Able to be alone with his brothers without Phoebe around to get in the way of it, Kyle had started to feel like himself again. He missed the days they used to hang out and he wished they could do it more often again. He knew the one thing he had to do to make sure that could happen, but that would mean revealing that Phoebe was abusing him. He wasn't sure if he was ready for that kind of pressure, but he just wanted her gone.
Braxton House
"That was the best barbie yet I reckon. Your night with Ricky changed you or something?" Heath says to the eldest Braxton, smirking at his face.
"What, the night on the couch?" Casey laughs.
"Come on, the girls should have known we wouldn't stick to having a few drinks and then coming home. When have we ever stuck to that?" Kyle asks.
"Exactly my point but Ricky didn't see it like that." Brax lightly huffs, aching from his sleep on the couch.
"I bet she's out in the garden telling the girls all about what happened last night when we got home." Heath says.
"And how are you any different? I know Bianca made you sleep on the couch as well as I overheard her talking to Ricky and Denny about it." Brax says.
"Well I had a great night's sleep. What about you, Case?" Kyle smirks at his brother.
"The best! Denny would never make me sleep on the couch, she loves me too much to see me suffer." Casey grins. "Anyway, what's the plan for the rest of the day?"
"There's a footy game soon, how about we get some beers and watch that?" Heath suggests.
"I think the alcohol still in my system is enough to keep me going." Kyle says, his stomach turning at the thought of drinking any more. "You drank even more than me last night, so how can you even think about drinking more alcohol?"
"Cause I'm not a lightweight, little bro." Heath smirks.
"I'm not a lightweight either, I just haven't drank that much for a long time." Kyle lightly frowns.
"Well I'm going to get some beers before the footy game starts. Who else wants some so I know how many to get?" Heath asks, glancing at Brax and Casey.
"Nope, I'm out on that." Casey says.
"Sounds like it's just you." Brax scoffs.
"Okay, I'll be back soon." Heath says, about to walk out when Kyle stops him. "What now?" He asks.
"There's actually something I want to talk to you about. All of you." Kyle says, having plucked up the courage to tell his brothers what Phoebe was really doing to him.
"What is it bro?" Heath asks.
"It's about why I was distancing myself from you guys over the weeks." Kyle says, taking a deep breath.
"This I have to stay for." Heath mutters, wanting to know the reason why but he could see Kyle hesitate.
"You know you can trust us with whatever it is." Brax says.
"Yeah, I know. That's why I've decided I need to do this now." Kyle says. "It's Phoebe. She's been ab-" He's then cut off as the door swings open.
"Hey, I'm back!" Phoebe says as she walks through the door, oblivious that Kyle was about to reveal how she was abusing him.
All the others could notice was how Kyle had frozen on the spot as she walked through the door. His whole attitude had changed and they could see a fear creep into his eyes. Kyle was just hoping his brothers wouldn't mention their last few days together, knowing she'd be so mad about it. And luckily for him, they didn't say anything.
"You're not meant to be back until tomorrow." Heath frowns, desperate to ask Kyle why he had suddenly changed, but he knew that couldn't be done around Phoebe.
"Well here I am, you got a problem with that?" Phoebe asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Nah, I was simply making a comment." Heath glares at her, that was until Brax had to slyly punch him in the back so things wouldn't turn messy.
"It's a fair comment." Kyle mutters as he looks at her. "You said you were going to call me so I could meet you at the bus station."
"I decided to get a lift with a mate as they were passing by." Phoebe shrugs before glancing at Casey. "How come you're here?"
"I came to see my brothers, do you have a problem with that?" Casey asks, getting a harsh glare before Phoebe drags Kyle to their room.
"I'm going to go to the bathroom before I head off to Angelo's." Heath says to his brothers before walking into the hallway.
"What the hell was all that?" Casey mutters. "You noticed that too, right?"
"Yeah, I did. Something's up with Kyle and I need to find out what." Brax says, trying to figure out how he was going to do that when Phoebe was always clinging to him.
"Well we know it's something to do with Phoebe." Casey quietly says so she wouldn't hear if she was listening in.
"I've always had a funny feeling about her, I should have acted on it sooner." Brax shakes his head.
"We don't even know what's wrong yet, maybe it's nothing serious." Casey says as Heath walks back out.
"And what if it is?" Brax questions.
"Do you think the girls have noticed as well?" Casey asks.
"I don't know."
"What are the girls meant to have noticed?" Heath asks, not catching onto the conversation.
"Whether they've noticed anything different about Kyle the last couple days without Phoebe around." Brax says.
"Well let's go and ask them. Neither of them shut the door and it sounds like they're making up for not being around each other the past couple days." Heath says as they walk out of the door.
"So she's only just got home and they're already having sex?" Casey frowns. "Does that not sound off to you?"
"Yeah, but Kyle had his chance to tell us what was going on, and she got in the way of that. When are we going to get that chance again?" Brax sighs.
"You're the best person to get through to Kyle, he opens up to you more than us." Heath says. "Maybe Bianca and Ricky could get Phoebe out the way for a few hours so you could talk to Kyle."
"Yeah, although I don't think they'll have much luck trying to befriend her." Brax says.
"That reminds me, we didn't tell the girls Phoebe came home early. I'll text Bianca to let her know." Heath says as he pulls his phone from his pocket.
"Hopefully Denny can get out of there before she bumps into Phoebe. I can't imagine that going down well." Casey says. "Did you see the look Phoebe gave me when I said I was here to see you guys?"
"If she has a problem with us, she better keep it to herself." Brax says. "And I think it's best we don't mention anything about the last couple days unless Kyle does first. She hates it when he hangs out with us, I reckon that's why he's been turning down the last couple days on the beach we've had."
"If he's not happy with her, why doesn't he just leave her?" Casey asks.
"I don't think it's that easy. She's holding something against him and it's obviously freaking him out." Brax says.
"Then you need to get it out of him." Heath says.
"I don't think it's going to be that easy. He doesn't tell me stuff anymore, not since he got with Phoebe. Maybe he was just criticising our family because of her, there's no other reason he'd start acting like that." Brax says.
"He has completely changed since she turned up. What if we were to kidnap him and force him into breaking up with her. When she skips town, we can all go home." Heath says.
"There's only one flaw in your plan, actually two." Brax says.
"And what's that?" Heath asks.
"Phoebe seems to find him wherever he goes by what I can tell as Kyle didn't understand how she knew he lived here in the Bay. And secondly, Kyle would totally freak out if we were to do that and that would most likely make things worse. And don't question me more about it, it's just stuff from his past that he's trusted me to keep between us." Brax says.
"So isn't whatever happened in his past stopping him from breaking up with her?" Casey frowns.
"Yeah, it has to be. He wouldn't let himself be treated like that again, he told me himself he wouldn't. Anyway, enough about that, what're we going to do now?" Brax asks, becoming stressed over what hold Phoebe had over Kyle.
"Let's just hang out at Angelo's for a while. Bianca text back saying Phoebe went out and told them to give her and Kyle some space, so they're on their way there." Heath says as he glances at his phone.
"Okay." Brax nods as they turn towards the beach path that leads towards the Surf Club.