Chapter 1

Eighteen Months Earlier

I'm seventeen years old when I first meet him.

Seventeen and crazy about Hanbin.

"Jennie, come on, this is boring," Chahee says as we sit on the bleachers watching the game. Football. Something I know nothing about, but pretend I love because that's where I see him. Out there on that field, practicing every day.

I'm not the only girl watching Hanbin, of course. He's the quarterback and the hottest guy on the planet—or at least in the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn, Illinois.

"It's not boring," I tell her. "Football is a lot of fun."

Chahee rolls her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Just go talk to him already. You're not shy. Why don't you just make him notice you?"

I shrug. Hanbin and I don't run in the same circles. He's got cheerleaders climbing all over him, and I've been watching him long enough to know that he goes for tall blond girls, not short brunettes.

Besides, for now it's kind of fun to just enjoy the attraction. And I know that's what this feeling is. Lust. Hormones, pure and simple. I have no idea if I'll like Hanbin as a person, but I certainly love how he looks without his shirt. Whenever he walks by, I feel my heart beating faster from excitement. I feel warm inside, and I want to squirm in my seat.

I also dream about him. Sexy dreams, sensual dreams, where he holds my hand, touches my face, kisses me. Our bodies touch, rub against each other. Our clothes come off.

I try to imagine what sex with Hanbin would be like.

Last year, when I was dating Kai, we nearly went all the way, but then I found out he slept with another girl at a party while drunk. He groveled profusely when I confronted him about it, but I couldn't trust him again and we broke up. Now I'm much more careful about the guys I date, although I know not all of them are like Kai.

Hanbin might be, though. He's just too popular not to be a player. Still, if there's anybody I'd want to have my first time with, it's definitely Hanbin.

"Let's go out tonight," Chahee says. "Just us girls. We can go to Chicago, celebrate your birthday."

"My birthday is not for another week," I remind her, even though I know she's got the date marked on her calendar.

"So what? We can get a head start."

I grin. She's always so eager to party. "I don't know. What if they throw us out again? Those IDs are just not that good—"

"We'll go to another place. It doesn't have to be Aristotle."

Aristotle is by far the coolest club in the city. But Chahee was right—there were others.

"Okay," I say. "Let's do it. Let's get a head start."

Chahee picks me up at 9 p.m.

She's dressed for clubbing—dark skinny jeans, a sparkly black tube-top, and over-the-knee high-heeled boots. Her hair is perfectly smooth and straight, falling down her back like a highlighted waterfall.

In contrast, I'm still wearing my sneakers. My clubbing shoes I hide in the backpack that I intend to leave in Chahee's car. A thick sweater hides the sexy top I'm wearing. No makeup and my long brown hair in a ponytail.

I leave the house like that to avoid any suspicion. I tell my parents I'm going to hang out with Chahee at a friend's house. My mom smiles and tells me to have fun.

Now that I'm almost eighteen, I don't have a curfew anymore. Well, I probably do, but it's not a formal one. As long as I come home before my parents start freaking out—or at least if I let them know where I am—it's all good.

Once I get into Chahee's car, I begin my transformation.

Off goes the thick sweater, revealing the slinky tank-top I have on underneath. I wore a push-up bra to maximize my somewhat-normalsized assets. The bra straps are cleverly designed to look cute, so I'm not embarrassed to have them show. I don't have cool boots like Chahee's, but I did manage to sneak out my nicest pair of black heels. They add about four inches to my height. I need every single one of those inches, so I put on the shoes.

Next, I pull out my makeup bag and pull down the windshield visor, so I can get access to the mirror.

Familiar features stare back at me. Brown-colored feline eyes and clearly defined black eyebrows dominate my small face. Kai once told me that I look exotic, and I can kind of see that. My skin always looks lightly tanned and my eyelashes are unusually long. Fake lashes, Chahee calls them, but they're entirely real.

I don't have a problem with my looks, although I often wish I were taller. My grandma was petite and so am I, even though both of my parents are of average height. I wouldn't care, except Hanbin likes tall girls. I don't think he even sees me in the hallway; I'm literally below his eye level.

Sighing, I put on lip gloss and some eye shadow. I don't go crazy with makeup because simple works best on me.

Chahee cranks up the radio, and the latest pop songs fill the car. I grin and start singing along with Rihanna. Chahee joins me, and now we're both belting out S lyrics.

Before I know it, we arrive at the club.

We walk in like we own the place. Chahee gives the bouncer a big smile, and we flash our IDs. They let us through, no problem.

We've never been to this club before. It's in an older, slightly rundown part of downtown Chicago.

"How did you find this place?" I yell at Chahee, shouting to be heard above the music.

"Ralph told me about it," she yells back, and I roll my eyes.

Ralph is Chahee's ex-boyfriend. They broke up when he started acting weird, but they still talk for some reason. I think he's into drugs or something these days. I'm not sure, and Chahee won't tell me out of some misplaced loyalty to him. He's the king of shady, and the fact that we're here on his recommendation is not super-comforting.

But whatever. Sure, the area outside is not the best, but the music is good and the crowd is a nice mix of people.

We're here to party, and that's exactly what we do for the next hour. Chahee gets a couple of guys to buy us shots. We don't have more than one drink each. Chahee—because she has to drive us home. And me—because I don't metabolize alcohol well. We may be young, but we're not stupid.

After the shots, we dance. The two guys who bought us drinks dance with us, but we gradually migrate away from them. They're not that cute. Chahee finds a group of college-age hotties, and we sidle up to them. She strikes up a conversation with one of them, and I smile, watching her in action. She's good at this flirting business.

In the meantime, my bladder tells me I need to visit the ladies' room. So I leave them and go.

On my way back, I ask the bartender for a glass of water. I am thirsty after all the dancing.

He gives it to me, and I greedily gulp it down. When I'm done, I put down the glass and look up.

Straight into a pair of piercing doe eyes.

She's sitting on the other side of the bar, about ten feet away. And she's staring at me.

I stare back. I can't help it. She's probably the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.

Her hair is dark and curls slightly. Her face is perfectly symmetrical. Straight dark eyebrows over those striking eyes. A mouth that could belong to a fallen angel.

I suddenly feel warm as I imagine that mouth touching my skin, my lips. If I were prone to blushing, I would've been beet-red.

She gets up and walks toward me, still holding me with her gaze. She walks leisurely. Calmly. She's completely sure of herself. And why not? She's gorgeous, and she knows it.

As she approaches, I realize that she's tall and well built. I don't know how old she is, but I'm guessing she's closer to thirty than twenty. A woman, not a girl.

She stands next to me, and I have to remember to breathe.

"What's your name?" she asks softly. Her voice somehow carries above the music, its deeper notes audible even in this noisy environment.

"Jennie," I say quietly, looking up at her. I am absolutely mesmerized, and I'm pretty sure she knows it.

She smiles. Her sensuous lips part, revealing even white teeth. "Jennie. I like that."

She doesn't introduce herself, so I gather my courage and ask, "What's your name?"

"You can call me Lisa," she says, and I watch her lips moving. I've never been so fascinated by a woman's mouth before.

"How old are you, Jennie?" she asks next.

I blink. "Twenty-one."

Her expression darkens. "Don't lie to me."

"Almost eighteen," I admit reluctantly. I hope she doesn't tell the bartender and get me kicked out of here.

She nods, like I confirmed her suspicions. And then she raises her hand and touches my face. Lightly, gently. Her thumb rubs against my lower lip, as though she's curious about its texture.

I'm so shocked that I just stand there. Nobody has ever done that before, touched me so casually, so possessively. I feel hot and cold at the same time, and a tendril of fear snakes down my spine. There is no hesitation in her actions. No asking for permission, no pausing to see if I would let her touch me.

She just touches me. Like she has the right to do so. Like I belong to her.

I draw in a shaky breath and back away. "I have to go," I whisper, and she nods again, watching me with an inscrutable expression on her beautiful face.

I know she's letting me go, and I feel pathetically grateful—because something deep inside me senses that she could've easily gone further, that she doesn't play by the normal rules.

That she's probably the most dangerous creature I've ever met.

I turn and make my way through the crowd. My hands are trembling, and my heart is pounding in my throat.

I need to leave, so I grab Chahee and make her drive me home.

As we're walking out of the club, I look back and I see her again. She's still staring at me.

There is a dark promise in her gaze—something that makes me shiver.