"I just bet. But seriously I'm confused. A few weeks ago you wouldn't talk to me. What changed?"

He shrugged. His hand skillfully turned the wheel as we rounded a corner, and then he blessed me with a killer smile. "I realized that you were worth fighting for."

My body went into shock.

I was at a loss for words. That was not the answer I had been expecting. He left me tongue-tied with my thumping heart echoing in my ears. The stupid grin was on my face all morning long.

By lunch I was dying to see him. We were all sitting in the cafeteria listening to Tori rant on and on about her holiday party. The whole blasted school was invited. Apparently she felt the need to throw the party of the year as her one last act of senior year. I didn't need to mention that we barely knew or could stand half the kids in our graduating cla.s.s.

She was over the moon excited.

I was dreaded it like a trip to the dentist but worse. Much worse.

My eye caught Sophie's. She was studying me like an algebra problem. Something was definitely nagging her. I was just about to ask her what was up when she gave me a little shake of the head. Whatever it was, she didn't what to talk about it in front of everyone.

That could only be one thing.

Magic.

I didn't dwell on it overly long. It was kind of hard to think of anything with Gavin next to me, driving me to distraction. My half eaten chocolate chip cookie was forgotten as our fingers played under the table. I sneaked a sideways glance at dark and gorgeous beside me. Our eyes locked, and a flood of heat rippled through me.

I didn't even think about where we were. Normally I was totally anti-PDA, but today there must have been something in the air. Or it was just the boy next to me. He made me want to do things lately that were out of character for me. I leaned into him, our fingers clutched under the table, and pressed my lips to his, but he took it to another level.

What started as sweet and simple turned down right wicked in seconds. His tongue swept over mine in a game of cat and mouse. I felt the kiss all the way to my black painted toes.

Sophie made a gagging noise. Austin was grinning. And Tori...well she had an opinion about everything.

"Ah. I'm so glad you guys kissed and made up, but I don't want to watch you two swap spit over lunch. It's not only unsanitary it's depressing. The rest of us don't have hot dates. Well yet..."

Sometimes Tori's untamed and loose tongue could be just too much. My stomach pitched. I knew what she was thinking or who she was thinking of. Her eyes got that glossy, starry look.

"Girl you better dish," Austin demanded.

I groaned.

Her doe eyes twinkled. "With pleasure. Our girl Brianna has been holding out on us."

Gavin lifted that silver studded brow, suddenly more interested in what she was saying than in me. My stomach hallowed.

"I have been doing no such thing. He's just a friend," I defended, my teeth clenched tight.

Austin eyes gleamed. He thrived on drama, and I could see the wheels turning in his over-styled head. It was all the encouragement Tori needed. "Well this friend is yummy. I could eat off his abs. He is coming to the party, and my goal is to be feasting off those abs by the end of the night." She nudged Austin in the arm. "Sorry I already called dibs."

I wanted to crawl under the table.

Hide in the darkest hole.

Sophie's eyes got as big as saucers, and Gavin whispered in my ear, "Looks like I get to finally met the guy who consumes your dreams."

I gave him a dry look. That wasn't even close to being funny, and the intense flare in his sapphire eyes said he was looking forward to it.

Though hardly in a good way.

Right after lunch Sophie pulled me aside literally. Dragging me into a corner of the library, she scanned the deserted rows before facing me. Somehow this had become our place to talk. Apparently it was our secret meeting place.

I hoisted a seat on top one of the empty tables, letting my feet dangle over the edge. They were all empty. "What is going on with you? I swear at lunch you where dissecting me like a lab rat."

She kept her voice low. "You have a hole in your aura."

"What!" I screeched.

She put a finger to her lips. "It's small but a spot is missing."

"Missing?" I echoed.

"Missing. Gone. Finito."

I could tell by the puzzled expression on her face that it wasn't a good thing. "I'm a.s.suming that's not normal."

She shook her head. "I've never seen it before."

Of course not.

"But I've heard stories," she continued. "It usually only happens when someone has been touched with dark magic. Or..."

"Or," I prompted quickly. This wasn't the time to leave a girl hangin'.

"Or if a witch has been practicing dark magic." There was an ill-omened tinged to her words.

"I haven't done either," I argued. "That I know of."

"It's so strange." She reached out a hand like she wanted to touch the missing chuck of my outline. "I can't tell if it is black or just a missing hole."

"Should I be worried?" A hint of dismay laced my voice.

She shrugged her dainty shoulders. "Truthfully, I'm not sure. This is out of my realm. Anyway, I think you have more than enough to stress about. Gavin and Lukas in the same house, we will be lucky if the structure is still standing."

That's what I was afraid of.

The bell rang.

"We're late," I sighed.

"Here take this." A slip of paper appeared between her dainty fingers.

I unfolded the piece of paper, a hall pa.s.s excusing my tardiness. How convenient. She grinned at me, reminding me of Gavin with mischief gleaming in her dark blue eyes.

"Thanks," I said jumping off the table. "You're as bad as your brother."

"Not quite."

Never before had I cared about what I wore. Now suddenly nothing in my closet was right. It wasn't stylish enough. Not s.e.xy enough. It was all so boring like the old me.

The new wild child in me, well she wanted to be vibrant, alive. She wanted to be noticed. And most importantly, she wanted to be noticed by Gavin.

"Austin," I said into my cell phone the instant he picked up. "I need your help. I have nothing to wear," I half sighed.

"Say no more. Tori and I will be there in seconds. And babygirl... don't make any decision without me. I got this."

I needed an intervention a fashion intervention. This cla.s.sified as a crisis.

Somehow I couldn't figure out if calling on the dynamic duo was going to be epic or a disaster. What I needed was to tap into my inner swag. Did I even have swag? It was totally debatable.

Like my two personally fashion angels, Tori and Austin arrived at my house in record time. They ransacked my closet, my dresser, and under my bed leaving no crevice unturned. They tossed clothes everywhere. Not a corner, nook, or cranny was left untouched by their mayhem. To top it off, the outfit they pulled together had me blushing before I'd even tried it on.

"I can't wear that," I protested.

Austin shoved the clothes in my hands. "Can. And will." He steered me into my conjoining bathroom.

Closing the door behind me, I picked up the jean skirt. I was pretty sure it wasn't even mine. Snuggling the skirt over my hips, I looked around to see where the rest of it was. This gave a new definition to mini it was micro mini. I hope I didn't drop anything because I just might end up being tonight's entertainment. And a peep show was not part of the deal.

This had to be a joke.

I held up the black top, a sheer, very see through off the shoulder do-hicky. Beaded fringe dangled from the bottom. Pushing my arms through the sleeves, I slipped it over my head and checked myself out in the mirror.

I am going to kick their a.s.s.

Storming out of the bathroom, I shot painful daggers at Tori who was sitting on my bed filing her nails.

She glanced up and gushed, "You look freaking hawt."

I peered at myself in the full-length mirror. "I look worse than Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman." Turning back to her, I put my hands on my scanty covered hips. "I look like a hooker."

"A smokin' hot hooker," she a.s.sured. "Here I brought these over. You can borrow them. They're purrfect."

I took the pair of knee-high stiletto boots from her out stretch hand. "Oh yeah right. Like I am not going to break my neck in these."

"Just put them on you baby. I'm dying to see how they look." She was literally doing a happy dance in the middle of my bedroom floor.

Bending over, a feat all in its own, I zipped up the hooker boots. They had a pretty pattern on them with a peek-a-boo toe in the front and at the heel. I was sure they cost more than I made in a month.

"You got a tattoo!" Tori exclaimed squealing from behind me. Her hand was already pulling up my shirt. "When were you going to tell me?"

Oh s.h.i.t. I'd forgotten, and this skimpy a.s.s top gave her a bull's-eye shot of my back.

Austin popped around the corner. "Babygirl got a tattoo? Get out of here. Let me see," he said wiggling his way in-between us.

Feeling naked and vulnerable I had completely forgotten about my newly body decoration. "It's not a big deal," I said trying to push my shirt back in place. The bigger problem was this outfit left nothing for the imagination and barely covered the necessary parts.

"Are you kidding me? Does your aunt know? Of course not," she said answering her own question.

What on planet earth ever possessed me to think I'd ever be able to hide this from them? I chewed my lip. "No one knows...except Gavin and now the two of you. And I expect to keep it that way."

"Please. My lips are sealed." She air zippered her mouth shut. Ha, I thought. That would be the day. "Where and how? I need details. You aren't eighteen yet," Tori rambled over-excited.

I shrugged. "Gavin might know someone." I waited to see if either one of them would noticed anything peculiar about the tattoo, like the fact that the rainbow ink swirled in movement.

"You have a fake ID," Austin proclaimed. "Can he get me one?"

I rolled my eyes. Boy could he ever and that was beside the point.

Austin looked, really looked at me for the first time since I came out of the bathroom. "Girl you are going to bring him to his knees. Look at those legs. Who would have guessed Babygirl had legs like that."

"Me," chimed in Tori. "Someone is going to get lucky tonight," she sung, winking at me. G.o.d, she was worse than a guy. Every thought somehow started and ended with s.e.x.

"Tonight is going to be unforgettable," Austin declared pulling us in for a group hug.

I didn't doubt that.

Chapter 21.

THE FIRST STIRRINGS OF b.u.t.tERFLIES fluttered into my belly. I was upstairs in Tori's bedroom finishing my hair, while a swarm of people gathered below. Deliberately I was taking my sweet old time, not entirely prepared to embrace my s.k.a.n.ky side just yet. If Sandra Dee could do it, so could I. There is a little bit of bad girl in all of us, right?

Tori and Austin literally had to haul me from my bedroom to her house in this ridiculous getup. I didn't go without a fight, and they forbid me a sweater cruelty. Thank G.o.d my aunt was on one of her routine date nights with Chad. He seemed good for her. At least I wouldn't have to worry about her as much when I was off to college.

College. I was light-years behind my fellow cla.s.smates on the whole college submissions. My mind this whole year had been filled with boys and magic. There hadn't been thoughts of my future. Now with it looming in the near distance I was screwed.

And my aunt knew it too.

Just the other day I had woken up with an enrollment packet to UNC Wilmington, Lukas's school. It might have once been my first choice, and obviously my aunt's, but now...I wasn't so sure. I wasn't so sure of anything.

The whole thing with my missing aura came back to haunt me. I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe I had done something. What if there was evil lurking inside me? What if I was capable of darkness dark magic?

I shuddered at just the thought.

My reflection scowled in the mirror. Turning off the curling iron, I figured this was the best my hair was going to get. Satisfied with my curly locks, I paused at the door inhaling a deep breath. "Here goes nothing," I muttered taking once last look at myself and shaking my head.

My heels clicked on the tile floor as I weaved down the hallway. An interior designer had decked out Tori's pad in the spirit of Christmas. Lighted garland hung over the doorway arches, down the banisters, and alongside the fireplace mantels. Snowflakes hung sporadically from the high ceilings, a Christmas tree the size of Time Square twinkled in the corner. What was usually the music room had been cleared out for a dance floor and DJ.