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Her parents were at their beach house, and her brother Cal was a six-hour flight away at a medical conference All of the the news

I was the only one there out of our h the very thought of it felt like I was burning at the stake

The world flew past h traffic and laying on the horn, but istered any of it

Hoas I going to do this to her?

“It doesn’t look good You need to find her and prepare her to say goodbye” Those were the words Brenden’s father had barely been able to utter, his voice cracking with grief as he’d explained to et Lex on the phone

What were the syllables required to prepare soht froether the right thing to say

He washim

But he was the love of her life—there was no recovering from that kind of loss

Maybe he’d pull through Maybe by this ti stories about the day he’d almost died

Ortruck on an endless road, unable to save him or protect her

A wave of relief punched ut as I turned into her parents’ driveway and finally saw her car Adrenaline exploded in my veins, but it was quickly iced by the reality of as to come

I needed to getone of the hardest moments she would ever face God forbid, if the tables were turned, Lex would have been the first person standing at ainst the universe, if for no other reason than to make sure I wasn’t alone We shared no blood, but ere a family just the same

As I threw my truck into park and then bolted up their massive front steps, h I had to push that aside to be her life raft

None of this made sense

Brenden had spent the et the first tied us to one of his races I wasn’t the one on the track, but the thrill still hitsteep jumps and obstacles with pinpoint precision Dirt bikes had never been ot off on Motocross

He lived on the edge, but it was fucking fishing at his own pond and a four-wheeler that had shoved him over it