Part 6
Mid-afternoon, the following day…
In a repeat of the previous evening’s events, Cordelia once again stood outside the Hyperion Hotel, debating whether or not to go inside.
Today, the sidewalk was bathed in warm sunshine as opposed to the dwindling twilight of the preceding day, but her frame of mind wasn’t all that different. Now that she’d had the chance to calm down, she felt extremely silly for running away from like the proverbial frightened rabbit, but remained in a state of high nervous tension nevertheless.
Angel would be mad at her, she knew. He’d asked her to stick around, and she’d not heeded his insistent request. Not only had she left the Hyperion against his wishes, she’d also failed to return home to her apartment, instead spending the night in a hotel on the other side of the city.
The solitude had given her time to think, helping her to sort through the mass of jumbled feelings whirling around inside of her head. It had taken a long while to figure out why the reality of a romantic relationship with Angel scared her so much. The answer finally came to her in the middle of the night, making her sit bolt upright in bed.
He’s ‘the one,’ she realised with a start. I’m twenty-one years old, and I’ve found the guy who I can see myself spending the rest of my life with.
Her ‘home, hotel, hotel, husband’ strategy had come true in the weirdest possible way. Quite naturally, it freaked her out, especially since she still wasn’t sure of Angel’s real feelings for her. Okay, so he had said that his relationship with Buffy was over, and hinted that he felt more than friendship for her, but there was a big jump between that and true love.
Because of the visions, she was already bound to him with ties that could not be broken, and the thought of being by his side and knowing that she wasn’t number one in his life, just filled her with a deep sense of despair. The potential for heartbreak was immense and, in some ways, she’d prefer to remain ignorant than have to face up to the fact that his feelings might never match hers in depth or intensity.
Filled with confusion, her heart pulled her one way, her head another, until she didn’t know which way to turn. As the night went on though, things gradually started to click into place and, just as the rosy dawn was approaching the horizon, she eventually reached a conclusion about what to do.
She had to know, that was the simple fact of the matter. Hiding from the situation wouldn’t solve anything in the long run. She was just going to have to swallow her apprehension and take that giant leap into the unknown – and hope that she survived the subsequent rollercoaster ride with her fragile heart still intact.
With her decision made, the seer was finally able to relax enough to sleep. She woke up several hours’ later feeling refreshed, but filled with trepidation over what was to come next. Before her newfound resolve could desert her, she checked out of the hotel and headed over to the Hyperion, making a whistle-stop visit to her apartment to change clothes on the way.
So here she was – on the threshold of potentially the most challenging and rewarding experience of her entire life. Did she have the courage to grab it with both hands? Or would she let it slip through her fingers through fear of the emotional risk involved? Cordelia Chase was not one to shy away challenge once she’d set her mind to it. So, taking a deep breath, she adjusted the shoulder strap of her bag and strode purposely across the courtyard to meet her waiting fate…
The Lobby was empty and she frowned, wondering where everyone was. Just as she was beginning to think that she’d stepped into an alternate universe, the light pitter-patter of feet descending the stairs alerted her to the presence of another life form.
“Cordy!” Fred hurtled down the last few steps and engulfed the bewildered seer in her thin-armed embrace. “Where have you been? Angel’s been so worried – nobody knew where you’d gone.”
“I’m fine. I just needed some time alone, that’s all.” Cordelia replied, gently untangling herself from the Texan’s over-enthusiastic hug.
“You might have shown a little bit consideration and let someone know that you were okay,” Wesley’s stern voice sounded from behind her as he emerged from his office, alerted by the sound of the two girl’s conversation.
Cordelia felt a sharp stab of guilt at that. It hadn’t even crossed her mind that her friends might be worried about her. “I’m sorry,” she said, genuinely apologetic. “I guess I didn’t think.”
“Obviously not.”
The seer winced at his reproachful tone. “Is Angel upstairs?” she asked, her voice trembling with nervous anticipation.
“No, he’s at the pool. I persuaded him that you just needed some space to think. I’m glad I was proved correct, my life wouldn’t have been worth living if I’d got it wrong and something had actually happened to you.”
“I’m sorry,” Cordelia said again, suitably chastised.
“All right, apology accepted. We’ll say no more about it.”
“Thanks Wesley. You’re the best.”
“I don’t think Angel’s going to let you off the hook that easily though.”
Cordelia grimaced ruefully, “No, I don’t suppose he is,” she rejoined.
“Hey, Barbie girl, you’re back.”
Much to the seer’s relief, Gunn’s arrival diverted Wesley’s attention away from her. “Anything to report?” he enquired of his friend and employee, his tone suddenly all business.
“Nah! It’s a demon no-show so far. The new Lifeguard is sure attracting of whole lot of attention though. I think word’s got around that there’s a new slice of hunk on display – the blonde surfer babes are out in force.”
“And I bet he’s just lapping it all up, right?” Cordelia said, her hazel eyes narrowing dangerously.
Gunn shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “What guy wouldn’t?” he replied, a wicked twinkle in his eye.
The thought of all those scantily clad blondes making eyes at *her* Angel had possessive jealousy running like wildfire through the seer’s veins. Stiffly gathering her things, she moved quickly towards the Hotel’s exit. “I’m going out; I’ll see you guys later.”
“You could have been a bit more tactful,” Wesley said, throwing a reproving glance at Gunn as the doors swung shut behind the fleeing brunette.
“About what?”
Gunn’s face was all wide-eyed innocence to start with, and then it split into a self-satisfied grin. “I thought they could use a little encouragement. Come on, English. You just know she’s gone over there to stake her claim and flash her booty at him.”
Wesley considered that for a second and then smiled. “Is he really attracting that much attention?” he asked, one eyebrow raised in amusement.
“Oh, he’s a hit all right – not that he’s actually aware of it mind you. I swear the guy goes around wearing blinkers half the time. But to answer your question, I may have exaggerated his fame just a little bit.”
The ex-watcher laughed. “I don’t suppose the women were all blond either?”
“There might have been a more demographic range of hair colours involved, come to think of it,” Gunn agreed, tongue firmly in cheek.
Wesley shook his head. “You’re bad.”
“Maybe, but if it achieves the desired effect, it’ll be worth it, won’t it?”
***
“Incoming at three o’clock. Definite ten out of ten there.”
Angel shot an irritated look at his fellow lifeguard, whose main purpose in life seemed to be to talent spot every female under the age of thirty-five, rather than do his job properly. Admittedly, the vampire’s tolerance levels were at absolute zero at the moment, due to his elusive seer’s constant vanishing acts. He had arrived back at the Hotel last night to find her gone again, and his patience had snapped in spectacular style.
“I specifically told her to wait here,” he ranted, throwing up his arms in exasperation.
“Hey man, don’t look at me,” Gunn said, holding up his hands to ward off the irate vampire’s fury. “Since when has Cordelia ever let any of us tell her what to do?”
Spinning on his heel, Angel strode over to the counter, and angrily wrenched the phone round towards him. Stabbing at the buttons with his forefinger, he punched out the number imprinted on his brain, and lifted the receiver to his ear. The phone rang several times and then automatically clicked over to the answer phone. With a low growl, he slammed the receiver down, splintering the cradle, and then marched resolutely towards the door, only to find his way blocked by a determined Englishman.
“Get out of my way Wes!” he demanded, his eyes flashing gold.
The ex-watcher firmly stood his ground, his shoulders back and his head held high. “Angel, just stop and think about what you’re doing. Storming over there in high dudgeon is hardly the best way to make Cordelia more receptive, is it?”
Viewing the intolerable situation through the red mist of his wrath, the vampire failed to see the logic in that sensible suggestion though, and swiftly sidestepped his friend to go in search of the runaway seer.
Fearing the outbreak of World War III, Wesley followed him in hot pursuit, taking his life into his hands when he scrambled into the passenger seat of the Plymouth, just as it accelerated away from the sidewalk in a cloud of dust. The journey to Cordelia’s apartment took half the time it normally did, and the ex-watcher was a nervous wreck by the time they arrived.
“Angel! Calm down for pity’s sake!” he said, desperately trying to placate the agitated vampire as he knocked loudly and repeatedly on the apartment door, attracting the curious attention of the neighbours in the process.
Angel ignored him and continued to pound his clenched fist violently against the wood, demanding that Cordelia ‘open this door right now or I swear I’ll break it down!’
The door finally swung in on its hinges without warning, and the vampire stumbled and fell over the threshold with a muttered curse. Hauling his friend to his feet with one hand under his elbow, Wesley hurriedly entered the apartment and shut the door behind them, much to the disappointment of the gathered on-lookers.
‘She’s not here’ Dennis immediately informed them with his floating pad of paper.
“Where is she then?”
‘How the hell should I know? I’m a ghost, not psychic.’
“Dennis, this isn’t helping,” Wesley quietly warned, sensing that Angel was rapidly reaching the end of his limited supply of patience.
The Ghost proceeded to make things worse, however. ‘What did you do?’
“Me!” Angel spluttered in outrage. “I didn’t *do* anything.”
‘Maybe that’s the problem!’
The fight went out of the vampire at that. He sank into a chair and buried his face in his hands.
Wesley reached out and squeezed his friend’s shoulder in sympathy. “Just give her some time Angel, okay? She’ll come around.”
Angel raised his weary eyes to the ex-watcher’s face. “What if she doesn’t?” he asked fearfully.
“She will,” Wesley assured him.
‘She does love you,’ Dennis wrote. ‘She’s just scared, that’s all.’
“Of what? Am I really that frightening?”
“You can be very intense sometimes,” was Wesley’s shrewd response to his question. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you have to remember that Cordelia is still a young woman, and she’s never really had a serious relationship before. Just give her some space to sort her head out – she’ll come to you when she’s ready.”
Angel had tried to do as Wesley had suggested, but it took a great deal of self-control not to pound the streets in search of the missing seer. LA at night was not the safest place for a young woman alone, especially not one with a strong connection to him. It made her a target for the demon underbelly, and he worried constantly about something happening to her while he wasn’t there to watch over and protect her.
Whether it be overtly, by making sure that Wes or Gunn gave her a lift or driving her back to her apartment himself; or covertly, by following her progress from the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, the vampire saw Cordelia safely home almost every night. He knew he would get endless earache if she ever found out the truth, but that wouldn’t stop him from doing what had to be done. He couldn’t care less if it encroached on her need for independence; her safety was paramount, whether she thought so or not.
These thoughts darkened his mood and he had to remind himself that she was safe and sound. He’d called the Hotel an hour ago, and Wesley had told him that she had returned, unharmed, earlier that afternoon.
“Let me talk to her,” he’d demanded.
There’d been a short silence before Wesley’s hesitant voice explained that she wasn’t there.
“You let her leave?” he asked incredulously.
“Angel relax, she gave no indication that she was planning to disappear again. In fact, I got the distinct impression that she was headed your way…”
“Wowza! Code red! Mega hot babe alert!”
Brian’s exclamation and low whistle of appreciation cut through Angel’s recollection of earlier events, bringing his mind back into the present. Turning his head, he looked to see what had prompted such a vehement reaction from the other man.
He might not have been interested in being with any other woman apart from Cordelia, but he was still a man – not to mention a vampire – and he therefore had a healthy appreciation for the female form in its variety of guises. What he saw almost made him fall out of the high lookout chair he was sitting in. He had to grab hold of the armrests to stop himself from tumbling forward and falling flat on his face.
Cordelia Chase, clad in a navy-blue bikini, was sauntering slowly towards him, her head held high and her hips swaying seductively from side to side. The secret smile tugging at the corner of her lips told him that she was fully aware of the male attention she was attracting and his heart clenched in anticipation. Was this aimed at him? Was she telling him that she was finally ready to take that next step? He sure hoped so.
Absolutely mesmerised, he couldn’t take his eyes off her as she got closer and closer. The bikini wasn’t nearly as skimpy as those belonging to the long line of determined women, who had fluttered their eyelashes and brazenly thrust their breasts out at him all day, but the cut and style left him in no doubt that his seer was all woman.
Whilst still concealing the majority of her voluptuous flesh from view, the halter neck top showed off the deep well of cleavage to spectacular effect. The bottoms were cut high at the front, whereas the dark Lycra material clung lovingly to the rounded globes of her ass at the back, giving a hint of what was underneath without exposing too much skin.
To Angel, this was deeply arousing. He loved to be teased and tantalised, had always enjoyed the thrill of sensual discovery. Women who showed off every available inch of skin at the first opportunity did nothing for him. In contrast, Cordelia, in her deceptively modest choice of swimsuit, stirred up every one of his hidden desires. His avid gaze travelled over the rest of her curvaceous body, absorbing the essence of the woman who had sneaked in and stolen his heart when he’d been looking in the other direction.
Her figure looked a fraction fuller than a few months ago, but that wasn’t such a bad thing. Her golden skin glowed with health, while her hazel eyes sparkled with a renewed passion for life. This was in stark contrast to the dark shadows that circled them before – the result of the ever-debilitating effects of the visions.
Seeing the picture of radiant health that she was now, Angel couldn’t quite believe that he hadn’t noticed the toll the visions were taking on her at the time. He supposed the physical deterioration had happened gradually over time, but still… He mentally chastised himself for being so unobservant, for taking her reassurances that she was fine at face value until it was almost too late.
Brian’s voice once again distracted him from his darkening thoughts as he brashly declared his intention to ‘have me some of that,’ obviously confident in his abilities to charm any member of the opposite sex into submission.
The other man started to climb down from his perch, and Angel’s arm promptly shot out and shoved him back in his seat, a palm flat against his chest. “Mine,” he growled possessively.
Brian may not have been the sharpest pencil in the box, but he didn’t miss the underlying menace in the vampire’s tone. “Okay man – chill,” he said, hurriedly backing down. “I’ll let you have to cream of the crop, seeing as it’s your first day an’ all. Good luck, she’s a major hottie – I bet she’s a hellcat in bed too.”
Fortunately for Brian, Cordelia joined them before Angel could respond to that last inflammatory comment. With only a brief glance in the vampire’s direction, the seer glided to a halt in front of the other lifeguard’s chair and smiled up at him.
“I wonder if you could help me?” she enquired with saccharine sweetness. “This is my first visit here – is there any chance of a tour of the facilities?”
“Err…” Brian baulked at that, fearing Angel’s reaction if he agreed to her request.
“Please?” Cordelia lowered her eyes and coquettishly peered up at him through her long dark lashes.
“Oh okay,” Brian quickly agreed, climbing down from his chair before his courage deserted him. “Well, this is the pool area obviously,” he began, placing a lecherous hand in the hollow of her spine and steering her towards the door that led through into the sauna.
Angel was stunned into inaction. Disbelief ran through his veins. What the hell was she doing? Couldn’t she see the idiot was all brawn and no brains? And what was with all the air-headed simpering? He had never known Cordelia to act in that way before.
With his stormy eyes glued to her retreating form, he tried to rouse himself out of his shocked stupor and do something, but found that he was frozen in his chair. Cordelia flickered a quick look over her shoulder at him then though, and it finally dawned on him what this was all about. She was testing him, challenging him to prove his worth to her. Well, he wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity. Jumping down from the chair with cat-like agility, he caught up with the retreating couple in a few quick strides.
“Brian – maybe I should show the young lady around?” he said, firmly removing the man’s hand from her back and replacing it with his own. He felt Cordelia shiver under his touch and suppressed a delighted grin at her reaction.
“After all, it’s my first day and you’re the senior lifeguard. I don’t think it’s such a good idea for you to be away from the pool,” he finished, his tone perfectly reasonable, but his eyes cold with the threat of violence.
“Umm – yes, I guess you’re right,” Brian reluctantly concurred. “I’ll leave you in Angel’s capable hands then,” he added with brief nod in Cordelia’s direction.
Once the other lifeguard was out of earshot, Angel caught hold of his seer’s elbow and drew her over to a secluded corner of the pool area.
“Where the hell have you been?” he hissed, his earlier anger at her disappearance resurfacing now that he had her trapped. If she thought he would allow her out of his sight again, then she had another thing coming.
At first, Cordelia was taken aback by the sudden change in attitude from him, but then his overbearing indignation fired her resentment and she stiffened in anger. “That’s non of your business,” she shot back stubbornly.
“Like hell it isn’t!”
“You can’t tell me what to do – you’re not my father!”
The vampire’s arm suddenly whipped out and the seer gasped in shock as he hauled her up against him. “No, I’m not,” he agreed, lustily pushing his hips into hers.
Cordelia’s skin tingled and broke out in goose bumps wherever it touched his cool flesh, and her eyes briefly flickered closed at the sensation. Her full breasts were crushed up against the solid wall of his chest, and her nipples instantly stiffened to hard points as her insides clenched and released.
Angel’s eyes glittered with unmasked desire as he looked down at her. “You’re mine and don’t you forget it,” he told her with dark possessiveness, prompting a soft involuntary whimper to escape from the back of her throat.
Satisfied that he’d got his point across, the vampire released her and stepped back. Cordelia’s eyes dropped to where the tight black Speedos failed to conceal the telltale bulge, which she had felt pressed against her a few moments before. Swallowing hard, her fingers agitatedly brushed her hair off her flushed cheeks and tucked it behind her ears.
“Do *not* go anywhere,” Angel instructed and then abruptly turned on his heel and walked away from her.
Oh God! I *so* need a shower, Cordelia thought wildly as he strode confidently back towards his lifeguard post.
Her admiring gaze slowly wandered over the muscular planes of the vampire’s broad, tanned back, and a trickle of sweat ran down between her breasts. She looked away from the addictive sight, shaking her head and trying to clear the haze of arousal that fogged her brain. The sparkling blue of the pool beckoned to her and she crossed to sit on the side, her dangling feet causing ripples on the still surface. Slipping down into the water, she closed her eyes and allowed the coolness to douse the flames of her heated skin.
The soothing balm of the water helped her regain her composure and she opened her eyes again, looking over to where Angel was re-seating himself in his lookout chair. She saw him remove a towel from the chair arm and place it in his lap, and a naughty giggle escaped her lips. He immediately turned to look in her direction and she knew his super-vamp hearing had picked up her delighted laugh.
A small smile hovered on Angel’s lips as he watched her, and then he slowly and deliberately winked, making her heart leap inside her chest. Cordelia blushed scarlet and sank beneath the surface, immersing herself in the water as a growing sense of anticipation stirred low in her belly.
Oh Boy! Oh Boy!