Surf Club - Angelo's
"How long has this been going on for?" Brax asks one of his waiters, Ray, who he'd noticed had been working more hours than he was rostered on for.
It's been going on for weeks now. It's becoming more frequent and it's every time his girlfriend comes in here. He never says why he's leaving, just that he won't be back to finish his shift, so one of us covers for him. If she doesn't turn up, then he stays for his whole shift and sometimes even works a bit longer." Ray replies.
"Right, thanks." Brax mutters.
"I know Kyle's your brother and everything, but we're getting fed up with him being treated differently just because he's your family. We're the ones that have to keep picking up the slack when he wants to go and hang out with his girlfriend, but what about our partners? We can't drop everything to hang out with them when we feel like it. If things don't change, we'll be looking for new jobs and then you'll be left with no one running this place." Ray says.
"You don't have to quit, none of you do. Things are going to change around here from now on. And I'll make sure you all get a bonus for picking up the slack, it's the least you deserve." Brax says as Ray gets back to work, just as Ricky walks up to the bar.
"What was that about?" Ricky asks, noticing the puzzling look on her boyfriend's face.
"It's Kyle, he's missed more of his shifts and Ray was saying how Kyle is always leaving shifts early without even giving them a good reason. He hasn't even turned up for his shift today and he was meant to be on a double." Brax says, having asked each one of his staff members that were currently on shift, but Ray was willing to give the most information.
"There's got to be a reason behind it." Ricky says.
"There is, everyone said Phoebe is always here when Kyle leaves, but whenever she isn't around, he stays for his whole shift. You can't tell me that's a coincidence."
"Okay, that is a bit weird, but you can't keep putting the blame on Phoebe. Kyle's his own person, he wouldn't leave without a good reason." Ricky says, knowing it would cause a lot of arguments if either of them were to find out, and she wanted to keep peace within the family.
"Well whatever it is, I can't treat him differently just because he's my brother. I've got to give him his second warning. One more and he's out." Brax says, having given Kyle his first warning when he bailed on a double shift during a busy weekend without any reason, and he had just got with Phoebe when that happened.
"You'd fire him over this?" Ricky frowns
"Ray and the others were saying how they were going to quit if I didn't start treating Kyle the same as them. I'm not losing all my staff just because Kyle is taking advantage of the fact that I go easy on him."
"When you put it like that." Ricky sighs. "Just talk to Kyle first before making any big decisions and make him understand how serious things are now. Maybe he'll decide to open up to you about whatever he was going to tell you about Phoebe the other day."
"Maybe." Brax mutters.
"Anyway, for now don't worry about the rest of Kyle's shift, I'll go out and cover for him." Ricky says.
"No, I can't let you do that. You wanted to go out and take photos on the headland and Kyle was working a double." Brax says, not wanting her to be put out just because Kyle bailed on his shift.
"Your staff are going to lead a revolt if they have to cover another one of Kyle's shifts, and keeping this place running is more important." Ricky says.
Surf Club - Angelo's
"You've got one warning left before I've got to fire you. Don't let it come to that, Kyle." Brax warns after explaining a few things to Kyle.
"I'm sorry, it won't come to that!" Kyle says.
"You better make sure it doesn't. I don't want to fire you, but if you bail on another shift, or even leave in the middle of one, I've got to do it. I won't lose the rest of my staff for going too easy on you."
"I know, I get that. You won't have to fire me, I promise." Kyle says.
"I hope you keep to that." Brax says. "Why don't you just say no to Phoebe?"
"It's not that simple." Kyle sighs.
"Why isn't it? You wanted to tell us something the other day, but Phoebe walked in before you could. What was it?" Brax asks.
"I can't say, just please don't pressure me into saying it." Kyle pleads.
"I wouldn't pressure you into it. I saw the fear in your eyes when she walked in, it's like you're scared of her." Brax comments. "You used to tell me about this stuff, you haven't since she turned up."
"I don't feel the need to. About what I was going to tell you, it was just that I still loved living here, despite what you may think. It was nice having those few days that we could just hang out. That was it, so don't worry about it. Can I go now?" Kyle says.
"Yeah, and if you ever want to swap your shift, just tell me and I can try to find cover for you. You don't need to bail." Brax says.
"Yeah, thanks." Kyle mutters.
He quickly stood up and walked out, bumping into Casey by the bar. He decided to take up Casey's offer to hang out, so they grabbed a table near the back as Brax walked out to help Ricky with the stocktake. Casey was confused about why Kyle was wearing a hoodie in such warm weather, not even thinking about the fact that it was to cover up bruises after more beatings from Phoebe.
"Denny was going to come and join us but she got held up with Evie and Oscar. She might come later on if we're still here." Casey explains before drinking some of this beer.
"That's fine, there's always another time." Kyle lightly smiles.
"What was that about with Brax?" Casey asks, noticing their eldest brother walk out to the bar. "You tried getting away from him pretty quickly."
"It's nothing." Kyle shrugs.
"Then why were you so keen to leave?" Casey asks.
"Brax is pissed with me for skipping some of my shifts. I'm on my last warning before he's going to fire me."
"Yeah right." Casey scoffs, then sees that he was being serious. "But you love this job, why would you skip shifts?"
"It wasn't on purpose, and I've sorted it with Brax, so you don't need to get involved." Kyle shakes his head.
"I didn't mean anything bad by it. Why're you getting so defensive?" Casey frowns.
"I'm not, it's not my fault Phoebe always makes plans when I'm working." Kyle snaps, and he wasn't meant to mention her, but he couldn't help it, it just slipped out.
"Has she got anything to do with why you're wearing a hoodie in this heat?" Casey asks, and that was the last straw for Kyle.
"Why does everyone seem so interested in my life all of a sudden? You've all got this obsession with Phoebe even though you all hate her, so what's the deal with that?" Kyle shouts, Brax heading over to them to find out what was going on.
"Kyle, I was just curious about why you're wearing a hoodie when it's way too warm for one. You're the one who mentioned Phoebe first, I just asked a question." Casey says, having no idea why Kyle just snapped at him for no reason he could see.
"That's all everyone is doing! Phoebe isn't doing anything to me so stop making out like she is!" Kyle says, starting to make himself panic over what they knew, even though it was nothing, else they would have done something about it.
"I wasn't doing that!" Casey exclaims, shooting his gaze to Brax, who decides to step in.
"Kyle, none of us have said Phoebe is doing anything to you. But if she is, you can tell us." Brax says, now getting worried about what was going on behind closed doors.
"She isn't doing anything, just leave her out of this!" Kyle pleads before rushing out.
"What the hell just happened?" Casey mutters.
"I don't know. What did you even say to him exactly?" Brax asks.
"I just asked him what he was talking to you about and he got really defensive about it, then he brought Phoebe's name up. I asked if she was the reason he was wearing a hoodie in this weather and that just made him snap." Casey explains as best as he could make out, not really understanding himself. "Is there something that I'm not being told about Kyle and Phoebe?" He asks.
"No, just don't worry about it. I'll try talking to him again at some point." Brax says, not sure how to approach it.