Page 186 of Bend

“He was fucking alone, Andre.”

Behind me, Echo sobs into Draygon’s chest.

Andre looks wrecked now too, but I can’t stop.

“I could’ve gotten then, we both know it, and you, you made me ride away from him.”

His voice drops. “I made you come back alive. Because we all know thats what he would’ve wanted.”

I laugh once, sharp and broken.

“Yeah. Brilliant.”

“Thorne—”

“Yeah, well, he’s dead, so what he would’ve wanted doesn’t really matter now, does it?” I laugh, but there’s fuck all funny in it. “But who cares, right? You got me back.”

My chest heaves as I shake my head, staring at Andre through burning eyes.

“Just not all of me.”

The anger drains out of my voice on the last few words, leaving something rawer behind.

“Because yeah, I came back alive.” My voice drops, rough enough I barely recognise it. “But I’m not the bloke who left that pit this morning. Not anymore. Not without him.”

Maybe he sees it, because his expression changes slightly, but he doesn’t step back.

“You think I wanted to?” Andre asks, voice low. “You think I wanted any of you out there after that?”

“I could’ve gone back.”

“No, you couldn’t.”

“Fuck off.”

“You couldn’t, Thorne.” His voice rises now, cutting straight through mine. “You were miles away on an active course with other riders still moving. You turn around, stop somewhere unsafe or lose your head trying to get to him, and then I’ve got another fucking rider down.”

My chest heaves.

“I could’ve done something.”

“No.”

“Don’t fucking tell me—”

“You could not help him.”

That shuts me up.

Not because I want it to.

Because somewhere underneath all the rage, I know he’s right.

Andre’s eyes are wet now, and seeing that takes some of the fight out of me in a way nothing else has. He looks fucking wrecked too. Not like the bloke in charge of all of us, not like the man who always has an answer or a plan.

Just someone who lost Wolfe too.

He drags in a breath and looks toward the course.