gone. âDidnât go so well, eh, mate?â Devâs still staring at the water. âYou sure Zoeâs not your sister?â âNuh. Why?â âShe acts like one â like a wolf protecting a cub. Guess I shouldâve known this wouldnât work.â âWhat wonât work?â I suddenly feel like Shawn Houserâs hands are tightening around my neck. Panic rises. Except this is worse; at least I know how to get rid of hands around my neck. âWhat do you mean?â âBeing your pretend dad and all. Thereâs more to it and I shouldâve thought moreââ âBut itâs okay. I want you to be.â âYour family doesnât.â âDonât I count? Besides Zoeâs not family and Granâll be okay. She was happy to see you.â âShe wonât be now. I think Zoe knows something about me.â âLike about your kid, you mean?â Dev sighs as though he is hauling cargo off a ship in a storm and the loss of it would be too great. âDo you know where your father is, mate?â âI donât have one.â Except you , I wish I had the guts to say. He turns to me then. âEveryone has a biological father, mate.â âI donât know about him.â An image of Shawn Houser mouthing off comes to mind. âAll I heard at school was that he went to jail years ago.â âWhat did your gran say?â âI never asked. I didnât want to know if it was true.â Devâs quiet a bit after that. âCan people change, Dev? In jail? Do you think if my dad was there, he could change?â âI donât know about him, mate. But I did.â âYou â You were inâ?â Gran would have a fit. Maybe Devâs right and Zoeâs found out. No wonder she spat the dummy. I wonder what he was in for but I donât ask â I know what this feels like. I never like kids asking why Iâm in the focus room at lunch. I find something simple to talk about. âWhy did you get eagles?â Dev shifts his position on the rock. âBecause eagles fly alone.â âWere you in a club?â âOnce. I liked the good stuff, belonging and all that, but I still liked to be myself. I didnât like having to stick up for someone whoâd do something I wouldnât have, just because he was part of the club. Thereâs always one that thinks they can get away with anything because of that protection. I tried to leave but it wasnât the kind of club you left easily. There was an accident. My wife and kid were on the bike with me. It was my fault in a way. I lost everything â my wife, my kid, my club, my freedom . . .â âYou went to jail for that?â âManslaughter. When youâre a biker itâs presumed thereâs something else going on, and there were things I couldnât say.â âBut thatâs not fair. Youâre not like that. Look at the way you handle the fish. The things you say.â There were other things too. The time we were walking along the jetty and a visitor to the area deliberately stepped in Devâs path. Dev sidestepped yet he didnât lower his gaze so that the other guy looked sheepish as he disappeared. Suddenly I realise something. âYou donât really like to fight, do you?â Dev turns to look me in the eye. âBut what did you see first, mate? That? Or the leathers and the bike?â I donât answer. Because itâs true. He does look kind of awesome when you first see him. So, maybe thatâs all thatâs bothering Zoe too â the biker stuff. âWhat was it like â in jail?â âBloody awful. Except there was this little guy. Heâd done something that the other guys used to beat him up for whenever they got the chance. But he never fought back. He believed in a power outside