Oliver glanced at his rearview and side mirrors before switching lanes leading to the private landing strip near the airport.

Drake’s nostrils flared before looking out of the window. “I feel so dumb ass stupid, man. Fucking stupid.”

“Then fix it and don’t wallow.”

Drake’s lips flattened. “Did Caius have more to say? Is that why we’re going back?”

“Caius is no longer there. He’s in jail and will be dragged to court tomorrow.”

“So why?” Drake turned to his friend in puzzlement.

Oliver smirked. “You’ll see.”

They arrived at the hanger both climbed out of the car. The car doors slamming echoed in the wide open space.

“There’s beer in the fridge if you want one.” Oliver offered, slumping down on one of the seats along the side of the passageway leading to the interrogation room. He rubbed his knee.

Drake had taken a liking to drinking cold beer during his sojourns across the pond during fights. Now he was looking forward to the harsh scratch of bubbles down his throat.

He offered one of the beers he grabbed. He pointed the mouth of his bottle at Oliver’s leg before taking a swig.  “Your leg giving you trouble?”

Oliver took the proffered drink. “Not as much now. Only when I’m really tired. I’m having another prosthetic made but that’ll take some time.”

Drake made a sound. He paced while he took swigs from his bottle. “Who’s this visitor?”

“Patience isn’t one of your virtues, is it?”

“You think?”

Oliver leaned his head back and closed his eyes. His legs stretched in front of him with ankles crossed. “So you and Bethany. Have you known her for a long time?”

Drake stopped, his jaw tightening. “None of your fucking business.”

“’Kay.” Oliver made himself more comfortable. He rubbed the scar on his neck. “You know what I like about staying in hangars? Its wide open space doesn’t make me think of dense jungles where you hardly see what’s in front of you or tunnels under cities that smell enough to make you puke. Smell that?” His chest expanded as though he was enjoying a tropical breeze. “Jet fumes. Evidence of civilization. When I smell even just a whiff of that in the forest, that becomes my North Star. My team’s beacon to escape the hellhole we’ve just been in. Glad we’re no longer working that theatre. Felicity is my North Star now.”

“Bethany was the girl I protected fifteen years ago,” Drake blurted before his voice softened. “Until I couldn’t do it anymore.”

Oliver raised his head. His gaze, curious. “Do you really want to talk about this?”

“You asked me.”

Oliver snorted and drank his beer.

Drake nodded. “I need to or else this tightness in my chest might just squeeze me enough to crush my ribs.”

Oliver’s head moved imperceptibly.

Drake ambled some more.

“I never knew who my real parents were. I was found in a dumpster as a baby, perhaps thrown by the woman who gave birth to me. The orphanage was the first home I knew. We were often left on our own because we were so many. Boys. Girls. We were left to fend for ourselves before we could even walk.” He took a swig. “So we crawled and kept crawling until the only way to gain even just a small amount of affection from those looking to adopt us was to learn to stand. To be the tallest even if you were the smallest just to catch the attention of people who could become your parents. I got Henry and Sonia Rosen.”

Drake looked out the enormous hangar door. The glare of lights inside the edifice made the night darker. Only the occasional rumble of jets flying overhead before landing and taxiing towards the airport’s main hub indicated that they were not alone.

He continued.

“I thought I was finally going to be a part of a real family. It didn’t matter that my real mother hadn’t come for me. Here were two people willing to share their home and shower me with their love. My life was what I had hoped for. Loving parents, a good home. Then Mum became pregnant.”

He sighed striding to where Oliver was and sat on the other chair flanking the simple Formica table. “My sister was the first and only biological child and when she finally arrived, I was discarded.”

Oliver’s lips flattened. Drake saw the compassion in his friend’s eyes so he looked away.

“My parents gave their entire attention on Eleanor. They doted on her, spent more time with her than with me. I didn’t mind because I was happy I had a sister I could care for, you know? I understood a baby needed more attention. Nothing is permanent when you come from an orphanage. Kids I used to hang out with would someday be gone, adopted by a family who’d call them their own.

“It’s hard being starved of a mother’s embrace and a father’s strength. It’s unfair when a mother sings to her child and you only have a song from the radio as your lullaby. It’s not right when a child has his father to talk with, who is stern but kind because he wants you to grow up to be a good kid. Me?” Drake snorted. “I had some orphanage official who told me right from wrong not because they cared but because they got paid an hourly wage to say those things so we didn’t get into trouble.”

Oliver looked away. “I don’t think everyone is like that.”

“Yeah well, I had those telling me off.” Drake shrugged then sighed. “Still the orphanage was the roof over my head, where there was warm food but rationed, where I had a bed to rest and see hope continuously slide away after another parent-less day. It was home. But when I got the taste of what home was like with real parents, I did everything I could to be counted. Be human. Be me. Eleanor was part of that family who’d never leave because she was family.”

“You’re holding an empty bottle.” Oliver nudged his chin.

Drake planted the bottle on the table and swivelled to get another.

“Things started to change.” He popped the cover. “Mum became distant. She was no longer enthusiastic about the things I did or concerned about the scrapes I got into. Dad…well he was always distant but that became as far as the Marianas Trench when my sister arrived. I was no longer called for breakfast…even lost my place at the table so I had to get my own plate and eat whatever was left. Mum didn’t bother to makes sure I had clean clothes. Still I didn’t mind. I learned to do things myself. But when they started eating together and still not call me or wonder where I was, I knew. I returned to the orphanage except that the orphanage was Henry and Sonia Rosen’s house. I couldn’t understand what had happened, why they both suddenly became cold and unreachable.

Then one afternoon, I knew. They hadn’t realized I’d come home from school. Dad wanted to return me to the orphanage. He said that since they had created a beautiful daughter, they no longer needed someone who wasn’t biologically theirs.”

Oliver inhaled sharply.

Drake let out a humourless chuckle. “I had just been a prop.”

“I’m sorry, Drake. Man, that really sucks.” Oliver shook his head, his eyes empathetic. They rounded in disbelief as he expelled a long drawn out breath. “Does Bethany know this?”

Drake nodded. He leant forward with his elbows on his knees.

“Her house became my home. Cora, her mother often asked me to tea. I’d help around the house when I could because I didn’t want them to think I was a free loader. Bethany told me it never even crossed their mind so why would it cross mine?”

Drake’s lips quirked to one side at the memory of Bethany’s blue eyes wide and staring at him like he’d developed two heads when she had asked that question. He didn’t reply. Instead, he laced his fingers with hers and fell in love with the blush that coloured her cheeks. With Bethany beside him, he’d be fine.

“Bethany and I would go to the roof of her home, just sit there weaving our dreams, imagining our futures until it was time to return to my house. She was the only one who saw the real me. She broke through the defences I built. Everyone was afraid of me in school and wanted me gone. Except her. I always topped the class. Miles and our Math teacher vouched for me so the head teacher couldn’t kick me out.” A cynical chuckle emitted from his throat. “That and making sure Wood Park High retained their premier spot in the school league tables as one of the best institutions to send your child for high school. Then Andrew and I fought. It gave the head teacher a reason to expel me. No warning, no seclusion. After the expulsion, my dad kicked me out of the house.”

“Shit, man.” Oliver muttered, shaking his head in sympathy.

Drake lost himself to the agonising memory of being forced to drift away, unable to hold on to the lifeline that Bethany’s presence had provided.

“I broke my promise to Bethany, Cray.” His voice cracked. “I left the girl I’d fallen in love with. When I came back looking for her, to ask her to be mine, she was gone.”

“So you and Tabler…”

“We have a long history,” Drake exhaled pressing his lips. “He always bullied Bethany because she was less than perfect. She’s partially deaf.”

“I didn’t even notice she was deaf.” Oliver looked up in astonishment.

“She doesn’t notice that she wears hear hearing aid either.” Drake chuckled. “Lost part of her hearing in an accident.”

“So…Tabler.” Oliver prodded.

“Always picked on her but he couldn’t do that when I was there. He cornered Bethany at the back of the school once. I heard her screaming just as I came out of the gym.” Drake clenched his jaw. “When I saw what Andrew was doing, tearing her shirt and lifting her skirt, I lost my shit. When I got kicked out I was so fucking terrified for her. I was also afraid for me, too. Where would I go now? I didn’t have any friends except for Bethany. It was several months later when Coach Miles found me in the streets and took me in. Taught me everything about mixed martial arts until I could no longer stand. I owe that man my life, man. Fought my way to where I am now but lost the girl who meant more to me than my own existence.”

“Until our wedding,” Oliver concluded.

Drake nodded. “I didn’t tell her Tabler was here or this clusterfuck Caius dumped on me had something to do with the boy who terrorized her. I didn’t want her to be afraid, not when things were going so well for her. For us both.”

“I’m going to kill that son of a bitch for hurting Lissie,” Oliver ground out.

“Get in line.” Drake snorted and muttered.

They were silent. Drake stood putting his empty bottle in the bin by the side of the fridge. “Want another beer?”

“I’m good.” Oliver waved his hand.

“Okay so I’ve told you my life story, mind telling me now who this mystery visitor is arriving at this bloody hour?” He popped the bottle open.

Oliver’s mouth quirked to one side.

“I already told you.”

Drake shook his head. “Sorry, nothing’s sticking to my brain right now.”

Oliver stretched from his seat giving a satisfied grunt. “If everything happens according to plan, it’ll be Andrew Tabler.”