"I'm the lucky one."
"You're both lucky. That's how it works when it's right." Something wistful flickered across his face—there and gone. "Someday maybe I'll find someone who looks at me the way he looks at you."
"You will." I said it with certainty I didn't quite have the right to feel. "Someone who sees both sides of you. The soft and the hard."
"From your lips to God's ears." He raised his glass. "To finding our people."
"To finding our people."
We drank. Blade stared into his whiskey for a moment, something unspoken weighing on him. "There was someone once," he said quietly. "Years ago. Before I patched in." He didn't look at me. "He was a cop, if you can believe it. Undercover in a rival gang. We kept running into each other—wrong place, wrong time, every time." A bitter laugh. "Fell hard. Both of us. But he chose the badge, and I chose the cut, and that was that."
"Do you ever hear from him?"
"No. Last I heard, he'd transferred somewhere back east. Probably married with kids by now." Blade shrugged, but the casualness was forced. "Ancient history."
"Doesn't sound ancient."
He was quiet for a long moment. Then: "Some people leave marks, you know? Even when they're gone. Especially when they're gone."
I thought about Tyler's eight months of silence. About the marks we carry from people we've lost—or let go. "Maybe ancient history has a way of catching up," I said. "Stranger things have happened."
"Yeah." Blade's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "Maybe."
Ghost found me near the dessert table, two hours into the party, and pressed a beer into my hand. "Congratulations," he said, almost shy. "I'm really happy for you."
"Thanks, Ghost." The name still felt new, but it suited him. "How's the shoulder?"
"Better every day." He rotated it carefully, wincing only slightly. "Doc says I'll be back to full strength in a few weeks."
"Good. We need you."
"Yeah?" He brightened. "I mean—yeah. Of course. Whatever the club needs."
I studied his face—the lingering bruises, the new confidence underneath. He'd grown so much in such a short time. We all had.
"Jake... Ghost." I corrected myself. "Can I give you some advice?"
"Sure."
"Whatever you're figuring out about yourself—whoever you're becoming—don't rush it. And don't let anyone make you feel like you have to have all the answers right now." I thought about my own journey, about all the years I'd spent alone before finding this. "The people who matter will wait. The ones who won't aren't worth it anyway."
He was quiet for a moment. Then: "Is it that obvious?"
"Only to someone who's been there." I clinked my beer against his. "You've got time. And you've got family now. Whatever you figure out, we've got your back."
His smile was wobbly but real. "Thanks, Kai. That means... a lot."
He disappeared back into the crowd, and I watched him go, hoping I'd given him something useful. Hoping he'd find his way faster than I had.
"That was kind."
I turned. Tyler had appeared at my elbow, a glass of whiskey in hand, his eyes following Ghost through the crowd.
"He reminds me of us," I said. "Lost kid finding a family."
"He'll be okay." Tyler took a sip of his drink. "They all will, now that Chen's gone."
"Speaking of which—did you call Sarah?"
