Page 123 of Bend

I point my wrench at him. “Don’t even start.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“No, but you were about to.”

“I was going to say you’re handling this beautifully.”

“Liar.”

“I mean, it was a little aggressive, waŋyéča.”

The familiar word settles something inside me. Not enough to kill the nerves completely, but enough that I finally take a proper breath before turning back to the bike.

“You still haven’t told me what that means.”

Wolfe goes quiet.

When I look over, he’s watching me with that soft expression he gets when he’s about to say something that’ll make me regret having feelings.

He pushes away from the bench and comes over.

Even after everything, looking at him up close still catches me sometimes. Messy blond hair falling over his forehead, stupidly pretty eyes, sharp jaw covered in just enough scruff to make him look less polished than he actually is. He’s got that effortless thing about him, like he could roll out of bed looking annoyingly good and not even realize it.

He crouches beside me, bringing himself level with where I’m sitting near the bike.

Then his fingers curl gently beneath my chin.

My brain immediately forgets whatever the fuck I was doing.

“What?” I ask.

His thumb brushes lightly along my jaw. “Waŋyéča.”

“Yeah. That.”

“It means firefly.”

I blink.

Of all the things I expected, that wasn’t one of them.

“Firefly?”

He nods.

“Why?”

Wolfe smiles a little, eyes staying on mine.

“Because you showed up when everything around here was pretty fucking dark.”

Well, fuck me.

He keeps going before I can recover.

“You’re small, loud, impossible to ignore.” His smile deepens when I narrow my eyes. “And you somehow manage to light up every room you walk into, even when you’re pissed off at everyone in it.”

“That started sweet and got insulting really fast.”