Drake ✔️

Chapter 50

Shay

"Talk to me, Shay."

I stare at the full, almost cold cup of coffee on the table in front of me and keep my mouth shut. Last I checked, we only got about ten minutes left. And I'm glad. 

I spent the day driving around, listening to a mixture of angry and sad music while completely ignoring my ringing phone. I've been checking the missed calls and messages regularly of course, just in case he decides to reach out to me to explain himself.

He hasn't.

I feel emotionally drained and I really want nothing more than to just curl up into a ball back at the motel I got myself checked into earlier. The only person I wanted to talk to this morning was Axel, but now? Not so much. I don't wanna talk to anybody, it's been such a long fucking day, I really just wanna be alone again.

I couldn't skip this visit though. No matter what shit I'm going through, Axel is always there for me. Through thick and thin. I'm in real thick shit right now, so I couldn't bail on this visit. He wouldn't do it with me if the roles were reversed.

Or would he?

I mean, he fucking bailed on me for years after he moved out here with Joaquin and Jess. He wasn't there for me. He went through a lot of thick shit on his own, without so much as telling me about it. 

Glaring up at him, I note the severe look of concern on his face. I've told him everything already - about me and Drake last night, the video, the fact that Drake posted it online, and the fact that I haven't heard shit from him since - and Axel has sat there stone faced, listening as I talk. So I've told him everything now, and I don't feel much like talking anymore.

"Come on, Shay. It's me." Axel tries to get through to me again. I sit back and frown at him. "You can talk to me about anything."

"Can I?" I hiss back. He sits back too, studying me in confusion. "I thought I could, I'm not so sure anymore."

"What makes you say that?" He asks curiously. Quietly.

"Uh, let me think. Your court case, the fact that the Radium Room charges have been dropped, the top secret fucking reason you got your ass thrown in juvie for the first time all those years ago, all of it." I raise my voice a little, leaning forward. "You don't talk to me about your shit, this doesn't work both ways. So why the hell should I talk to you about my shit, huh?"

He holds eye contact with me, unblinking, and I know what I've said has unsettled him. There are reasons he hasn't gotten into detail with me about those things, I know that and I've respected his need for privacy. But you know what? I've had a shitty day and I'm done tiptoeing around my cousin's need to be tight lipped about certain aspects of his life. I'm here for him. I sit here and talk to him on a daily basis, in spite of all the fucked up shit he's done in the past. No one else has his back like I do, fucking no one. And I think it's about time he gave that the respect it deserves by coming clean with me.

"The only reason I don't go into detail about those things with you is because I don't wanna get your hopes up. But since you already know, yes, all the charges relating to that night have formally been dropped." He sits forward, raising his chin. "Mainly because Jax refused to make a statement and Jess denied my involvement. But on top of that, Scar withdrew her complaint yesterday. Penn's testimony alone wouldn't be strong enough to base a trial on, and I already intimated a not guilty plea, on my attorneys advice. Put all that together, the case would have crumbled and the whole thing would have been a waste of court time, so the charges have been dropped. Not only that, I'm gonna be compensated for it. Don't you just love the justice system?"