Chances: They say you always regret the ones you don't take. But that's not true. Sometimes they're just dead ends, and they're going to get you nowhere.

I pass up on a chance the night I meet up with a beautiful-but-reluctant, brown-eyed boy; too preoccupied with my imploding job to figure out why he's so cagey.

But then Alex sends me a tantalizing photograph, and on a whim, I send him one back. And his unexpected reply makes my pulse race.

When he calls asking for help, I can't say no. And the shy smile, tight body, and sun-in-autumn eyes drag me in, so I bury my poor relationship history and hope that this time it will all be different.

Having Alex in my life makes me want something I've never had before, gives me hope. So I don't think about the consequences until I discover he has some brutal secrets of his own. And then I wish I'd remembered that first rule:

Some chances are going nowhere.