AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Many thanks to the readers and those reviewing: BonnieSveenFan, Ludub, and Braxtonboyzz123. Please enjoy this next chapter.
Chapter 7
Normal POV
The following day was Friday and as promised Brax collected Heath from school early; giving the excuse that a family emergency had come up.
The two brothers made their way over to Reefton Arms Public School to wait for Casey to finish. By the time three o'clock came, Brax and Heath were waiting at the fence and watched the array of kids run out.
"Keep your eyes peeled for him," Brax instructed.
Finally Casey came out towards the fence.
"Hey, there he is," Heath announced.
"Casey! Casey!" Brax and Heath yelled at once.
Casey stopped and looked around then suddenly spotted two familiar faces waving madly at him.
"Brax! Heath!" Casey shouted with glee and began running as fast as his little legs could carry him, with his backpack bouncing side to side against his back.
A wide smile spread across Casey's face as he neared his big brothers.
"Brax!" Casey shrieked as he got only feet away.
Brax smiled widely and knelt down with his arms outstretched. Casey ran straight into Brax's arms with a colliding thud.
Brax engulfed Casey tight in his arms but as soon as the excitement wore off, Casey let out a quiet 'ow', causing Brax to pull him away.
"Casey what's wrong?" Brax asked, full of concern.
Casey was bursting to tell his big brothers everything bad that happened to him at his horrible home but then Johnny's threatening face washed through his mind and he turned silent.
"Nothing Brax," Casey replied sadly and pulled away to give Heath a hug.
"Hey Sport, we missed you; how you doing?"
"I really miss you both so much; I really want to go home," Casey blurted out.
"I know mate and I'm trying my hardest to get you back home; I promise. How is the new home?" Brax asked.
Casey glanced down, unsure on how to answer as he felt the twinge of the bruises on his arm, in which Brax had accidently squeezed when he had been hugging him, leading to his sudden yelp.
"It's okay, but I don't like it as much as being with you. I live with two brothers who I don't like as my brothers and they don't let me have fun, or play with me like you both do," Casey confessed his partial lie.
Heath ruffled Casey's hair, making the young boy laugh.
"That's because no-one is better than us," Heath joked.
Andy and Josh had since walked out the school gate and saw Casey talking to Heath and Brax.
"Casey; hurry up!" Andy yelled.
"Who are they?" Josh asked.
Andy shrugged, "Don't care, but if he doesn't hurry up I'm not waiting for him and he can be in big trouble when he comes home late," Andy said.
Casey spun around to see Andy and Josh waiting and glaring at him.
"Who's that Case: friends of yours?" Heath asked.
Casey shook his head in disagreement.
"They are my new home brothers," Casey answered.
Brax eyed the two kids; something seemed oddly familiar about them, like he had seen both of them before.
"What are their names?" Brax asked.
"The big one is Andy and the smaller one is Josh; he's four months younger than me," Casey informed.
"What's the last name Case?" Brax pressed.
"Barrett. I hate being called a Barrett; they made me sign into school with that name and the teacher's think that's my name," Casey grumbled.
Heath laughed, "No matter where or who you're with you'll always be a Braxton, Case; it's in your blood," Heath stated, making Casey smile proudly.
Casey glanced back up at Brax and frowned.
"What's the matter Casey?" Brax asked.
"I wanted to send you a special card for your birthday that's coming up..." Casey suddenly stopped and thought back to Johnny tearing up the card; he couldn't say why he didn't have a card for Brax.
"But I accidently lost it; I'm sorry," Casey whispered.
Brax smiled and hugged Casey again, causing the young boy to stiffen.
"That's okay Casey; you gave me something even better by being able to see you."
Brax pulled away and Casey smiled at his big brother.
"Casey; come on, otherwise I'm telling Dad!" Andy yelled again, becoming highly impatient.
Butterflies fluttered in Casey's stomach, he did not want to get into trouble.
"I...I have to go," Casey stuttered.
"Well okay, I don't want to cause any trouble for you. We will stop by again sometime and see you okay?" Brax assured.
Casey smiled and gave a nod.
"I love you," he told them both quickly.
"Be a good boy Casey," Brax ordered as Casey ran off towards Josh and Andy.
Brax and Heath watched Casey momentarily before turning away just as he had caught up with Andy and Josh; missing all that was about to happen to their little brother.
"It's about time twerp. I ain't waiting for you all the time why you talk to some dead-beat strangers."
Feeling protective over the brothers he loved, Casey retaliated.
"They're not dead-beat; you are. They're my real brothers, not stupid fake ones like you and Josh!"
Andy spun around and grabbed Casey by the collar of his shirt.
"Who said you can ever challenge and insult me, you pathetic worm?" Andy threatened and gave Casey a punch in his abdomen.
"Ow!" Casey complained and tears welled in his eyes.
"Such a dead-beat loser like those others," Andy scoffed.
"I'm going to tell Mum and Dad you spoke to strangers," Josh taunted.
Casey frowned and held his abdomen.
"They're not strangers and why don't you shut up you tattle-tale!" Casey yelled; letting his loyalties towards his brother drive his emotion.
Andy grabbed Casey in a head lock and raised his fist towards Casey's face.
"You see this? You hassle my little brother and you'll get this clear in your ugly face!" Andy threatened.
Casey stared at Andy's fist in fright, then to torment Casey more Andy flicked his fist as close to Casey's face, pretending to hit him.
"Ahh!" Andy shouted with a laugh, causing Casey to jump.
Andy squeezed Casey tighter and gripped his arm; digging his fingers as hard as he could into Casey's skin; almost as if he was trying to touch down to Casey's arm bone.
Casey winced and squirmed.
"Andy please stop; you're hurting me," Casey whimpered and let tears fall.
"You're hurting me," Andy mocked in a high pitch voice.
Andy laughed and punched his fist hard twice over Casey's other arm closest to his own body.
Casey yelped and Josh stood by laughing. Andy then released Casey and gave him a shove behind him.
"Get away; you can walk behind us; worthless loser," he ordered.
Casey composed himself and quickly wiped his eyes, trying to be strong and followed behind his adopted brothers.
When the three boys got home, Debbie was in the kitchen and Johnny was in the spare room of the house trying to work out some deals.
"Hi Mum!" Andy and Josh greeted.
"Hi boys; how was school?"
"It was good, but boring when we had to wait for Casey," Josh dobbed.
Casey had put his bag down on the floor and had since walked into the kitchen, gaining a glare from Debbie.
"Why was Casey late Josh?"
Casey frowned over at Josh.
"He was talking to two guys outside of the school," Josh informed.
"Andy, Josh can you please go play outside," Debbie instructed.
Andy and Josh took off, leaving Debbie to approach Casey.
"Who were you talking to?" she demanded; frankly not wanting Casey to blab anything about his treatment at home.
Casey stood silent, only angering Debbie further.
"Answer me, right now!" she said raising her voice.
"It was my real brothers," Casey whispered, "They weren't strangers."
Debbie huffed, "I think your father needs to hear this because I'm sure he told you not to mention or go near those brothers of yours. Come along with me now," Debbie instructed and grabbed Casey by the wrist and pulled him along to Johnny's 'deal, man-cave'.
"Johnny, we have an incident to discuss," Debbie began; standing in the doorway with Casey's wrist still in her hand.
"What trouble have you caused now brat?" Johnny grumbled.
"Casey was seen talking to his brothers. He made Andy and Josh wait while he associated with those low-lives," Debbie explained.
Johnny closed his deals book and stood up from his desk with his eyebrow firmly raised.
"Is that so? I guess we have to have another chat; come here then," Johnny ordered.
Debbie let go of Casey's wrist and shoved him into the room towards her husband.
"Now we better discuss this going near your brother's business. You know I specially said to keep away and never mention them again didn't I?" Johnny implied.
Casey slowly nodded in agreement.
"Well I guess that means punishment is due for disobeying one of our rules," Johnny threatened and beckoned Casey closer with his finger.
Casey remained still, being frozen to the spot.
"Don't make me come for you!" Johnny shouted.
Casey jumped at the sound of Johnny's booming angry voice and stepped closer towards Johnny in fear.
Once close enough, Johnny made a grab for Casey and gripped his arm firmly.
Casey felt a harsh sting on his cheek where Johnny immediately back-handed him across the mouth.
"I had better not find out you said one word about this place to your so called brothers," he threatened.
Casey immediately began to cry and shook his head.
"I didn't," he sobbed.
"Well just so we're clear, from this moment on, you forget about everything with your old brothers, because if you as much as see or mention them again, not only will I make it that you won't be able to sit for a week, I will make sure your 'brothers' will never be seen or heard of again; if you get my drift, and if not, I'll spell it out for you: I will arrange it so they both get beaten so badly they will forget they even had a little brother; maybe even bust 'em up that they can't even use their brain to function anymore. Now you don't want that now; do you?" Johnny said in a deep, evil tone.
Casey shook his head; terrified of his beloved big brothers getting hurt because of him.
"I didn't think so. Now get out of here and stop causing trouble," Johnny ordered and dismissed Casey after giving him a hard smack to his backside and a rough shove; causing Casey to stumble over his feet.
Casey left the room crying and ignored Andy and Josh as he passed them on his way to his bedroom.
Casey lied down on his bed in tears thinking of his big brothers. His day had turned out great; in fact the best day he'd had in ages and now it was all ruined and he'd never see his big brother's again, otherwise he would be left in dreadful pain and worse: his big brothers would be subject to horrible injuries, and it would be his fault.
Casey moped around all weekend and all day at school on Monday. Following Josh and Andy out of the school gates at the end of the day, Casey heard his name being called. He glanced over and his eyes glistened when he saw Brax and Heath standing by the side of the road again.
Casey wanted more than anything to run over to his big brothers and be engulfed in their hugs, but he remembered the harsh words of Johnny and was just too scared.
Casey hardened his heart and turned away from his waving brothers, encouraging him over and blatantly ignored them.
Casey followed along behind Josh and Andy, leaving Brax and Heath confused.
"What was up with that; why'd he just ignore us?" Heath questioned.
Brax shrugged but kept a close queried eye on Casey.
"Maybe he had to go home in a hurry," Brax suggested.
The following day Brax and Heath waited yet again for Casey to come out and just like the day before, Casey completely ignored his big brothers; much to his dismay.
"He did it again. He's acting like we don't exist!" Heath exclaimed, feeling somewhat frustrated.
"I'm sure he's not doing it on purpose," Brax replied.
However day after day that Brax and Heath appeared at the school to see Casey, their little brother didn't acknowledge them or even smile in their direction even once.
"You can't say he has to hurry off because this is the fifth time he's ignored us!" Heath complained.
Brax sighed, not wanting to think that Casey no longer wanted to associate with them.
"We should just leave it," Brax said with sadness in his tone.
"But I don't get it!" Heath complained.
"I don't either mate, but Casey obviously has his reasons why he doesn't want to see us."
Every night Casey got home and had deliberately ignored his brothers he took himself off to his room and sulked. He hated ignoring his brothers; it had been so hard for him, but to keep them safe he had to do what was right.
By the sixth day Casey glanced over at the usual spot his brothers stood waving at him, but for the first time in days, Brax and Heath weren't there. The following day came and still nothing.
Casey's heart sunk, his efforts of protecting his brothers had made things worse, and Brax and Heath would no longer love him or even care about his existence.
Tears formed in Casey's eyes as he followed Andy and Josh home. Once inside he raced straight to his room and curled up on his bed.
"I'm sorry Brax, I'm sorry Heath. I didn't mean to ignore you. I want you both and I love and miss you so much," Casey said with a sulk.
