Well, I'm back. Sorry it took so long. Writer's block really sucks.

Hope you like this chapter. Don't forget to comment (and vote if you like).

Thank you!

--VIVKELLER23

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Teagan

Now you've done it, you horny bastard.

Inner-voice Gavin wasn't pulling his punches. For once, Teagan was forced to agree with him. What on Earth had he been thinking to put his hands on the one woman he knew he could never have? The thing was he hadn't been thinking at all, not past the wild look of hurt and need he'd seen in the purple depths of her eyes. Worse still, he'd used more than just his hands to touch her, to taste her, to burn her and himself past the point of no return.

He was a fool, a fool who couldn't keep his hands off the Ice Queen with all her icy secrets. There was so much to her he still didn't know, but he could see that she yearned to leave some of the load she carried behind. It was there every time she found herself smiling at something Tilden said or something he did. If she thought too much about it, the smile disappeared to be replaced by a look of doubt. That pissed him off. She of all people deserved to smile after the way she'd been misunderstood and ignored, overlooked because people were too focused on the facade she provided to look closer than the cold surface.

God, she wasn't cold at all. He'd only gotten a taste of what the real woman was like underneath the icy exterior, but he hadn't stopped wanting more. Two frigging days after that explosive kiss, and Teagan Miller was far from satisfied. He'd never had to wait so long for a single kiss. Now waiting was all he could do.

She'd been the one to practically demand he do something about this thing between them. She'd been the one to melt into him, the one to answer his ardor with her own. She'd also been the one to finally pull away from him without so much as a "thank you, see ya later." He didn't know what to make of it all. He'd never been in a position to wait on anyone to hit him up before, so this was new territory for him.

"Oh, you're still here."

Teagan winced at the slurred tone of his father's voice. It was only nine in the morning, yet from the sounds of it, the old man had already gotten more than his fair share of the good stuff from his liquor cabinet.

His father stumbled into the kitchen, smirking when he saw the two plates of toast and scrambled eggs set on the table. "You expecting company?" he sneered, baring his set of uneven teeth.

How many mornings had they gone through this very scene? Teagan wondered. And why did he still try to provide some semblance of order, of family, when he knew it was never going to amount to anything?

It angered him. Not the fact that his father was a worthless drunk who could hold down his liquor about as well as he could hold down a job. No, what angered him, what really messed with his head, was that he could have come so close to killing the bastard for being a selfish, loveless monster all those years ago. And yet, Teagan would still wake up early in the mornings to make breakfast for two.

Frigging idiot. "No, actually. You see, I know you'd like to go on binging on alcohol until you drown out all the stupid things you did to ruin the only good thing you had in life. But me?" Teagan shook his head. "I prefer you live a long, miserable life. Maybe with a full belly you'll be able to stomach the fact you're a pathetic waste of space."

Jameson Miller laughed, but the sound wasn't a nice one. "Aren't you the self righteous bastard today?" With a hard look full of hate out of his cold grey eyes, he took a seat to shovel a spoonful of eggs down his throat.

He loathed the man for being so unfeeling when Teagan couldn't even fake indifference. "You're up early," he stated as he took a seat at the worn wooden table. He took the cold glass of orange juice he'd set beside his plate and drank, his eyes glued on his father's bent head. "What job are you trying for this time?"

"You just worry about keeping your own jobs so we don't get thrown into the street," he grumbled.

Well, at least the old man realized Teagan was bringing in all the income to stay afloat. "We?" He couldn't believe the guy's audacity. "You almost make it sound like we're a team, like I should care what happens to you."

That got his father's attention. "Look, you ungrateful piece of trash-"

Teagan stared into those angry, glassy eyes set in a face weathered with lines from years of alcohol abuse. "No, you look. Open your eyes and see what the hell you've been doing since I buried mom. What you've done to everyone and everything around you. There's nothing you can ask of me after the mess you've become. Or can you?"

A muscle ticked in the older man's face, just under the heavy bags of his eyes. "Get out!" he spat, swiping his arm over the plate of food he no longer seemed to want. The plate shattered as it hit the floor, the eggs scattered atop the white and blue speckled tile.

Teagan smirked. "Gladly, but don't forget who keeps this roof over your worthless drunkard's head, Pops."

He didn't bother to say goodbye or to tell him when he'd be back. A man like that could barely remember his own name at the end of the day, so he couldn't expect him to recall something so trivial. Teagan would be wasting his breath anyway. Jameson Miller cared for nothing these days. Nothing but the drunken, boozy fog he needed like he needed the breath in his lungs.

Teagan stopped by the front door to grab his truck keys and leather jacket. Now that September had passed, the weather in Granite Woods had become as unpredictable as the violet-eyed beauty that plagued his mind.

Should he call her? No. From the looks of it, she still hadn't replaced the phone she'd broken the night Crue sent that staged photo. His only other option was to drop by her grand estate, but that would look stupid. He didn't have a good enough reason to stop by.

Wanting to kiss the living daylights out of her isn't appropriate, is it?

Shut up, Teagan thought, irritated beyond belief. How did people do it? How could the girls stand having to put themselves out there so confidently? He saw now that while there were perks to never having to go out of his way to catch a female's eye, he lacked the finesse that was required to attract someone with the Ice Queen's poise. Part of the problem stemmed from never having had a reason to acquire such skills before.

What the heck? He had nothing to lose. There wasn't a stellar reputation he needed to uphold. With the choices he'd made in the past, there was a beauty to the amount of liberty he had to get away with stuff. He could show up at the good girl's front doorstep and say something ridiculous and no one would think a thing about it.

Because he was Teagan Miller, and no one gave a thought to what he did or didn't do.

xXx

As it turned out, he had been halfway out of "the slums," blasting some Shania Twain with the car windows rolled down, his mind on the hefty ride into the nicer part of town when he realized it was a school day. The good thing about realizing that sooner rather than later was that he saved some much needed gas and managed to not look like a completely crazy fool.

It also helped with his less than satisfactory class attendance, but he couldn't even pretend to care about that.

It was Wednesday, which meant none of his classes this morning were with Rain. After the tense conversation during breakfast, he wouldn't have minded some of the insane things Tilden was famous for spewing. Anything was better than the spiteful things he and his father made a habit of throwing at each other.

He glanced at the rusty pocket watch he carried in his pocket and grimaced. There was no point trying to make his Classical Lit class now. He'd only catch the last ten minutes of the lecture if by some chance Mrs. Feinstein had left the door unlocked. Knowing how the elderly woman looked down on his carefree lifestyle, he wasn't going to risk it. Maybe he'd check out the cafe in the library to kill some time.

Cause there was no way Teagan was going to be caught walking into the library for a book in this lifetime.

Oh, sure! But you'll take Classical Literature like some cultured, sophisticated playboy. That makes a whole lot of sense.

The voice in his head made a valid point. Which was why Teagan very subtly snuck a magazine from one of the front tables as he entered the cafe.

God, he loved the smell of freshly brewed coffee. With the magazine rolled up in his left hand, Teagan strode up to the cash register. "What's up?" he greeted, but he didn't really care about the answer.

"Well, would you look at what the crisp October air brought in?"

Teagan's eyes snapped away from the menu he'd been staring up at. He'd expected the usual strawberry blondie with the innocent dimples and hungry eyes. She'd looked like she could handle a fun time of dirty dancing. But the smirking, freckled face with the bright pink lip ring and spiky black hair didn't belong to the girl he could usually bargain down the price of an espresso from. Nope. This one was a dude.

"You new here?" Teagan asked, frowning at the way the guy's eyes seemed to be scanning him like an x-ray machine. The only difference was that this one wasn't looking for fractured bones.

"Yep. But don't let that stop you, big boy." He winked.

Scratch that. He was looking for one bone. And here he thought he'd seen it all! "Excuse me?"

"You bet I'll excuse anything you want to do to me." The man- no, boy, because he looked like he'd just gotten over the hardest stage of puberty- licked his lower lip. "Isn't this just my lucky day. And on hump day no less!"

"Are you-?" His question died before he'd fully formed what he wanted to ask. How the heck did people react to being hit on by both sexes? "I'm sure you're a nice guy and all, but-"

His name tag read Aris, and Aris was not paying attention. "Oh, I can be naughty, too."

Well, that was a first. He'd thought he'd seen it all, what with women almost twice his age throwing themselves at him. And he'd been so wrong. "Look, buddy," he began, searching for a way to put his rejection nicely.

"Yes, daddy?"

Yeah, no. Up until this point he'd thought he was prepared for anything and everything. Teagan takes his mind for one of his suitable, cocky replies, the ones he usually gave out when he was done with someone. Why couldn't he think of any of them now? He shook his head, lost for words. "Uh, yeah, no. I'm not daddy material. You know what? I'm just gonna go."

Aris had the audacity to pout. Seriously? "What's the matter? Don't you feel like playing today?"

Teagan felt suddenly as if it was too stuffy in the crowded cafe, cool droplets of sweat appeared over his top lip. "Nah. I don't feel like playing at all."

The young man glanced over his shoulder to see if he'd attracted any of the baristas' attention before leaning over the cash register with a gleam in his eyes. "I've got just the thing to cheer you right up." He stuck his tongue out to play with the lip ring. "I'll give you a steaming hot cup of chai tea." He paused, letting that sink in. "On the house. It'll warm you right up and you'll be ready to try out some of the moves described in that magazine you picked up."

What the...? Lowering his eyes to the rolled up magazine he held in his right fist, Teagan felt a strange combination of emotions. The first and foremost was embarrassment. The cover of the magazine featured some very attractive, nearly nude models with seductive smiles. And the title promised some inventive new ways to spice up his one night stands.

For shame, the voice in his head seemed to gasp.

Now he looked like a shameless flirt who skipped classes to read inappropriate magazines rather than just a college guy who needed to get his priorities straight. Just peachy. "You know what? Forget it. I don't read this stuff. I don't need to. I've got so many girls offering me the real thing that-"

Vaguely through the middle of his rambling explanation he heard a familiar laugh that cut him off. Why? Because a sound so happy, so free was forever associated in his mind as belonging to one woman.

The Ice Queen, Rain Sullivan.

"Aris, are you pouncing on the poor and helpless male flirts again?" she asked.

So, she knew the guy who'd just made very clear passes at him? How much had she heard?

Aris smirked, tugging on one pierced ear as he ran his eyes over Teagan. "This one isn't just any flirt though. It's Gray's very own Casanova, the Tee Miller."

He tried to maintain a cool expression, but in the end, Teagan shivered at the openly interested look in those assessing eyes. He would have turned around, too, if only he could be certain he could do so without looking like a coward. Nope, he'd played the fool enough times in front of Rainy Day. Not going to risk it.

"Whatcha reading today, Teagan?" the Ice Queen asked in a tone that seemed to already know the answer.

How in the hell was he supposed to face her now? He'd been looking forward to seeing her again and picking up on where they'd left off. But in his mind, he hadn't been holding a dirty magazine while fighting off a boy's advances. He wasn't prepared for this.

Which is why he could be forgiven turning around to glare into amused violet eyes. "I wasn't reading it!"

"That's right." Rain narrowed those soul-searching eyes of hers and shook her head. "Casanova here isn't the type to read rubbish like this when he can have any girl at his beck and call with just a look. Of course, he isn't as opposed to repeating a few of those one night stands. Right, Tee?"

He swallowed. So, there were still some things he'd need to clear up with her before she'd be open to doing some more heavy kissing.

But first things first. With a half smile playing on his lips, Teagan dropped the stupid magazine and lowered his head to kiss that disapproving line off of the Ice Queen's mouth.

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