Hi again everyone! Now you have to remember that even though the characters are loosely based on the Home and Away ones, they are not the same. So when you read this keep an open mind and forget everything you think you know about them.
This chapter is for Haywy, just because you are so amazing ;)
Charlie woke up to a groaning noise coming from beside her. Rolling over she smiled when she saw Brax his hands over his eyes as she knew his head would be thumbing. "There is some pain killers and water next to you."
He answered with a groan rolling over and taking 2 pills from the packet. Holding in her giggle she watched as he struggled with the lid on the water until he finally got it off. If she didn't know that he had done it to himself she would have almost felt sorry for him. Brax put the pills in his mouth before drinking the whole bottle in one go. Lying back down he pulled the covers over his head with another groaning sound.
"Feeling a bit sorry for yourself there Darryl?" inquired Charlie.
Without even moving the covers he mumbled "not so loud because you know I am." As he waited for a smart answer from her he finally starting to wake up and think about where he was. Pulling the covers down he look at her "wait how did we end up in bed together?"
"You don't remember? Well it all started with you wanting to pole dance on the street..." she chuckled when she saw the look on his face. "Don't worry you didn't get that far before you ended up on the ground. When we got back here you were meant to sleep on the couch but you were so drunk you got in my bed. After I had a shower I don't have the energy to make up the couch so here we are."
"Right, well I should get up" as soon as the words were out of his mouth he felt Charlie's hand on his arm.
"Stay and let the painkillers kick in" she gave him a weak smile. She didn't want to beg but she liked being here with him like this. When they were alone it was like nothing else in the world matter. It was just the two of them alone together and it was perfect. She slid herself over in the bed carefully moving his arm so it was under her.
Brax smiled as he felt her moving over. He put his hand on her shoulder pulling her body closer into his before kissing her forehead. It felt so natural but the second he had done it he wondered if he had over stepped the mark. "I'm sorry Charlie, I didn't mean to that."
"Relax Brax" she looked up at him with her big blue eyes. "I said I wanted to take it slow not that you have to stop everything. If it feels right then it most likely is." His face broke into a grin as she reached up and gently kissed his lips. Moving herself against his body she traced the outline of his tattoo. "So are you ready to tell me about it?"
His hand lightly rubbed over her shoulder, his lips only centimetres from her the top of her head. "Tell you about what Charlie?"
"Your tattoo's. The first night I saw them you said their story was for a different day, is today that day?" She continued to run her fingers over his body. She had often wondered about them but knew he needed to be ready to tell her.
"Um yea I guess it is. If I tell you though promise not to freak out?" He lightly squeezed her shoulder.
Again she looked up at him making eye contact "I'm still here after I found out you had a girlfriend I don't think your tattoo's are going to freak me out."
He kissed this time it was more passionate then the last. "Ok but you have been warned. I guess I should start from when my Dad left. Mum fell apart, I was only 14 but I had to be the man of the house. Looking after her and my brothers became my whole life. Every second of every day I had to think about where they were, how the bills were going to be paid and where the food was going to come from. Surfing was the only time I had a clear head. All I had to think about was the next wave I was going to get and if it didn't work I could just try again, there was no consequences unlike real life. Turns out I was really good at surfing" he smirked to himself. "I meet some other guys that were into surfing and we all became mates. Those guys are like brothers to me, they would do anything for me and I would do the same for them. We all got the blood and sand tattoo together. Guess it meant something different to each of us but for me it was the two most important things in my life, my brothers and the water."
"Your brothers meaning Casey and Heath or your mates?" interrupted Charlie.
"Both, my brothers will always come first but my mates are like family. They got us through some tough times. Things got so rough we started doing um some illegal activities. The cops tried to break us but we knew if we stick together they couldn't get any of us." She didn't push him to explain the illegal activities. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about it and she didn't want to know anymore. "It was about that time I got my next two. The one on my side says for each of us that falls, ten shall take his place and the one on my back says we are legion. To anyone else they may seem stupid but they mean something to me."
"Don't worry I understand" cut in Charlie. She really did understand when she left her family after Ruby she would have given anything to feel like she belonged some where. Brax had found that with his friends and in his own way he wanted to show it.
"People in the town saw what we were doing and started calling us a gang. At the time we thought it was really cool and started calling ourselves the River boys. The cops tried everything they could but they got nothing on me even though I guess I was the leader of the boys. A few of the boys got done but that was for stupid stuff. The cops searched the house one day and that's when it hit me, my family was the reason I was doing it all but yet I was putting them through that. That was the day I stopped everything. I got myself a real job and started to work my way up in the world" he stopped thinking about what he could have became if he hadn't stopped when did.
Charlie, who was still brushing her hands across his body, was unsure why he had stopped so decided to ask a question. "So what about the one on your arm?"
"Arrr that was for Tegan" he chuckled lightly. "She was there through everything. She was with me when Dad left, through the years with the cops and when I started to change my life. At times she was my rock and other times I wanted nothing to do with her. You know its say one crowded hour, and believe me every hour with Tegan was crowded. She was full on, demanding, always running at 110% but she was always herself. She didn't care what anyone thought of her even if it got her in trouble."
"What happened between the two of you?" asked Charlie.
"I finally worked out I loved Tegan but I wasn't in love with her. Tegan wanted more then I was willing to give her so she left" he sighed. "I may not have wanted to be with her but it was hard when she left. My best friend for all those years left me."
They both took a moment to be alone with their thoughts. Brax's hand brushed over her back as he thought about everything he had just told her. He knew she was taking everything in and he needed to give her time, but right now he would give anything to know what she was thinking.
As soon as he started talking about tattoo's Charlie realised that he had them to remind him of all the important people in his life. His brothers, the River Boys, Tegan... but one person was missing. Through everything he had told her he hadn't mentioned her or her name once.
Charlie's voice finally broke the comfortable silence. "So tell me about Chloe"