Fireworks 1 and 2

Chapter Eighty-One

    Later in the day, the police came calling at Drake's front gate. Loud knocking woke him up from his sleep. Spoons, advising him that cops were there. Drake instructed for them to let the cops in. Most likely, they wanted a statement from Mia. She'd been completely out cold by the time they'd shown up to the garage the previous night. Their first concern had been her health; they hadn't been able to get an official statement from her.

    The officers who showed up to the front door confirmed that they needed to hear Mia's side of the story. The officers, Drake, Mia, Bri, Shawn, Chubbs, Spoons, and Ryan all sat in the living room while Mia went through her account of the previous night's events.

    Drake sat beside her on the couch, cracking his knuckles while she described the violence Trevor had doled out to her. He felt his anger simmering, right beneath the surface, and he tried to squash it. But it was difficult not to feel angry when you were hearing of the detailed account of how a man beat your girlfriend within an inch of her life. He remained quiet throughout the majority of the interrogation. When the officers seemed to be done with their questioning, Drake said, "I want to remind you that Trevor was violating a restraining order."

    One of the officers nodded. "We are aware."

    "So, is he going to jail?" Drake asked, looking at both of them.

    The officers exchanged glances. "There is a strong likelihood he will, once he gains consciousness," the taller, more slender of the two offers replied.

    "He still hasn't woken up?" Drake asked, his brows furrowing.

    Another exchange of glances, and then the shorter, stockier officer said, "So...you haven't heard that he's in a coma?"

    Drake sat up straight, his eyes widening. "No, I hadn't heard," he said softly, looking away from them. He stared down at the floor as waves upon waves of guilt washed over him. He felt Mia's hand on his shoulder. The angel that she was, trying to comfort him when he should have been comforting her while she relived such a tragic event. He ran a hand over his face. "Oh my God."

    "From the footage we've seen, I wouldn't feel too bad about that," the taller officer said, seeing the rapper's distress.

    Drake tried to tell himself that, tried to tell himself that he didn't have anything to be ashamed of. The athlete had nearly killed Mia. He'd beaten her senselessly, without any provocation whatsoever. And that was not Trevor's first attempt in getting in touch with her. Trevor is not a good person, Drake told himself. If something happens to him, he deserves it. Right? So then why did Drake still feel horrible? He held his hands out and stared down at them.

    Mia rubbed his shoulder and leaned on him. "Stop it," she told him.

    "What if he never wakes up from his coma?" he asked her, still staring down at his hands.

    "You were protecting me," she said, justifying his actions in that one sentence.

    He turned his head and looked at her. He noted the marks on her face, remembered how angry he had been the night before. He had wanted to kill Trevor for what he'd done, at that point in time. He shouldn't feel any differently now, but for some reason he did.

    "You did a brave thing, Mr. Graham," the tall, dark-haired officer said, flipping his small notepad closed. "There's no telling what would have happened if you'd gotten there even five minutes later."

    Drake nodded. He'd had the same thought himself, but for some reason, that nagging feeling of guilt didn't go away.

    Chubbs looked over at Drake somberly. Then he turned to the officers. "Did you have any further questions about what happened last night?"

    "Not at this time," the taller officer said, standing. "We will call if any more questions come up. The video clearly shows what happened. We just needed an official statement from Ms. Thomas."

    Chubbs showed the officers out.

    Drake leaned forward and covered his mouth with one of his hands. "He's in a fucking coma," he muttered, almost to himself.

    "The guy deserved it," Ryan said, piping up from where he was standing near the entrance of the living room. "He was an ass."

    Drake nodded quietly.

    Mia wrapped her arms around him and hugged him from behind.

    Bri, standing with Shawn near the entertainment center, detached her hand from her boyfriend's and crossed the living room. She came to a stop in front of Drake. When he didn't look up to acknowledge her, she knelt down to the floor and lifted a hand. She tilted his chin up gently, forcing him to look at her. "Mia is my best friend in the world," she said, tears shining in her eyes. "And that dickwad Trevor almost killed her. Do you hear me? He almost killed her. As in, if you'd gotten there later, she wouldn't be here with us right now. If you'd gotten there any later, I would be coordinating a search party for her or even worse, making funeral preparations. Your girl was being attacked and you protected her. End of story. You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't do anything that Shawn wouldn't have done for me. Hell, you didn't do anything that I wouldn't have done for Shawn. You didn't do anything that anyone wouldn't do for someone they really loved."

    Drake felt tears forming in his own eyes. He didn't respond.

    "I'm thankful that you did what you did," Bri went on.

    "So am I," Mia told him.

    He nodded again, and closed his eyes to prevent the tears from falling. "Thank you, for saying that," he told them.

    Bri sighed and gave his knee a reassuring pat.

    Ryan pushed himself from against the wall he was leaning on. "Fuck this shit, I call a group hug. Right now."

    Drake laughed and wiped at his eyes. "What?"

    "Group hug. Everyone in the room." Ryan walked up to them.

    Mia removed her arms from Drake and stood up. She leaned down and grabbed one of his hands. "Up."

    Chubbs returned from showing the police officers out and looked at everyone with an arched brow. "The hell is going on here?"

    "Aubs feels guilty because that jackass is in a coma," Ryan threw over his shoulder "So I called a group hug."

    "Oh, Lord," Chubbs said, shaking his head. "Guilty why? For what?"

    Ryan turned around and looked at Chubbs. "As a matter of fact, Chubbs - if it had been you... If you'd seen Trevor choking the life out of Mia. What would you have done?"

    Chubbs slid his eyes from Ryan over to Drake. "If it had been me there, and not you," Chubbs said, "that man wouldn't be breathing today. Do you hear me? He's lucky to be fucking breathing right now. He's lucky he has a chance at life. Because had it been me, I would have made sure he had no chances." He walked over to the group.

    Ryan nodded, rubbing his dark goatee. "Exactly what I thought. And I feel the same." He turned back around to look at Drake. "You did that man a favor, by even giving him a shot at living." He spread his arms out. "Now, everyone pull it in for a group hug."

    Shawn joined them, and so did Spoons.

    Mia tugged on Drake's hand again. "Up."

    He shook his head and laughed, but complied. He stood up.

    Ryan, Chubbs, Spoons, Bri, and Shawn all formed a circle around Mia and Drake, settling their arms across the shoulder of the person standing next to them.

    "OB's going to be so pissed he missed out on this group hug action right here," Ryan declared loudly.

    Mia laughed and looked up at Drake. She reached up and touched his face. "Thank you, for saving my life," she said.

    "Fuck," he mumbled. Because more tears came then, and he couldn't hold them back if he had tried.