Dark as the Night

39

Author's Note: Title: "In which James is an asshole."

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The next day was Thursday and Odessa met the math teacher at school at 9:00 in the morning. He explained the intense schedule she would endure for the rest of the month: Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 10:30, he would tutor her in Algebra and Geometry from 10:45 to 12:15 with a bathroom break in between. She then spent the rest of the morning reviewing what she already knew in those subjects, which turned out was not very much.

After her depressing tutoring session, she gratefully met Tai and James at the food hall for lunch, which the two boys spent cheering her up with their usual game of back-and-forth. Afterward they all went to the archery range at the training center where James was scheduled to teach the advanced class. Tai had reserved a small range for Odessa's one-on-one instruction afterward.

The two of them sat in on James's lesson for the first two hours of their allotted time, then moved to their own area to spend the remainder going over how to choose and care for a bow. They determined that her dominant eye was her left although she was right handed, and Tai measured her arms to get her draw length. They tested out some bows that had a balanced axle-to-axle length for the types of hunting they would be doing, and found a draw weight that Odessa could manage easily but effectively.

"Why didn't they just put me in the beginner's class?" Odessa wondered as Tai showed her how to string her bow and keep all the bolts tightened just the right amount.

He shrugged. "Probably because they started back in February and you missed the basics. You wouldn't want to be in there anyway; it's full of thirteen and fourteen year olds. There's sometimes a beginner's class for adults, but at the moment there isn't enough need for it."

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On Friday, Odessa sat through the same routine with her tutor and felt her heart sink at the thought of having to repeat the torture nearly every day for the rest of the month. She was sure she would never be good enough at math. Her mind frequently wandered to what the boys were doing. James had to work his first shift at the farm early this morning, so he had missed breakfast with her and Tai. Tai was planning to work out while she was at school, then the three would all meet up for lunch at 12:30.

When she got to the food hall, Tai was already waiting, having worked out, showered, and even helped Leila at the Med Center for an hour. James jogged up, his wet hair pulled against his still glistening neck in a bun. "Did you forget to dry off?" Tai asked with an arched brow. James shrugged his thick shoulders and walked past them into the building.

"Farm work ran over and I barely had time to shower," he replied noncommittally over his shoulder. "Hurry up, I'm friggin' hungry."

Odessa and Tai followed him in, both rolling their eyes. They spent the lunch joking around and each sharing how their morning had gone. They talked about plans for the next day, and realized that none of them had work or any other commitments, so they agreed to spend the day at the mall in Kalispell.

As they were leaving the food hall to go to their respective jobs, a very pretty blonde girl saw them and waved before sidling up to James with a flirty smile on her face. He returned the smile as his eyes trailed down her curvy body and back up to meet her glinting blue ones.

"Hey James," she purred.

"Ashlyn," he greeted with a nod.

"I heard you and Mina broke up."

James crossed his arms, flexing them. "You heard right," he said.

The girl's eyes were drawn to the bulging muscles on display and she licked her lips hungrily as she looked up at him through long, thick eyelashes and adopted a fake pout. "My boyfriend and I just broke up, too. Want to come to my place sometime?"

James gave her a slow, seductive smile and lowered his voice into a purr of his own. "I think that could be arranged."

Ashlyn licked her lips again and winked at him. "Call me when you get off work, ok?" She turned away with a wiggle of her fingers and pranced away. James watched her walk away appreciatively.

Odessa interrupted his outright ogle fest. "Are you going to have sex with her?" she asked bluntly. He turned back to her and Tai, taking in their incredulous expressions. He grinned teasingly.

"Nah, but whenever she breaks up with a boyfriend, she likes to comfort herself by licking my abs."

Odessa's eyes widened with shock. "You let her lick you?" she exclaimed in a horrified hiss.

James continued to grin wickedly. "What? I like being licked. And I really like licking." He winked at her.

An image of James licking Ashlyn's belly flashed through Odessa's mind and her own belly flipped unpleasantly. "So you're going to just lick each others' stomachs?" she asked, confusion and disgust lacing her voice.

James guffawed in a burst of riotous laughter so hard he doubled over, holding his stomach, and cried. After a full minute of this, he got control of himself and stood, wiping tears from his red face. "Oh god," he gasped, "that's cute." He patted her on the head then continued to chuckle as he walked away.

Odessa, confused, stared at the ground and covered her bright pink face with her hands while Tai glared silently after James.

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What do you think of James's interaction with Ashlyn? Is this behavior something you expected from him or does it surprise you? And why do you think it made Tai so angry?

-Evie