Marlowe
The celebration that followed lasted long into the night, the whole club's earlier tension and division from weeks of crisis finally, fully dissolving into something warm and unguarded and genuinely joyful.
I caught fragments of conversation as we moved through the crowd together — Bear telling anyone who'd listen that he'd known something was different about King for weeks, Preacher grudgingly admitting Cricket's ridiculous betting pool had actually called it accurately, Nova crying happy tears while simultaneously trying to plan an entirely unnecessary and enormous celebration on our behalf without either of us asking her to.
"I've never seen him laugh like that," Bear told me quietly, catching me alone for a moment near the edge of the festivities. "Twelve years I've known th
