Chapter 3

Heath stormed in the door of their house and slammed the door behind him. He wasn't angry at April, he was angry at the situation and himself for even letting this happen. How could he be so stupid? Brax looked up from his computer. "Oi, take it easy." he told Heath but Heath didn't take any notice.

"How many women have I slept with?" He exclaimed rhetorically.

Brax looked at his brother as if he had two heads. "I couldn't even begin to imagine..."

Heath continued on his rant. "Countless women and this has to happen now!"

The eldest Braxton smiled. "What is it? A S.T.I?" he wondered, amused by his brother's state.

He chuckled humourlessly. "I wish it was an S.T.I!" Heath said and flopped down on the couch. He had stuffed up big time.

Brax stood up. "It must be bad. Go on."

Heath shook his head. He wasn't ready to tell anyone yet. "No can do, it's private."

"If you've done something stupid I need to know about it." said Brax, taking on his role of leader of the River Boys.

Heath rolled his eyes. "It's not going to affect the boys." he told his brother.

Brax raised an eyebrow. "Look, you can either tell me now or I can beat it out of you, it's your choice. And you know I don't make empty threats."

After thinking about it for a minute, Heath thought it may be good to confide in his brother and get some advice, because he hadn't a clue what to do. "Fine, but you keep your mouth shut about this." he warned Brax.

His brother looked wary but nodded. "No worries."

Heath took a deep breath. "I knocked someone up."

"You idiot! I thought you of all people would know that you need to use-" Brax began lecturing but Heath cut him off.

He stood up. "I did! That's why I'm so surprised. I have no idea how this happened!" Heath said throwing his hands up behind his head.

Brax shrugged. "Well they don't work 100% of the time."

Heath grimaced at his brother. "Yeah, well I know that now, don't I?"

"So who is it? Some girl in a bar?" Brax wondered.

"That I am not saying." He knew Brax would lose it if he found out.

Brax frowned. "It's Bianca isn't it? Liam is going to kill you."

Heath started to break out in a sweat. He was getting close. "It's not Bianca."

That surprised Brax. "It's not Bianca, but it is someone in town?" he assumed. Heath said nothing. "I'l take that as a 'yes'. You know mate, if you don't tell me, I'm going to ask every woman in town if they're the one that's pregnant with your baby."

Heath sighed. He knew Brax would do it and didn't want everyone knowing his business. "If it was you, you wouldn't tell me."

"Yeah, I know. But I probably wouldn't have got into that situation. Or at least I would know how to handle it, you don't."

He hesitated for a moment but then gave in. "Fine, it's April."

Brax's face fell. "April Scott? You have got to be kidding me!" he exclaimed. Heath nodded and Brax clocked him one, neary knocking his brother off his feet. "You're even more of an idiot than I thought! She's a kid! Not to mention your ex's sister and Casey's school mate."

"She's not a kid." Heath said, annoyed, as he wiped the blood from his nose.

Brax punched his brother again. "She's more than a few years younger than you! And you got her pregnant! How long have you been sleeping with her?"

"Stop with the punching! Since the night of formal." Heath told him.

The eldest Braxton looked absolutely furious. "That was over two months ago! You let it go on for that long!"

"We're both adults. It was just a bit of fun!" he insisted.

"Just a bit of fun? Well, see how that turned out. You have ruined that girl's life! April took drugs so she could ace her HSC to get into med school and not three weeks later, you impregnate her! And you think I'm angry? Wait until Bianca finds out about this! She's going to neuter you!"

Brax shouted and Casey walked in.

"Who's going to neuter you?" Casey wondered, amused.

Brax calmed down a bit, but only for his younger brother's sake. "No one."

The youngest Braxton scrutinised Heath's face. "Ouch. I think your nose is broken... and you've got one hell of a shiner."

"Thanks for pointing that out." Heath snapped and stormed out the door.

Casey looked confused. "What happened?"

"Nothing you need to worry about mate." Brax lied.