Silver by Talia Vance

done it twice now. The count’s in my favor. One more strike and he’s out. “Although I guess that explains your better dates.”
    He smiles, and for a second I let myself wish he’d turn that smile on me. He doesn’t. He keeps staring straight ahead.
    â€œLook at me.” It’s out before I can take it back.
    To his credit, he turns his head in my direction, but his glance is so fleeting that it’s hardly worth the effort.
    â€œNice try.”
    â€œBrianna.” Blake’s voice softens. “We’re going to figure this out.”
    â€œI just want to go home.” The only thing to figure out is how I managed to wind up alone in a car with a guy who can’t even look at me. A guy who can only break my heart.
    â€œWe’re almost there. I want to show you something that might put things in perspective. Then we’ll talk.” His angelic face is pleading.
    I waver.
    â€œYou need to know the answers too.”
    Unless he’s got a nice reasonable explanation to replace my pheromone theory, I don’t want to know. “In case you’re wondering, if this is some elaborate plot to get in my pants, it’s not working,” I say.
    Blake laughs. “It’s not, I swear. Right now that’s the furthest thing from my mind. That’s part of what we need to figure out.”
    â€œIs that supposed to be a compliment? If so, you really need to work on your moves.”
    Blake maneuvers his giant car into a small parking lot above the beach. He comes around to the passenger side, opening the door for me. “Come on.”
    I follow him down a switchback path that leads to the sand. At the bottom, we head south, following the base of a rocky cliff. Moonlight reflects off the crashing waves, providing just enough light to see by. We go about a quarter mile until we come to the remnants of a fire still burning in a pit that’s been abandoned by its makers. The small fire casts a golden glow along the cliff wall, and Blake stops. There’s a narrow opening in the rock about six feet high. It doesn’t look large enough for a person, but he disappears through it easily enough.
    I stand next to the fire, not following.
    Blake sticks his head out of the opening. “Come on, we’re almost there.”
    I plant my feet in the sand. “I’m not going into some creepy cave with a guy I barely know.”
    Blake steps all the way out. “I know I shouldn’t rush you.” He looks up and down the beach. “No problem. We can do it out here.”
    I back up a step. “Excuse me?”
    He laughs. “Not that .”
    â€œRight. I keep forgetting. I repel you . ”
    He reaches for my hand, sending flashes of fire up my arm.
    â€œYou don’t repel me, Brianna.” His thumb traces a line along the chain that rings my wrist. “It’s this.”
    The tingle that slides along my spine in time to the movement of his thumb is a study in contradiction. On the one hand, some primitive instinct screams at me to get away. Now. An even more primitive instinct wants to savor the riot of heat his touch sets off, urging me closer. I stand frozen, a victory of sorts for the part of me that wants to melt into him.
    When his fingers brush the clasp of my bracelet, I jerk my hand away. “I won’t take it off.” Score one for self-defense.
    â€œIf you don’t believe in it, what’s the harm?”
    I let out a breath. “You’re not going to let this go?”
    â€œNever.”
    I stare at my bracelet. The good luck charm Nana gave me three days after the chem fire.
    Derek and Cassidy got out, but not before the flames had circled them, trapping them in the corner. The fire was right on my hands, between my fingers. And then it wasn’t. The fire seemed to dance around me, like I could control it. That’s how I knew I’d gone off the deep end. Cassidy’s screams were what