WOW!
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I'm really glad you are liking (or loving) this story.
Here is Chapter 3.
I do not own or claim to own Home and Away, this is all fun.
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She sat for a moment thinking it would let Heath cool down. She knew that she had pissed him off with her comment.
She dialled the number again and waited.
She didn't have to wait long.
On the second ring it was answered.
"Hello."
Charlie's breath caught in her throat.
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It was as if she couldn't breathe.
"Hello," he repeated.
It had been so long since she had heard his voice. The last time she did was awful, she would never forget hearing him beg for her to stay with him and tell her that he loved her in the hospital; it literally tore her heart apart.
Her heart was pounding in her chest; she could feel it in her throat. It was screaming for her to say something to him, anything! He was right there.
Tears filled her eyes, and she pictured her last night with him.
Brax had told her not to go to work the next day, he would have taken her to the city early.
"Hello," he said once more, the frustration clear in his voice.
She had met him after he closed Angelo's, they'd detoured across the beach before he drove them both to his house.
She loved him in his black business shirt. They'd talked for a while and then he kissed her. No man could kiss her like Darryl Braxton. She closed her eyes remembering, she could feel him. A tear slowly fell down her cheek.
Beep beep beep.
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"Who was that?" Heath asked, placing both boxes on the bench.
"Dunno, either wrong number or they didn't like the sound of my voice," Brax said passing the phone over.
"It's the second one," Heath joked as Brax started unpacking the boxes.
"You're a funny one."
Heath looked at the last received call on the phone and just as he thought it was an unknown number.
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"OK. Brilliant plan is... there's no brilliant plan." Heath spoke quickly on the phone as he walked out to his car.
"What?"
"Nah nah, think about it, Jake's in hiding, they will be looking out for anything unusual. I'll just come up to your room for a bit then we can leave a bit later. Start packing your shit, I'm leaving now."
He had a 4 hour window. Brax wouldn't be home till late again and he wouldn't expect Heath to go back to Angelo's.
If he was going to get her out of this alive, now would be his only chance.
How the fuck did he get caught up in this mess.
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"I got us a getaway car." Heath whispered as they left the motel.
Charlie didn't bother signing out, she'd paid in cash on the first night. She focused on the white sedan in front of them.
"Aren't you going to ask where I got the car?"
"Honestly, I couldn't care less."
"I stole it," he said, a cheeky glint to his eyes. He was trying to rile her, to make light of a tense situation, and for the first time she noticed how alike he and Brax were.
"Well make sure you wipe the steering wheel down."
"Ha Buckton, when this is all over, you and me are going to go for a beer."
Walking to his parked car was more nerve wrenching than waiting for him to arrive.
Heath had his arm over her shoulders so they looked like a couple. His jacket covered tattoo on his neck and both struggled to remain calm. Heath had taken on Hammer and his friends once, four against wasn't his favourite, and he did alright for himself, but, doing that while protecting Charlie wasn't on his to do list.
Protecting Charlie, Brax owed him big!
They made it to the car and it took all of Charlie's strength not to turn around and make sure they weren't being followed.
Heath opened the door for her making sure she was safe inside before quickly entering the driver's side.
Once locked inside, he turned the ignition and looked at Charlie. She was breathing deeply with her eyes closed, head rested against the back of the seat.
"Wasn't so tough," Heath scoffed.
"Where are we going to go?"
"Home! Safer I reckon. Plus you won't need to worry about those guys," he said as he pulled out of the driveway.
"What do you mean by home?"
"Buckton, you don't want to tell anyone your alive, I have to look out for Brax and Ruby and now it looks like I have to look after you too. Make it easy on me huh."
"Fine, I'm sure no one will notice me," Charlie said sarcastically.
"That's the sprit, Buckton," Heath returned the sarcasm.
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Casey was walking home when he saw them. He was certain they couldn't see him or Heath would have stopped, actually, probably not.
Casey would bet his life that the woman he just saw with his brother was Charlie Buckton.
Casey's stomach tightened. Brax had told him about Perovic's escape the night before. Although he was told not to worry, Casey knew his eldest brother very well and he could see that Brax was only hanging on by a thread.
But it couldn't be, she was dead and if she wasn't surely she wouldn't be with Heath.
"What the hell is going on?" he said to himself.
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Charlie and Heath finally reached the house and it was in complete darkness.
They hadn't spoken on the drive.
"Where am I supposed to sleep?"
"You won't like it!"
"Where, Heath?"
He nodded his head towards the house.
"You're kidding, what part of no one can know about me hasn't clicked in your think skull. You aren't the only one who lives there. What about Casey? What about Brax?"
"Oh, he knows someone was at the house last night by the way."
"How?"
"Fucks me, he took like a step in the door and was asking me if someone had been there. It was like he knew."
Charlie had nothing to say to that, it would be amazing if it were true.
"He's going to kill me when he finds out, you know. That you're alive and I didn't tell him right away."
"Heath, I don't need a lecture right now. If I could tell him I would. It's better off this way."
"This is fucked up Buckton. You haven't seen him; you don't know what it's like."
"No, you don't know what it's like," she said snapping. "It is fucked up, I know that. But you're fucking it up worse by having me sleep here."
"Where else are you supposed to go?"
"I don't know." She exhaled.
Sleeping in that house was not a good idea at all. She had almost lost it when Brax answered Heath's phone. How was she supposed to keep it together in the same house?
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Casey opened the door to the house to find the lights on and Heath sitting on the couch, beer in hand with the television on.
"Hey," Heath called out, without turning around.
"Hey, what's going on?"
"Nothin' much, same old shit."
"You sure about that?" Casey asked, dropping his bag onto the floor.
Everything looked normal, Heath was acting normal but he knew what he saw.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Heath asked turning his head to look at his younger brother.
"Had a good day?" Casey asked.
"Yeah it was alright I guess," Heath turned back to the television.
"Do anything fun?"
"Case' what's with the twenty questions?" Heath was getting annoyed.
"Nothing just seeing if there was anything going on that you might want to share."
"Since when are you interested in me, aren't you the mini Brax?"
"I saw you today Heath?"
Heath gulped and knew that he needed to play it very calm.
Charlie could hear the whole conversation from Heath's room. She had set up a blanket on the floor beside the bed. They had planned for Heath to fall asleep on the couch tonight. If anyone were to walk in his room, she would be shielded by most of the bed.
She had agreed to stay for one night only.
Tomorrow she was finding somewhere else to stay until Perovic was caught.
Truth be told, she was looking forward to having a good night sleep where she didn't need to watch her back. The only downside was she wasn't sleeping in the bed that she wanted to or with the person she wanted to.
"Oh yeah," Heath said.
Heath wasn't going to let Casey get anything out of him, he was pretty sure that is he just kept up the sarcasm and the I don't give a fuck attitude, Casey would give up.
"Been a while since you hotwired a car?"
"Yeah I guess, what of it?"
"What were you doing? Why'd you need a car for?
"It's none of your business, Casey. Rack off would ya."
There was no way that Heath would admit to what Casey knew he saw. Questioning him like this would only make him angry and he'd probably storm out soon. There was one trick left in the bag.
"Does Brax know?"
That got his attention.
"No, why would Brax need to know?"
"Come on, Heath. You've seen how he is the past few months, now it's ten times worse with Jake out, and then you go and do something like this. You're so selfish, he needs you and your out for myself."
Casey picked up his bag and headed back towards the door.
"Selfish!" Heath yelled standing up. "You think I'm selfish? What I was doing this afternoon was not for my own benefit so lay off, Casey. Where are you going?"
"To see Brax, maybe he can knock some sense into you. We can't have you going back to jail."
Charlie's hand reached for the bedroom door. This was getting too complicated. She was about to do the one thing that Brax would be furious at her for, she was about to involve Casey in their mess.
Casey reached for the door. He knew he'd won.
"Casey, you can't go tell him," Heath said, his tone indicating he had given up.
"Why not?"
"Casey." Charlie said slowly, walking out from the hallway.
Casey exhaled loudly and leaned against the door.
He had seen her in the car earlier but seeing her in the flesh was completely different.
He took a moment just to take it all in.
Charlie didn't say anything, she couldn't even imagine what she was putting these boys through.
Lost in her own thoughts, she was startled when Casey engulfed her in a big hug and even more surprised to find herself lost for words.
"I'm glad you're ok," he said softly.
Casey let her go and moved to the couch.
"You knew?" Heath asked, "You weren't surprised at all."
"I saw you before, driving here. Thought I was seeing things though."
Charlie had pulled herself together and moved towards the couch as well.
"What's Brax say about all of this?" Casey asked after Charlie had told him everything.
"He doesn't know Casey?" Heath answered for her.
"What do you mean he doesn't know? How can you not tell him? He loves you."
"Casey it's not that easy."
"The hell it is." Casey yelled standing up.
"Hey, shut up," Heath yelled back, "If she told him he'd be in more danger, he needs to be watching out for himself not for her."
"And who's going to look after her?" Casey yelled back.
"I think I was a police officer so I can-" Charlie started to tell them but was cut off.
"I've done alright, Casey. Nothing's happened yet! Why don't you go do some homework or something, aye?"
Heath had now fired up as much as Casey and Charlie knew he had the worse temper out of the two. She was about to intervene when she heard a car door slam.
Heath and Casey heard it too.
Charlie disappeared into the bedroom but not before Charlie mouthed the word "Please" to Casey.
"Hey what the hell is going on in here? I can hear you from the street."
Neither Casey nor Heath answered.
"Come on, what's the matter with you?"
"Look, I don't know what's going on in this house or with you lately," Brax pointed to Heath. "But I know something's going on."
Brax disappeared into his bedroom. "You don't want to tell me, fine. I got bigger shit to deal with so don't come running when you get into trouble, got it?" He said as he entered the lounge area, he had changed his shirt. Brax picked up his car keys and made for the door.
"Where are you going?"
"Out, you two idiots won't tell me what's going on and who's been here. Whatever I don't care. I'm goin' out."
"What's got you so mad, something happen?" Heath asked thinking immediately of Perovic and Tommy.
"No nothin's happened. Hey, whatever girl you're bringing here stops tonight. Understood." Brax said. It was an order.
"What makes you think a girl's been here?" Heath asked, trying to hide his shock of Brax knowing someone else had been, and still was, in their house.
"She wears Charlie's fucking perfume." Brax snarled before leaving, slamming the door on his way out, he needed to get out of that house.
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Aww poor Brax!
What did you think?
I had to include a bit about the perfume.
I'm writing the next chapter and we are getting close to the reunion.
You're reviews have been amazing and they really inspire me to type faster... so ... please review and let me know what you think of the story
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