbeciles. Idiots that needed everything
telling them twice.
Well, she was due some luck,
she thought. Good luck, for a change. She was padding around her apartment like a caged animal, drink in one hand, cigarette
in the other. She was going to torture Willy when they found him for her, and she’d make Al go for an AIDS test.
But before all that, she was
going to ruin that little smug-bitch blonde’s career, on LIVE TV too…Then Sweet would see sense. See that She,
Glory Benson could move and shake as much as he could, she was a force to be reckoned with - and he’d sit up and
take notice! Then he’d either pay her off, or she hoped, make her his number two at Aphrodite…else she’d
ruin ALL the artistes careers………she was going somewhere – and it was about time SOMEBODY sat up and
took notice!
**********
“Ppppppsssssssttttt!
Jon…Jonathan…it’s me, Willy” Willy hissed at the barman from behind a rather large beard.
Jonathan swiftly turned around
and faced the bar, surprised to say the least.
“WILLY – At last!
Where have you - is that really you?”
“Shh! Shut up will you!
I’m incognito” Willy glanced round the empty bar surreptitiously
“Where?” Jonathan
frowned; Willy rolled his eyes and said testily,
“I’m in disguise!”
“You don’t say…we don’t get many Rabbi’s coming in here!”
“Rabbi?”
“All you need are those
little ringlet things at the side by your ears, and with that beard and hat, you look like an Hasidic Jew!”
“Do I – oh well,
whatever. As long as I don’t look like Willy that’s all”
“There are an awful
lot of men looking for you, BIG men…look like they mean to hurt you. What have you done?”
“Never you mind that
now, look, be a mate, go and ask Warren for my wages, will you?”
“I can’t”
“What – of course
you can!”
“Well, okay, I could,
BUT – it won’t do any good, he won’t give them to you. He said, if you were to come in, I was to send you
to him immediately – he’s been going spare, he reckons he hasn’t had a decent Vodka Martini since you went
missing”
“He hasn’t, has
he? - Oh that’s –bloody hell!” Willy scrabbled in his pocket and quickly slipped on thick black-rimmed glasses
as Warren came down to the bar.
“Here you go Jonathan,
some change for you, and um…just watch the measures, would you, we seem to be getting through an awful lot of Scotch”
“Boss? Yes boss…thanks”
Jonathan took the change bag off his boss, and Warren cast a weary eye around the empty all apart from the one customer bar.
“Well, I can see you
are rushed off your feet…” Warren said sarcastically
“It’ll pick up
later boss”
“Yeah…well I hope…………evening
Rabbi” Warren nodded to ‘Willy’
“Bless you my child!”
Willy said, raising his right hand as if in benediction.
Warren and Jonathan frowned
at each other, then looked back at the ‘Rabbi’
“I mean, Oye Vay!”
Willy said nervously.
Warren shook his head and
wandered off thinking,
**Weirdo’s…bloody
junkies, freaks and weirdo’s, that’s what this place had come down to**
Willy needed money –
he was lying low, and he needed his wages.
“Have YOU got any cash,
Jon?”
“No!”
“I mean…at home,
a bit put by for a rainy day”
“N-n-n-not r-r-really”
“I’ll take that
as a yes then” Willy said, and then he continued,
“How would you like
to get into the boss’s good books?”
“What – how do
you mean? – He’s okay, we’re okay”
“I mean, REALLY be in
his good books”
Nervously, Jonathan asked
‘How?’
“How would you like
a pay-rise?”
“I’d LIKE to get
back to my old job, I earned more doing the floor, got more tips – Willy – come back to work, security will protect
you!”
“I can’t, not
yet, look how about I let you in on the secret of the boss’s favourite little drinkie-poos?”
“Yeah – wow –
great! He’d sure to stop being moody then!” Jonathan grinned
“I bet, there you go
then! Okay, I’ll tell you the secret, but it’ll cost you…how much have you got at home?”
“$300, but it’s
for my-“
“That’ll do. Think
of it as being an investment………think of how happy the boss’ll be sipping his favourite vodka Martini,
and you’ll also be saving me from a thumping I don’t deserve”
“I don’t know………the
money was for a comic convention in –“
“COMICS? Fuckin’
hell Jon, how old are you?”
Jonathan looked a little discomfited
and said,
“I was hoping to get
the Captain America issue no. 138…” he looked almost wistful………………
Willy was loosing his patience
“Look, it’s either
that, or I empty the cash-register!”
“There’s only
$50 in it…and it’s all in small change” Jonathan said quietly
Willy spluttered behind his
beard, which had started to really irritate him, along with Jonathan himself.
“Okay, look…meet
me after work………this recipe better be worth it”
“Good man, you know
it makes sense! I’ll wait in the alley for you” Willy said
Jonathan nodded, and then
saw three customers walk in.
He smartened himself and stood
up straight and said,
“Yes sir, what can I
get you?”
Jonathan turned to get the
drinks ordered, and when he turned back to face the bar and serve the drinks, he saw (much to his relief) Willy had gone.
