Page 158 of Bend

I hum quietly. “Look at you being all restrained.”

She glances up. “You sound surprised.”

“Not surprised.” I shift a little closer, resting my forearm against the bike while I look at her. “Just enjoying it.”

“Enjoying what?”

“You standing here covered in grease, telling me exactly what my bike needs like you haven’t been doing this since you started riding yourself.”

Her expression softens for half a second before she catches it.

“That’s a very elaborate way of saying I’m good at my job.”

“Yeah, but mine sounded nicer.”

She snorts and looks back at the sheet. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Maybe. Still think you look good doing it, though.”

That makes her pause, pen hovering over the page.

I smile and reach over with my thumb, wiping the small streak of grease from her jaw before she can ask what I’m doing.

“There. Been bothering me since I pulled in.”

She stares at me for a beat. “You could’ve just told me.”

“Could’ve.”

Her eyes narrow, but there’s a smile trying to happen again. “Go get changed, Wolfe.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I grab my helmet and step away, still grinning when I hear her mutter something about irritating fucking Canadians behind me.

I should probably leave.

Instead, I stay there a little longer.

Because something about watching her today feels different.

A few weeks ago, Echo walked into our garage and every person who didn’t already know who she was looked at her like they needed an explanation.

Talon and Sayshen’s sister. The new mechanic.

The girl who appeared out of nowhere.

Now nobody asks.

Talon finishes talking to one of the sponsor mechanics and waits because Echo is busy. Reign walks over with his setup sheet already in hand. Thorne remembers another small issue and goes straight to her instead of looking for Andre.

Nobody is telling Echo where anything is, or even fucking checking whether she understands what they mean.

They trust her to know, and she does.

She’s become part of the team so gradually that I don’t think she realizes it happened.

I’m not sure any of us noticed exactly when it happened either.