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At his side, an EMT pushed hia brace on his neck The second EMT brought over a back board Price pushed the mask away

“I’m fine,” he muttered

“Lie down, sir, we’re putting you on a board”

Grinning, Price laid back

TJ felt like he atching so, miraculous He’d seen the crash He’d seen plenty of crashes, even plenty that looked awful but the riders walked away from He’d also seen soht this was one of those But there was Price, awake, relaxed, like he’d only stubbed a toe

Price rolled his eyes, caught TJ’s gaze, and chuckled at his gaping stare “What, you’ve never seen someone who’s invincible?”

The EMT’s shifted him to the board, secured the straps over him, and carried him off

“Looks like he’s gonna be okay,” Mitch said, shrugging off his bafflement

Invincible, TJ thought There wasn’t any such thing

At the track the folloeekend, TJ was tuning Gary’s second bike when Mitch came up the aisle and leaned on the handlebars “He’s back Did you hear?”

The handlebars rocked, twisting the front tire and knocking TJ’s wrench out of his hand He sighed “What? Who?”

“Price, Alex Price He’s totally okay”

“How is that even possible?” TJ said “You saw that crash He should have been smashed to pieces”

“Who knows? Guys walk away from the craziest shit” Mitch went to the cab and pulled a beer out of the cooler

It was true, anything was possible, Price ht, so he didn’t break and the bike didn’t crush him Every crash looked horrible, like it should tear the riders to ribbons, and most of the time no one was hurt worse than cuts and bruises In fact, how many people even looked forward to the crashes, the spike of adrenaline and sense of horror, watching tragedy unfold? But so here didn’t track

TJ tossed the wrench in the tool box, closed and locked and lid, and set out to find Price

Today was just practice runs; the atmosphere at the track was laid back and workmanlike Not like race days, which were like carnivals He went up one aisle of trucks and trailers, down the next, not sure what he was looking for—if he was local, Price probably didn’t ride for a teaos all over a fancy trailer He’d have a plain ho His jacket had been black and red; TJ looked for that

Turned out, all he had to do was find the e of the crowd that had gathered to hear Price tell the story This couldn’t have been the first time he told it

“I just tucked in and let it happen,” Price said, a s and accepted their adoration

TJ wanted to hate the guy Not sure why He wasn’t quite his type Or maybe it was the matter of survival Price had survived, and TJ wanted to Ar skeptical, he stood off to the side

Price looked friendly enough, s all the hands offered to hi over his shoulder, like he was looking for a way out TJ worked his way forward as the crowd dispersed, until they were nearly alone

“Can I talk to you privately?” TJ said

“Hey, I reht after the crash Thanks, man”

TJ found hilance away “I just want to talk for a second”

“Coet you a beer”

Price led him to the front part of the trailer, which was set up as a break area—lawn chairs, a cooler, a portable grill From the cooler he pulled out a couple of bottles of a ood stuff—and popped off the caps by hand Absently, TJ wiped the damp bottle on the hem of his T-shirt