Almost two hours later the plane touched down and started to taxi toward the private hanger. Dryce looked out the window and immediately spotted his car.

“Tank… there she is,” he pointed out the window, “my ‘97 Toyota Supra. I haven’t seen this baby in about a year or so.”

“Wow, really?” Erik got up and looked out the window next to Dryce. “A Toyota, huh?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dryce’s smile tuned into a smirk.

“You just don’t strike me as a Toyota kind of guy. Here I thought you would have some kind of Lamborghini or some shit,” Erik jokingly said.

“Whaaat? C’mon man.” Dryce tried to shove him away but only pushed himself back. “That Supra there’s got forged pistons, a stage five turbo, an intercooler system from hell and an exhaust system that’ll give your mom an orgasm. That bad boy there’s got over nine hundred ponies under the hood.”

“Please don’t ever put the image of my mother like that in my head again,” Erik grinned at him, “or I’ll put a worse one in yours. Besides, I actually know a little something about that car of yours.”

“Yeah?” Dryce still grinning ear to ear.

“Yeah, I once knew someone that was all kinds of into that car like you would not believe.” Erik spoke softly as if he was attempting to hold in a painful memory.

Austin stood up, packing his files and equipment. “I tell ya what, Your Highness. We’re about to arrive and park this plane. Why don’t you go warm up your car; I want to go over a few things with Mr. Keegan for a second.”

As the plane came to a halt, Erik opened the door. Sticking his head out to look for the guards standing around, he twirled his finger around and gave the nonverbal sign to watch Dryce.

Dryce ran off the plane like a kid at Christmas while Erik and Austin followed slowly down the steps.

“That boy will never grow up,” Austin muttered to himself out loud. “Keegan, stick on him today… I just got an email from Yally. He’s going to be meeting me here tonight. I’ll rendezvous back with you at the hotel.” Austin made his way towards the limo.

Erik saluted and walked to Dryce. “Ya ready, kid? Get in the passenger seat. Let me show you some shit.”

“Tank… you’re gonna show me?” Dryce chuckled. “I got this, I know this car inside and out. Doubt there is anything you can show me that I don’t already know.”

“Oh yeah,” Erik took the driver’s seat. “I bet I know a few things you don’t.”

“Like what? I built this car for maximum power and speed,” Dryce said, his cockiness in full swing. “I’m sure I know things that you don’t.”

“Oh yeah, have you ever made a woman cum twice?” Erik said with a sly look in his eye and revved the engine twice, slamming the shifter into first gear.

Before Dryce could come up with a snappy answer, Erik popped the clutch and peeled out, leaving tire marks down the runway in front of the hanger before switching into second.

Austin shook his head and rolled his eyes as he got in the limo. Closing the door, the driver asked, “Where to, sir?”

“First to the hotel,” Austin looked forward. “But once we get there we’re not going to be long so don’t bother parking.”

* * *

Dryce and Erik had their fun tearing up the tarmac at the private airport. Dryce took over the driver’s seat while Erik showed him the difference between short shifting and double clutching. Dryce tore out of the airport and started heading downtown to his friend’s garage. He had to admit, Erik did know a few things.

“Tank, man… you’re going to love this town. The women here…they are second to none.” He looked back and forth, from the road to Erik and back again. “I wish you hadn’t shut down the party last time we were here though. It would have been a party for the record books with those girls.”

“You do remember they were underage and that the cops had been called, right? Your royal ass would have ended up in jail had we not saved it,” Erik pointed out.

Dryce rolled his eyes and sped up even more.

“Hey there, playboy. Just focus on the road and slow it down a bit, huh. Don’t want to get us pulled over before we make it to the party.” Erik gripped the dashboard in front of him. “And… from what I recall, that wasn’t the first time you got into some major trouble here in Dubai.”

“What? Oh, yeah… Mr. Ngo hired you on after that fight he got into.” Dryce squinted his eyes as his memory flashed back to that night.

“You know, I never did get the actual complete story of what happened back then,” Erik remarked.

A wretched look came over Dryce’s face. “It… it was kinda my fault.”

Erik looked over at him. He watched Dryce’s body language as he slouched down in the seat.

“I was actually at one of these street races… party things. It was more like a gathering of cool ass cars. I had just picked this car up off of my friend,” Dryce started to explain.

“The one we’re going to meet now?” Erik asked, still gauging Dryce’s demeanor.

“Yeah, I took this car out that night. And I met up with a girl I’d been messing around with. I’d met her at a different party a few months prior. She and I left the party together and, well, things got out of hand. Someone had a gun and Mr. Ngo, well, Mr. Ngo, he did his job.” Dryce’s face became blank as he stared down the road.

“So, after that, Mr. Ngo felt like he needed more help? That’s why I’m here now,” Erik said softly.

“Yeah, I guess so. I kinda found out later on that the girl I’d been messing around with for months, Sofia, was actually a ruse to try to get to me. They were going to ask my father for a whole bunch of money to set me free or some shit like that. Everything had been a massive set up. Thankfully, Austin had followed us. But, because Austin was by himself and there was a lot of them. Well…” Dryce continued. “Austin, kicked the shit out of most of them. But, they just kept coming and coming. So he killed one of them. I guess to prove a point to the rest and put a stop to everything.”

Erik kept his eyes on Dryce as he drove on. Just as he was about to ask Dryce what else had happened, Dryce spoke again.

“My dad had a field day. Absolutely laid into me about everything. Told me I should have known better. Straight up bitched at me for being so careless, like I was supposed to know that I was being played. He went off on Austin, too. Even though Austin did his job, my dad was furious with him,” Dryce admitted.

Erik waited when Dryce went silent again. The silence in the car was deafening until Erik broke it. “Is that why you are the way you are?”

“Yeah, I guess. It really fucked with me. I mean, I was seconds from death. The guy Austin shot had a handful of my hair and had a knife pressed to my throat. Hell, I kept thinking ‘I’m dead already.’ Austin had just knocked out another one of the guys but they kept coming. He turned and saw that asshole behind me and he pulled his gun. He warned the guy to let me go but he just laughed at Austin. Next thing I know, the guy let go of my hair and the knife fell away from my throat as the guy dropped. Austin had shot him. I felt the gust of air from the bullet as it shot past my cheek and hit the guy in the face. I looked down at the guy and half his face was missing. It was then that I realized it was all over me,” Dryce recalled quietly.

Erik waited.

“After Dad chewed my ass, I just decided I was going to live my life my way. If I was going to die at any time, I wanted to have my fun. Hell, I had only been nineteen and was seconds away from death once already, so why not live it up,” Dryce finished.

“Hey, I get it. Was a majorly fucked up situation. You’re still blaming yourself and trying to bury your guilt. Mr. Ngo is a great guy. He’s been with you your entire life, and it’s his job to protect you. But it’s more than just a job to him,” Erik tried to ease the tension. “I’ll tell ya what kiddo… Mr. Ngo scares the shit out of even me. Yeah, he’s not as big as me. But he’d fuck someone up if he had too. And he’d give his life to protect you.”

“I know. But it was my horny nineteen year old mind that hadn’t seen what was happening. I had walked away from Austin that night and he didn’t know where I was at first. So yeah, you’re here because if he had some help that night, you guys would have been able to handle it and get me out of there safely. No one would have had to die that night.” Dryce glanced over at him.

“You’ve grown up and hopefully know better now. Don’t leave my sight and no one else will have to die,” Erik said then.

“I’m not stupid enough to go off without telling you where I’m going. But I never figured you’d be the kind of guy who would want to watch me,” Dryce said with a smirk.

“You know that’s not what I meant, you little shit,” Erik replied.

“You’re learning, Tank. You’ve finally dropped the ‘sir’ bullshit,” Dryce joked. The previous somber tension in the car gone.

Dryce pulled up to an older looking building and cut the engine. The sliding garage doors were open and, because of the angle of the sun, it was dark inside. Erik looked around scouting the area. Dryce stepped out of the car and walked around to the passenger side while Erik unhinged his own door.

Dryce walked up the to doorway and yelled in, “Yo… where are ya, fuckhead?” He turned back to Erik.

The silhouette of a guy rus hed out, bear hugging Dryce from behind, picking him up.

Without hesitation Erik bounded away from the car, grabbed the guy by the back of his neck, picked him up and slammed him on the ground face down. All in one swift move Erik’s sidearm was un-holstered and pointed at the back of the man’s head. Erik dropped his knee into the guy’s back and started looking around for anymore attackers.

“How many more do you have with you?” Erik asked forcefully as he examined the area.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Holy shit! Hold up Tank! Tank, this is my friend. This is Tompika,” Dryce leaped over grabbing ahold of Erik’s arm. “Tompika has royal blood as well. Let him up.”

Instantly, Erik stood up, holstering his hand cannon, and picked Tompika from the ground. “Your Highness, my deepest apologies,” Erik said, embarrassed. “I didn’t recognize you. Please forgive me.”

“My God, man.” Tom looked up at Erik, astonished by his size never having seen him up close before now. “Dryce… where the fuck did you find this guy?" he said rubbing the back of his neck.

Dryce smiled and bounced his attention between the both of them. “Tank, you don’t need to call this lame fucker ‘Highness.’ He’s got so many siblings he’ll never make it up the ranks in his family.” He patted Tompika’s chest, “And besides. Who the hell wants to rule the desert?” Dryce laughed.

“Hey, fucker. That desert is fueling that sexy ass car of yours.” He turned to Erik. “And please, just call me Tom.”

“Ahh, such a long time… how have you been?” Dryce said giving Tom a hug.

“Oh good, good. Just out here living the dream,” Tom replied. “Oh… check this out.” Tom pushed the both of them in the garage.

As the trio entered Tom’s garage, the darkness faded and their eyes adjusted from the sun to the fluorescent lights inside.

Dryce’s eyes opened wide. “Is that what I think it is? Is that a Skyline?” he breathed, awe dripping from every word.

“It sure is. You took my Supra so I had to upgrade. She’s a 1998 Skyline R34.” Tom smiled.

Erik shook his head, walking along behind them still scanning around. “Who’da thunk it. Two freakin’ princes with money galore, love those little rice burners. And… y’all are a bunch of gearheads to boot.”

Dryce hopped up on the car lift and stuck his head in the car window. “Tank, you just don’t get it. These sexy machines are just like women, but better in so many ways. They’ll never get mad or jealous if you ride another car. They’ll never cheat on you. And they’ll never ever get pissed off if you trade them in for a newer model.”

Tom laughed. “Ahh yes, but they’ll also take all of your money if you don’t take care of them. And if you don’t treat them juuuust right… they’ll leave your ass stranded in the middle of nowhere.” Tom pointed up at Dryce. “Speaking of ladies… bro, there are going to be some fuckin’ hot ones here tonight. You’re definitely going to get laid.”

“Oh thank god… I had a ceremony thing with my parents this morning, and now I could totally use a good blow job,” Dryce said hopping down off the lift.

Tom reached back and rubbed the back of his neck once again. “Maybe we can get your big friend over here one too.”