Page 196 of Silver Elite

Cross stops walking and grins. “Come here.”

He gestures to his back, and the next thing I know, I’ve got my legs wrapped around his waist, my arms looped around his shoulders, and we’re laughing as he carries me through the woods. It’s the youngest I’ve felt my entire life. Even as a child, I felt like an adult. I hate that Cross Redden, of all people, brings out this side of me.

“I could get used to this,” I tease in his ear. “You carrying me around.”

“Don’t tell anyone. It will ruin my manly reputation.”

“Nah, it’ll just make the women swoon harder.”

“Probably,” he says arrogantly, and I punch his shoulder. “All right. I’m going to need you to walk the rest of the way. Think you can manage?”

“I’ll do my best.”

We trek through the trees and brush until we reach a rocky cliff, looming above us. Holes and cracks in the rock make for great footholds, but there’s no way I’m climbing this.

“I can’t scale that in these shoes.”

“Don’t worry. We’re not going up.” Cross points to the ground. “We’re going down.”

That’s when I see the hole near the base of the cliff.

I glare at him. “Did you bring me here to kill me?”

He snickers. “No. There are a lot easier ways to kill you. Bullet in the head. Smother you in your sleep.”

“You’re so romantic.”

That gets me another laugh. “I like this.”

“What?”

“This less bitchy side of you.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t like the bitchy side.”

“I love it. But this is nice, too.” He wipes his palms on the front of his camo pants. “Come on. I promise you, you’re gonna want to see what’s down there.”

“All right, let’s go.”

He blinks. “That didn’t take much convincing.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t require a lot of convincing to do stupid things. Reckless is my middle name.”

“Do you have one of those?” he asks.

“What?”

“A middle name.”

I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?”

“I only knew my first name when Uncle Jim found me on the side of the road.”

Cross hesitates, eyeing me as if he wants to ask a hundred more questions. Instead, he crouches in front of the shadowy crevice and starts to ease himself down. His dark head disappears over the edge, his fingers the only visible part of him left. He hangs for a moment and then he’s gone. I hear a soft thud as he lands below.

I peek into the opening to find his beautiful face peering back at me, framed by shadows. “You know, I could just walk away right now…” I call toward him. “Leave you here to die.”

---