Author's Note: All the characters who engage in sexual activity in this series are 18 or older.
*****
Sherry Tandon had been to his place before, but this was the first time she had come by spontaneously. She knew his parents weren't home. They liked to jet off to random, obscure countries, separately. And they had the fortune to do it. She opened the front gate and took her time walking up to the front door, passing a garden of dead pansies and lilies.
James Rios hadn't been to school in the last week. That was her main concern. That was what she told herself she'd start off with. That was why she was here. She pressed her finger into the circular door bell button and not even a second later, the door was opened. Like he had been there, watching her from the window.
Sherry flipped her thick black hair over her shoulder and smiled brightly, looking up into those stormy green eyes. "Were you expecting me?"
"No. I was busy." His face gave nothing away. He had the same sunkissed skin as always, wearing a maroon dress shirt like he was attending a dinner.
"Was?"
James looked pensive. He beckoned her in and closed the door. God, he was tall. Even though her shoes had a heel, she had to lift her chin to eye him.
"Are you here to make Ryan jealous?" he asked, his pace brisk as he went up the stairs.
Sherry didn't follow, slightly offended. She took a tiny step back. "Should I just go?"
James paused and turned around. "Of course not. I would never tell you to go."
Sherry laughed halfheartedly. "That's good."
James stood up there, watching her with that smouldering gaze. After a few seconds, she finally joined him and they went into his room.
"I brought you the assignment sheet Mrs. Ross handed out on Wednesday," Sherry said as she sat down on his bed. It was one of the two classes they had together at Firwood High. She adjusted her black skirt so that the fabric was under her bum.
"Thanks for your help." James took the paper and placed it on his desk.
"So are you okay?"
"Hm?" He looked back over his shoulder, his heartbeat suddenly in his ears as he realized that a pair of handcuffs dangled from the ceiling in the corner of his bedroom still. He had forgotten to put them away. Fuck.
He glanced back at Sherry. She had brought her legs up onto his bed, the stiletto heels of her pumps digging into his blanket. She was busy tying her hair into a ponytail, not noticing him or the handcuffs behind her.
"Nah," she muttered to herself, letting her hair fall back down. She sighed, and spread her body on the bed, her skirt hitched up a little.
"Sherry."
"I wish I had a king sized bed. Really, I only have a twin size and it's tiny compared to this." Sherry looked up at James. "Sorry, did you want to say something? Answer my question maybe?"
"What question?" he asked, distracted by her bare thighs.
In all honesty, Sherry was the girl James imagined while he fucked other girls. And it was ridiculous in a way, because she was all anyone could ever seem to talk about at school. Even before she started dating the golden boy hockey captain, James had heard even his friends marvel about her. She had only transferred to the school in the beginning of their senior year. By now, it was almost time for graduation, and all James had done was feel pathetic as he cummed into the school's bathroom toilet after particularly stimulating conversations with her. No girl had ever brought him down this low before.
"Are you...okay? That question. You seem off lately. Haven't come to school. Etcetera." Sherry propped her head up.
"If you'd known me longer you'd know that this is natural for me." He leaned against his desk, scanning her. She followed where his gaze was...it was somewhere along her gray stockings. She sat up and adjusted her skirt, shy.
"Well, sorry for not knowing you long enough. You're kind of hard to know, don't you agree?"
His eyes gave nothing away. He came and sat down on the floor by the edge of his bed, his dark brown hair close enough for Sherry to touch with her hand.
"I'm fine. You don't need to be so sweet to me. It just makes things..."
"Makes things what?"
James groaned, hitting his head against the bed's edge. "Why do you do that?"
"Why are you so vague all the time?" Sherry retorted. She shook her head. "I don't really know what I was thinking. You're the one who gives me surprise visits. I should have stayed home and waited. Right? You'd turn up." She swung her legs over next to James's head.
"Ah, so you're used to it now. I've spoiled you."
"Yeah when you stopped everything and basically just peaced out of life, I was concerned."
"You mean when you stopped getting my attention? Why do you like it, when you have other guys just dying to steal your time?" It frustrated him that she could act like this was all normal, all the starry eyed guys at school who turned their heads when she walked in the room.
Sherry tried to stand but James held her shoe, making her plop back down on his mattress.
"That's so rude. Let go."
"I was sick and tired of you and your antics. I needed a break. So I avoided seeing you."
"James. Let go of-"
"Why are you wearing these on your legs?" James fingered the cotton of Sherry's over the knee socks. She blushed and shifted as far away as she could with her stiletto in his grasp.
"They're called socks. And it's winter. I can't just-"
"You know damn well how I feel and-"
"Why are you so talkative all of a sudden? God, you're the most confusing person I've ever known. Let go, okay?" Sherry stood up forcefully, and James let go of her shoe at just the right moment. She landed on her butt, the shorts under her skirt showing. "So rude," she sniped.
James cracked the first smug smile she'd seen that day, but she ignored it and stood, patting her skirt down. He looked so incredibly nonchalant, sitting there with his arm draped over his knee, gold watch on his wrist.
Sherry turned around, intending to walk out of his room. Until she saw the metal handcuffs. It didn't register at first that they were for sex. Sherry had never seen anything like it before. But at least now she knew all the rumours about James's hyperactive sex life were true. Maybe Ryan had been right about him all along. Maybe she was in over her head thinking Firwood's resident bad boy wasn't that bad.
"Does Ryan hook you in things like that?" James's voice from behind her was softly assertive.
Sherry's throat closed up. She tried to think of something sharp to say, but all she could muster was, "You... You must have...used that. With someone."
"You mean today? Yeah. I said I was busy." Sherry jumped when she noticed James standing behind her. "Relax."
Sherry walked into the hall, her face heating up, and James was quick, backing her into the railing. He put his arms out on either side of her, gripping the railing in his palms, making her feel smaller than she already was.
"What are you doing?" she hissed.
"I'd ask you the same. Thought you were going to catch me up on all the school I've missed. And shouldn't you? Since it's your fault."
Sherry frowned. She had never seen this kind of behaviour from James. "It's not my fault. Jerk."
"I'm automatically a jerk if I have casual sex? Or if I crave my classmate's girlfriend?"
"Crave?" Sherry tentatively put her hands on his chest to prevent his face from getting closer. She could feel his minty breath. "Like I'm food?"
"Like you're dessert."
"James, cut it out. This isn't funny. I feel really uncomfortable." Sherry moved her hands to his, prying his fingers off the railing behind her.
"Stop ignoring everything I'm saying. Face it. You've known all along exactly where I stand in this relationship. But you keep it going. You keep testing me."
"I just thought... I thought I could trust you."
"Of course you did."
Sherry furrowed her eyebrows, finally staring up at him. Him and that model face of his. Prominent cheekbones, dark eyebrows, soft lips, white teeth. "What?"
"I don't want to be saying anything anymore." James removed his hands from underneath hers, placing them on her waist.
She squirmed and put her hands back on his chest, moving her head back, panic rising in her as she leaned over the railing. "Idiot. Don't let me fall," she whimpered. She felt his grip tighten around her.
"Stop leaning back and just lean in. I can take care of you." His voice was gruff.
"I - Oh my God. James, stop this. I don't want to."
"But you do. There's energy between us."
"I'm sorry you felt like I was teasing you. I'm sorry. Please stop this."
James moved one hand to her neck, holding her head, thumbing the smooth skin underneath her jaw. His words tickled her ear. "Damn right you teased me. Gave me a boner at school. Twice. So I fucking hate Ryan. I hate him for getting to touch you."
"I love him," Sherry said. It came out squeaky.
"Why do you keep so many other guys at your disposure?"
"That's not my intention. You know that, James!"
"Right. Poor angel."
"James," Sherry said warningly.
He looked down at her, pressing his thumb against her throat. "I want it to be my bite on your neck. Your nail marks on my back."
Sherry didn't even know if he was saying it for her to hear anymore, or if he was just saying it for himself to hear. "Are you deranged? Seriously, I..." she trailed off, her mind whirring. She covered her face with her hands. "Stop staring at me."
A wave of sadness crossed James's expression. She looked so fragile underneath him.
Why did it have to be her that he wanted? Why Sherry Tandon, the girl who within her first month at his school was nominated for Homecoming queen, who made a tearjerking speech in the assembly for her cancer fundraiser, who received so much online bullying when she started dating Ryan Daney. Sherry Tandon, who had to go to the principal's office to report someone vandalizing her locker. Sherry Tandon, who hugged a freshman who recited a poem he'd written for her in the B wing hallway.
James let go of her neck and touched her wavy hair, his gaze lingering on her full, pink lips.
"So you'd really rather be with him now?" James asked, finally letting go of her waist.
