~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Willow stared at the phone and took a deep breath. She could do this. She could so do this. It’d been three weeks with no word. Being on opposite ends of the country wasn’t optimal for a relationship, but she thought they were doing okay. When he’d asked for time, she’d given it to him. The wedding was six months away. She had to know for certain. She looked at the ring on her left hand and picked up the receiver.
It rang and rang and she almost hung up when it was finally answered. She closed her eyes at the whiskey-rough voice on the other end.
“Hello?”
“Hey. It’s me,” she said softly.
“Yeah, got that. Caller ID is a wonderful thing.”
Willow frowned and the knot in her belly got a little bigger. “Um, I know you said you needed some time to think, but I thought you meant a couple of days, not three weeks. Talk to me, please?”
There was silence for a moment, then, “I thought the silence would have been answer enough.”
She sucked in a breath. Oh, this hurt. This hurt almost as bad as Oz leaving her without a word. But there was also anger burning underneath and it was getting brighter. “Right. I guess it does. Hell of a way to break up with your fiancée, Linds. You are so not the man I thought you were. I didn’t want to believe him, but I guess Angel was right. You’re not man enough for me and I’m sure as all damn too much woman for you. Have a nice life, Lindsey McDonald.” Willow slammed the phone down and put her head between her knees before she hurled.
She should have stuck to girls.
~*~
Across the country, Lindsey slowly closed his phone and dropped his head into his hands. He willed away the angry tears that were threatening to fall. He flinched at the cold touch to his neck and whispered viciously, “I hope you’re happy, you son of a bitch. I just gave up the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Mocking laughter ghosted across his skin and the scratch of fangs on his battered back made him shiver. “The witch will live, boy. Be happy with that.”
Lindsey’s lip curled up in a silent snarl. “And me? How much longer have I got?”
Cold lips traced his shoulder then that velvet voice murmured in his ear, “Depends on how well you please me, McDonald. Could be an hour, could be a day, could be eternity. It all depends on you.”
Lindsey let himself be lowered back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, a red haze of hatred and pain clouding his vision. He never should have gone back to Los Angeles. He never should have tried to help fight against the rise of a new Wolfram and Hart. And he certainly never should have let himself get captured by Angelus when he made his triumphant return.
He only hoped that Willow could forgive him someday. He loved her with everything he was. She’d taught him so much. Tears slipped unnoticed from his eyes as Angelus took him again. He’d learned to be a better man because of a tiny redheaded witch, but now…
Here endeth the lesson.
AU for AtS as Lindsey didn’t make his power play. Slight non-con. Definite coercion. Nothing graphic. Not a happy fic.