Brodies POV:
Things are getting intense. It's almost time for our meeting with Brax. I tell riley to get off of the couch, and we head towards the door, until an annoying voice in the back of my head starts asking all these stupid questions. And then I realise it's actually Tegan.
"What am I supposed to do?" she asks. "Am I supposed to stay here?"
"Got it in one," I say. But still she follows us.
"You can't leave me alone with her! What if she comes to?"
I realise that this is a valid point...before we leave, I go into my room and grab a belt, and hand it to Tegan. "Tie her to a chair or something."
"Brodie, I –"
Riley and I are out the door before she can say anything else. We take off, heading straight for the diner.
"How are you gunna go about talking to Brax?" Riley asks me... "Won't he just try and beat the location out of us?"... Just as I thought riley was growing brains, he says something stupid...
"If he wants to save his dirty little secret, he will do exactly what we want"... I reply with impatience.
"And... um... What do we want?" he says... just as I thought he couldn't get any dumber. This was starting to annoy me. I stop in the middle of the street, face him with a serious look on my face..."we want him to know exactly what we think of him... that he's a lying dog for leaving us for that copper, and that he has to pay for his betrayal". There is a moment of silent stares shared between us, before we continue to the diner.
I walk into the diner hoping to see my favourite old bat colleen, but unfortunately, she doesn't appear to be there... as I continue to scan the room, I also notice that Brax is nowhere to be found..."wow...he's not even on time" I say to Riley... "You'd think if he cared so much about his 'girlfriend', that he might actually be on time...maybe he really doesn't give a crap about anyone but himself." I say with disappointment... we'll give him half an hour to arrive, and then the bitch is dead...
Charlies POV:
I wake up slowly, my insides burning, my head aching. Obviously I've been out for a while, because Brodie and Riley are nowhere to be found and I am in a different room of the house. Tegan on the other hand sits to the left of me, glaring. I try to move my arms, but they're tied tightly around the back of my chair I am now sitting on.
"Finally," Tegan says, getting up off the couch.
"Where're the boys?" I ask my voice not nearly as strong as I'd hoped it would be.
"They're probably meeting with Brax as we speak" she says, walking behind me.
"Brax?"
"You know... the one you've been calling?" Tegan holds up my mobile phone and my heart sings... "Been having a little bit of a chat to him during your stay with us have you? Are we not enough company for you? Oh what a shame...I'll have to be more entertaining for you" she says as she slaps my already aching head and face, and throws my phone against the wall.
Barely holding on to consciousness, I close my eyes for a minute...
" no, no, no my dear sergeant Buckton, you will not be falling asleep again...I want to have a girl to girl chat with you... wont that be fun?"
I open my eyes and Tegan is leaning on the sides of my chair with her eyes piercing mine...
"Don't you know it's wrong to come between your boyfriend and his friends? Because that's what you have done... and you don't even seem to care about what leaving the River Boys did to Brax...those boys are his family. They'd stand by him for life... I'd stand by him for life. How long are you going to be around for? Hmm? Until you get bored? Until he gets in the way of your job? You don't deserve him!"
Listening to Tegan showed me how pathetic she truly was... she needed the cold hard truth...
"He doesn't care about you Tegan... You two are past history...done... you need to understand that and move on!" I could see that Tegan was getting very angry...
"He loves me and I love him... and nothing you or brodie or riley do is going to change that!"
Brax's POV:
I head to the national park, to the safe house that I know they will be...Brodie and riley have a total of half a brain. Since I know brodie and riley won't be there because they are waiting for me at the diner, I ready myself to save Charlie. I see the door to the house and I know in my gut that she is in there... the girl I love is in there... wow... I realise then and there the depth of my love for Charlie... knowing that Tegan will be the only one guarding Charlie, I kick the door down, and storm into the room... I see Charlie beaten and barely conscious in the chair... then I see Tegan... my fury gets the better of me.
As if I have no control over my motions, I push away an advancing Tegan, and hastily make my way to Charlie. I think Tegan must know the full extent of my anger, because she stands idly by as I undo the ties that are binding Charlie. She is no longer conscious...I pick her up; she hangs limply in my arms as I run us both to my car, knowing I have to get her to the hospital at all costs.