Chapter 14
Cordelia took a deep breath before pushing into the library. She wished that she had Miss Twittle’s shotgun to use on the sophomoric asshole that made her locker unusable.
Then again, maybe she would save the shotgun for the idiot school maintenance squad that said it would take at least two weeks to get all the lockers fixed.
Even better, maybe she’d just blast Principal Snyder. After all it was his directive that required all students with broken lockers to use the library’s cubicles as makeshift safety zones for their belongings.
The only saving grace was seeing the pained expressions on Buffy, Xander, and Willow’s faces as they huddled with Giles in front of his office. The steady flow of students into their freak-safe-haven every 50 minutes was causing them ulcers.
She shook her head. Thoughts of the Scoobies only brought her mind back to Angel. She didn’t get him. He hadn’t been half as mad as she thought he would be. Sure. He must have been pissed if he came to the school during the day, but he seemed to have calmed down after awhile. Cordelia frowned as she put her books in the cubicle. Would he tell?
She jerked as a hand touched her shoulder.
Oh God, not now. Cordelia turned to look at Xander. If some one pinned her down and forced her to talk, she couldn’t explain why she had begun to love the moron. She guessed under the pain of death she would admit, that for a dork he was really cute and could be amazingly brave. Not mention the tingling in her belly as their lips clashed.
“What do you want?” she asked not quite able to manage her usual cutting tone.
“I…”Xander fumbled his words.
“Figures. Sentences still hard for you, huh?” she said as she picked up the books she would need for homework. “Save it, until you learn.” She left not waiting for his comeback.
“Xander, are you all right? Maybe, you shouldn’t talk to her.” Willow came up to his side.
***
The hall was clearing, the students rushing to get out of school. Cordelia forced her feet not to run with them, past them and straight back into her bed.
“Cordy.”
Cordelia paused and turned. Could this day get any worse? She gathered her strength. Xander would think nothing of her weakness. Harmony, however, would zero in on any sign of weakness.
It was one of the many talents that Cordy had been able to teach her on their rise as the “popular of the popular”. But, no matter how downtrodden, and fucked her life had become Cordy was still the teacher in this particular duo, hell trio, she added, as Aura moved up quickly. Cordelia adjusted her books and angled her chin up.
“Yes.” Cordy’s tone was appropriately condescending.
Harmony smirked. “Dissing me? I don’t think so, I wasn’t the one who resorted to not only dating a loser, but also hanging with his loser friends.” Harmony flipped her long blond hair over her shoulder.
“Harm.” Cordelia returned the smirk, along with a more practiced hair flip. “You stopped me, wanting to chit- chat.” Cordelia raised a forefinger to her chin. “Do tell, what I have I done to earn the honor?”
Harmony bristled. “YOU…” She stopped as Aura smacked her arm.
“Cordy, do what you want, but don’t drag us into your ‘working experiences,” Aura huffed.
Cordelia put on a fake apologetic smile. “Oh, has the word gotten out? Don’t worry.” Her hard gaze glittered towards Harmony. “I only told your mom that Starbucks has an opening.” Cordelia then turned to Aura. “I’m afraid with your mom, I could only think of the Doublemeat Palace. I hated to do it, considering the absolute bad hair that the cute hat would cause.”
Aura reached for her shirt. “I can’t. I won’t. Cordy. Please. Stop it.”
Cordy knocked away Aura’s hands. “I wouldn’t know how.”
“Cordy,” both Harmony and Aura shouted.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Quit.”
“I can’t.” She shrugged. “Daddy is really set on me working.”
“He’s on some old people honeymoon with your mom. He’ll never know.” Harmony exclaimed. “Okay, look, just meet us at the Bronze, that’s all we ask.” She smiled winningly.
“Um, why?” Cordy cocked her head.
“To be with friends of course.” Harmony nodded. “You need us to get you back on top.”
Cordelia raised both brows. “I’m okay where I’m at. You both seem to be the ones in need.”
“Cordy, do something. I don’t want to work.”
“Me, either,” Aura echoed Harmony’s plea.
“I don’t know.” Cordelia turned away
Harmony pulled at her. “Just come to the Bronze tonight.”
“Hands.” Cordelia peered at Harmony’s grip on her arm. “You’ll wrinkle the shirt.”
Harmony immediately dropped her hand. “Cordy. Please.”
“Maybe.” Cordelia said as she turned away, her long hair snapping in a dismissive flip.
Cordelia couldn’t hide the wide smile that formed on her face as she left the school. She hadn’t even had to lift a finger. It was almost too easy.
Chapter 15
Angel’s nails dug into his palms as he stared at the yellow police tape and plastic blue tarp protecting the front of The Dress Place. The gentle evening breeze caused a corner of the plastic to flap over the ‘closed for repair’ sign.
The crunch of glass under his boot reminded him of how close he had come the night before to being scattered on the sidewalk like the rest of the debris.
Angel pushed down his irritation. He had wasted valuable time going to the store. He needed to find Cordy NOW.
***
Angel stood on the perimeters of the dirty pink stucco two-story motel. He cursed the breeze and the muddle of scents it brought towards him. He couldn’t even be tempted by the multiple whiffs of human blood. They were too diluted with chemicals, alcohol, and disease. The bums, addicts, and hookers that inhabited the two story old motel were as decayed as the building.
Angel willed the oppressive scents away and concentrated on locating Cordelia.
His feet automatically followed the trail into the heart of the cesspool, slipping past a blonde hooker servicing a customer in a junked car and bypassing a stoned long-haired man mumbling as he traveled in wider and wider circles trying to find the way out of the parking lot. Any satisfaction Angel received from his discovery of Cordelia paled in his anger at her presence in the place. She didn’t belong there.
Angel frowned up to the second story and the door that hid Cordelia from his view. The protection of the motel was a joke.
The metal bars that hugged the second floor walkway offered less coverage than an old Band-aid. The lone bulb attached to the wall cast a sickly glow on the cheap door to Cordelia’s room.
Angel glanced around, his eyes fixing on a near by tree. He leaped to the deep curve of its branches, now eye level with the room.
He watched as Cordelia’s towel-draped form passed by the window. His eyes narrowed on the thin cotton that was twisted above her full breast and fell snug over her curved hips, more of an invitation to touch rather than a shield.
Angel leaned further away from the security of the tree, trying to catch another glimpse of the dark hair, sun-kissed shoulders and the body covered by white cotton. Angel peered in closer as Cordelia appeared once more. His knuckles whitened around an overhead branch, snapping the thick wood as she pulled down a plastic shade and blocked his vision.
He sat in the confines of the tree pondering his options. Angel threw aside his first instinct, which called for him to just go up and yank her out of her room.
Angel paused, studying the merits of his second instinct to kill all of the potential threats that were disguised as derelicts, junkies, and hookers.
Angel didn’t have a third instinct so he jumped to the ground ready to go with the first.
Angel’s first and second instincts vanished as he heard opening and closing of a door and the clicking of heels.
Chapter 16
Cordelia locked the door to her room, testing it once, before stuffing her keys in her jean jacket. She narrowed her eyes at the flickering yellow bulb. The manager still hadn’t changed it. Tomorrow she’d go out and buy a bright 100-watt bulb. She hated to spend the money, but she hated the gloomy shadows generated by the weak bulb more.
She glanced at her watch. She wasn’t going to be as fashionably late as she wanted, but she couldn’t sit in her room any longer listening to Tommy’s cries through the walls.
Cordelia turned to look over the railing, spotting the junked car. She hoped that Sandy would be done with her customer soon and get back to her baby. She looked again, relieved to see that at least Bruno’s jacked up Trans Am wasn’t in the parking lot. Cordelia peered into the dimness, shaking her head at the lone form circling the parking lot. “Come on, Tony, you can do it.” She couldn’t help but smile, though she knew she shouldn’t. But it was so sad that she couldn’t do anything but laugh.
Cordelia sighed and turned to walk to the stairs. “Hey, Chuck,” she said to the dirty man slouched up against the wall half-way down the stairs. A bottle dressed in brown paper was clutched to his chest.
The bum grunted and dragged his feet to let her get by.
Cordelia paused on the pavement of the parking lot. Her mother and father would be appalled that she actually knew the names of the few permanent residents of the fleabag motel. But since they were the reason she was there, screw ’em. She rolled her shoulders, pushing away the memories of her parents.
Cordelia hadn’t planned on meeting or talking to any of the occupants of the motel. But it had been kind of hard to maintain snobby disdain when she was forced by her own pathetic circumstances to live there also.
She narrowed her eyes as a thin woman dressed in a leopard skin mini, fishnets stocking, and a red tube top came tittering forward on plastic spiked slip-ons, her stained pink boa trailing behind her. “This is my spot, you fucking bitch.”
“Hi, Sandy.” Cordelia sighed, stepping further into the weak glow provided by the parking lot lights.
The hooker clamped her mouth shut. “Cordy?” Sandy moved closer, tugging at her black bra strap. “I’m sorry, I thought…” She shrugged embarrassedly. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”
“Store’s closed. Tommy’s crying, Sandy. He shouldn’t be alone.”
“I have to work, Cordy. Bruno will…”
“Tommy’s your baby. He needs you more than that asshole needs another …employee. Let him work for a change.”
“Cordy, I can’t do that.”
Cordelia sighed again at the guilt and fear on the woman’s face. “Here.” Cordy reached into her purse, picking the first envelope she felt. She dug through the envelope labeled ‘food’ and pulled out some bills. “Take this.” She shoved it towards the woman.
Stringy platinum hair fell in Sandy’s face as she shook her head. “Bruno will kill me.”
“Just take it.”
Sandy reached out clutching at Cordy’s arm rather than the money. “You have to stop doing this. Bruno doesn’t like you interfering. He’ll kill us both.”
“I’m not scared of him.” Cordelia forced out the words.
Sandy pushed back her hair displaying a black eye. “You should be.”
Cordelia closed her eyes briefly at the injury. “He didn’t do that because of me.”
“No.” Sandy shook her head. “I wasn’t feeling well enough to work the other night. But, Cordy, he will do it to YOU if you keep trying to help me. You’ve got to stop.”
Cordelia still held out the money. What was she doing? She needed the money and Sandy’s pimp of a husband did scare her. “Take it.” Cordelia said with more determination.
Cordelia was pretty sure she wasn’t helping for compassionate reasons. Sandy scared her, too. Not in the same way as Bruno, but in an even more terrifying way. Sandy had once been a teenager left to fend for herself and life had just kept on kicking her down. Sandy was the victim that Cordelia never wanted to be.
Most of the time, Cordelia could convince herself that it wouldn’t happen. But sometimes when she saw Sandy, she doubted and it frightened the hell out of her.
So, Cordelia forced herself to believe that the only way not to get trampled by life was to fight back and that meant not being scared of men like Bruno.
Cordelia pushed the wad of bills at Sandy. “Just tell him you earned it. Take it. Tommy needs you upstairs not down here looking for more tricks.” She ordered.
Sandy paused, looking up at faint sound of a baby crying. She took the money, squeezing Cordelia’s hand quickly. “Thank you, you’re an angel,” she whispered running towards the stairs.
Cordelia turned watching Sandy run up the stairs. “Yeah, right,” she mumbled.
The sound of brakes squealing on the pavement had her turning. “Oh. Damn.” She whispered. She stood straight, refusing to let the fear in her belly take over as Bruno’s Trans Am stopped between her and her car.
“Mother fucker.” A wiry bald man, with tattoos covering his neck and head jumped out of his car and rushed towards Cordelia. “I saw that, bitch, I’m going to kill you. I warned you… “
Cordelia blinked as a dark solid body moved in front of her, blocking her from the rest of Bruno’s threat.
“Angel?” Cordelia moved slightly to see her rescuer better.
Angel ignored her. “Is there a problem here?” He leaned into the smaller man.
“Who the fuck are you? Get out of my way. I’m going to kill that bitch.” The words choked as Angel’s fist tightened around the man’s throat.
“THAT bitch is mine.” Angel wrenched Bruno closer and shifted into his game face. “Touch her. I’ll kill you.”
Angel yanked Bruno off the ground. “You can’t even imagine all that I can do to you before you die.”
“Holy shit,” Bruno gasped and squirmed.
Angel’s chuckle sent chills up Cordy’s spine.
Angel squeezed harder, his smirk becoming wickeder as Bruno turned blue.
“Angel. STOP.” Cordelia yanked at Angel’s arm. “Please. You can’t hurt him. You can’t.”
Angel’s grip remained firm. He turned to Cordelia. “This piece of shit threatened you,” he snarled.
“He’s all talk.” She shoved aside the relief that she had first felt when she saw Angel. She was alone and men like Bruno were everywhere. But Angel wouldn’t be. She had to be strong on her own.
“Put him down.” She ordered.
“Fine.” Angel grunted harshly, dropping the man to the ground. .
Cordelia snagged Bruno’s jacket, stopping his frantic retreat with a quick yank and sharp words. “You know what, if you so much as yell at Sandy or Tommy, or use her again in anyway, I’ll tell him.” She pointed to Angel. “And you’ll be dead in a very painful 30 minutes. So, I suggest you keep on running.”
Angel stepped forward growling at the man.
“Shit. ” Bruno jumped into his car.
“Bastard,” Cordelia muttered. She turned to Angel and put her hand on his arm. “Angel.”
Angel slowly turned towards her.
“You can stop with the ‘grr’ routine now.” She gestured up to his game face.
Angel’s gold eyes flickered then switched to deep brown as the brow ridges faded into the smooth planes of his forehead. “He could’ve killed you.”
His words were still low and menacing. “Um, no.” Cordelia tugged at her jean jacket, her hands fidgeting over her slim red skirt. “Great follow-through on the whole bluffing thing. Thanks. I bet he won’t be hitting Sandy anymore.” She smiled encouragingly.
“I wasn’t bluffing.”
Cordelia took a step back at Angel’s hard stare.
“Um. Okay.” Angel’s onyx eyes were boring into her. She didn’t like it.
Cordelia stuffed her hands in her jean jacket, jingling her car keys. “Well, thanks.” She turned to her car.
Angel jerked her towards him.
“This Bruno,” Angel said with a calculated calmness, “lives here. Near you. Which room?”
Cordelia stepped back as far as Angel’s hands would allow. “Why? You scared him away already,” she said quickly. “And you’re kind of scaring me right now,” she blurted.
Angel took a deep breath, slowly dragging his hands from her shoulders down her arms until they touched her fingers, squeezing once before letting go. “I…I’m sorry.” Angel shoved his hands into his pockets.
“Um. Okay. Sure.” She wiggled her tingling fingers for a moment then stuffed them back into her jean jacket. “Why are you here?”
When he didn’t answer, she looked up at him. “Well?” She stopped to face him.
“Bullets hurt.”
“Uh.” She wrinkled her brow. “Bullets?” She covered her face with her hands. “Was it the police or Miss Twittle?” She peeked through her fingers. “Wait. You don’t look like you’ve been shot.”
Angel pulled her hands down. “I haven’t been. But I could’ve been. And I want you to fix it. I don’t want to be a bullet-ridden victim of Miss Twittle or an over-anxious security guard.”
Cordelia took a deep breath. “Fix it? How am I supposed to do that?”
“I want the truth.”
“I told you.”
“Not to me.”
“You want me to tell the truth to Miss Twittle.” She threw up her hands. “Angel, the truth is I thought a revenge minded VAMPIRE stalker was trying to get me fired. That’s what you want me to tell?” She dropped her hands onto her hips.
“No. AND I wasn’t trying to get you fired.”
“Whatever.” She brushed the hair away from her face. “Which truth then?”
“The one where I didn’t kill my parents or a dark haired girl I was obsessed with.”
“That’s not a lie.” She raised a brow.
He glared. “That particular truth was over a 150 years ago, without a soul, and you know that. I’m NOT stalking you.”
She tilted her head. “I don’t know, Angel, you followed me to my locker to walk me to my car in the daylight.” She held up a finger, emphasizing her point. “Then you show up where I work.” She lifted a second finger. “Then you break into The Dress Place to find out where I live.” A third finger went up. “Then you show up in school, in the daylight, to drag me into a closet.” Her pinky went up. She was running out of fingers. “Then you show up here.” Cordelia stuck up her thumb. “I don’t know. I think it would hold up in a court of law.” She waggled her fingers at him.
Angel was still staring at her.
“Oh, all right.” Angel was sorely lacking in a sense of humor. “I’ll think of something. I don’t know what, but I will. Satisfied?”
Cordy dropped her hand and found her keys in her pocket. “Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll think of something. Bye.” She moved quickly towards her car.
“Where are you going?”
Cordelia turned around. “Geez, for a minute there, I thought you lost your ability to speak.”
“Where are you going?” Angel repeated.
“Your business how?”
“Just asking.”
Cordelia narrowed her eyes. “Bronze.”
“Good, you can give me a ride.” Angel moved quickly to the passenger door.
“What?”
“What if a cop sees me? You have to give me a ride.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“No, actually you didn’t.”
Cordelia frowned. “Yes, I did.”
“No. You didn’t. You just hugged me. And then tested if I echoed.”
Cordelia stared at Angel. Was he laughing at her?
“My ride?” He raised his brows.
Cordelia narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think you’re scared of being shot.”
“I didn’t say I was. I just said it would hurt. My ride?” Angel shrugged.
“You’re going to the Bronze?”
“Yes.”
“Buffy?”
“She’ll be there.”
“Figures.” She mumbled, walking to the driver’s side. “Um, Angel, you didn’t tell her did you? I mean, you never actually said you wouldn’t.”
Angel waited at the passenger door. “You ordered me not to, didn’t you?”
She pointed to the smile on his face. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Never.” His smile disappeared. “So, are you going to let me in?” He knocked at the car window.
“I’m not living in my car, you don’t need to be invited in.”
“It’s locked.”
“Right. Okay.” She got into the car leaning over to unlock the passenger door.
“Thank you.” Angel slid into the car.
***
Cordelia decided that the easiest thing to do about Angel was ignore him. She had to wash away the memory of the motel, Sandy and Bruno.
She had to get prepared for her little meeting with Harmony and the rest. She raised her hands off the steering wheel and curled her fingers, thinking I’m Cordelia Chase, I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks.
“Cordelia.” Angel’s hand shot out to capture the steering wheel.
“What?”
“Hands on the wheel.”
“I wasn’t going to wreck. Geez.” She rolled her eyes, but put her hands back on the wheel.
“Yet.” He retorted. “Why were you clawing at the air?”
Instead of answering she turned on the radio and cranked up the volume. She gave a pleased grin. The loud music effectively drowned out Angel’s presence. She could concentrate on the process of getting back into the groove of being Queen C, ruler of the Cordettes.
Angel turned off the radio with a decisive click.
“Hey, why did you do that?” Cordelia smacked his hand from the power switch and turned the radio back on.
Angel pushed her hand, switching the radio off again. “I’ve lived for over 200 years with hearing, I’d like to live the next the same way.” He grabbed her hand as she reached back for the power button. “I’ll break it,” he warned.
“My hand?” she squeaked.
“The radio.”
She tried to tug her hand away. “You know, I did you a favor, letting you ride with me so you can hurry to Buffy-gaze. You could at least be nice.”
Angel’s gaze shot back up to Cordelia’s. He released her hand and turned the radio back on adjusting the volume. “Just not so loud. Please.”
“Okay.” Cordelia put both hands on the steering wheel. She shoved down the jitters in her stomach. It was only in her imagination that Angel had refused to let her hand go.
***
“We’re here.” Cordelia grabbed her purse from the back seat as she got out. She leaned back in the car. “The Bronze is that way.” She jabbed her finger over her shoulder.
“I know where the Bronze is.” .
She crossed her arms and tapped her foot as Angel slowly exited the car. “You’re welcome.”
“Thank you for not getting me killed and for not causing hearing loss.”
“Whatever.” She bent down to lock the car. Once done, she hurried for the door of the club.
“Are you in a hurry?”
“Yes.” Cordelia looked over her shoulder. “And before we start, here’s the rule: In there, you do not exist to me. Got it?”
His eyebrows rose.
She smoothed down her jean jacket and red dress, taking a deep breath. “I’m Cordelia Chase and I look great,” she said, taking no more notice of Angel as she went into the club.