Page 4 of Made of Steel (Made of Steel 1)

So he hadn't actually bought me a present. He probably tried to get something for himself and failed. But he thought of me when he opened it. That counted for something.

I looked into his eyes. He had always been really hard to read.

A smile spread over his face, like he already knew I was going to choose wrong.

I slapped his left hand. He opened it up. It was just an empty palm.

"You're lucky that we're friends." He opened up his other hand and tossed a small object at me.

I caught it and opened my hand. It was a small keychain with an arrow on it. Sagitta. "I love it."

"Thought you might." He lay back down, not reading into my words at all. "Can you see it tonight?"

"See what?" How much you love me back? My eyes were glued to the arrow keychain. It was the perfect present.

"Sagitta." He pointed to the stars.

I lay back down and looked past his index finger at the arrow in the sky. The constellation was as bright as could be. I nodded.

It was like he knew my response even though he couldn't hear it. He dropped his hand on the blanket between us. Without thinking, I slipped my hand into his.

And then I held my breath. For one second. My heart is going to beat out of my chest. For two. What did I just do? For three. Should I say it was an accident? For four. He's never going to speak to me again. For five.

His fingers tightened around mine.

I exhaled slowly. Miles Young was holding my hand. It felt like I was dreaming, because I had dreamed of this exact moment for years. Miles Young is holding my hand!

Neither one of us said a word. We just looked at the stars in the sky.

Thank you, Sagitta.

"Summer?"

"Yes?"

"I like this."

I swallowed hard. "Me too." My life was complete. I could already picture the wedding. My dad would walk me down the aisle. Miles would wear a blue tie to match my bridesmaids' dresses. It would be the best day of my life. Besides for this one. It would definitely be hard to compete with this one.

"Maybe we could do this more often?" Miles said.

I nodded.

He squeezed my hand, hearing my nod even though he couldn't see it. Miles could read me much easier than I could read him. Maybe he knew I was in love with him for the past two years. I was glad he finally got hit by that arrow.

He really was perfect, because he never made me feel like I was one of the smallest constellations in the sky. That's how I knew it was true love. I stared up at Sagitta. Suddenly the sky turned red and blue.

Miles' hand fell from mine as he sat up. "What is that?" He looked out the window of the tree house. "Summer..."

His voice sounded strange. I sat up and looked out the window too.

There was a police car. The officer walked to my door and knocked. Why was he knocking on my door? Why was Julie's hand covering her mouth? Why did it look like he was trying to comfort her?

My feet started moving before my mind could even process what was happening.

"Summer!" Miles called after me as I climbed down the rickety ladder and started running back toward my house.

Once I was through the gate into my yard, I kicked off my bunny slippers so I could run even faster.

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