**TEASER** Brat | The King of Castleton High #2 (Ellie Meadows)

TARRYN

"I'm not going to dinner with you, Drake," I stood on the top step that led into my house. The front door was closed. Mom and Dad were no doubt stood near the windows, peeking out from behind the transparent curtains, trying to get a last look at us before we left for a wonderful high school rite of passage. Only they didn't know that it wasn't wonderful, not in the least bit. I'd fallen prey to a bully's trickery. And that bully was standing so close to me that I could smell the heady scent of his no-doubt expensive cologne.

I saw the living room curtain shift noticeably now and my mom's face appear as the gauzy material was pulled to one side. She was smiling like an idiot. I smiled back, and I hoped it was convincing. Mom had the courtesy to look embarrassed after her gaze flicked to Drake and she realized how intrusive she was being.

"You've got to fake it or walk back through that door, Square." Drake leaned a little closer. He lifted his arm to snake over my shoulder and he tapped ever-so-lightly on the front door behind me. "It would disappoint good old Mom and Dad. Disappoint me. But most importantly? It would seriously disappoint the way you look in that dress. This, Square," he leaned back a little, appraising me in a way he wouldn't have dared do in front of the parental units, "this is walking sex."

"It is not," I pushed him and he feigned losing his balance and stumbling down the steps to stand on the ground-level walkway. I pitched my voice into a whisper that couldn't be heard inside the house, just in case mom was standing with her ear pressed against the door now that she'd vacated the more obvious window position. Feeling suddenly exposed and shy, I tugged gently at the neckline of the dress. And all that did, I realized, was gently bounce the pale half-moons of my breasts showing between the sweetheart dip.

Drake's eyes were watching my hands move. There was hunger there. He didn't even try to hide it like a gentleman. "Walking sex," he repeated. He climbed up the stairs again. I held my breath as I watched him come closer and I instinctively backed up against the door behind me. He reached a hand up and extended just his index finger. With a touch so gently I could barely feel it, he traced the line of the silvery material from my collarbone down to where the V shape terminated. I shuddered. God, I didn't mean to, but I did. A single vibration ran the length of me, from toe to scalp. "You don't wear a dress like this unless you want to make a promise, Tarryn." He used my name now, instead of the nickname. I loved how he said it. I loved the heat of it. And, at the same time, I hated it.

"I didn't pick this dress for you," I spat out angrily. "You weren't the person I was expecting."

He jerked his hand back, his face suddenly stricken. It was nice to know I could affect him like that. I had power. Even if he wouldn't admit it, I knew it was true. "That's true," he said slowly. "I'll have to make it my job to convince you that I'm the only person this dress was meant for." He reached forward once more, this time targeting the material over my abdomen. More firmly than his last touch, he started to draw a pattern. Letters, I realized, after the second one was nearly traced. D R A K E. "There," he smiled slyly, "it even has my name on it."

I startled when the door gave way behind me. I moved abruptly, my body pressing into Drake. My breath caught in my throat as the feeling of being so close to him washed over me. It was an... almost magnetic feeling. Like I was his opposite pole and we were finally near enough to feel the pull of power that led to the collision that would signal two halves coming together.

I choked on it and I pushed him away, trying to suck in a gasp of air against the sensation.

"Um, Tarryn." It was my mom's voice. I turned to focus on her. She'd only opened the door enough to poke her head out. "Is everything okay? You're going to miss reservations if you don't scoot."