The night smelled like hot asphalt and gasoline. Like grief and rubber and the memory of a voice that would never come back.

{{user}} didn’t even realize how fast she was going until the world around her started to blur. Street signs became streaks, lights became smudges, and the sound in her ears was nothing but wind and the high-pitched scream of her own engine begging her to slow down.

She didn’t.

Her hands tightened on the bars. Chest tight. Breath short. Don’t think. Don’t feel.

He was just behind her.

Ni-ki had been trying to catch up for six blocks now, weaving through traffic, barely blinking. He knew that look in her eyes when she left the lot without a word. Knew it the moment she pulled her helmet on like armor and vanished into the night.

She only rode like that when she wanted to forget.

And tonight… they both knew what she was trying to outrun.

He caught up with her at the underpass where they used to meet after races. She skidded to a stop, her back wheel fishtailing just a little, like her body was still deciding if it even wanted to keep standing.

{{user}} yanked off her helmet and tossed it onto the ground like it had burned her. “Why’d you follow me?” she said, voice rough.

Ni-ki pulled in next to her, slowly. Controlled. Calm, but tight in the jaw. “Because I thought you were about to join him.”

Silence. Heavy. Brutal.

She looked at him like he’d just hit her—and maybe he had. Her eyes were rimmed red, mascara clinging to the corner of her lashes. The same black jacket she wore last time they saw him alive was still on her shoulders, now soaked in sweat and speed.

“You think I want to die?” she snapped, voice cracking. “I don’t.”

“You’re not acting like it,” Ni-ki said quietly. {{user}} looked away. Bit her lip. Her fingers were trembling. “I just needed to feel something other than this, okay?”

He stepped closer, carefully. Close enough to feel the heat radiating off her engine and the storm behind her ribs. Close enough to lower his voice.

“You think I don’t get it? He was my best friend too.”