Page 132 of Twisted Trails
That stops me cold.He called his mom?
I take the glove mechanically. “You did this for me?”
He just nods, focused as he gestures to the glove. “Put it on. It’s a lobster-style glove. Your forefinger and thumb are separate, the other three together.”
I slideit on, careful with my fingers, and explore the way it’s padded around the fractures. When I turn the palm up, I see he’s stitched a patch of Velcro into it.
“Okay. Now slide your hand into position and press down.”
I place my hand over the grip and feel how it sticks when I grip the handle.
He adjusts the hook over my knuckles and holds it in place. “It’s not trapping you,” he murmurs. “It’s just guiding. Enough contact pressure to keep your hand down so you don’t have to grip too hard, but in a crash, it’ll release.”
“Show me,” I demand softly.
“Pull slowly first.”
I tug at my hand, but it stays put.
“Now with more force, like when you crash and the bike gets pulled from your grip.”
I hesitate for only half a second before I yank,hard.
The hook springs up, and the Velcro gives with a mutedripas my hand lifts clean. There’s no pain or pull on the fractures. Nothing.
I stare at it like the miracle it is.
“Holyshit,” I whisper.
Dane exhales behind me. “Motherfucker.”
Luc whoops and throws an arm around Finn’s shoulders. “Papi, you goddamngenius.This is the best thing I’ve ever seen. I want one, just to be able to say I’ve got one.”
Finn shrugs, a little flushed, but his mouth quirks. “Couldn’t let something that insignificant keep her from qualifying.”
The fucking lengths he went to for me. Not just because he believes in me, but because heknowsme. Knows how much I need this. Knows what it would’ve done to me to sit it out.
My heart kicks hard behind my ribs.
“Thank you,” I whisper, still trying to wrangle the wonder swirling inside me.
Finn gazes at me intently before nodding. “Always.”
Andfuck, I know he means it.
“Let’s go, guys,” Otis calls. “We’re up.”
As we head to the gondola, I adjust my glove, flexing my fingers to test the tension. When we get there, I freeze, whipping around to scan the area when I realize Finn is not with us anymore.
Frowning, I hang my bike on the side of the gondola—only now realizing the flaw in the plan to tape myself to my bike at the bottom of the mountain—and step into it after Luc, Mason, and Otis. As soon as the doors slide shut, I sit down next to Luc. “Why isn’t he coming?”
“No idea.” Luc shrugs. “But if he’s not qualifying, he won’t race tomorrow.”
My breath catches in my throat.He might not start because of me.
He gave up a race in his last season so I could ride.
I stare out the gondola window, but I don’t see the view. I seehim—sacrificing the thing he loves most, just to hand me a shot at staying in this fight.
