"Whoa! Where are you heading off to so fast?" Mike smiled at his friend despite the fact that Sam had nearly knocked him flying in his haste. Clearly nothing was going to bring him down from the buzz of the private party he and his girl had spent most of the night having after Tina had 'danced' with Mercedes.

"Actually, I was looking for you. And Tina. Well- actually I was looking for Tina but I figured if I found you then she'd be nearby…"

Mike just grinned knowingly and nodded towards Tina who was heading towards them. Mike had an expression of smug satisfaction on his face and Tina looked decidedly more disheveled than she had at the start of the evening. As she got closer Sam spotted marks on her neck that he could have sworn weren't there at the beginning of the night either.

"Hey Sam!" Her voice was more like a contented purr.

"Hey!" He wasn't in the mood for extended conversation. He was a man with a mission. "I was wondering- do you know where Mercedes' purse is?"

"Her purse?" Tina frowned a little.

"Yeah. Just need her car keys. She's had a bit much to drink so I said I'd see her home safe."

"Oh. Well I guess that's ok. It's next to mine. I'll show you."

He followed her into a small closet under the stairs. Behind a box were two small clutch bags. Tina picked up the slightly larger of the two and handed it to him. "Is she alright? Do you want me to come outside with you?"

"Oh no. She's fine. Just outside getting some air. I think the combination of all the dancing as well as the alcohol got to her. Don't forget, she's a happy drunk just like you!"

Tina grinned. "Yeah. Just like me! But I haven't even had a chance to get drunk yet thanks to somebody!" Her eyes were trained on her boyfriend who was leering lecherously back at her. Sam didn't have the heart to tell her that she'd also put her top back on inside out and the label was showing. He was a man on a mission.

It didn't occur to Sam that he may have looked stupid clutching on to Mercedes' clutch. All he knew was that he had to get her away so that she could sleep off the alcohol and they could work things out properly.

He made his way outside and followed the sound of the giggling til he found them on the loveseat where he had seen them from the bathroom window. The sight of Marcus on top of her was enough to make his hands clench into fists. The red rose was now missing from her hair and one of her dress straps was now carelessly loose on her shoulder.

There was no way on earth this should be happening!

He watched helplessly for a moment as Marcus ground into her from his position lying between her legs, hands cupping her in places that made his blood boil with a rage that he was now more than prepared to accept as pure and all-consuming jealousy. Mercedes was still giggling. But it wasn't the usual sound he was used to. The pitch was slightly higher. Like she was… nervous. And her hands were actually slightly pushing him back. It was like her mind hadn't quite caught up with her body to receive the message that she was already in out of her depth. The problem was, when she finally did, she'd be too drunk to do anything about it, and Marcus was not the kind of guy to care if the girl he was with was totally out of her head or not.

From her position, she was the one to finally see him first and she instantly froze, a guilty expression passing over her face and her whole body stiffening as she saw the dark expression on Sam's. Feeling the change in her body's response Marcus lifted his head from where it was buried in her neck and looked at her face. "What's up baby?"

She said nothing, her eyes not breaking their connection with Sam's. He turned his head to see what she was looking at and cursed when he saw who it was. "Fuck off Sam! Can't you see we're busy?" The annoyance was clear in his tone.

Sam didn't even acknowledge his presence and continued his stare. "Mercedes. Can I have a word with you?"

Marcus didn't bother to even try to hide his irritation. "For fuck sake Evans. Not all of us are going for the bathroom quickie with a Cheerio tonight. Some girls have bodies that deserve to have the time taken to be fully appreciated!"

Sam's jaw clenched tightly at the words but he still ignored him, instead reaching out to her, keeping his voice calm and offering his hand. "Mercedes?"

She looked uncertainly between the two boys and Marcus clearly had enough, pushing himself off her and turning to face Sam fully. "Look, I don't know what the fuck your problem is but I need you to leave right now! Whatever it is can wait until I've finished with her. Then she's all yours."

This time she did break contact with Sam to shoot the stinkeye at Marcus. Even with a drunken lilt her voice was still full of sass. "Til you're finished with me? Like I'm some cheap toy that you can play with for a bit then pass to your friend when you've had enough!"

Sam grinned as Marcus recoiled from the venom of her words. But she wasn't done. She quickly pulled the strap of her dress back up onto her shoulder before spinning her head back rapidly to address Sam, her loose hair whipping Marcus across the face. "And you! You can have nothing to say to me after you spent the entire evening whoremancing that skinny cheerio!" The words were slightly slurred but their force was still full.

Sam stepped back slightly, feeling thoroughly chastised.

There was nothing he could say in reply to that.

This time it was Marcus looking between the two of them with the same questioning expression that Marie had had earlier. "I feel like I'm missing something here. What exactly is the deal with you guys anyway?"

"Nothing!"
"Nothing!"

They both replied in unison. And too quickly. That only made him eye them even more suspiciously. "Look, you both came here tonight as free agents. Sam pulled tonight and so did I. Only I intend mine to be a bit more than the bathroom quickie Sam seemed to settle for!"

"It wasn't-"

Mercedes was looking at him with an expression of disgust. "How was it Sam? Did you make her cum? Let me guess, you did it up against the vanity so you could watch yourself fu-!"

"I didn't fuck her!" He finally snapped.

His words stopped Mercedes mid-sentence. Her eyebrow shot up and her eyes reflected a myriad of emotions, one of which now seemed to be a little bit of hope. "You didn't?" Her voice was quieter now.

Marcus had had enough. "We that's bad luck for you Evans." He snaked his arm back around Mercedes' waist. "Well at least one of you is going to get lucky tonight!"

Sam glared down at him. "Take your hand off her!" His voice was calm and deliberate but full of seething rage.

Marcus grinned and pulled her closer. "I think not Evans. I'm looking forward to seeing just what all the fuss is about with this one."

Sam lurched forward to hit him. With lightning fast reflexes Marcus was up, deflecting Sam's blow with his forearm and pushing him square in the middle of the chest. It caused Sam to have to take a couple of steps back to regain his balance before charging forward, crouching low to tackle Marcus properly.

"Stopit!" Mercedes screamed to stop the fight before it began. She leaped up from the seat to hurl herself between the two boys. Unfortunately, in moving so quickly she hadn't factored in the effect of the sheer amount of alcohol in her system as the entire yard span and the two boys became a blur.

Sam spotted just in time that Mercedes was about to go down and much as he wanted to land on Marcus and pummel him to mush his body reacted faster than his rage and he reached towards her instead, allowing her to collapse heavily against him. Despite himself he took the briefest millisecond to enjoy the feeling of her body against his, and a slightly longer second to inhale her scent as it flooded up into his nose.

Marcus shot him the evil eye. Sam knew the boy wanted to sucker punch him but there was no way he would stoop so low as to do it while he had a girl in his arms. He grinned smugly at him over the top of Mercedes' head. "If you still want to get some action tonight then I suggest you go find Marie. Last time I saw her she was half dressed in the bathroom and totally gagging for it!"

"Go fuck yourself!" Marcus glared at the two of them in each other's arms and realized whatever happened it wasn't going to go well for him. He might as well go and make the most of the rest of the party. He gave them both the finger as he turned and walked away. "She wasn't fucking putting out anyway!" he yelled over his shoulder, taking small comfort in at least having the last word.

That went far easier than I expected. There were no bruised fists of faces after all! Sam pulled her closer to him and felt her body convulse with giggles. He drew back slightly to look down at her. "What's so funny?"

"You are!"

"Why?"

"I don't know. You're just funny!"

He shot her a concerned look. She still wasn't herself. That was the alcohol talking. He needed to get her to sober up. "Come on, it's time for you to go home."

"You're not my dad Sam. I'm not leaving!"

"Yes you are. You've had too much to drink and you're going to embarrass yourself."

She pulled herself out of his embrace. "Embarrass myself or embarrass you Sam?"

He'd walked right into that one. "Come on Cedes. Let's not do this here."

"Do what here? I came to this party for two reasons. To get my dance on and get someone to give me a good hard fuck. I've done the first bit and you've just managed to spectacularly cockblock the second. I need to go and find Marcus."

She started to make her way with a wobble back towards the house when he caught her hand, preventing her from going any further. She glared up at him through her long lashes. "What is it now Sam?"

"Why Marcus?"

She stopped for a second and seemed to pause before she spoke. "Because he's the only other guy who's shown a real interest in me." She leaned forward "And because it really seems to annoy the hell out of you!" She punctuated the 'you' with a poke to his chest from her forefinger.

Even now she had no idea how attractive she really was. How she had every guy in the room drooling as she shook her thing on the dance floor. If she went back in, she would definitely be able to pick up a guy. And he wasn't about to let that happen.

"Mercedes, you're gorgeous. And every guy at this party knows it. Every guy got rock hard just watching you dancing when you came in. I can't let you go back inside. Besides, you're drunk. They'll only want to take advantage."

"Maybe that's what I want!"

"No that's not what you want. You just want to get back at me. But going on a path of self-destruct is not the way to do it."

"Don't flatter yourself Sam. This isn't about you. I'm just feeling horny!" She pulled him closer. "And if I can't get what I want from in there, I guess I'll just have to settle for what's out here already." She ran her hands down his abs through his shirt and traced them down over his hips until she was gripping his ass. Then she reached up on her toes, changing her grip to his shoulders so that she could bring his face down for a kiss.

Her mouth tasted like Mike's Hard Lemonade. He felt his body melting into the familiarity of her, but his mind was crying foul. This still wasn't right. Technically he wouldn't be using her if she came on to him but she was still completely off her head. He broke away from her and she shot him a hurt look. "Don't you want me?"

"I'm taking you home. You're drunk."

"Oh no you're not! I'm still enjoying this party!"

"You're not even going to remember the party, the state you're in!"

"I'm not in any state."

"You're pissed as fuck Mercedes and I'm not going to let anything happen to you while you're like this!"

"I'm not drunk! I can walk in a perfectly straight line. See!" She took a few wobbly uncoordinated steps before deciding it was best if she sat on the ground to stop the world from spinning.

Sam left her where she was to grab her purse which he had left alongside the loveseat where she had been sitting with Marcus before helping her back up to her feet. "Where's your car parked?"

"Er Sam, I'm not sure I can drive."

"I know. I'm driving. That's why I have your keys."

"But you've been drinking too!"

"Only one pint. And that was ages ago. I never made it to the drinks table more than once all evening."

"Of course not. You were too busy feeling little miss I think I'll wear this tube top as a dress tonight."

Sam chose to ignore her but smiled inwardly at her jealousy.

"Are we going to make out when we get in the car?" she asked as he leaned her against the door while he unlocked the vehicle.

"No. We're going home."

"But I want to make out!"

"Get in the car Mercy!"

"Hey! You just called me Mercy! I never said you can call me Mercy! Only people who I lo- only my family are allowed to call me that!"

To be honest he hadn't even realized he had done it. He'd been calling her Mercy in his head for a while now, but it had never transferred into reality until now. "Look, I'll call you whatever you like as long as you just get in the car. I'm not insured to be driving it so I don't want to draw any attention to us!"

She opened her eyes wide then brought her finger to her lips in a 'shushing' motion. "Our secret" she smiled as she sat down , suddenly finding the seatbelt impossible to pull gently.

Sam slid into the driver's seat, slid it back slightly to adjust for his longer legs and helped her to belt up. He pretended not to notice her breathing hitch as he leaned across her to reach for the belt. This was going to be really difficult…

Thankfully it was a short and uneventful drive back to the Jones home but it was long enough for her to fall asleep. He debated waking her then opted for parking up in the garage to that he could just carry her up the stairs. Her parents were away at one of her father's dental conferences so he had no fear of helping her inside. She looked so peaceful while she was asleep, other than the occasional snore which escaped when her head lolled over to a certain angle. She stayed asleep until he laid her on her bed and regretfully started removing those spectacular 'fuck me' pumps from her feet. He looked down at them sadly. Next time, my beauties, next time!

He had just removed the second one and grazed a delicate kiss on her ankle when he looked up to see her staring down at him groggily. Sam smiled down at her. "How are you feeling?"

Her facial expression was all the answer he needed as she shot past him into the en suite, the sound of retching following closely after the door slammed behind her. Sam sighed. He was just going to leave her to sleep it off, but now it may be a better idea just to stay and see that she's alright.

He knocked gently on the bathroom door. "Are you okay?"

"What the fuck do you think?"

He groaned inwardly. This was going to be a long night.

He headed downstairs to put on some strong coffee for her, and by the time he came up with the tray bearing the mug of coffee, a large glass of water and a plate of Graham crackers he could hear the sound of the shower running. Sitting on the bed with his back against the headboard he waited for her to finish in the shower.

Sam awoke to the feeling of his face being smothered with kisses. His eyes jerked open to see Mercedes pressing up against him. He hadn't realized he had fallen asleep but this sure as hell didn't feel like a dream. She was on all fours crouched over him wearing nothing but an extremely sheer cerise baby doll without the matching panties. Her hair was now pulled back in a sleek pony. Before he could react she captured his mouth with hers. It tasted like coffee.

He pushed her back gently. "Wait! What are you doing?"

"I'm not drunk anymore Sam" she murmured leaning forward again reaching for his lips. "There's no reason for you to say no." It was impossible not to notice how her large breasts swung in the loose casing of the top of the nightdress, the lace allowing him to clearly see how taunt the nipples on them where. He looked in her eyes and in all honesty they were much clearer than they had been before. She'd probably hurled most of the alcohol straight back out of her system.

But now her kisses were distracting him. They were still broken up. They hadn't resolved this. They shouldn't be kissing like this. On her bed. When she's practically naked…

"Mercedes, what are we-"

"Shhhhh…" She kissed him again. Deeply, completely. And he was lost. He tried not to be but he couldn't help it. He was tuned in to her and only her. That body of hers had him totally under control. "I want you to fuck me Sam."

"But we can't- we're not-"

"Don't you want me?" She looked at him with her large eyes and he couldn't help but lust after her. "I told you the two things I needed tonight and they haven't changed."

"I need to cum Sam. Either I do it myself or you help me. Either way it's going to happen." He reached out to grab one of the breasts that swung tantalizingly in front of him but she immediately smacked his hand away. He frowned with confusion and she shook her head with a loud tut. "No touching. I want you to fuck me, not touch me."

How the hell was he supposed to do that?

"You're not my boyfriend, you just my replacement for Marcus. Just the guy who's going to get me off. This doesn't mean that I'm not still mad at you."

His brain was screaming that this was wrong but his eyes would not leave her as she pouted and crawled off him only to remain on all fours next to him.

He licked he lips, his dry mouth returning for the millionth time.

"I want you to get behind me and fuck me hard Sam. I want you to fuck me deep. Can you do that for me?" Her eyes were still on his but he knew that she could see the bulge of his painful erection. It wasn't fair. He had no control over this! And yet it completely turned him on that she was taking full control and telling him what to do. Especially when part of him really didn't want to!

Suddenly she was taking on his badboy reckless sex persona and it blew his mind. Tonight he was just an object to her, just like he had treated many girls before he had come to Lima. Before she came along.

She bent forward until her chest rested on the bedspread, her ass still in the air. She shook it so that the nightdress slid slightly down her back leaving it fully exposed. She didn't break eye contact as she slid a hand down her front and started stroking herself. Seconds later she hissed and he didn't even have to look to see what she was doing to herself. By the time she had removed her sticky fingers from her pussy and sucked them into her mouth he had leaped off the bed, removed his clothes and was rooting in her bottom drawer for one of his little golden packets and within seconds he was kneeling behind her, eyes wide in appreciation of dat ass!

Despite himself he had to take a moment just to watch her, the way she moved her hips as she pumped her fingers, the deep breaths she took and the small sounds she made with her mouth. Knowing that although it felt good to her, it wasn't enough. And the reason it wasn't enough was because it wasn't him.

And then he was inside her. He'd pushed her hand out of the way, wiped the tip of his cock along her sticky pussy then pushed it all the way in while she cried out underneath him. Immediately she bucked her hips back onto him for him to start pumping and he did. He tried to lean forward and grab at her breasts and belly but she was having none of it, brushing him away. The most she would allow was his hands on her hips.

"Harder!" It was a request he was more than happy to comply with.

"Is that all you've got?" she sneered as he quickened the pace. "Marcus would have fucked me harder! Maybe I should have let him!"

Now she was just going all out to make him mad! He continued to pump into her harder and faster.

"More!" He was trying, he'd raised one leg so that he could put one foot flat on the bed for greater leverage. He could feel her walls around him and it was driving him crazy.

"Deeper!" He wanted to do that too, but his favorite way of doing that was pumping his hips while he was pressed right up against. her but this time she didn't want to be touched. It was making him really pissed off. She turned her head round to glare at him. "Fuck me good Sam! Fuck me like I'm a skinny Cheerio!"

Now he was getting truly angry and taking it out hard on her. She really needed to drop that whole Cheerio thing.

"Oooh yeah! Like that Sam! Harder! Harder!" He couldn't help it. He leaned forward and pressed himself into her back. She did her best to shake him off, causing him to break his rhythm.

"I said don't touch me! If you want to hold on to something, hold on to the headboard!"

"What the hell?"

"Just do it! Mount me like a pedigree and fuck me like a bitch on heat!" That sentence should have been funny but by this point he was pissed beyond belief. Without withdrawing, he pushed her forward with his hips so that he could reach and hold on to the headboard. Now with both feet flat on the bed for leverage he could slam into with the only physical contact being his hips to her ass. He felt stupid crouched above her, simply slamming his hips against her, but strangely enough it was working for her. He could feel that he was hitting her spot over and over again and her orgasm was closing in. Her words had descended into meaningless babble and she came with a burst of expletives. He keeps slamming into her through her contractions, wondering if the reason it hadn't triggered his own was the fact that he was just simply too pissed off.

Eventually he slowed down and pulled out so that she could calm down. His cock was still hard as a rock. He couldn't believe that he was so pissed off and felt so used that he didn't cum. He sat back down against the headboard angrily next to her and removed the condom, cock still standing to attention with its angry throbbing red head. He knew Mercedes was watching him through lidded eyes as she came down from her high but he didn't give a fuck about that. He spat into his hand and used that combined with the precum leaking from his tip as a lubricant to stroke himself.

Her eyes were fixed on his actions for a moment before they moved up his body, fixing on the mark that Marie had left on him. He'd totally forgotten about it and knew he was going to regret it having ever happened. "You said you didn't fuck her!"

"I didn't!"

"But you were naked." Her voice was emotionless as she said it.

"I may have taken off my shirt but that was all. It was only for a couple of minutes. The it was back on and I came to find you."

"Did she keep her panties on?"

"Yes. And her dress."

"But I guess that doesn't really mean anything with you. You love fucking me with my panties on and my dress around my waist."

"Mercedes-"

"Did you suck her clit?"

He sighed. "I did not suck her clit. I did not finger her pussy and I'm not discussing this anymore!" All this frustration was not helping him achieve his own relief and it was getting awkward.

She pushed herself up from the bed and straddled him once more, removing his hand from his cock and stroking it with her own. His body immediately remembered her touch and things started moving much faster.

"Why did you kiss me if you don't want me to touch you?"

She shrugged. "I was trying to wake you up."

It wasn't a satisfying answer but he decided not to push it this time. He leaned against the headboard and closed his eyes as he felt his impending release. Just before the crucial moment she reached over for a Kleenex to catch his cum. He watched her in silence as she cleaned him up and tossed the used tissue. Any other time she would have used her mouth.

"Why didn't you-"

"You're not my boyfriend. You're just a guy I decided to pick up and fuck tonight. Do you really expect me to take a strange man's cum into my mouth just like that?"

Sam didn't know what to say. There was pain in her voice and all he knew was that he had to try and make things better.

"I'm sorry Mercedes." She looked at him hard before climbing off him and lying back down on her side of the bed. "I mean it Cedes. I am sorry. I was wrong with what I said the other day and I was wrong in the way that I behaved tonight at the party."

She lay on her back, silently staring up at the ceiling. "Say something. Please Cedes!"

"It's after 2am. I need to go to sleep and you need to leave."

"I'm not going. We're both wide awake and I'm not leaving until we've had this conversation."

She closed her eyes and let out a long ragged breath. "You were with a Cheerio-"

"I already said I was sorry!"

She cut her eyes at him. "Let me finish Sam! You were already with a Cheerio by the time I got to the party. I was hoping Sam, I hoped all week that maybe you'd used the time to think about things. And maybe, just maybe, when I arrived at the party you would say 'to hell with it' and be all up on me from the word go. I was ready to forgive you. I wanted you back Sam."

He looked down at her as a tear escaped through her closed eyelids and felt wretched. "You were so busy with her that you didn't even see me walk in. I spent the entire day getting ready just so I would catch your eye but it was all in vain. It took all my willpower not to turn right around and run back out in floods of tears!"

Sam felt as if someone had kicked him in the chest. He had figured too late that Mercedes had wanted him to make a play for her at the party, but he had never considered how hurt she would have felt in those first few seconds after arriving. He reached out to touch her arm but she just brushed it away. "She's everything I'm not Sam! She's tall and skinny, popular and fashionable. You knew how I feel about myself and you rubbed my face in it.

"Cedes, I didn't mean-"

"Shut your mouth Sam! I don't want to hear it. You knew and you still did it. If you were with no girl then it would have been fine. But you sure as hell move fast. And that meant so did I. Marcus means nothing to me. But he does validate my existence and make me feel beautiful and desired. And that's what I needed. You didn't even try and come and dance even one song with me! I wanted to feel. You've stolen all my feelings from me and left me with confusion. And the worst part is because we're a secret, I can't even talk to anyone about it. Do you know how hard that's made things for me?" She finally opened her eyes and stared at him. "Do you?"

He swallowed audibly. Her pain ran deep. And so did his if he thought about the possibility of this never being fixed between them. "I'm so sorry Mercedes." Yes he'd just said it several times, but this time it came from the bottom of his soul. If he had to spend the rest of his life doing penance in order to fix this then he would with a smile on his face. Nothing could prepare him for how he felt. This wasn't feeling bad over hurting a friend. This was deeper. This was something else entirely. "What can I do to fix this?"

"I don't know Sam." Her voice sounded tired and was getting softer and softer. "I just don't know."

"For what it's worth, I spent the whole night comparing her to you. And you won out every time. I didn't have a good time. I had to watch every guy in the room drool at you while you were dancing. I had to watch Marcus take advantage. I had to watch you allow him to take advantage. I never want to be in that position again..." He sighed and continued more slowly, eyes also focused on the ceiling. "I know i've been an idiot, but for once in my life I know what I want now. And what I want is for us to work Mercedes. I want us to be a proper couple. Just like you always wanted. Do you think that maybe it's not too late for that to happen? Cedes? Baby? Cedes did you hear that?"

He looked down to see that her eyes were closed and her breathing was slow and even, the emotional exhaustion having got the better of her at last.

There was no way that he was going home right now.

"Goodnight my dear." He whispered the words to her as he leaned over her to switch off the light and planted a feather light kiss on her forehead.

Pulling the sheet over both of them, he snuggled in as close to her as he could without disturbing her and fell into a fitful sleep.

Sam was woken by the vibration of his phone which he had left of the bedside table. The time was 12.27. They had slept through the entire morning and he had work that evening. After checking that Mercedes was still asleep he reached over to retrieve the phone and read the message. It was from his mom.

Sam we figured you probably crashed out after your party but you need to come home now. We have important news to discuss as a family.

He sighed. He had counted on finishing his conversation with Mercedes when she woke up and hopefully patching things up properly but now it was going to have to be deferred.

Whatever the news was that they were calling him back to the motel for had better be worth it!