A/N: Thank you to EternalRadiance for the awesome banner! i love it!
Right guys, this is a long one. It a little dramatic, and its the second to last chapter! i really hope you like it!
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I didn’t even need to look at the driver to know it was him behind the wheel of the shiny black BMW that had just pulled up outside the café. Windows blacked out. Shocker.
I almost sprinted to the car, hissing in a breath as the pain in my ribs didn’t ease up the entire time.
“Didn’t know you had a Saturday job?” Andrew’s voice sounded amused as he refers to my Janitors jumpsuit.
“Didn’t really have a choice in the outfit.” I respond, shutting the door of the car.
He was the same as I remembered him. He was a handsome man for his age, one of those guys that benefitted from age. His light brown hair was short to his head and there was day old stubble covering his broad jaw and chin. You could definitely see the resemblance to Drake, especially around the eyes.
He doesn’t start the engine, and is staring directly at me with his brows raised.
“So want to explain why I’m even here?” He asked.
“We need to find Drake.” I simply told him.
He scoffed “Well then that was a wasted trip; I’m the last person who’s going to know where he is. He doesn’t exactly check in to tell me what he’s doing.”
“He’ll be where ever Derek is.”
He squints his eyes curiously at me “What the hell is going on?”
I sighed “Derek broke into my house going after Drake. One thing led to another and I somehow got launched down a flight of stairs. I got hospitalised, a few broken ribs and a miscarriage because of your asshole of a boss and now Drake is on the warpath. I’ve seen that boy on the warpath, and it’s worse than fucking Iraq. He’s going to kill him, and we need to stop him or Drake is going to throw his life away for a man who really isn’t worth the toilet paper you’ve wiped your ass with, let alone your life.”
I take in a breath as I don’t think I breathed the entire time I told my little story.
Andrew blinked a few times, his face impassive as he took in the information. Automatically, his eyes flashed to my stomach then were back on me just as fast.
“You were pregnant?” He asked. There was no sympathy in his voice; there was no emotion in it at all. He was just asking me a general question.
“’Were’ being the key word…” I made clear.
He pulled his lips into his mouth and nodded slowly “Drakes?” I nodded, keeping his eye contact. He turned and looked at the steering wheel, actually looking a little taken back by the news. I heard him mutter under his breath “…I always told that boy to wrap it.”
Amazingly though, that statement did not piss me off and it wasn’t meant to piss me off. He said it trying to lighten the situation, not make fun of it. I could tell by his voice that the news had actually affected him. I think he was probably more surprised than I was that it had affected him to be honest. I guess the man really does have a heart somewhere under that expensive suit.
“I’m sorry.” It wasn’t a big apology, it wasn’t coated in sympathy and he wasn’t trying to comfort me, he just said it. Almost like something in him told him her had to.
I gave him a half-hearted smile “Thanks.”
He lets out a deep breath and grabs the steering wheel “So, you're telling me you actually want to stop Drake from killing Derek?”
Even he sounded amazed I would go through all this trouble to save a scumbag like that.
“I couldn’t give a shit what happens to Derek, I hope the man gets his skin peeled off by Freddie Kruger in a bath of salt and lemon juice…” he raised his brows stunned at the image I just painted for him “…I care about what happens to Drake. He doesn’t have it in him to kill someone.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that sweetheart, not after looking at his previous work.” Andrew comments, and I realised he knew exactly what got Drake sent away in the first place.
“No, I know he could kill someone, he just doesn’t have it in him. When that boy gets angry, he doesn’t think he just acts. He will kill Derek, but it’s what it’s going to do to him after. No matter how much he hates him, he’s not going to be able to live with the fact he’s actually ended someone’s life.” I explained to Andrew “And if he kills the bastard, Drake is doing a stretch inside that could mean life.”
“So you want to save him from his conscious?” Andrew asked through a laugh. I knew he worked for Derek, and I knew in his type of job a conscious is the last thing you worry about. The idea of actually feeling guilty after you put someone in hospital or kill them is absurd to this man.
“Just because you could murder someone and sleep well at night, doesn’t mean your son is the same.” I stared directly into his eyes, my face like stone.
He returned my stare, rolling his tongue over his top teeth at my nerve to speak to him like that. I do notice he doesn’t disagree however.
“That boy is nothing like me.” He retorts his voice cold, and I don’t know if I was imagining it, but I heard a slight sound of relief as he came out with this statement.
“So help me find him before he fucks up his entire life.” I’ve gone back to pleading “You owe him that much.”
He lets out a defeated and annoyed sigh as he leans back on his seat.
“Alright, what exactly do you want me to do? I have no idea where Drake is I’ve already said this.”
“Where would Derek be?” I asked him, realising all we needed to do was find Derek and we found Drake.
“Either at the Warehouse or at home.” He replied.
I think for a minute, trying to put myself in Drake’s shoes. He wouldn’t try and get hold of Derek when he was surrounded by his apes. No matter how angry Drake is, even he wouldn’t be stupid enough to risk that. I hope.
“He wouldn’t be at the warehouse if that’s where everyone is, there is no way he would be able to get to Derek. Not with all his limbs anyway.” Andrew almost reads my thoughts.
“Well that leaves his house then, but I know Drake won’t do anything if Derek has a family in the house.”
Andrew lets out a quick burst of laughter “Derek? Family? The only thing that man loves is money; he’s not exactly the wife and kids type of guy.”
I scrunch my brows “Really? The guys like 50 and he’s still not married?” I know this is not the thing to be thinking about, but that is pretty sad.
“Nope.” He pops the ‘p’ “The only thing he would marry would be his offshore accounts, and they haven’t quite made that legal. The man probably spends his nights making passionate love to his wallet.”
I grimace at the image “And you say I paint quite a picture…”
The corners of his mouth rise up faintly “So I guess we’re going round Derek’s for dinner.” He starts the engine. “By any chance, are those two policemen, that doctor and those kids looking for you?”
I snap my head to where he was gesturing his head and my eyes widened as I spotted Nate and Lacey running around the street looking frantic, two uniformed police officers with them and for some reason so was a doctor. Why the hell was a doctor there? Once the patients leave the hospital his job is pretty much done.
Unless he’s like one of those rogue cops who can’t get off the job. Only he’s like a rogue doctor who fights crime when he’s off his shift.
With an imagination like this, it’s quite amazing I suck so much at school.
I instantly duck down and put my head in-between my knees, covering my head with my hands. A scream of pain comes out before I could stop it because the movement was like someone just booted me in the stomach.
I needed to remember I had broken ribs and stop moving my body like an Olympic athlete.
I heard Andrew laugh. I turned my head and glared at him.
“What the hell is so funny, if they catch me we’re screwed!”
He was still laughing to himself as I felt the car start to move “I’m laughing because you're sat in a BMW which I paid a lot of money for.”
“Great.” I spit sarcastically, not quite understanding what that has to do with anything.
“A BMW which I also paid a lot of money for the windows to be blacked out.”
I don’t move for a while before I slowly start to nod my head, pressing my lips together. I gradually raise my head out from in-between my knees up to the sitting position. With as much dignity as I could considering I was clearly the idiot on this one, I leaned back on the seat trying to act casual.
“Yep, of course you did.” I respond, not meeting his eyes as I clearly must have looked like an absolute fool.
Andrew didn’t stop laughing to himself for the majority of the ride to Derek’s.
Seriously, like father like son. They both enjoyed watching me make an ass out of myself.
**
Derek’s house was everything I expected it to be. Big, flashy and in no way modest. The man had money and he wanted people to know.
It was huge; I mean once we got on the actual property the car took about 5 minutes to just get up the driveway. It had a huge front garden; the guy had even put a fountain at the front. An actual fountain. Clearly he has studied every mobster film to ever be made and taken notes. The house itself was about 3 times the size of mine, it was very private though. There weren’t many windows, and as far as I could see the ones that there were there had the curtains firmly closed.
“As I said, the man enjoys his money.” Andrew cut through, clearly noticing my gawping at the amazing house.
He parked the car on the driveway just outside of the garage. Once we were both out of the car, I suddenly realised I was in a little deeper than I realised because I had absolutely no idea what to do now. I looked at Andrew, hoping he had an idea.
Thankfully, he seemed to have a destination in mind because he gestured his hand for me to follow him as he walked to the front door.
I started to panic as I thought he was just going to ring the doorbell. Imagine how well that would go down. Doorbell rings, Derek opens the door and there’s me and Andrew stood there like trick or treaters. I had a funny feeling Derek wouldn’t exactly be holding a bowl of sweets either.
“What are we going to say? Shall I hide?” I asked Andrew, my voice clearly worried because a day ago this man threw me down a set of stairs. I don’t think I was a welcomed house guests.
Andrew looked at me like I was stupid “You think I'm going to ring the doorbell and wait for an invitation with you as my sidekick?” He asked. My reply was a clueless stare and a shrug. I had no idea what he was planning on doing “And what do you expect us to do when he answers and see’s this dynamic duo? Start carol singing?”
I narrowed my eyes at him “Is all this sarcasm really helping us?”
He had a faint smile as he turned to the door “It’s helping me get through this.”
I rolled my eyes, starting to see the family resemblance more and more with every second I spent with Andrew. Or as my mind as started to think of him as, ‘Big Drake’. Seriously, they were so alike it was a little alarming.
Andrew took out a set of keys from the pocket of his trousers and started to search for one.
“You have your own keys?” I asked, a little surprised.
“I’m the star employee.” Andrew replied, finally deciding on a key.
“You must be proud.” I smile bitterly. I briefly saw his brows rise, almost ironically. It was such a quick flash of it I decided I must have imagined it. I was probably trying to find some sort of sign that this man was not a heartless murderer who abandoned his son and never looked back.
As he went to put the key into the hole, the door opened a fraction of an inch showing us the key was not needed. The door was already unlocked. Andrew pushed it open gently and the more it opened it was clear that this wasn’t a case of Derek forgetting to lock up. The door was broken. Someone had kicked it in.
We both exchanged a glance, but they were very different expressions. Mine was of panic; his was more from the lack of surprise.
“That’s not a promising start.” He muttered, clearly thinking the same thing as me. Someone had beaten us here, and they sure as hell didn’t have a key like Andrew did.
“You think Drake’s already here?” I asked him, realising his experience at being a criminal and dealing with this type of situation was actually quite handy because right now I was like a kid lost at Disneyworld. I knew I had things I could do, but I had no idea where to start.
“Either that or Derek got fed up of having a front door.” Andrew responded, and I had to bite back from commenting on his on-going sarcasm. Seriously, was this guy able to answer a simple yes or no?
We both entered the house, trying to stay as quiet as we could as we both scanned it to see if anyone was here. I closed my eyes and inhaled as I saw the chaos that was the room in front of me. There was broken glass everywhere, a couple of the picture frames were dangling off the wall and there was even a hole in the wall.
Yep, Drake had definitely beaten us here.
Beaten everything here judging by the looks of things.
“The boy has quite a temper on him doesn’t he?” Andrew commented to himself as he looks around the room, at the destruction that his son no doubt caused.
“Where is he Andrew?” I was seriously worrying, because I had just spotted the patch of blood on the floor right by the door that led into the kitchen.
“They’ve gotta be here somewhere. It would be too risky going anywhere else, for either of them.” As he explained, it suddenly dawned on me there could be two outcomes of this. I mean I was worried because I thought Drake was going to kill Derek in one of his angry outbursts, but I realised Derek was Derek. He was a powerful dangerous man. What if he managed to get the upper hand and the blood I was staring at right now belonged to Drake?
“Stay here I'm having a look around.” Andrew ordered, and he was gone before I had time to protest. I didn’t know what to do; I tried to keep my eyes away from the blood because I was suddenly starting to feel a bit dizzy.
I didn’t know if it was from worry, or if it was because I was seriously in no shape to be walking around right now but my ribs were still throbbing like a guy's penis whose watched about an hours’ worth of porn, but hasn’t had the opportunity to relieve himself quite yet.
Yes, my broken ribs felt like an untouched erection.
It must have been about 10 minutes before Andrew came back into the living room shaking his head.
“No one’s upstairs or down.” He informed me, and I could see he was thinking hard trying to figure out where they could be.
I let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through my air “Well we can keep looking around, get back in the car and check the warehouse…”
I drifted off as I noticed Andrew’s head snap up at something I just said.
“The car!” he exclaimed almost under his breath, and I looked at him confused. He was on the move before he told me what his flashing light bulb moment was all about.
I automatically follow him into the kitchen and he led us through to another little room. It must have been a utility room because all that was here were tools, canned food and basically crap that you might need but have no place for in your actual house.
I spotted the door as Andrew walked towards it which led into another room. This place was actually a maze, there was a door in every room which led to another room which led to another room and I swear if I went through enough doors, I would discover Narnia.
My thoughts of the dozens of doors slipped my mind as I heard someone let out a scream. It wasn’t a scream of pain, it was one of anger. I couldn’t make out what they were saying through the walls, but I could tell someone was screaming something in a fit of fury.
Andrew turned to me and we both realised we’ve found them. He placed his hand on the door handle and pointed at me warningly.
“Stay here until I tell you to come out.” He ordered.
“What? No way, Drake isn’t going to listen to you!” I protested.
“I haven’t a doubt you're right there, but what if it’s not Drake who’s got the upper hand in there?” He raised his brows, trying to get his point across. I didn’t reply because I realised he could be right. For all I know, Derek could be the one calling the shots in there, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to be as polite to me as Andrew was. Bear in mind, I don’t think ‘polite’ is even in Andrew’s vocabulary.
My silence satisfied him and he opens the door. He leaves it open and goes down the 3 little steps that lead down to the garage. I could see Andrew through the door, but no one else telling me whatever was happening, it was on the other end of the humongous garage that in all honestly was probably the size of the downstairs of my house.
I mean seriously, why do people need a garage this big? Unless you were parking an army tank, it was really unnecessary.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I heard a voice, and I instantly recognised it as Drake “Get out now.”
“I would love nothing more believe me, but I’m not here on my own accord. “ Andrew responded, keeping his cool as he was watching the scene in front of him. I didn’t know what that scene was, but I did notice the look of surprise when Andrew first layed eyes on it.
“Get out now Andrew.” Drake’s voice was furious.
“Look, if I could have avoided being here I would have.” Andrew held his hands up in surrender, telling him to calm down “Unfortunately that bird you knocked up is a persistent one.”
I didn’t hear a reply for a while and I can just picture Drake’s confused expression.
“What are you talking about? Did Mia send you here?”
Andrew cocked his head and shrugged “Kind of.”
He turns to me and gestured with his hands for me to come in.
I instantly obliged to his request, the need to see what the hell was going on was so strong I thought I was going to pass out. As I walk down the little steps and turn, my eyes almost pop out of my skull at the sight in front of me.
Derek was here too, tied up to a chair with his hands behind his back. There was duct tape over his mouth, and I could see his battered and bruised face. There was blood on his forehead and down his neck, but he was still conscious. My stomach turned a little as I saw him for the first time since what he did to me.
This was the man that threw me down a flight of stairs and left me for dead.
I tore my eyes away from him, ignoring the throbbing pain in my stomach, which could have been from anxiety or from the broken ribs, and finally looked at Drake.
He was still in the same clothes I last saw him in when we were at mine, only his jeans were stained in patches of blood. His face was also bruised and I knew these were from the beating he took the other night from Derek’s apes. I also noticed a few fresh bruises which I'm gathering were from today’s struggle. His hair was a mess, and I didn’t know if it was matted together from blood or sweat.
He was stunned as he saw me enter the garage and stand next to his father, his mouth was ajar as he looked between us.
I know I’ve already been through the whole ‘realisation that I lost a baby’ thing at the hospital earlier, but for some reason seeing Drake right now made that all come back again. I don’t know if it was because finally seeing him, knowing that he was the one who lost something just as much as I did made me realise how big this actually was.
“Drake what are you doing?” My voice was almost a gasp as I looked between him and the tied up Derek.
“What the hell are you doing?” He threw my question back and pointed at Andrew “How are you even out of hospital and why are you with him?”
“I ran away.” I replied like that wasn’t exactly our biggest worry, and then I pointed at Andrew next to me again “And he was the only person I could get to help me stop you from making a huge mistake.”
Drake’s eyes widened, his face completely in shock “Him? Him?!” He was yelling now “Out of everyone, he is the only person you could call?”
“He came through didn’t he?” I pointed out, and I see Drake shut up instantly because he realised I had a point.
“You shouldn’t be here Mia.” He went for the ‘Ignore Andrew’s presence’ approach and changed the subject.
I took a couple of steps forward slowly “Neither should you.”
He watched me walk closer to him. Suddenly his eyes scan me and for a brief second he isn’t angry but I see a glimpse of the normal Drake.
“What the hell are you wearing?” He asked me, looking at my jumpsuit up and down. I swear I see a glimpse of humour on his face, which gave me hope that maybe I could distract him enough to get him to see sense.
“Like I said, I ran away. There wasn’t much time to debate on a better outfit choice.” I replied, grabbing the material of the jumpsuit and looking down at it “I sure as hell wasn’t tracking you down wearing that robe.”
A faint smile was on Drake’s mouth “So you stole that?”
“Borrowed.” I corrected, quoting him the many times he’s used that to justify his many thefts “I’m also wearing an adult nappy made out of a hospital robe under this to stop infections.”
His eyes automatically go to my lower half, and I see him try and hold back his smile from widening. My hope that I could distract him disappears as I see him shake himself back to reality and look back at me with a serious expression.
“Does Nate know you're here?”
“No, you think I would be here with my sidekick right now if he did?” I raised my brows, and we both knew that question was rhetorical. It answered itself really. I did notice Drake’s eyes flicker to his father as I mention the sidekick thing.
“You’ve been out for over 24 hours Mia, you’ve got multiple broken ribs and…” he drifted off, not being able to finish his sentence even though we both knew what he was going to say. He was going to refer to the other injury I acquired from my little tumble down the stairs.
“I’m fine, this isn’t about me or what little boo boos I have.” I said, not being able to help the bitterness from escaping in my voice. To my utter disgust, Derek actually lets out a laugh at my little joke. We all heard it, even if it was muffled by the duct tape.
Drake doesn’t even hesitate when he turns and slams his fist into the side of Derek’s face. Derek almost falls back in his chair from the force.
“Drake don’t!” I protested, stepping forward again only this time a little too quickly for my body. I wince, my hand automatically going to the side of my stomach to tend to my ribs.
These were turning out to be a right pain in my ass now.
Drake’s eyes are automatically on me, and in an instant he was in front of me. He placed a hand on my upper arm and leaned down slightly considering I was still bent over from the rippling pain in my stomach.
“Yeah, you're fine aren’t you?” Drake commented sarcastically, the anger was evident thought as he clearly wasn’t too happy I went for a walk with a couple of fractured ribs.
“I’m fine!” I growl through gritted teeth, pushing the pain away as I stood up straight. Drake let go of my arm and took a few more steps back “This isn’t about me. This is about you and the stupid mistake you're about to make.”
Drake’s jaw is clenched “Believe me, the things I'm going to do to this bastard won’t be a mistake.”
“Yes they will. You're so blinded by getting revenge on that asshole you can’t see how big of a mistake it is.”
“And you don’t think he deserves what I'm about to do to him?” he asked, a breath of laughter coming out with his words but I knew he didn’t find anything funny anymore.
I sighed “I’m not saying that. There is nothing I want more than to see him get what’s coming to him, but I'm not willing to let you ruin your life in order to do that. You can’t do this; you're throwing your whole life away over that.” I point at Derek like he was scum, not even worthy enough to get human status. I looked Drake in the eyes, desperately trying to reach him “If you kill him, it will kill you and you know it will.”
Drake looks back at me impassive, and I knew he realised I was right.
He moved suddenly to one of the shelves at the side of the garage. He put his hand into one of the tool boxes and when he pulls it out, he’s holding a gun.
My heart starts to pound out of my chest as I see him walk back to the chair Derek was on, his eyes also glued to Drake as he realised he was pretty screwed right now.
“You’ve got way too much faith in me; I’m pretty sure I could shoot this asshole right now and not even bat an eyelid.” Drake informs me, his voice coated in anger.
I take another step closer “Please don’t do this. Look at what you did to that guy, look at what that did to you!” I remind him, referring to James Roberts. I knew that what he did to that man, the man who had kids and grandkids, ate Drake alive with guilt. He didn’t have it in him.
“I told you! I told you before if it came down to it I would do it again so don’t fucking think that this is any different. I’m not going to have a conscious about this, especially not when it comes to him!” Drake pointed at Derek with the gun, looking at me with cold eyes.
He was like a different person. None of the usual playfulness or humour that he normally had, he was angry. It was like that time at the bar when he attacked Garry; he was like a possessed animal and I didn’t know if I could reach him this time. I still had to try though.
“And I walked out.” My voice was hoarse as I remembered the day he told me in the hospital “I walked out because I didn’t want to be with that side of you. I don’t want to see this Drake, I want the one who calls me fat when i inhale cake, the one who steals a sombrero and gets drunk with me off stolen tequila. I want that Drake, and that part of you is the reason you can’t go through with this because it will destroy you.” My voice was dry as I carry on speaking, I was having that thing again where my mouth was saying words and I wasn’t sure what was going to come out next. When all of this came out though, I realised it was all true.
For once, I could say what I actually felt about Drake. All it took was him holding a gun to some guys head apparently.
Drake swallowed hard as he listened to me, and I could see his eyes were red. I don’t know if they were from the aftershock of what I had just said or from anger.
“So what do you want me to do? Let him go?” Drake growls through gritted teeth “He won’t go down for it, and if we tell the police it was him that did that to you then this fucker will take me down with him.”
“We’ll figure something out-“
“No we won’t Mia!” He almost screams. He takes a step forward “You don’t get it do you? No matter what I do, I'm screwed. If I let him go, he walks and one day he’s probably going to find me and kill me. If we turn him in, I'm going back to prison right along with him because of the bank robbery, along with every single other crooked little job he sent me on. At least if I kill him, I’ll get sent down with some form of satisfaction.”
“You're going to throw it all away and get sent down for the rest of your life for him? Take someone life and destroy yourself for that thing?” I questioned him, and I could tell by my own voice I was getting angry. Angry that he thought so little of himself and his life he would do this. “I don’t think you realise that killing someone is a bit different than what it looks like in the films. You don’t walk away from it scot free, that shit stays with you. If you kill him, the rest of your life you're going to be staring at your cell walls and let this eat you alive, because I know it fucking will. I know you Drake. You don’t have it in you to not care, even for a piece of shit like that.”
He was silent for a long while, his eyes reddening as he stared into mine and I could tell he was debating. He was struggling with making his decision.
He turned suddenly “I’ll manage.” In an instant, he was pressing the end of the gun into Derek’s temple. Panic rushed through my body so quickly and I swear my heart was beating so fast it was probably going to break a few more bones in my ribcage.
I see the look on Drake’s face and I knew he was about to do it, he was about to pull that trigger.
“You're not the only one who lost something!” I called out, a final plea in an attempt to stop him from doing this. To my relief, he takes his eyes away from Derek and turns to me, paying attention to my words.
“You're not the only one who lost something, you selfish bastard.” It did start off as a plea, as a last desperate attempt to make him stop. As it turns out, it was something that I didn’t even know I was feeling because as I looked at him, I felt my eyes begin to water “You think you're the only one who’s angry? The only one who is upset?”
He just stared at me, his face impassive.
As hard as I tried to stop it, I couldn’t help the tears from coming.
“We lost our baby Drake.” My voice was hoarse, coated in a sob as I said the words out loud for the first time since I found out. I was surprised because I didn’t even realise this had affected me as much as it did. “We both lost our baby.”
This time there was no mistake, as Drake looked over and took in my words his red eyes were glazed not from anger anymore, but in tears.
I didn’t even have it in me to be relieved when he lowered the gun from Derek’s head and turned to look at me.
“We both lost something, not just you. I want nothing more than to rip his head off his shoulders for what he did, so believe me I know how you feel. I get that you're angry, but for once can you just think of someone else?”
He blinked at my accusation “You think all of this is me thinking of myself?” Drake almost croaked out in disbelief.
“Yes I do. You're so busy focusing on how angry you are; on how much you want revenge you don’t take a fucking second to think about what this is going to do to me.” I was full on crying now; each word was almost a sob as I couldn’t close the flood gates I had just opened “If you do this, if you kill him, they’re going to take you away from me.”
“Mia-“
“No! If you kill him you're not leaving for 2 years this time, they’re going to take you away for good. That’s what makes you a selfish bastard because you didn’t even stop to think what that would do to me!” I cried out, anger in every word as well as tears “I need you here, with me not locked up in some prison cell. We’ve both gone through this and it would be really fucking nice if you could stop acting like a psychotic maniac for 5 minutes to be there for me and help me get through this as well because I’ve just lost a fucking baby, your baby, and it would be really nice to have you there-“
My frantic words were cut off as Drake was suddenly in front of me. He tried to wrap his arms around me but I resisted, pushing him away from me. He doesn’t let this faze him though as he struggled for a while to take hold of my wrists and pull me towards him, restraining me before wrapping one of his arms around me and placing the other at the back of my head.
I automatically bury my face into his chest as I sob so hard it actually hurts.
“It’s okay sweetheart. Shhh.” He tried to comfort me, cooing me into calming down but I could tell from his voice he was fighting back tears of his own. I guess finally seeing me break down had more of an effect on him than I realised.
I took a few deep breaths, realising I had to compose myself because I had a job to do. I came here to get through to Drake, and by the fucking might of me I was going to do just that.
I pull away from his chest and look up at him. His arms fall from around me as he sees my face, and I see his composure slip as he looks into my swollen red eyes. I was breathing hard, still choking back sobs. I wrapped my arms around his neck, not wanting to risk him getting any further away from me.
“Please, just listen to me.” I begged, barely getting the words out through my frantic breathing.
He closed his eyes and his forehead fell against mine. He shook his head slightly.
“I can’t Mia…”
“Yes. Yes you can.” I desperately tried to explain “You can, you can walk away from this and not throw your life away. Please.”
His eyes opened but they did not look at me, instead they planted themselves on my stomach. I felt him place one of his hands on my stomach. After a while, he gritted his teeth and scrunched the material of my jumpsuit in his hand.
“It was ours.” His voice was quiet “It was something me and you made. Something I had a chance to do and not fuck up for once in my life.”
“You're going to get that chance again Drake.” I tried to tell him.
“I’ve fucked up everything I’ve ever done, it could have been a chance to finally do something right. Something that me and you did right. I thought it could have been something that finally made you want to be with me, because we did it together.”
I let out a breath of laughter through my tears “You think I need a baby for you to trap me to be with you?” I asked him. I took one hand from around the back of his neck and placed it on his cheek, forcing him to look me in the eye “I don’t need a baby to be with you Drake. I’m not ready for a kid, neither of us are. I know we should have had a choice in it, but neither of us can raise a kid right now.”
He closed his eyes again and swallowed. I saw a few tears escape and roll down his face, and I brushed them away from his face with my thumb “I don’t need you to knock me up to be with you. Baby or not, I love you Drake. So fucking much I ran away from a hospital with broken ribs just to find you and make sure you don’t do something stupid.”
His eyes flew open as soon as he heard me say it, and I saw him press his lips together. I didn’t know if it was to stop more tears from coming out or to hide a smile.
“How the hell can you love me? I’m a psychotic, bank robbing drug dealer with a prison stint under my belt.” He reminded me.
I shrugged and sniffed hard “I didn’t say I knew how to pick them.”
He let out a burst of laughter, which too was coated in the tears he had just shed. His laughter died out and his hand came off my stomach. With the tips of his fingers, he brushed the hair away from my forehead.
“I don’t really need to tell you I love you.” He said.
“No not really, I sort of gathered you did when you went to kill someone for me.” I replied casually, and again I saw his smile break out.
His hand slid into my hair, his thumb caressing my cheek as he pulled me towards him and placed his lips on mine. It wasn’t a big kiss, but it made my entire body shiver because for the first time I knew he was kissing me because he loved me. Not because we were drunk or because we both fancied a quick tumble in the hay, but because he genuinely did love me.
He pulled away slowly, his forehead resting back on mine.
“No matter what I do Mia, this doesn’t end well for me.” His voice was quiet, and I knew he had folded. I had gotten through to him, and I knew he wasn’t going to go through with it. I was also aware that he was right, not matter what he decided to do, Derek was either going to kill him or send him down right along with him.
I tried my hardest to give him a genuine, reassuring smile “We’ll sort something out okay? For once you don’t have to try and deal with everything on your own. We’ll figure it out.”
I had completely forgotten about Andrew. I had forgotten he was the one who took me here, I had forgotten he had been stood here the entire time and witnessed the whole scene that just occurred. He witnessed it in complete silence, just observing. I didn’t remember he was there until I felt someone stood next to us.
We both turned to Andrew, who was looking between us with a thoughtful expression, his head slightly cocked to the side. He didn’t give anything away from the look on his face, and I had no clue what he was thinking.
“That was beautiful.” He finally spoke, and in all honestly I had no idea if he was being sarcastic or actually meant it. His face was like stone. He just had that same amused look he always has, but I think that’s like his default face. He doesn’t even mean to do it, it just happens.
Drake took a step back, turning his body so he was facing his father. Andrew looked at him, cocking his head slightly and he ran his tongue over his top teeth clearly deep in thought.
“You’re probably expecting that declare, share and care mood you’re both in to be infectious but I'm not really a man for big scenes and apologies.” He tells Drake “And anyway, I don’t think anything I say can quite cover the apology I guess I owe you so I'm not even going to bother saying anything.”
“So why are you?” Drake demands, his face mirroring his fathers.
Andrew thinks for a minute, almost as if he was debating that himself.
“I was never a father. Some people are born to do it and some aren’t. I’m good at drinking whisky and breaking peoples kneecaps for an ounce. I was never made for family BBQ’s and taking you out to the park. I just wasn’t meant to do it. I am well aware that what I did to you when I walked out played a big part in the way your life ended up, and I take responsibility for it. But I'm not going to apologise because as I said, that isn’t the type of guy I am.”
Andrew suddenly takes a step forward. He places a hand at the back of Drake’s head and pulls him forward until both their foreheads are touching. It was a warm gesture though, I knew these two were not the hugging type but this was just as close to it.
Drake’s face was wet from the tears he had been crying, and I could see his jaw clenching at the sudden affection from the father he has hated almost his entire life. Andrew on the other hand was calm, looking directly into Drake’s eyes with a face more serious that I have seen it since I met him.
“You will never be the man I am.” Andrew said, his voice showing that he was extremely sure of himself when he said that “You are nothing like me.”
I think both Drake and I were so stunned by Andrew’s actions that we were too pre-occupied to notice anything else. We were so shocked that this was in fact the infamous ‘Andrew the Asshole’ in front of us that neither of us noticed when Andrew slowly took the gun Drake was still holding from his hand.
“Nothing like me. Remember that.” Without the slightest hint of hesitation, Andrew took a step back from Drake. Without batting an eye at what he was about to do, he raised his arm and pulled the trigger.
He fired 3 shots, one straight after the other and once he was done he lowered the gun, not at all fazed by what he had just done.
Andrew was calm, looking directly at the man in front of him with 3 bullet wounds in his stomach and just shrugged.
“He can’t kill you due to this pesky little thing he has called ‘a conscious’, but fortunately for everyone I couldn’t give a fuck.” Andrew shrugged, cocking his head as he watched his boss take his last breath.
Derek’s head slumped forward once the life completely left him, and we all knew he was dead.
It was a tossup at who was more shocked between Drake and I. As Andrew turned to face us both, looking completely casual and not at all like he had just shot someone dead, mine and Drake’s expressions were completely stunned. I didn’t know what to say, I was dumbfounded at what I had just witnessed beyond my very core, not quite understanding why this man just did that.
As Andrew’s eyes land on mine and Drake’s bewildered expressions, he shrugged again.
“Bastard always underpaid me anyway.”
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