Page 86 of Forged in Flames (Made of Steel 2)

"I didn't. It looked old. I assumed it was from your past..."

"Stop lying to me. Eli was watching me before I got here. Were you watching me too?" I didn't even wait for a response. "How long have you been watching me?!"

"I didn't..."

I pushed his shoulder. "How long have you been watching me, V?"

"It wasn't like that. I've read your files. I found you here."

"Why were you looking for me? What am I to you?"

"Everything!" His voice echoed around in the small room. "Everything," he said a little gentler.

It wasn't the first time he had said something like that to me. "This is everything to me," I said, holding up my hand. "Why did you keep it from me?"

A strained laugh fell from his lips. "That means everything to you? Really? You could have fooled me."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's a trinket. It has no value. It's nothing. I'm a living, breathing person, Sadie. You put more value on that piece of shit than you do on me."

"That isn't true."

"You just said it was everything. Everything. It's a fucking object, Sadie."

"It's not the object itself. It's the meaning behind it." I could feel the tears starting to well in my eyes. What did he want me to say?

"And what is that? What is the meaning that is so important to you?"

My lip was trembling. "I don't understand what you want from me."

"I want you to tell me the truth!" His voice cracked. "We weren't supposed to run out of time." He was breaking in front of me. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. We need more time."

I was watching him fall apart and there was only one thing I could do. He was always there to catch me when I fell. I needed to be there for him too. I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around him.

His body was stiff, but he slowly relaxed into me as he rested his chin on my shoulder.

The strangest feeling washed over me. It somehow felt like we had come so far even though we hadn't known each other that long. I let him pull me onto his lap and hold me even tighter.

"Just tell me you won't let go," he whispered into my ear. "Tell me you're not giving up."

I was done lying. I would never tell someone I was okay when I wasn't again. White lies were sometimes the most painful to tell. So instead of answering his question, I pulled his head away from my shoulder and held both sides of his face in my hands. "When I'm wearing it, it feels like I'm not alone. That's why it's important."

"Who gave it to you?"

"Miles." The m in his name used to tickle my lips when I was young. I felt it now. Like a small trace of my past creeping up to me. I pressed my lips together.

He nodded, making my hands fall from his face. "So when you wear it you feel close to Miles?"

"When I was little that was all it was. A way to be close to my friend. But as the years wore on and I lost touch with him, it became something more than that. It makes me feel close to my parents. And my grandmother. It reminds me of my past. It reminds me of what it was like to be happy."

He sighed and his warm breath hit my face. "We need more time." He pressed his forehead against mine. "We're so close."

"I think that's the problem with time. You don't realize how fast it goes by until you're about to run out of it."

Chapter 34

Thursday

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