Sparks Fly

Chapter Thirty: Dumb and Dumber

Okay guys, we've reached a milestone! Can't believe it's been thirty chapters (90,000 words!) of this book already! I was so excited when I saw that, I couldn't rest until I got this chapter down.

It's a little longer than usual, but we're nearing the end of this story! I've mapped out the next few steps that still need to happen, but we're looking at like six or seven more chapters 😢 and that's it...

Thank you for sticking by, for giving this story a chance, and sharing the love. Means the world to me!

—VIVKELLER23
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Teagan

How on Earth did a dream become a reality while the rest of your life kept spiraling out of control?

That was the essential question Teagan had set out to answer. It appeared that while he'd been busy scaling the Ice Queen's walls, he'd forgotten there was a reason why he'd been allowed to spend so much time with her in the first place.

Tilden's paper was due in less than three hours and Teagan wasn't any closer to having a clear answer.

Every time he managed to spill out a few paragraphs, he found he'd veered off topic and given much more than he was ready to divulge. There wasn't much research he could offer, and he was far from unbiased. He'd completely lost sight of the initial goal he'd started out with, and now all the information he had was valuable and private. Something he wasn't sure anyone had a right to see.

Worse still, he knew Rain wouldn't have had the same problem.

But what could he say?

Everything she'd seen of him had been a side people ignored, though not exactly a side he'd set out to conceal. So he worked, he lived in an old, shambled house, he had a drunk father who took more out of him than just the money he brought home. That wasn't necessarily interesting stuff. It sure wasn't new.

Truth be told, he was ashamed of some of the things Rain would be able to mention in her analysis of him. Would the words she printed surprise her enough to realize he really wasn't worth her time? If she woke up one day to see how wrong he truly was for her, could he blame her?

No. But that would hurt like hell.

Why, though? Why should he care so much about any of it if he'd known it would fall apart at some point? When had the business transaction turned into a moment that could determine his happiness?

When the heck had he fallen for Rain Sullivan?

Teagan felt his stomach flip at the thought. Now he'd really done it. He couldn't write the stupid paper, not because he didn't have the drive to fill the pages on the cracked computer screen. He had more than enough to say. The problem was he couldn't write the paper without giving away the game.

He'd made a very stupid, calculated mistake, and now he couldn't see any way out of it unscathed.

I told you so! the familiar, goody-good voice in his mind chimed.

Teagan shook his head and pushed himself out of the broken swivel chair he used for his desk space. Not now.

He wasn't amused. He was scared as hell. Teagan had always been the guy who knew the outcome that followed a casual fling even before he'd smirked at the breathless girl he'd chosen for the night. He'd always held all the cards. And while he'd known that anything he did with Rain Sullivan, the Ice Queen of Granite Woods, would be unchartered territory, he'd thought he had control.