Page 237 of Bend

Andre with his headset already on. Dad beside him. Talon and Sayshen standing farther back, both of them watching like they’re definitely going to critique every fucking corner afterward. Reign, Revel, Thorne and Draygon lined along the edge of the garage.

My people.

My family.

There’s still someone missing from that picture.

There always will be.

But the empty space doesn’t erase everyone standing around it anymore.

I settle behind the screen as I reach the grid, flexing my fingers once around the grips while the engine vibrates beneath me. Somewhere inside my helmet, my breathing sounds louder than it should.

I think about Mom.

About the life she gave me, even if there were pieces of it she kept from me for too long.

I think about my brothers and the father who never knew I existed until I showed up and detonated half his life.

I think about Thorne and Draygon, both of them somehow teaching me that loving someone doesn’t have to mean losing pieces of yourself to keep them.

And I think about Wolfe.

About blue eyes, stupid fucking cereal, stolen food, warm hands and fireflies.

About the man who called me one because he saw something bright in me before I knew how to see it myself.

Losing him will always hurt.

I know that now.

But grief isn’t the only thing he left me with.

He left me love too.

He left me proof that I can let people close enough to matter and survive the risk that comes with it. That something ending doesn’t make everything before it less worth having.

The marshal steps forward.

My pulse kicks harder.

For most of my life, I thought home was somewhere other people got to have. I thought maybe I’d missed my chance at it, or maybe some people were just built to keep moving forever.

I know better now.

Home isn’t a building.

It isn’t a place that can’t change or people who can never leave.

It’s knowing there are people waiting when I come back around.

It’s being missed when I’m gone.

It’s having somewhere I want to return to.

The marshal raises his hand.

I lean forward over the tank.