Made of Stars Read Online Free

one-handed.
    “We don’t need a swimming pool in the kitchen,” I say. Chance shrugs and steps aside into the laundry room, letting the door fall half closed. I can hear him shimmying out of his clothes. Shirt, pants, socks. I lean against the doorframe, staring at nothing in particular. “You can toss those in the washer.” I hear him do just that before emerging with the towel draped around his shoulders, the only thing covering him from the waist up. He’s managed to locate a pair of my sweatpants in the laundry, apparently, and I can’t help but grin at how terribly they fit him. We’re closer in height, but I still outweigh him by a fair amount.
    “You’ve gotten taller,” he observes. “And…muscle-y. What’ve you been doing, bench-pressing trucks?”
    I give him a small smile, rubbing the back of my neck. “Swimming and track. Mom likes to keep me busy so I don’t do something stupid with my free time, I guess.”
    Chance lounges with one shoulder to the wall, like it was built to support him. “Joining gangs, robbing banks, that sort of thing?”
    “Pretty much.”
    “I can totally picture it, you criminal, you.” He tips his head, looking behind me. Ash has decided to grace us with her presence and— Oh, cute. She’s wearing a dress, and she took the time to put on lipstick and mascara. She’s pulled her wet hair up into a twist with clips and pins. No wonder she was so quick to run inside.
    She sidles up beside me, flashing Chance her brightest smile. “Guess I owe you for saving my life and all that.”
    “Any time.” Chance doesn’t even try to be discreet when he drops his gaze and lets it wander up the length of her legs. And Ash really is all legs. I can’t figure out if the little knot in my stomach is because he’s checking her out—even if he’s only playing around—or because she’s checking him out. Either way, I feel momentarily out of place. Doesn’t help that Ash leans forward, touching a fingertip to his chest, and asks, “What’s that on your back? Let me see.”
    Chance lifts his eyebrows, but he does as asked and twists around. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it. There, on Chance’s back, is the constellation of Draco, each star done with intricate detail and a pale line traveling from one star to the next, forming the dragon he loves so much. With Chance’s lean frame, every breath, every movement makes a muscle or bone somewhere in his back shift and ripple the little stars.
    “Did it hurt?” Ash asks, fascinated, looking like she wants to trace the tattoo from top to bottom. I kind of do, too.
    Always one to soak up attention, Chance smiles. “Not really. You like?”
    “It’s awesome.” She grins. “Mom and Dad would flip if I asked for a tattoo before I’m, like, thirty.”
    Chance rolls his shoulders into a shrug. “If you’re asking your parents for permission for any thing at thirty, you’ve got bigger problems than them saying no .”
    She smacks him on the arm and he laughs, catching hold of her wrist and taking care in the way he twists her arm around her back and holds her there. Ash giggles, calling for me to rescue her, and I snake an arm around Chance to get him in a loose headlock.
    And I think how incredible this is, that we’ve been together less than twenty minutes but things are already slipping into how they’ve always been. How they should always be. We’ve fallen into this easy pattern of teasing and laughing, and I like it.
    I’ve missed this familiarity. I’ve missed being home .

Ashlin
    I go to sleep afraid I’ll wake up in the morning and find myself back in California. Away from Dad and Hunter and Chance. But Chance is there again the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. Waiting for Hunter and me just like he used to when we were kids. Sometimes we find him at the creek, sometimes on the back steps staring up at the sky. Sometimes Dad spots him and invites him in, and he’s eating breakfast