Omg, I'm back as promised. I'm super early this week, guys! Anyway, this chapter is longer than the most recent ones cause there's some explaining at long last.

Don't forget to comment, share, and hit that star button (vote) if you liked this chapter!

—VIVKELLER23
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Rain

The hardest part about surviving was trying to live your life as if you weren't crumbling apart inside everyday, just waiting for the day you could give up the fight.

Even harder still was knowing that the very few people on Earth who knew anything about your struggle didn't care in the long run. You could do everything right for years, but the moment the war got too much, you became no more than a burden. No more than a liability they should have gotten rid of long ago.

She'd lived the past two years waiting for the moment she'd shatter. She'd thought it would be explosive, that she'd lose all sense of time and space and simply cease to exist as she had been molded out to be. A devastating end for the Ice Queen who'd always felt just a little too much.

It didn't happen that way.

As it turned out, her downfall was gradual. She lost a part of her armor months ago and never even noticed that the rest continued to crack as the weeks went on. Tonight, that armor simply dissolved in the face of all she'd tried to bury.

Rain witnessed her father escorting young Gia Dyer out of the house in the early morning, long before the first guests arrived. Her heart had bled as she watched her father guide Gia out with one hand placed intimately on her lower back. He'd whispered something to her as she stepped outside into the morning sun, and Gia, the best friend she'd lost, had blushed and kissed him as if she had every right to.

As if Gia had any right to the man who'd once been married to a woman who'd welcomed her as if she were a daughter.

Rain had tried to ignore it, but a large part of the ice that had held her heart safely in check shattered two hours before she'd had to smile and welcome the families her father considered friends.

It was an overused, cliched plot, and yet the pain had been excruciating.

The night Rain decided to disobey her mother to attend that wretched party hadn't just been a choice she made on a whim. Her father had been talking to someone on the phone that evening while her mother worked alongside Isa in the kitchen. It hadn't been a business call. By all accounts, it had been a purely personal call for pleasure.

She hadn't known who he was talking to, who was on the other end listening to his promises to see her soon. It hadn't mattered then. What had mattered was that he'd always had a the last say on who she saw, who she went to proms with now that she was old enough to make an impression, and he could make secret meetings with another woman who was not his wife.

Angered and betrayed, she'd climbed out of her bedroom window to drown out some of what she'd heard with drink and loud music.

What a heavy price she'd paid. And still, she wasn't sure she wouldn't make the same decision again if she were given the choice.

Here now, years later, she wished she could drown out the ringing in her ears as the memories of the past and the moments of the present collided.

"Rain?"

She blinked and forgot everything as her eyes met grey-green pools of light. It was said that the eyes could be the windows to the soul. Rain wondered how deep she'd have to fall before she caught a glimpse of Teagan's tattered soul. How strange that the eyes of a man she'd once so desperately wanted to despise could be her anchor now.

Rain offered her best smile, though she knew instinctively it would be a pathetic attempt. "I don't want to be here anymore."

"Strange though it may seem, I don't want to be here, either." His words were teasing, but behind them, she could hear the same desperation she felt. The feeling of being out of place, cornered, unable to breathe. "Let's get out of here."

Realistically, they couldn't get very far. She was still the hostess for the event, still Randolf Sullivan's regal daughter, and she was still expected to play a part. She knew the rules, but sometimes it served people well to realize she wasn't what they expected her to be.

It was with that thought in mind that she stepped into the house her father had built. She laughed when she stumbled past a startled Isa and shook her head when the cook smirked as she noticed Rain wasn't alone. Scurrying up the spiral staircase as if their were hounds on her heels, Rain hardly had a chance to catch her breath. All the while, he kept pace beside her, encouraging her when anyone else would have stopped her.

Don't run. Don't let others see what you're really thinking. Anything you fail to hide can be used against you if you aren't careful.

As if being alive was a weakness.

Shocking how little the educated peers of her father actually knew. It wasn't a weakness to live through her pain. If anything, she had a tougher skin from all the times she'd been knocked down.

She didn't break easily. But she was beginning to understand that while she'd stitched herself back up, she hadn't allowed herself the time to heal. Her wounds hadn't bled their natural course, and now, she had to cut herself open or run the risk of an infection that could cost her so much more than a few tears.

Rain Sullivan was going to lay down the mask.

With a deep sigh that pulled at something inside her chest, she walked the last ten steps and entered her mother's haven. It had remained unchanged since her death, everything sat where she had left it, almost as if she'd only gone away for a few days rather than all eternity.

The windows here were high and wide. It was to let the light in every new day, a breath of fresh air from the rest of the house. In this room, her mother's studio, everything had been a work of art. The walls were painted with fairies and beasts, brightly colored forests, and love. Her mother's hands had broken and created hundreds of sculptures, pots, and paintings. And it had all been done with care.

Sometimes, you have to break your own heart to know you have one to give, Rain.

She hadn't understood her mother's words then. She was afraid to believe them now.

"You belong here, Rainy Day," Teagan whispered softly. He eyed her from the doorway though he was referring to the paintings on the wall, his confidence replaced by caution. "A lovely, lonely Queen in the middle of Paradise."

When he said things like that, she couldn't deny the thumping heart in her chest.

"I think I'm more of a Cinderella posing as royalty when I'm really only worthy of a pumpkin."

Teagan frowned. "Then I guess I'm the fat rat in that fairytale."

Rain laughed when she thought all she'd manage was a pitiful sniffle. "No, you're definitely more of the naughty stable boy type," she corrected, watching the way his eyes gleamed. "You're mysterious, forbidden, a total flirt with a silver tongue."

"You flatter me."

"No." Rain shook her head at him, her pulse jumping as he took three steps towards her. "You know the appeal you hold. It's what drew me to you in the first place."

He blinked. Scrambled two steps closer while she danced three steps back. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Now wasn't exactly the time for lies.

"Tee, I think by now you realize I didn't choose you randomly. The night you said I didn't know what I was asking for? I knew everything I wanted from you that night."

"I'm not following." He ran a hand over his face, looking exasperated. "I'm pretty sure you didn't go out to that party hoping to get seduced by the some bastard who'd thought about sleeping with someone else before you walked in."

There it was again. Her stupid heart stopped then ran away from her. "I kept you from some other girl's bed that night?"

He laughed, but the sound wasn't kind. "Not just any girl, Rainy. I ditched Crue that night cause I wanted something I couldn't have, and, for once in my life, I chose to go for it."

That didn't make a lot of sense. "You turned me down."

"You turned me on, but like an idiot, I decided you were too good for me. You are too good for me," he all but yelled when she opened her mouth to interrupt him. "And you turned my whole life upside down, just like that."

Hold up. She'd come up here to escape making a scene. Unknowingly, she'd managed to run from one to create another. And this one threatened so much more than the past.

"I haven't done anything to keep you from going right back to your nightly conquests." But, it sure feels good to think I could.

"No?" Teagan asked. A faint smile played on his lips, not quite his signature smirk, but not entirely a grin. "The only thing I don't get is why. Why you could be so cold to the men who've wanted you before, but you set me on fire with just one look."

"It's not a simple answer, Teagan." She didn't even try to hide that she understood what he was asking. She'd stopped to analyze the reasons herself before she ever set foot into that party. "I'm not even sure the answer I have is the one you want."

"Tell me, Rain."

She yearned to give up the game. Those three words very nearly had her spilling the truth.

Could she?

xXx

Teagan

He hadn't realized he was holding his breath until his lungs started screaming at him from the lack of oxygen. Would she trust him with the darkest part of her past? Did he even deserve to hear it?

And, even scarier still, what would he do with the knowledge? If his suspicions about her life as Randolf Sullivan's daughter proved to be right, he was going to have a difficult time keeping his fists from beating some sense into grown men. 

She licked her lips. Her lovely violet blue eyes glanced at his face once, then darted away to look out the window. "I don't think you want to hear it," she finally admitted in a small voice.

He gave her his signature smirk. "Try me, sugar."

She nodded, as if making the decision on her own. "I wanted you to touch me, so I could see if it was just me who was broken," she told him. She was glaring at her reflection in the glass so intently that she missed the look of shock that passed his face. "I knew you had tons of experience seducing women. And I knew that these women didn't run away when you touched them. They kept coming back to you for more." She spun around, her eyes shut tightly so all he could see was the way her long lashes brushed against her delicate skin. "I need you to make me forget how much I hate being touched."

Teagan felt as if he'd been sucker punched in the gut. Whatever else he might have been expecting her to say, this vulnerability and this need to forget some trauma in her past wasn't it. He liked to pride himself on keeping an open mind with everyone he came into contact with, but he realized he'd been no different from everyone else when he'd first sized up the Ice Queen. He'd assumed she had the perfect, if bland, life girls with plans and money always had. But as he got to know her, he realized there was more than met the eye.

Yet he hadn't been able to figure out why she'd settled on him the night of the party. Surely she hadn't been serious about him. Her sudden interest in him was nothing more than a little act of rebellion on her part. God, he'd been so wrong.

He cleared his throat, wanting to apologize for his mistaken assessment of her. Wanting to kiss away that fear and shame she seemed to carry on her shoulders like a cloak. "Who hurt you?" He asked in between slow, steadying breaths.

He had his guesses, and still he waited for the name she would give him. Because what he felt was desire for her, all consuming and all encompassing; a fire that left no room for reason or doubt. And he felt rage towards the person, no, the monster, who'd made her so afraid of another's touch. But rage and desire weren't things she needed at the moment.

Her eyes flew open at his question so the instant flash of panic that passed through them was evident for him to see. Her already pale face lost all sense of color while she swallowed nervously. She shook her head, pasting a fake smile on her red lips that never reached her terrified eyes. "Just forget it," she told him with a forced laugh. "I knew it was a stupid idea anyway. Why on earth would you want to do anything with me when I've just confirmed I'm as cold and unfeeling as the name they gave me?" She blinked a few times, and he swore he saw her violet eyes brighten with unshed tears. But she spun away towards the doors before he had a chance to confirm his guess.

"Did I say I didn't want to?" Teagan growled as he sprang forward to grasp her arm. He forced her to turn back to him, but she refused to raise her eyes to his. He sighed heavily. Way to keep your cool, buddy. "I don't want you putting words in my mouth when you have no idea what is going on in my mind, sugar. Cause trust me, you'd be shocked to know just how many times I kicked myself for sending you home that night you all but begged me to take you."

Her cheeks flamed a bright pink. "I did not beg."

"Oh, yes, you did." That husky little please she'd whispered into his neck when he'd picked her up that long ago night had nearly knocked him onto his knees. "And I almost took you up on your offer because of it." The words were the truth, but they also helped get her mind off of the fear from moments before.

She glanced up at him through her lashes at that. "Why didn't you?" she asked, catching her lower lip in between her teeth.

How had any man ever overlooked this sexily shy side of her? He smiled at her. Thank God, no one had noticed but him. He grasped her chin gently, but firmly, and tilted it up so he could look directly into her haunting eyes. "Because, sugar, when I finally decide to take you to my bed, I want you to be completely sober. I want you to have no doubt in your mind that you belong to me."

His little Ice Queen snorted. "Oh, my, goodness, you are so full of yourself!" she exclaimed with a roll of her eyes. "You should have stopped while you were ahead, macho man. Why do men always assume that they can lay claim to a woman, make her his, but they never reciprocate the action themselves?"

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Well, if Her Majesty so wishes," he murmured with a smirk, "I'm more than willing to be claimed for her own pleasure."

She drew her hand into a small fist and smacked his chest. "You are such an idiot."

You have no idea, Rainy Day. But he chuckled as he wrapped his hand around her wrist where it rested on his chest. He gave her a quick tug, catching her slight body to his. "Mmmm, maybe, sugar, but only for you."

Just like all the times before, the heat evaporated all the reasons they weren't supposed to fit. Whereas before, he'd been so certain that he had no right to her, now all he was sure of was that they burned each other.

She'd basically admitted to being forced by a monster she refused to name, and while all the signs had been there, Teagan hadn't been able to wrap his mind around it. Now, he couldn't pretend not to know it. And because he knew it, he also understood that what they shared wasn't something either of them could walk away from.

Rain Sullivan had chosen him to help get past a nightmare she'd experienced. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't flattered.

"I really want the name of the bastard who touched you," Teagan whispered as he nipped at her freckled nose.

Her answering smile was genuine, maybe even a little sassy. A lethal combination. "You want to settle a score that isn't yours to level out," she informed him. "I'm not going to give you the fight you're looking for."

Deep down he knew there was only one person who fit the bill. One bastard who still tormented her. Teagan knew the name he was looking for, just like he knew Rain wasn't going to be the one to give it. "You protect him even after what he did to you?"

Rain shook her head. "I refuse to give him any more power over who I am and what I choose to do with my life. His name isn't worth all that much."

"Maybe not to you, but he doesn't deserve to get away with what he did to you."

"You know who it is, Teagan, but you won't go near him."

Wouldn't he? "What makes you so sure I won't go back and finish the task I started all those weeks ago?" He'd wanted to kill the Jeffers idiot when he'd caught him in the library with a shaken Rain. His hands itched for his neck more so now.

"Because it's what Timothy wants. He'd love to have what he thinks I asked for out in the open. I wouldn't be able to go on acting like I'm so pure afterwards, and my father's plans for me to marry little Donnie would go to waste." She must have heard his sharp intake of breath at the mention of the man she was supposed to marry according to Randolf Sullivan. She gave him a wink. "I wouldn't mind the last part. As far as I'm concerned, I won't ever be a Jeffers, but the men won't believe it until it hits them in the face."

He hated to admit it, but he refused to make a scene if it meant that it would reflect badly on her. She was all that mattered, no matter what her father or the others thought.

"And how do I fit into your plans to overthrow your father's rule, My Queen?" Teagan asked, because he was helpless to deny her anything.

"Touch me, Tee." She rose onto the tips of her toes, the violet depths of her eyes drowning him before he could think to save himself. "Please."

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What did you think? I've never liked Timothy, he's a slime weasel, but in case you hadn't caught on yet... he's also the animal who hurt Rain.

What will happen with Rain and Teagan next??? 🤔