Page 215 of Bend

Not the one from the crash.

His parents didn’t want that here.

This one is familiar, the black shell scratched in places from use, and seeing it sitting empty on the shelf somehow makes it look smaller than I remember.

Then his number.

His photo.

That stupid smiling photo from the TT tribute where he looks alive enough that my brain still expects him to walk through the door and complain about everyone making such a big deal out of him.

Thorne disappears for a few minutes and comes back carrying several sheets of paper.

I know they’re his before he even reaches us.

A manga-style comic strip.

The first panel is Wolfe, complete with stupid little wings, standing there looking confused as hell like even death managed to annoy him. In the next, Cruz is running at him with this massive grin on his face, wings spread behind him, looking happier than I’ve ever seen anyone drawn on a piece of paper.

Then Wolfe is smiling too.

Really smiling.

The last few panels are them together, sitting side by side with game controllers in their hands, arguing over whatever they’re playing while their wings are squashed awkwardly behind them.

My throat closes.

It’s so painfully Thorne that it almost hurts worse than a normal portrait would have. He didn’t draw Wolfe dead. He didn’t draw him alone.

He drew him finding someone.

Andre takes the pages carefully, his expression changing as he looks through each panel.

“Thought it could go up for today,” Thorne says, his voice quieter than usual. “Figured Cruz had probably been waiting for the miserable bastard anyway.”

Andre nods and places it beside the photograph.

Thorne looks away before anyone can watch his face too closely.

I reach for his hand and he takes it and holds on.

People start arriving soon after. Racers from other teams, mechanics, friends from Florida, people from Canada, sponsors, family.

Bex keeps herself busy with food because apparently feeding grieving people is universal, while Cece and Lena help her and Revel somehow becomes responsible for handing out water. Reign stays close to Lena, Sayshen drifts between everyone, and Talon spends most of the first hour beside our father.

Dad catches my eye a few times across the room.

There’s something easier between us now.

Still strange and new, but easier.

Wolfe’s parents arrive together, and his mom hugs me before I can figure out whether I’m supposed to go to her first.

She holds me hard enough that I feel the breath leave my lungs.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she whispers.

“Me too.”