Jessica grabbed my hand and pulled me straight into the center of the living room. The heavy bass vibrated through the floorboards.

  My eyes raked over her. The deep red dress clung to every line of her body—her long legs, the sharp curve of her hips, the tight definition of her waist. She looked breathtaking. And she knew it. She locked me in a seductive, magnetic gaze, moving her body with a fluid rhythm that made my mouth go dry.

  "Come on, join me. Don’t just stand there like a statue." Her invitation was a command.

  I stepped into her space, my hands gripping her waist. She didn't pull away. She maintained absolute eye contact, looping her arms slowly around my neck.

  "This is exactly how you were dancing with Nicole earlier, right?" she asked, her voice carrying over the music.

  "....Yeah."

  "Did you like it?"

  "Very."

  Her eyes darkened. She leaned in, pressing her lips right against the pulse point on my neck. "I saw Nicole kissing you here, Tiger," she whispered, her voice husky. "Let me help you clean it."

  She dragged her tongue hot and wet up the side of my neck.

  My entire body jolted. My heartbeat doubled in a fraction of a second. The wet, ticklish sensation sent a massive rush of blood straight to my groin. My grip on her waist tightened almost painfully.

  She moved her face up, brushing her nose against my ear. "Someone's excited," she giggled, the sound vibrating against my skin. "Let me help you clean your ear, too. I don't want any trace of Nicole left on your skin."

  She took my earlobe between her teeth, biting down gently. Her warm, heavy breath flooded my senses. With every subtle, teasing nip, she pressed her firm body tighter against mine.

  "Fuck, Cheeto," I rasped, my stoic control completely shattering. "You're driving me crazy."

  She ughed softly against my skin.

  I couldn't take it anymore. I reached up, grabbing her chin, lifting her face. I needed to kiss her. I needed to end this game. But a second before our lips met, she spun around in my arms, pressing her back against my chest and grinding her hips back into me.

  Every slow, deliberate roll of her hips shredded my sanity. The calmness was gone. I was running entirely on primal, reckless desire. My hands ventured over her body, memorizing her curves, my fingers trailing up her neck to cup her cheek.

  "Come here, Cheeto," I ordered, my voice rough. "I'm going to kiss you."

  She instantly pulled away, slipping out of my grip.

  "What?!" My mind fumbled, swimming in a haze of pure lust.

  Fuck! You can’t do this to me! Not now!

  She fshed me a wicked, victorious smile over her shoulder and walked off the dance floor. I didn't even think. I just followed her. She was driving me completely insane.

  She pushed through the front door, stopping in the cool night air of the driveway. She hopped up, sitting on the hood of Reggie's parked car.

  I walked straight toward her, my eyes locked on her lips. But as I stepped into her space, she lifted her leg, pnting her heel firmly against my stomach to keep me at bay.

  "Easy, Tiger."

  "You drive me insane, Cheeto."

  She just smiled. I reached for her ankle, ready to push her leg aside and finish what she started inside.

  "Oh my God! You actually managed to drag Daeron out here!"

  Two voices shrieked with ughter from the shadows of the driveway. Nicole and Reggie emerged from the darkness, walking toward us with wide, entertained grins.

  "Damn, girl! You've got serious moves!" Nicole ughed, leaning against the side of the car. "You actually managed to seduce the ice king!"

  My brain short-circuited. What the fuck is this?

  Reggie patted my stiff shoulder. "Calm down, Daeron. It’s just a party game. We were pying Truth or Dare inside, and Jessica chose the dare."

  The words hit me like a physical blow. The heat in my blood turned instantly to ice.

  I looked at Jessica. She was still sitting on the hood, maintaining a cool poker face with a subtle, unapologetic smirk.

  It disgusted me.

  "Do you think this is funny?" The question came out deadly quiet. The anger was already spreading through my chest, thick and toxic.

  "Calm down, Daeron. It's a party. Don’t be so tense," Nicole scoffed, rolling her eyes.

  Her sassy tone poured gasoline on the fire. My fists clenched so hard my knuckles cracked. Humiliation branded itself onto my brain. I had let my guard down. I had actually thought she wanted me. I had betrayed Alvin's trust for a fucking dare.

  "Let me talk with Daeron for a minute, girls. I’ll join you inside," Jessica said, her smirk finally dropping.

  Nicole and Reggie shrugged and walked back toward the house. Jessica hopped off the hood, stepping tentatively toward me.

  "I’m sorry, Daeron. I wasn't trying to py you like—"

  "Bullshit!" I snapped, my voice finally rising. My jaw was locked so tight my teeth ached. "You were pying with me! You think I'm just a toy for your little games?!"

  My heart was hammering, pumping a violent, dangerous adrenaline into my veins.

  Before she could answer, headlights blinded us. A car screeched to a halt right next to us in the driveway. A massive, athletic guy threw his door open and marched straight toward us.

  "Jess! Why the hell didn't you pick up your phone?!" he yelled, his voice echoing in the quiet street. "Do you know what time it is?! We're going home!"

  He reached out and grabbed Jessica’s wrist with a rough, commanding grip.

  "Wait, Sean! Let go!" Jessica cried out, trying to pry his thick fingers off her arm.

  Sean??

  My eyes locked onto the giant manhandling her. That’s fucking Sean??

  The rumor Tyson told me clicked into pce. The rival basketball pyer. The boyfriend. The final piece of the humiliating puzzle.

  My blood boiled over. The Tiger was awake.

  "Hey." My voice cut through the cold night air, deadly and calm. "Take your hand off her."

  The giant turned his head. He looked down at me, his eyes narrowing in irritation. Without a word, he pnted his hands on my chest and shoved me with a massive amount of force. My shoes slipped on the driveway, and I hit the pavement hard, the breath knocking out of my lungs.

  Something inside my brain fractured.

  The humiliation of the dare. The jealousy. The blinding rage of seeing this guy put his hands on her. My rationality evaporated.

  I bounced off the concrete like a coiled spring. I charged him, dropping my shoulder and driving all my weight into his midsection. We hit the asphalt together. I didn't hesitate; I immediately started throwing heavy, brutal punches down at his jaw.

  But he was a varsity athlete. He took the hits, gripped the colr of my jacket, and used his superior weight to roll us.

  My back hit the pavement. He mounted me, his knees pinning my hips, and started throwing wild punches down at my head. I snapped into a defensive full guard, bringing my arms up to shield my face and pulling him down to smother his strikes.

  "Stop!!! Stop!! Help! Help!" Jessica's voice was shrill with absolute terror. I heard the frantic sp of her heels as she sprinted toward the front door of the house.

  He pulled back to throw a heavy right hook. He left his side completely exposed.

  I struck. I clinched the back of his neck, yanking his posture down, and drove my knee upward with vicious force directly into his ribs.

  Crack. He let out a sharp, breathless wheeze, his weight colpsing forward. I instantly swept his leg, reversing our positions.

  I nded in a high, dominant full mount. I pinned his left arm under my shin, rendering him defenseless. I didn't use my fists. I dropped my elbow like a hammer straight across his nose.

  The cartige crunched. Hot blood spttered across my knuckles and the asphalt. He tried to weakly bring his free hand up to guard his face, but I batted it away and dropped my elbow again.

  MORE! MORE!! FUCKING DIE!

  My vision tunneled into a pure, violent red. I drew my arm back for a third, devastating strike—

  Two arms the size of tree trunks locked around my torso. I was ripped backward off the bloody body and suspended in the air.

  "What the fuck, man?!" Tyson roared in my ear, his grip like a vice around my ribs, fighting to keep me restrained. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You were going to kill him!"

  I thrashed against Tyson's grip, but the adrenaline was already burning out. I stopped fighting and just stood there, my chest heaving, my hands dripping with someone else's blood.

  Jessica dropped to her knees on the driveway. She wasn't looking at me. She was desperately holding the giant's bloody face in her hands, sobbing uncontrolbly. Sean groaned, his eyes rolling back as he tried to sit up. Jones and Reggie burst out of the front door. Jones grabbed Sean's arm, hauling the massive, bleeding guy to his feet while he leaned heavily against the car.

  Everything around me went mute.

  I couldn't hear the music. I couldn't hear the screams of the partygoers spilling out onto the wn. All I could hear was the rushing static in my own ears and the heavy, rapid thud of my heart.

  Why? My mind spun in a confused, desperate circle. I protected her. I stopped him. Why is she crying? Why is everyone looking at me like I'm a monster?

  Jessica left Sean's side. She marched straight toward me, her face pale, her green eyes utterly destroyed by tears. She started hitting me. She spped my face, her fists pounding weakly against my chest. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, but the words were just muffled noise through the static.

  I just stood there and let her hit me, waiting for the static to clear.

  Finally, the ringing in my ears faded. Her broken, devastated voice hit me with the force of a freight train.

  "Why did you do that?! Why did you beat up my brother like that?!?!"

  I stopped breathing. The cold night air suddenly felt like ice in my veins.

  Huh.

  Brother?

  **

  The adrenaline crash was brutal. My hands were shaking in my p, the dried blood fking off my knuckles in the dark cab of the car.

  The party was a total disaster. It was supposed to be a fun night. It was supposed to be the night I actually fit in. Instead, my violent, possessive ego had destroyed everything. As I stared out the passenger window at the passing streetlights, a dark, heavy realization settled into my chest. Maybe the rumors are true. Maybe the reason the school looked at me with fear wasn't because they misunderstood me. Maybe I truly was a psycho. Maybe they were right to stay away.

  "Hey, man. Have you calmed down yet?"

  Tyson’s deep voice pulled me out of the spiral. He was driving his beat-up sedan, his eyes fixed on the road. He was the one who had physically peeled me off Sean. He had dragged me to his car before anyone could call the cops.

  "Yeah," I breathed out, my chest aching. "Thanks for driving me home. I'm... sorry I ruined the night, man."

  "Hey, don't sweat it. I understand," Tyson said quietly.

  He pulled up to the curb of my dark, empty house and put the car in park. Before I could open the door, Tyson reached across the console and gripped my shoulder with a heavy, grounding hand.

  "Hey. Save my number in your phone," he commanded softly. "If you need someone to talk to, or if the cops show up, call me, brother. Get some rest tonight, and do not do anything stupid. Alright?"

  We swapped numbers in the dim light of the dashboard. "Thanks, Tyson. Really."

  "Anytime, brother."

  I watched his taillights disappear down the street before I turned to face my house.