Routines brought safety to their lives.He knew what to expect.
He looked down the street again—and there she was.Turning the corner, her hair catching the sunlight, her steps quickening the moment she spotted him.She waved, her smile blooming wide and bright.
The day's tiredness fled.
Every day, she looked at him like she still couldn't believe he was real.And every day, he felt the same way about her.
He was old enough to be her grandpa, but luckily, he got his time back.Most days, he only felt twenty years older than Kallie, and she kept him young.Or maybe it didn't have as much to do with their age difference as with all the love he received.
She reached him, slightly out of breath, cheeks flushed from the walk."Hi," she said, grinning.
"Hi," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her forehead."Good day?"
"Always," she said, slipping her hand into his."Now that I'm with you."
He squeezed her fingers."Ready to go home?"
She nodded, her smile softening."Let's go."
They started walking, their steps falling into an easy rhythm.The world around them was steady, safe, and ordinary in the best possible way.
Finn glanced at her, at the woman who had crossed the veil for him, who had pulled him out of a place that stole decades from his life and left him a hollow man.She'd given him a life he never thought he'd have.
He lifted her hand to his lips, brushing a kiss across her knuckles.
"We're good, Kallie," he said quietly."Nothing's ever going to tear us apart.Not even the rift."
She looked up at him, eyes shining."I know."
He smiled."We'll go home, have ice cream, and then love each other.That's the plan."
She laughed—that soft, warm sound he'd never get tired of."Best plan we've ever had."
As they walked toward their apartment, fingers intertwined, the sun dipping low behind them, Finn felt something he hadn't felt in decades.
Peace.Real, lasting peace.
Police sirens grabbed his attention, growing louder and closer.Finn lifted his gaze, instincts firing.Beside him, Kallie stiffened, her grip tightening.The sound grew louder, echoing off the brick buildings, bouncing down the narrow street and making the air vibrate.
A heartbeat later, a motorcycle exploded into view.
It tore down the road like a bullet—fast, reckless, weaving between cars with feral desperation.The engine screamed, raw and furious, the kind of sound that spiked Finn's pulse with old memories he didn't want to revisit.
Kallie gasped, stepping closer to him.
A police cruiser followed a second later, lights strobing violently across the pavement, siren wailing in a relentless, rising pitch.The cruiser swerved, tires squealing, trying to keep up with the rider.
Finn turned, watching the motorcycle until it vanished.
An odd coldness slid down his spine.Not fear.Recognition.
"What the fuck?"he breathed, the words barely making it past his lips.
Kallie grabbed his arm, her voice tight."Finn?What's wrong?"
He forced himself to look at her, but his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might crack his ribs.His mouth went dry.His thoughts scattered.
Because he knew that bike.
He knew that riding style.
He knew that man.
"That was Moe," he murmured, the name tasting like a ghost on his tongue."On that motorcycle."
Kallie's eyes widened, confusion and dread flickering across her face.
And just like that, the peace they'd built, the fragile, hard-won sense of safety they'd wrapped around themselves, cracked.Finn felt it all the way down to his bones.The evening no longer felt peaceful or still.The road behind them seemed to hum with a memory he didn't want to recognize.
For weeks, he'd told himself Everstill was behind them, sealed off, finished—but now, with the echo of that motorcycle still vibrating in his chest, he couldn't shake the sense that something had followed them out...or that someone had finally found a way through.
