Page 58 of Fallen Flame

The screen door swung shut behind her.

I stared after her and something tugged in the back of my mind. The same feeling I’d had since Wrecker told us about the phone calls at the motel.

Nothing had happened since Basil and Kingston started staying there.

Not one call.

Basil was probably in hell having to spend every day around Archie. Kingston, on the other hand, thought the whole assignment was the funniest thing he’d ever witnessed.

Still, Wrecker’s words stayed in my head.

Stick like glue.

Without really thinking about it, I followed Lark inside.

She didn’t hear me and was standing on her toes reaching into one of the cabinets for a package of paper plates.

She grabbed them, turned, and walked straight into me. “Oh!” The stack slipped from her hands and paper plates exploded across the kitchen floor.

“Sorry,” she laughed.

We both bent down, our hands reached for the same stack.

Our shoulders bumped, and we both leaned the same way to avoid the other. Our foreheads knocked together with a soft thunk.

She laughed again. “So graceful.” She looked up at me, and neither of us moved.

One hand still rested on the stack of paper plates between us.

She was close. Too close.

Close enough that I could see the tiny flecks of gold mixed into her brown eyes. Close enough to smell the faint vanilla scent that always seemed to follow her around. Close enough that I forgot why we were on the floor in the first place.

“Ollie...” She barely whispered it.

Somehow it sounded different. Softer. Warmer. She leaned forward just enough that I almost closed the distance myself.

“You coming with those damn plates tonight?” Jude’s voice echoed through the clubhouse.

The spell shattered and Lark blinked. “Oh!” She sat back so fast she nearly dropped the plates again. A blush crept across her cheeks as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Sorry.”

“There wasn’t anything to apologize for.”

She smiled nervously before standing. “I should probably...”

“Yeah.”

She hurried back outside and I stood there for another second before following.

The first time she’d called me Ollie, I’d hated it. Or at least I’d told myself I did.

Now, damn. I almost looked forward to hearing it.

Nobody had ever called me that before. Just her, and for some reason, I liked that.

Outside, everyone had already descended on the hot dogs.

Ender had somehow managed to eat one before anyone else grabbed theirs.