Chapter Six Hundred and Three

Keiron froze when he heard the sound of a police siren and caught sight of flashing lights. Had Indi really called the police on him? How dare she? All he wanted was to be with her! And she had run away from him! And he knew she had lied to him about being busy tonight. She had continuously shut him out of things ever since their relationship had begun. He was frustrated by her behaviour. He was determined to show her that they were destined to be together forever. But for now, he probably needed to get away from the cops.

"Indi!" he called one more time, hoping she might make some kind of sound and give herself away. "Indi, you don't have to do this! This is dumb! All I want is to love you!"


A few feet away, Indi held her breath, willing him to move on and away. Eventually, she heard his footsteps recede and a car door slam. The engine started and the car sped away. Just as soon as he had departed, the wail of a siren approached. Indi jumped out of her hiding spot. A police car, slammed to a stop. Indi burst into tears the moment she saw Charlie.

"Indi, are you okay?" Romeo said desperately into the phone. "I'm nearly there. Hang on."

"Charlie's here," Indi said, hanging up the phone.

She flung herself into the police officer's arms.

"Hey, it's okay," Charlie said, holding her tight. "It's okay. You're safe now."


"Thanks, Roo," Joey said gratefully.

Angelo could barely stand and needed to be taken home. Joey had called for help, as he had started firing barbs at her again for ruining his life. Scott had been managing things but he was starting to affect other customers. She was keen for him to go home.

"No worries," Roo said. "You. Up."

"I don't want to," Angelo said.

"Do you really think this is the behaviour of a grown up?" Roo said. "I thought you were going to impress Nicole, stand up for her, protect her, be the kind of person who could step up for her? Do you think she'd be interested in the kind of mess you are right now? Getting pissed and angry because you lost your job?"

"You've got no idea…"

"Shit happens, Angelo. To everyone. Not just you. We dust ourselves off and we move on. Don't sit in a bar sulking about it. Grow up, would you? You're not the only person who has problems," she told him firmly.

She extended her hand. He reluctantly took it and allowed her to help him out of the bar.

"Yeah, what she said," Joey said quietly.


Charlie had settled Indi in the front seat of her car and managed to get her to explain, albeit briefly, what had happened. She had sympathised and reassured her that she had done nothing wrong.

"Do I have to come to the police station?" Indi asked.

"Not tonight," Charlie assured her. "I'll drop you home and then I'll come by and visit you in the morning. We can talk things through in a more official capacity in the morning. I think you need a good night's sleep tonight."

"Will you… will you arrest Keiron?" Indi asked.

"Yes," Charlie said.

"I mean… he didn't hurt me," Indi said, her voice shaky.

"He kept you in his car against your will. It sounds like he's been stalking you. All of these things are a crime."

Indi nodded, still tearful. Charlie reached out and squeezed her hand.

"Everyone's at home, right? Your Dad and Marilyn?"

"And George the baby who won't sleep and only cries!" Indi tried to joke.

"Right!" Charlie half laughed. "It's like that, is it?"

Indi nodded.

"I'm trying not to complain but it's tiring. You know, trying to get Uni work done and everything. Dex got into trouble the other day because he fell asleep at school. Dad doesn't know. Gina let him off."

She suddenly looked panicked.

"Please don't tell anyone!"

Charlie pretended to draw a zip across her lips. Indi thanked her. Charlie looked round when she heard another car pull up behind them.

"I think it's Romeo," she said when Indi looked worried.

She climbed out of the car and waved Romeo over. He rushed towards her, breathless, asking if Indi was okay.

"She's a little battered from falling out of the car," Charlie said. "Just a few scrapes. I've fixed her up but it's mostly superficial. Really, she's frightened and shaken."

"Can I see her?" Romeo asked.

"Of course," Charlie said. "If it wasn't for you, goodness knows what would have happened."

"Well, you got here first…" he pointed out, secretly a little disappointed that he hadn't been the true hero of the hour.

He approached Indi's side of the car. She opened the door and surprised him with a hug, thanking him for calling Charlie and for talking to her on the phone, keeping her calm.

"Of course," Romeo said, overwhelmed by both her gratitude and her touch. "Of course."

It was all he could say.


Charlie arrived late to collect Joey for closing. There were hardly any customers left and she found her fiancée deep in hilarious conversation with Claire, Scott and Sandy. Joey stepped away and greeted her with a kiss.

"You seem like you've had a better night than I have," Charlie remarked a little more stiffly than she intended.

"It didn't start great," Joey admitted. "Angelo got fired so he came in to get drunk and hurl abuse at me for ruining his life."

"What?" Charlie said, alarmed. "Are you okay? You should have called me."

"It was fine. Scott dealt with him."

Charlie glanced at Scott who flexed his surprisingly visible muscles for such a slim man.

"And then we called Roo to drag him home," Joey added.

"But we are celebrating that I got a job at a gym," Sandy said.

"Oh, so you're sticking around?" Charlie said, trying not to reveal that she was not pleased.

"Yeah, I figured I have some making up to do," Sandy said, finishing the last of her beer. "I've missed too much of Casey's life, these past few years. I don't want to miss any more."

"Great," Charlie lied. "Congratulations on the job."


Romeo dropped Indi back at the farm. Inside, the house was dark and the only sound that could be heard was baby George crying.

"Thank you again for everything you did," Indi said on the doorstep. "I honestly don't know what I would have done if you hadn't picked up."

"I'm sure you would have managed without me," Romeo said bashfully.

"You were the only person I thought of calling," Indi admitted. "I was so scared."

"Well, I'm glad you called. I'm glad I helped."

They smiled a little shyly at each other. Indi thanked him again and hugged him tightly goodbye. The hug lingered. Romeo felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. They said goodbye, Romeo making Indi promise that she would call if she needed anything.


"So, what was so awful about your night?" Joey asked when she and Charlie were driving home.

Charlie sighed heavily, the image of Indi so frightened still charging around in her brain.

"Well, without breaking confidentially too much – bearing in mind that you're going to find out about it anyway in a small town like this – Indi was involved in a pretty frightening incident tonight. Some guy took off with her in his car, wouldn't let her out. She was terrified."

"What?" Joey asked, alarmed. "That's awful!"

Charlie nodded.

"It was."

She wiped a tear from her eye. Joey reached across and squeezed her hand, asking her if she was okay.

"I'm okay," Charlie said. "It was just upsetting to see her so scared like that. Why do men think they can bully, control and intimidate women like that?"

"I have no idea," Joey replied honestly.

A heavily silence fell between them.

"Were you able to catch the guy?" Joey asked.

"Yeah," Charlie said. "He went straight home. Watson and I went round and arrested him straight away. He was spouting all kinds of stuff about him and Indi belonging together and how she betrayed him by running away."

She shook her head.

"It was scary. Oh, and I had to deal with Heath Braxton. He's waiting on his lawyer to turn up to get him bailed out for dealing. I mean, I don't know how many times he's going to get away. He's already escaped being charged for punching Blake. And countless other things. I don't think dealing to Liam is going to stand up either. Whatever he does, Brax and that lawyer manage to let him walk out the door."

"You really did have a worse night than me," Joey agreed.

"I'm sorry Angelo was horrible to you," Charlie sympathised. "Just when it feels like he's grown up."

"He was just upset," Joey sighed. "Brax sacked him and he took it out on me because he wouldn't have even been working for him if I hadn't sacked him first."

"You did try to give him his job back," Charlie pointed out.

"Too little, too late, I guess," Joey said unhappily. "I do feel guilty."

"He made his choices," Charlie said firmly. "Don't forget that you did sack him for a reason. He screwed up. Badly."


The next morning, Charlie and Joey were glad not to be working and so to recover from their late night.

"I bet Angelo will have a sore head this morning," Joey mused over coffee in the back garden, still in her pyjamas.

"Oh well," Charlie said without compassion. "Never mind."

"I still feel guilty," Joey admitted.

Charlie reached out and held her hand, quietly asking her to forgive herself.

"I wish I had space to employ him again," Joey sighed. "But we're just rammed. The only thing is that Romeo might drop some hours now he's so busy with his business ventures. But part time won't be enough for Angelo. He needs full time to pay his rent and bills and to live on."

"I'm sure he'll find something," Charlie said. "He's not your responsibility. Come on, if that Sandy can walk into a job within five seconds of being here – with John of all people – then Angelo can find work."

"Well, she has a better personality than him," Joey remarked.

"But a worse surname," Charlie pointed out.


"Well, you look like you've either had a great night or a terrible one," Nicole remarked when she found Angelo sprawled out on the couch in only a pair of shorts.

If he didn't look so rough, she would have taken a moment to check him out.

"Terrible," he mumbled, sipping water and trying to stop his head from spinning.

"What happened?" she asked.

He moved his legs so that she could sit at the end of the sofa.

"I got fired," he said. "Then I got drunk. Very drunk. And I think I was rude to Joey."

"Wow," Nicole said. "That is a terrible night. Why were you rude to Joey?"

"Because if she hadn't fired me first, then Brax wouldn't have had a chance to fire me second," Angelo said. "And yeah, I know that's not fair. But whisky fuelled my lack of logic. I will apologise."

"Good. So… why did you get fired?"

"I accused my boss of being a criminal," Angelo explained.

"Wow," Nicole said. "You were really killing it yesterday!"

"I know, right?" Angelo half laughed.

"Can I get you a coffee?" she offered.

He accepted gratefully.


"Hey, um… can I talk to you guys?" Ruby asked, hovering by the back door.

"Always," Charlie said, kicking out a chair.

Their daughter came to sit awkwardly, which didn't bode well for the rest of the conversation.

"Well, the thing is… uh… okay, you know there's this Surf Carnival coming up?" Ruby ventured.

"Yeah, I have to work it," Charlie sighed. "With the River Boys involved, we're not expecting it to be the smooth kind of event of days of old."

"That's a shame," Joey said. "I was looking forward to hanging out together."

"Well, I'm sure I'll still get to see you," Charlie assured her.

"Well, hopefully you'll get to because I'm participating," Ruby told them.

"Really?" they both exclaimed. "That's fantastic!"

"A whole load of us have been training," she said.

"We're really proud of you," Joey told her.

"But um… well, the thing is…" Ruby said, sounding awkward again. "I'm participating for Mangrove River."

Charlie and Joey's faces fell for a moment.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said quickly. "I'm not trying to betray Summer Bay or anything, I promise. It's just that I've been training with Casey and we wanted to be on the same team. He wanted to make his home town proud."

"It's fine," Charlie said. "We don't mind, do we, Jo?"

"We're both just really proud of you for going for it," Joey confirmed. "We'll be cheering you on!"

"Proud parents!" Charlie agreed.


Next time… Indi makes her statement to the police, Sid warns Romeo off Indi and Leah and Miles grow closer…