Hi, just want to say thank you for the reviews I've been getting on this story. I've nearly finished writing it now so will be uploading more often, I hope you enjoy where I am going with this. Here's the next chapter :)
Braxton House
After having slept for the rest of the day and all through the night, Kyle was woken up the next day by arguing coming from the living room. He could just make out Brax and Heath and thought he heard Ricky as well. Once he had a shower and got dressed, he walked out into the living room to his two brothers and Ricky having a standoff with Heath. He could feel the tension, it going quiet as soon as they saw him come out and it made things awkward for him, knowing it was about him.
"No need to stop on my account." Kyle mutters, walking into the kitchen to get himself a drink and something to eat, Casey following him in.
"You've got a visitor." Casey says, lightly smirking as Kyle glances towards the living room. "In the garden. You won't need that." He says, taking the drink from his brother.
"Why?" Kyle frowns, feeling really thirsty.
"Go and look for yourself." Casey says, turning him around before faintly shoving him, not wanting to put pressure on a bruise or cut.
"Okay." Kyle mutters, walking out the back door to see Emily sitting at the bench.
"Kyle!" She exclaims, rushing over to him. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I was meant to call you yesterday but I think I fell asleep before I got that far." Kyle smiles as she hugs him.
"It's okay, you would have needed the rest. I've brought food from the diner. Casey mentioned you needing to keep your fluids up for the dehydration, so I got a couple choices of drinks as well." She smiles as they sit down.
"You didn't have to put in so much effort." Kyle smiles, unable to keep his eyes off her.
"I wanted to." She smiles, giggling as Kyle leans in to kiss her.
"Sorry, I don't know where that came from." Kyle blushes, not having expected to kiss her yet.
"I liked it, you're a great kisser." Emily grins, leaning into to kiss him again. "Now let's dig into this." She says, firstly handing Kyle a drink before sorting the food out.
"You chose right, this is good food." Kyle says, digging into the burger she handed him.
"I may have got help from Casey to know what you liked from there." She smiles.
Braxton House - inside
"I just want to make things right and apologise to Kyle for what happened." Heath moans as Casey walks into the hallway, not wanting to hear anymore excuses from him. "Do you really think I wanted him to be kidnapped by them?"
"What I thought is that you wouldn't go behind my back and do deals for a guy like Gray!" Brax hisses. "You should know people like him don't let their runners go that easily. Not only did you put Kyle's life in danger when they took him, you could have put the rest of ours at risk as well. You've seen guys like him kill entire families off just so they wouldn't get caught by the cops, and their runner is never killed just to prove why they shouldn't have crossed them. How would it have played on your conscience then, 'ey?"
"He said he was going to leave me alone for good! I backed out of his deals weeks ago, this shouldn't have happened and I honestly don't know why he did it." Heath says. "Can you not just give me one last chance to prove I can change and do right by this family?"
"You keep asking for chances. How many more am I going to have to give before you get it into your thick head that you can't be doing stuff like that anymore?" Brax says. "Moving to the Bay was meant to be our chance to prove to people that we're not bad guys, that we can lead good lives. I'm not letting you ruin it for the rest of us just because you won't change." He says, turning to walk into the kitchen.
"So what happens now?" Heath asks.
"I want you out of this house and away from the boys." Brax says as he turns to him. "I am not going to bury one of them because of your screw ups. You shouldn't want to either but you don't seem to understand it the same as me."
"I do understand it!" Heath says.
"Then let me say this. What if it was Casey they took, and they killed him? We'd have to explain to mum how Casey was killed after we swore on our lives that we would protect him no matter what happened. Kyle's got family out there that might want to find him one day, what if he never got that chance for that?" Brax says, not even wanting to think about that situation. Kyle was alive, they found him in time and he was going to be okay now. That's all he wanted to focus on.
"I guess I'll leave then." Heath mutters, walking into the hallway to pack his stuff up as Brax walks into the kitchen, leaning over the sink.
"You did the right thing." Ricky says as she wraps her arms around him, resting her head on his chest as they look out the window, seeing how happy Kyle was with Emily. "Heath's an adult, he should know right and wrong by now. The boys need you and you did the right thing for them."
"I know. I just didn't want it to come to this." Brax says, feeling like the world around them faded when he was with her. "I just hope this Gray guy got the message and doesn't come back."
"I doubt he will. The River Boys are not people to be messed with." She smiles. "And he wouldn't if he knew what was best for him."
"Can I come back?" They hear Heath ask from by the door, walking around the corner to see him with a few bags.
"I don't know." Brax shrugs. "I've got to put the safety of my family first. One day if you can understand the importance of that, I could consider letting you come back. You need to prove it to me before I would even think about it and I seriously don't think you have the right attitude to change."
"I want to." Heath mutters.
"Then you go back to mums or rent a place out and you think about what you really want. You don't ever do a deal for anyone again, no matter what the pay is or whatever else. Focus on the gym or something that will do you good. Don't even think about coming back until you can prove yourself to me." Brax says, Heath lightly nodding before walking out.
"I'll go and check on Angelo's for you." Ricky says. "How about you check on Casey, he's been quiet about this."
"I will." Brax nods as she walks into the flat to get her bag, so he walks to Casey's room, knocking before walking in. "You alright?"
"Fine. Kyle still outside with Emily?" Casey asks.
"Yeah, looks like she's harassing him about drinking more." Brax lightly smirks.
"She really likes him. Maybe he'll realise it would be good for him and would do something about it." Casey says, knowing it's what Kyle deserved.
"Maybe it will." Brax says. "You going to be okay working with Heath?"
"Can't say I'm pleased about it but I'm not quitting just to please him." Casey says, loving his job as a personal trainer. "You could have told him to quit as well. He's already gone against this family once, who's to say it won't happen again?"
"If he wants back in this family, he's got to prove nothing like that would happen again. We need to give him some time to think about what means more to him."
"Do you think that's going to happen?"
"I really don't know. I never thought he'd go behind our backs like this, so anything could happen. He's on his own if he chooses to go down that path again." Brax says.
"I'm past caring, Kyle could have been killed because of him." Casey says. "What happened to Blood and Sand meaning something in this family? He went against that the second he started dealing again."
"I think he knows that now." Brax says as Casey's phone goes off.
"That's Blake. They all want to come and see Kyle today." Casey says as he reads the text.
"Sure that's fine, I was going to help Ricky at Angelo's. Good luck getting him away from Emily." Brax smirks as they walk out to the garden.
"You up for more company?" Casey asks. "Blake and the boys want to come over."
"I'm heading to Angelo's, it's up to you." Brax says as he walks towards the gate. "Just no alcohol, you need proper fluids to keep your hydration up."
"Okay." Kyle says, turning back to Casey and Emily. "When are they coming?"
"I'll text them now." Casey says, going on his phone.
"Are you going to be up for them coming?" Emily asks him, wanting to be sure.
"Yeah, of course I am." Kyle smiles. "If they start making jokes about us, please ignore them."
"Okay, I see how this is going to go." Emily laughs.
