The Drake Unwound Complete Collection (The Drake Series Book 9)(46)

“There are pictures,” he said. “We won’t hesitate to use them.”

“What?” I frowned in disbelief. They had pictures?

“Yeah, that’s right. We have pictures of your handiwork so stay the f*ck away.”

I pulled away, but he must have taken that as aggression and he swung at me, his fist connecting with my cheek.

I lost it. When I recovered, I swung at him, connected with his jaw, but my punch wasn’t enough to knock him down.

Maureen came running up and stepped in between the two of us.

“Grow up, the two of you!” She kept us apart, and we both nursed our wounds and stared each other down. “Leave, Drake, or I’ll call hospital security.”

“I’m leaving,” I said and held up my hands, turning away. With that, the two of them walked off, leaving me to rub my cheek where a nice abrasion was growing.

I went to my car and sat in it for a few moments, trying to get hold of myself.

Then I called up Dave Mills.

“Dave, I need to get drunk. Fast.”

He didn’t hesitate. “I’m your man.”



We met at a pub in Chelsea, and downed shot after shot while I told him about my encounter with Chris.

“You should have broken a chair over his head,” Dave said. “Knocked the bastard out.”

“I probably would have caused a brain injury and then Liam would have an even bigger imbecile as a father.”

“Then you should've kicked him in the balls,” Dave suggested.

“If I could find them.”

The evening went on more or less like that, until I was so drunk that I could barely stand up. We took a taxi home and I stumbled up into the apartment after midnight only to find that Kate was fast asleep.

Even in my drunken state, I didn’t want to wake her up and have her see me like that—inebriated, pitiful. Instead, I took two aspirin and drank down a big glass of water and lay down as gingerly as possible on the bed beside her and promptly fell asleep.



Morning came all too soon. Kate woke me up when the sun was up, the light way too bright for me.

“Drake," she said. I turned over onto my back, a hand covering my eyes, and peered at her through my fingers. She leaned on her elbow, looking at me with an expression of concern on her pretty face, her green eyes wide.


"Ms. Bennet, what's going on in that mind of yours so early in the morning?"

I pulled my hand away and knew she’d see the bruise on my face from Chris’s punch.

"Drake, what happened?" She examined me closely. "You’re hurt."

"I got into an," I said and hesitated. "An altercation."

"What?"

"I don’t want to talk about it."

Mercifully, Kate didn’t push. I opened my eyes fully, blinking against the brightness of the morning light.

"Why didn’t you wake me up when you got home?” she asked, as she examined my bruise. “If I had known you were injured…"

"If you had known, you wouldn’t have slept."

"What happened?"

I exhaled heavily. "Maureen and I had it out and I kind of lost it. Chris and I had a pushing match and I came out worse for the wear. Luckily, neither of us pressed charges. Then, I kind of lost myself for a few hours. When I came home, I was too drunk to even get undressed."

She frowned. "What do you mean, 'lost myself'?"

"I drank with Dave Mills. I believe he drank me under the proverbial table and had to bring me home in a taxi. I'm surprised I didn't wake you up."

"What happened to make you and Chris fight?"

I sighed. "I don't want to get into it. Suffice to say Maureen pretty much rejected my request to give Liam the photo of my dad."

"Oh, Drake..." She kissed me briefly. I said nothing, too tired to talk anymore. I turned over and she let me be.



While I remained on the bed, Kate had a shower. I fell back asleep for a while and when I did wake, Kate was elsewhere in the apartment, so I got up and had a quick shower myself. When I was finished, I went to the kitchen and poured myself a cup of fresh squeezed orange juice and sat at the island, looking out the window at the blue sky.

Kate handed me a cup of coffee without a word and I smiled at her, thankful that she was giving me space to recover but I knew I would have to tell her what happened in more detail.

I sighed heavily, thinking about the incident.

"Drake, tell me what happened."

I made a face and turned away, back to the window and the Manhattan skyline.

"Maureen didn't promise me anything except that she'd give the picture to Liam when he was eighteen."

"Why did she want you to come to the hospital?"

I said nothing for a moment, trying to gain control over myself for the thought of my time on the ward with Liam and what happened afterward was making me upset once more.

"She wanted me to see him," I said, my voice breaking. "In case he died before we left for Africa." I rubbed my forehead. "She also wanted it to be the last time I made contact with her or him until he was eighteen. She wants me to give the donation and fade into the background. I asked her if I could meet him, talk to him after, but she said no. She told me not to bother making contact with her or him and if I did," I said, my voice really low. "She said she'd get another restraining order."