Well, it's January 1st of the year 2020 (but by the time this refreshes it will officially be January 2nd). Starting off the year with a new chapter, early and not super depressing.

Thank you for a great year in 2019. I'm looking forward to finishing this book in the coming months. So far, 63,200 words on Word Docs and twenty-one chapters in, this has been my longest book to date. Thank you for continuing to read and support this story! It means a lot!

Enjoy, and like always comment and/or vote if you liked it!

--VIVKELLER23

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Rain

It's a funny thing, to think you know someone and find out you were wrong. For the longest time, Rain could have sworn there wasn't a single piece to the girl Gia had once been that she didn't know, didn't love. She would have been wrong.

Just as she was wrong about a lot of things. She'd been wrong about Jeffers, hadn't she? And that mistake had cost her so much.

But it hadn't killed her. Perhaps that would have been kinder on some level? No, losing Gia immediately after her mother's death had been the final blow to push her into a block of ice.

Rain had figured the ice was enough to protect her. It certainly seemed to keep most people at bay, away from her. Then there were the few who saw the signs, the warnings, and didn't care anyway. Those people were insane. Teagan was one of those people.

She sighed, forcing her gaze away from the bulky figure hiding in the shadows, tormenting the girl she had once loved. She made a decision then. Whatever the past that had burned the bridge between them, no human, though she sincerely doubted the bastard should be classified as one, had any right to terrorize Gia. No one had a right to terrify another to the point of tears.

It was a matter of principle. If she wanted to spare other women the pain she still endured, she would have to start small.

"You know, I'm not big on emotions. Most of the time, I'm too cold to care." She offered a bland smile in response to the perplexed look on Gia's face. "But the one thing I really hate? It's despicable bastards who are too stupid to understand that their attentions are pathetic and unwanted." As she spoke the last words, she turned the full force of her glare on the coward watching them, making certain he grasped that she was talking about him.

Gia's stalker might have been hiding his identity in the shadows, just out of the light, but Rain saw the moment her insult registered. The tensing of his shoulders and the way he pushed himself up to his full height proved what she had first suspected. He was a big man.

Good. It would serve him right to be knocked down a few pegs by a woman. She flashed a grin. "Gia, did you make sure to tell the oaf of a man following you that you weren't looking for a companion tonight?" Gia's icy blue eyes widened, but she nodded all the same. "Do you think he's deaf?" Rain whispered in a voice that was loud enough to carry.

"I can hear just fine, witch," the man growled.

Rain blinked, feigning shock. "So you're just an idiot?" she asked. The choked sound Gia made as she stepped behind Rain sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" was the angry reply from said idiot. And being taunted by what he regarded as the lesser sex must have been just what he needed to grow some confidence. The idiot stepped forward, menacingly, but Rain was too furious to care about his intent.

The light from Christa's wasn't the best, but it was enough to cast away the shadows so she could see the coward's face. He wasn't a monster in the usual sense. With a strong jawline sprinkled with facial hair, slicked back golden brown hair, and fierce black eyes set beneath dark brows, he wasn't hideous. Of course, those eyes were glowering at her and looked a little glassy, but maybe that was her imagination?

Rain whistled lowly, as she studied the man who had threatened Gia. "What a waste of good looks. You're not ugly, but your manners leave a lot to be desired."

"Rain!" Gia protested, sounding very panicked.

But she shouldn't be scared at all. That was the problem. It shouldn't matter that the man was good looking. It shouldn't matter that Gia was decked out from head to toe in sequins and looking for a night out. What should matter was that Gia had intended to walk home alone and some bastard thought he had a right to change that.

"You don't want to pick a fight with me, young lady," he warned in a voice that should have made her feel uneasy.

Too bad she was past rational thought. She had all this energy bubbling up inside her that just wouldn't let her leave without having her say. "And you certainly don't want to start threatening me, oaf. Cause, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm not feeling real friendly."

The idiot had the audacity to smirk. "Perhaps I can put you in a happier mood?" he suggested with a nasty gleam in his eye as his gaze raked over her.

She fought the urge to squirm. "I doubt you'd like what I had in mind to cheer me up," she told him, raising her chin in a silent challenge. Behind her, Gia was shivering and pleading with Rain to let the matter drop.

"I've got exotic tastes, love. Surprise me."

"Hmm," Rain hummed. "You'd let me handcuff you?" She almost gagged at the excited look the pervert gave. "You'd let me cuff you to a pole right here and expose you for the rapist you had planned to be tonight?"

Ah, now you get it, Rain thought in amusement when the excitement in those not quite sober eyes turned to disbelief.

He wasn't excited now. No, now he looked positively livid. "What do you know about rapists?"

I'd surprise you. She let him continue though.

"I was simply planning on collecting seeing as the lady made it pretty clear she didn't mind my hands on her person when we stepped onto the dance floor. Your little friend had no problems accepting the drinks I paid for her back at the club, either. But now I'm supposed to take her 'no, thank you' because she changed her mind?" The fool scoffed at the idea.

"It would be common decency to leave her be, yes, but decency isn't your style, I presume?" She batted her lashes at him when he stumbled two steps towards her. "If you'd prefer to leave in the back of a police car, we can do that. Not interested? Fine." Rain nodded towards the locked doors of the party shop before her. "Don't for a second think I won't do it. This town is my home, and I'm sick and tired of trash like you thinking you can get away with anything because you can't stand the idea of someone turning you down."

Gia had quieted some time ago. She seemed to finally comprehend that Rain wasn't in the mood to take crap from anybody. It might have been years since the two had exchanged a word with each other, but there was still an instinctive connection there. Small and partially buried, but deep.

"So you'd better listen, and listen well. Don't you ever try to prey on another woman again, because you might find yourself facing off with someone a lot less civilized than I am. I just prefer not to get my hands dirty with scum like you." Rain turned to a stunned Gia and unlocked the car door, motioning for Gia to get in on the other side.

She was halfway in when she heard the man curse under his breath. "You uppity females aren't even worth the trouble," he grumbled, covering the distance between him and Rain's car quickly. "You're always so quick to play the victim when you know you'd probably have enjoyed being under me, freak."

"Rain, hurry, let's go," Gia cried, desperately trying to buckle herself in while reaching to pull Rain inside.

The idiot should have kept his mouth shut.

Rain yanked her arm out of Gia's prying grasp and spun around to face the fool. "You really have to learn when to shut up."

"You gonna make me, witch?" he drawled.

Before Rain could answer the man, another deeper voice chimed in.

"While I've no doubt my Queen can definitely make you eat your words, she won't have to." He spoke from behind her, and didn't give her a chance to turn to face him.

Gia's stalker widened his eyes a second before he was knocked flat on his arse.

Rain jerked around and found herself drowning in a pair of mischievous green-grey eyes. "Tee."

He grinned, and Rain swore her heart did a flip. "You're quite the spitfire, aren't you, Rainy Day?"

xXx

Teagan

"I had the situation under control," Rain replied stonily.

Teagan chuckled. "You certainly put the bastard in his place, I'll give you that." He pushed back the hot taste of fury that had nearly consumed him while he'd been listening to Rain's confrontation with the man. "But just how were you going to keep his filthy hands off you if he chose to turn his advances on you?"

Rain blinked. She obviously hadn't thought about that in the heat of the moment. But Teagan had, and he hadn't liked the image his mind came up with. That bastard deserved more than the punch he'd given him.

"I doubt he would have wanted to touch me," she told him, after a brief pause.

She was blind and naive. "Really?" When she continued giving him that blank stare, he shook his head. "Cause from where I was standing, it looked like he wanted to do more than just touch you. You're more dangerous than you realize, Your Majesty. All that ice and fire inside you invites all sorts of insanity."

Those purple eyes of hers cut through him like a sword. "I suppose that explains why you're constantly in my business. You're insane."

"Woah, there, Ice Queen." And he winced at her, doing his best to look genuinely hurt. "This is the thanks I get for saving you and your ex-friend turned damsel in distress?"

"No. I didn't need saving," Rain clarified. She jammed a finger into his chest.

He tried to ignore the fact that her fingernail was done in a very sophisticated French manicure. But, dang, he found it sexy.

"And if you're going to refer to Gia, you should remember that she was your most recent hookup."

Double dang. She was in a temper and he couldn't stop imagining those fingernails leaving scratches on his back. Not the best time to be thinking about that when she was reminding him of his indiscretions.

But his dirty mind wasn't known for being discreet or convenient.

"I keep telling you I'll explain. I'll even admit I made a mistake, if that's what you want." He grabbed one slender arm when she made to walk past him, making sure she didn't dismiss him before he'd had his say. "But I won't apologize." Because to apologize would mean he had something to feel guilty about.

Not that he felt ecstatic about having slept with the Ice Queen's oldest friend. God, the whole thing was a twisted mess!

The magnificent purple depths of her eyes flared with something he couldn't name. Awareness? Whatever it was, she lowered her gaze to where he still held her, hiding from him once again. "I don't think it would be wise of you to apologize when the female in question is sitting within earshot."

Teagan winced. Of course he'd momentarily forgotten that Gia sat, shaken, in the passenger seat of Rain's Corolla. "Don't try to distract me from what's going on here, Rain," he whispered, bending close so the breath of his voice brushed at the loose strands of hair on her face.

"What's going on here, Tee?" she asked.

He couldn't resist. He raised his hand to cup that stubborn, proud chin of hers and searched the quiet planes of her face. "You're hiding behind all that ice, but the fire in your veins won't let you bury your truth completely." He ran his thumb over her plump lower lip, fighting the urge to taste it. "Whatever it is, I won't just run away. It won't change the way I see you."

The Ice Queen swallowed. "And what do you see me as?"

What a question. The Ice Queen could be so confident in her ability to stay aloof and untouched, but she couldn't hide her fear, her insecurity when she fought to keep her control. And he couldn't lie that he saw her, that he wanted to see so much more.

He hadn't been kidding when he told her that he wouldn't run away. Whatever it was that had her so scared, he wanted to know. He wanted to protect her from it. If only she'd let him.

Teagan smirked, pulling away before he drowned. "A beautiful contradiction." He glanced away from her soul searching gaze, watching as the fool rose to his feet slowly while holding a hand to his nose. "And an impossible temptation to someone like me."

"You stupid bastard, you bloodied my nose!" the buzzed idiot fumed.

And the Ice Queen completely stole his breath. With an annoyed groan, she spun around and slammed her knee between the man's legs, sending not one, but two fools to their knees.

Teagan Miller is in big trouble...

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