Page 182 of Bend

“You heard them wrong. Call them back.”

“Echo—”

“Please.”

The word comes out so small it nearly breaks me.

“Just fucking check again.”

He doesn’t.

Because there’s nothing left to check.

His radio crackles again and Andre turns immediately toward the timing screens. Talon, Draygon and Thorne are still out there.

That thought nearly folds me in half.

I lock my eyes on their numbers instead.

Talon gets back first. The second the bike stops, he tears off his helmet and looks straight at Andre, then me.

His face empties.

“No.”

Andre doesn’t answer.

Talon turns away, both hands going over his head as if he can physically hold himself together.

Draygon comes in next.

He’s off the bike almost immediately, helmet gone, gloves ripped free as he searches the paddock.

For Wolfe.

Then he sees me.

He starts toward me, but I shake my head before he reaches me. I need him so badly it hurts, but if he touches me now, I’m going to break, and Thorne is still out there.

Draygon understands.

He stops a few feet away and stays.

Then we wait.

Thorne’s number keeps moving until suddenly it doesn’t.

My heart jumps into my throat.

Andre leans closer to the screen. “Timing delay. No incident.”

I stare at the number until it updates again.

“He’s coming in.”

The sound of Thorne’s bike reaches us first.

He comes into the paddock hard, gets the bike stopped and rips his helmet off before anyone can reach him.