Later that night, Lucas, Casey and Bianca were at home watching TV. Kyle had stayed in Yabbie Creek earlier on to meet Emily, who had finished training early and wanted to meet up. Heath and Bianca had already been at home when Casey and Lucas got home, but it was long after that, that Heath got a phone call and quickly left. They had no idea what it was about and hadn't heard from him after that.
Heath's phone call had been from Tyler needing help from him. He'd met a few of the River Boys having lied about having things to do and they'd gone into Yabbie Creek. What Tyler hadn't expected was to have actually been tagging along with them robbing a bar after it shut. The gates had started to shut when they were inside, but they had stopped it in time, although they weren't able to get out, which is why Tyler had called his brother.
Yabbie Creek
"I need all of you to lift up against the gate." Heath says, them all managing to lift it up enough for Heath to shove a thick plank of wood underneath to give them enough room to get out.
"Thank you." Tyler says as he stands up, the other River Boys running off.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Heath hisses, pulling the wood out before quickly wiping the gate off to get their fingerprints off, sirens being heard heading their way. "We need to go." He hisses, both of them running down an alleyway towards Heath's car, checking no one was around before getting into it and driving away.
"I'm sorry, I know I've been stupid by meeting up with the River Boys, I wasn't thinking straight. Mum coming here has really thrown my head around and I had a huge moment of weakness that could have ruined everything if you didn't get there in time. I'm grateful for what you did, I really am." Tyler says.
"I don't want to hear it, Tyler. You made a promise to this family about your life being different now but this has proven otherwise. You need to choose very carefully now. Choose my family, and never even think about turning to crime, no matter what the situation is, or get out now, never coming back here again no matter how sorry you feel for yourself." Heath says, briefly glaring over at Tyler before focusing back on getting them away. "And don't even think about questioning me, Brax put me in charge and this was the same ultimatum he gave me a while ago. Choose the right one because you will not be let back into this family again if you choose crime."
"I choose family, there's no need to think about it." Tyler says. "I admit to meeting up with the River Boys, but that was to get drunk and forget about the past few days. I swear on my life I never knew they were planning on robbing the bar once everyone had left. If I knew they were planning that, I would have come home. Please believe me."
"You expect me to believe that?" Heath scoffs. "So what's in that bag you've got?"
"Zayn said it was my cut." Tyler mutters. "I'll get rid of it if you want."
"If I want? It should be what you want considering the police are going to be looking for it." Heath says.
"I wasn't going to accept it, but then I thought if I offered mum money to leave town for good, we could finally let this time go and move on." Tyler says. "It was great all of us being able to be together earlier and it being fairly normal, but when mum turned up, I noticed Kyle go quiet and looking desperate to leave. I just want there to be nothing getting in the way of our family."
"I'm going to have to tell the boys about this, and also Brax." Heath says.
"No, please don't tell Brax! He warned me not to get into trouble again or I was out without question. I don't want to lose this family over a mistake!" Tyler pleads.
"Tyler-"
"Please, Heath. I'll do anything, just please keep this between us."
"You want me to lie to everyone about where I went? Lie to Bianca?" Heath asks. "You know if this was to come out in the future, Brax would kill both of us and this would be a lot worse than it is now."
"Fine, you can tell them." Tyler mutters.
"I'll tell them, but I'll tell them I'm dealing with it my own way." Heath says, knowing how Tyler was feeling after he'd been in the same position after lying to his family. "But I will be dealing with it, and you won't like it."
"I'll do anything to stay here, anything." Tyler says, glancing over at Heath.
"First of all, you're going to be covering all of the extra shifts at the gym with no pay." Heath says.
"That's fine, I'll even cover at Angelo's while Brax is gone as well. Don't even pay me for my normal shifts if you want, I'll take no pay at all just to stay." Tyler says.
"Second, don't try so hard." Heath says, glancing over at him. "You're only going to annoy me if you do that, so just accept the punishment I give."
"Okay, thank you for this. And I know it's going to be tough, but it's better than a prison sentence." Tyler says.
"Just don't mess this up because you won't get another chance. I'm with Brax from now on, one more mistake and you're out." Heath says before concentrating back on the road.
Braxton House
"You're back." Casey mutters as Heath and Tyler walk in after eventually getting home.
"Kyle, what're you doing here this late?" Tyler asks.
"We know what you did. Bianca's gone to sleep by the way." Kyle mutters, glancing at Lucas who was pacing across the room.
"How did you find out?" Heath asks.
"Dean came round here asking how things were." Casey says, looking over at them after stopping Lucas from pacing. "He heard what happened in Yabbie Creek and wanted to see if things were good here. You're in the clear by the way, they're giving you an alibi if it's needed."
"Oh, uh…" Tyler trails off, looking down as he catches Lucas's gaze.
"How could you do this after everything?" Lucas asks.
"I made a mistake, I'm going to make up for it." Tyler mutters.
"I'm dealing with it. I gave Tyler an ultimatum, he chose family and I'm going to be punishing him." Heath says. "I don't want anything bad coming from this, so you keep it between me and Tyler."
"I've accepted the punishment Heath's giving me and I'll do anything so you don't hate me. Please believe that I didn't mean for this to happen, I never knew it was going to happen in the first place. I didn't know until they broke in and-"
"We know." Casey says.
"Dean said Zayn told him everything and that you tried backing out once you knew." Kyle says.
"It still doesn't make up for the fact that you stayed there instead of running." Lucas says. "You could have gone to prison if you were caught!"
"I think he knows that." Heath says.
"I'm sorry." Tyler mutters.
"I've never seen you this guilty before." Lucas sighs, noticing the bag. "You took the money?"
"No, Zayn handed it to me. I couldn't dump it there because my prints would have been on it." Tyler says. "I was thinking of using it to send mum back to Cairns."
"You weren't going to keep it?"
"No. I didn't know what I was going to do with it when I got it, but mum has never been one to turn down money. We can finally get her out of the Bay because this will be more than enough to keep her happy, and then if she ever turned up again, we'd have Brax to help get rid of her." Tyler says.
"You've changed so much." Lucas says. "Before, you wouldn't have thought twice about keeping it."
"Family means more to me now, and I've got more brothers to think about. I know I've let you down, but it's made me realise that I don't ever want to do that again. I want to be on a straight path, no crime or anger issues." Tyler says. "I wouldn't have got to this point without the help of you all, and I'm really grateful for this chance."
"And on that note, Brax is not to find out about this yet. We'll tell him once he gets back off his honeymoon, but it needs to come from me and Tyler, understood?" Heath says.
"He won't hear it from me." Kyle says.
"I won't say anything." Casey says.
"I don't plan on getting drunk for a while after the other night, so it's safe with me." Lucas lightly smiles.
"Okay. Kyle, do you want a lift back to Irene's, or are you staying the night?" Heath asks.
"Can I get a lift please." Kyle says, grabbing his phone from the table.
"Could I get a lift to the caravan park on your way?" Tyler asks.
"Sure, let's go." Heath says as they walk back out.