Teagan
He wasn't lying when he said that Rain was making it harder and harder to keep his distance. Everything new he uncovered about the woman behind the Ice Queen persona only attracted him more.
Was he crazy?
Before, when she'd told him she had killed her mother, Teagan hadn't even blinked. It was madness, but he'd been intrigued rather than scared.
He'd suspected there were layers to the woman named Rain Sullivan. He just hadn't been prepared for how deep some of those secrets were buried. It made him wonder what she kept out of her story, because he knew there was more to it than the misplaced guilt of a young girl who snuck out to attend a party.
There were holes in her story that made the bone-chilling despair in those violet eyes such a heartbreaking sight.
Her pain was like a magnetic force to him. Though he tried to put his own pitiful childhood behind him and lived as though he didn't care for the consequences of his actions, he couldn't fight her. The more she pulled away, the deeper he fell under her spell. The less she said in words, the more he listened for the signs so many others missed.
Because despite all the reasons she was all wrong for him, the only thing that mattered was that he had one good reason to ignore the rest.
It was the power she'd held over him since the moment he'd laid eyes on her.
The same spark that had ignited between them at that party so long ago, spiraled out in flames with every taste he got of that sweet mouth of hers, every small bit of truth she slowly relinquished to him.
Today, the fire extinguished everything but the need she aroused in him.
The violet pools of her eyes grew languid, resembling molten velvety depths that could drown him in oblivion if he let go long enough. Purple black holes that beckoned to his lonely soul, and he was too weak to put up much of a fight.
Who moved first he couldn't tell. But that hardly mattered when the end result was the fiery explosion he'd craved since the first kiss they'd shared in the college's parking lot.
Heat. God, he'd never realized how cold a man could become from the superficial matchbox flames that came with one night stands and impersonal relationships. Those flames hardly singed anymore, the fire quickly extinguished in a couple of minutes. But this... this was different. With the Ice Queen, the fire was all-consuming and allowed little room for reasoning.
It dimmed at times when he remembered to keep his distance, but it never died. It was a constant source of warmth that made it impossible for him to turn away.
The taste of her was everything he'd ever craved, everything he'd been denied, all in one. Sweet and tart, soft lips and sharp tongue, peace and chaos, a completely imperfect perfection. And all he could think was more. The sigh that passed through those red, pliant lips of hers as she melted into him wasn't nearly enough. When those same lips parted to allow him entrance into the hot depths within, his mind filled with all the ways he could get closer to her, deeper.
It was insanity, this hunger for so much more than he could ever deserve, but for a man starved, it was as natural as breathing to selfishly want it anyway.
"Isn't it a little early to be crawling into your lady friend's pants?" a raspy voice slurred.
Teagan tensed even as the need to take the woman in his arms burned through his veins. It was an almost painful thing to have to shoulder back into the rigid armor of control he donned to protect himself. Yet he managed to pull away from the fire simply because he refused to subject Rain to the embarrassment that came with being caught fraternizing with Granite Woods' scum.
When his hands fell from her hair, she frowned, looking faintly disappointed. And, screw it all, he wanted to kiss her all over again.
"Ah, you've got some restraint after all!" Choking cackles filled the air.
Teagan watched the haze of desire vanish from her face to be replaced by confusion. Shame was a bitter taste in his mouth after the sweetness of their kiss.
He kept his back to his drunken father, biding his time until he could return her to her little kingdom atop the hill. "What's up, old man? Did Rust refuse to serve you today?"
"Rust can go stick a cork up his blowhole for all I care! That bastard's been celibate ever since that she-devil ran out on him and now he's taking it out on his customers," old Jameson Miller grumbled. "He can go screw himself if he really wants to."
The shocked look on the Ice Queen's face ripped a growl from him. "Shut up," Teagan muttered as he spun around to meet his father's glazed eyes.
"You gonna make me?"
Yes. But his mind had cleared enough to realize he couldn't exactly give in to his instinctive need to pummel the monster who'd raised him. "I don't think I'll have to." Both of them heard the implied "again" that Teagan left out, but neither seemed fond of the memory.
His father scratched at his bearded chin, annoyed but too prideful to admit it. "You aren't worth the hell I've been through because of you," he hissed. "You should let your lady know that and send her home."
"And you can mind your own business if you aren't too drunk to think straight."
Rain, always the picture of propriety, cleared her throat behind him and effectively drew the attention of father and son to her. Teagan moved forward a bit to allow her the space she needed to slide off the counter. "I don't think we've officially met," she said. "My name's Rain Sullivan, a class friend of Teagan's."
The old man snorted, refusing to shake Rain's extended hand as she offered it in greeting. "Teagan isn't friends with females. Especially not ones like you, princess."
"It's Queen, actually," Teagan corrected. It was a reflex, the words flowing without thought.
"What?"
"If you're going to use names to try to insult her, you'll have to get the titles right."
Rain elbowed him. Discreetly. "I'm sorry you've such a low impression of the son you have, but I can assure you he's become someone very dear to me," she defended.
He tried not to let the words get to him, especially since she had a tendency to melt and freeze almost without much thought. He failed miserably. He couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his face when she used the word "friend" to describe their relationship.
He didn't have much experience with friendships, but he was guessing not many friends could lock lips and set fire to the world.
But he'd take friends over acquaintances with benefits any day.
His father simply muttered something derogatory about women leaving the kitchen to go to college these days under his breath. "You can call what I just walked in on friendship, sure, but I know what I saw. I just hope you know who you're messing with."
Who knew his father could manage so many words in one sentence without getting his tongue twisted?
"It's a good thing no one asked for your opinion, then, isn't it?" Teagan snapped, watching the muted fury in his father's not-quite-sober eyes. "Now, if you'll excuse us, I'll be driving Rain home."
For once, his father seemed too stunned to argue.
xXx
The Ice Queen kept clearing her throat, and Teagan was almost tempted to pull the truck over to see if she had a piece of ice to cough up.
But he decided against it, seeing as she'd managed to be civil to his father when he'd wanted to punch the bastard in the face.
She cleared her throat again.
"Either you've got something stuck in your throat or you're dying to ask me something. I don't care which, just stop, puh-lease."
Rain laughed in her seat and turned her gaze from the window to watch him under those impossibly long lashes. "You and I have a lot more in common than I thought, Tee," she told him.
"How so?"
"We've got less than desirable fathers who don't seem to know anything about their offspring."
That's a nice way of putting it. "While both men can be considered jerks, at least yours still thinks you are worth some of his time. Mine only remembers I exist when the liquor cabinet is running low."
"But you're a dreamer."
Say what?!
He'd been called a lady killer, a good-for-nothing bastard, a womanizing flirt with no purpose in life but to annoy the living daylights out of his father. All of those made sense. They were facets of who he was, and he'd seen each of those pieces of himself in his reflection at some point in his short life.
He'd never seen a dreamer staring back at him.
Teagan glared at the red light that forced him to slam on the brakes before he could even try to speed past the yellow. "I mean, I dream about you a lot, Rainy Day. In and out of bed." He wiggled his eyebrows. "Sometimes all I picture is your smile and those sexy, sensible sandals you wear when you've just painted your toes, but I don't think that's the kind of dreaming you're referring to."
Rain gave a disapproving grumble, not the least amused. "You're such a moron."
"But I'm a dreamer, aren't I?"
"Yes, even though you do a great job of hiding it. I think it's because you're so good at hiding your own hopes, that you can recognize the shadows of my own," she explained, as Teagan stepped down on the accelerator. "You've made an art out of the Casanova persona you created, that people forget you fear commitment for a reason."
She was getting very close to something he didn't want to share. "You're reaching, My Lady."
Rain shrugged. "If you say so. I've seen parts of the Teagan Miller that exists for more than the immediate pleasures of calculated sex."
He was seriously depraved. Just hearing the hiss "s" sound she made when saying the last word sent his pulse galloping. But besides that overtly enthusiastic response to Granite Woods' Ice Queen, her words made him want to believe there was more to him than the son of a careless drunk. Almost as badly as he wanted to believe this bond between the two of them could last.
"Do you like what you've seen?"
"So far," she replied, and the cheeky smile she gave him seemed to imply she expected him to mess up.
He wasn't one to disappoint. "I can show you so much more."
That didn't quite come out the way he'd meant it to. Somewhere between his brain's determination to sound careless and the actual words that left his mouth, he lost something.
And gave away more than he would have liked to.
Rain smiled at the nearly whispered words. "Oh, I hope so."
And somewhere in those four little words, Rain Sullivan promised him a storm.
xXx
Teagan smirked all the way back to "the slums."
Some butthole cut him off just beyond the train tracks and Teagan didn't even curse him.
Well, maybe just a little. But he whistled afterwards which basically canceled out the bad words he'd hurled at the stupid driver.
His old man was passed out on the couch, a half empty bottle of whiskey left open on the floor. Even that didn't faze him. It wasn't until he got into his room and ran his eyes over the small pile of mail that had gathered on his bedside table over the last few days that his mood took a turn for the worst.
It wasn't the impending bills that still needed to be paid. It wasn't the letter of notice that he still hadn't decided where he was going with his education.
It was a name written in dancing script. The envelope was subtle with a light mint color to add just the appropriate amount of femininity.
Mary Hale.
That name was meaningless to him, but everyone else would have told him it was a name he should care deeply about.
Mary Hale was the woman who'd broken up the fragile snow globe his life had been. And for all intents and purposes, his father told him she was "mom."
But a certain little Ice Queen had explained to him that a stranger who carried the same blood as he did in her veins didn't make her a mother.
It was with that thought in mind that Teagan was able to finally pick up the envelope to read the page long letter within. The first thing he noticed was that she had an elegant hand. The next was that she hadn't addressed the letter to him as Dear Son.
Perhaps someone had explained to her that they weren't exactly family. She'd been a catalyst in destroying the one family he did have.
Dear Teagan,
I hope by now you know who I am and can think of me without too much resentment. It's been a long time for both of us. But I hope this letter isn't too late to mend some of the hurt I've caused.
I was selfish. My need for attention from wherever I could get it made me turn a blind eye to the family I had. In doing so, I set off an explosion in the lives of others who didn't deserve it.
I'm sorry my actions brought you pain. That does not mean I regret giving birth to you. If that's a sin than so be it, I just wish I could have brought you into this world under different circumstances.
I hear from your father that you've decided to continue studying beyond high school? That's a marvelous decision. Your half-brother, though you probably prefer to think of him as just Dimitri, would have continued his studies, too, if I hadn't completely uprooted his life by keeping my indiscretions a secret.
I know I can't expect much from you. I haven't earned it. I just wanted to introduce myself, slowly, of course. Perhaps you can find it in you to let me see the kind of man you've become? I hope in time, I'll be able to at least build a friendship with you.
Whatever your choice may be, I shall respect it.
Sincerely,
Mary Hale
By the time he's read to the very bottom of the page, the letter was little more than a crumpled mess.
What right did she have to reach out now? And how could she say she didn't regret bringing him into the world? God knew he regretted being alive from time to time.
She wanted a friendship! As if she hadn't caused him so much already. No, she wasn't his mother, and she wouldn't be his friend anytime soon, either. He was just finally finding something worth his effort, his care, and she wasn't going to ruin it for him.
He didn't need a brother. He could hardly stand his father these days.
Teagan Miller wasn't someone people remembered when they needed to clear something off their chests. He wasn't a convenient charity case they could try to win over and introduce to their circles.
Twenty-three years, he'd done just fine.
And the only person who mattered right now was a violet-eyed beauty who inspired him beyond his most ludicrous imaginings.
—————
I'm back! Sorry it took soooooo long. I promise to make it up. I've already got the next update started so it should be up sooner than expected this week.
Hope you like this chapter! Don't forget to comment, share, and maybe even hit that star to vote?
Thanks for reading!
-VIVKELLER23