Page 84 of Veil of Ashes

“Not really,” I say. “But we’re staying.”

Her smile is small, but it’s real. “Good. Town’s boring. Could use more weird people.”

She pedals off without waiting for a reply, the back tire wobbling once before it catches its rhythm. She rides into the sun like she owns the street.

I step into the doorway and lean against the frame.

The dust rises behind her, soft and gold, catching on the breeze like powder blown from old bones.

I stand there until it fades.

Until there’s nothing but the warm hum of life again. A hammer in the distance. A truck engine rumbling past the grocery store. The sky yawning wide and cloudless.

Then I turn back inside.

The door shuts with a soft click.

I slide the bolt into place and rest my palm against the new sign beside the window.

Second Chances.

The letters are dry now. Crisp. Clean.

It doesn’t buzz with adrenaline. Doesn’t feel like a heist pulled off or a life narrowly saved. It feels like a kept promise.

One I made to myself.

To be here.

To stay.

Kieran’s crouched near the rolling tool chest, sorting sockets by size. His brow is furrowed, but there’s a line of peace in his shoulders now. Something I never saw back in Vegas. Something I never thought I’d want to learn to trust.

He looks up and catches me watching.

Winks.

Just once.

But it’s enough.

I lean back against the doorframe, arms crossed, the taste of dust and sage still on my tongue.

“I saw myself in her,” I think. “Not the blood. Not the scars. The beginning.”

This life isn’t loud.

There’s no gunfire in the walls, no ghost behind every window.

But it isn’t soft, either.

It’s quiet.

Built from what’s left.

And somehow, that’s stronger than everything we burned to get here.

Chapter 29 – Kieran

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