Chapter Twenty Seven

"What was that all about?" Heath asked Brax. He had just come out of the bathroom and had seen Casey race out of the restaurant. "The little boy has girl troubles?" Heath joked.
"There's no time to kid around," Brax said firmly, and dragged his brother all the way to the store room.
"Ouch! A man has feelings," Heath shouted. He hated it when his brother pulled at him.
Brax glared at him. "Casey knows," he said.
"About what?" Heath asked bluntly.
"Tomorrow."
"He's a kid Brax. He's probably just fooling around," Heath said all knowingly.
"He's not a kid anymore Heath. He's old enough. Besides, he had all the details."
It had finally hit Heath. "Are you serious? How did he find out?"
"That's not the point."
"Then what is?" Heath asked.
"What do you think Heath? He could tell someone?"
"He wouldn't. We're his brothers; we're literally all he's got. If we go behind bars, who will look after him?"
"Well in case you've forgotten, Case and Ruby are pretty cosy," Brax reminded.
"He would know better than to rat us out on a cop's daughter."
"Don't be too sure," said Brax.
"Mate, he trusts you. You look after him. He listens to you all the time. Tell him to keep this to himself."
"I have," Brax said, raising his voice.
"You don't think he will?"
Brax looked down, and shook his head slowly. Casey was so distant from the River Boys.
"Dude, I'm pretty sure if you and I weren't apart of the boys, Casey would be best friends with the coppers," Brax said.

It was ten o'clock the next morning. From his house's window, Casey watched the other River Boys help Brax and Heath with a truckload of equipment. Two vans were parked up on the driveway. With Summer Bay being such a small town, Casey was surprised that nobody suspected anything; probably because the vans were parked around the corner from the street view of the house. Machetes, shovels, spades and who knows how many bags were being piled into the vans. Casey didn't even want to think about where his brothers and the boys had gotten all this equipment from, although for a fact, Casey knew Brax and Heath had dodgy contacts.

Casey continued to look out the window. He watched as Brax drove one van away, with Brodie in the other van, following behind Brax closely. He knew he couldn't let his brothers get on with it. The boys were on his mind. He didn't even bother opening Angelo's and remained still on the couch in front of the window. Piles of study notes were placed on a stool directly opposite him and the book he was studying for English was placed on his lap, yet he kept staring intently out the window. He knew the boys had just left, but he longed for them to change their minds and turn their vans around to return home. Unfortunately, this was just his imagination being unrealistic. The boys, especially Heath, would never turn against an opportunity like this.

One hour had already passed, yet it felt like a whole day for Casey. He still hadn't moved from where he was before, but he had gotten up once to grab some snacks from the pantry. The thought of where the boys were going to stash the drugs had only just come across his mind. Seeing as Brax and Heath were the most popular in the gang, they were bound to hide it in their house. If not, the drugs would be split between the boys. Casey was hoping the drugs wouldn't be at his house. If anyone did find them, not only would it be Brax and Heath's fault, it would be his fault too. This would lead to him being questioned by the police, even if he had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Casey couldn't stand it any longer. He hadn't heard from Brax or Heath. Usually, if Brax left Casey in charge of the restaurant, he would be checking up on him all the time. Obviously, they were too busy. Casey kept hitting against his pocket, wondering why there was no bulge and how he couldn't feel anything apart from the material of his board shorts. That when it hit him. His phone wasn't even on him. In fact, it was nowhere near him. Brax or Heath could've called, yet he wouldn't have even known. Casey paced around the house, looking for his phone. It wasn't on the kitchen bench where he usually had it. Oddly enough, it was still on the bedside table in his room. "I obviously haven't turned it on yet," Casey said to himself. He picked his phone up and turned it on. He waited patiently for it to get started, and five new messages had popped up. Unfortunately, they weren't from either of his brothers. They were bound to be hard at work; probably making most of the time they had in case they did get caught. The messages Casey had received were all from Ruby. "Yes, of course! We were suppose to hanging out today!" thought Casey. She was asking where he was. He quickly flicked back a reply, telling her to come over. Not long after, she texted him again. "Good because Charlie's here. We can have some privacy at your place," the text read. "Charlie!" Casey shouted out of nowhere. She was the only one who could stop the boys. He told Ruby to stay at her house and said he was coming over. Ruby was always such a curious girl and asked why. Casey didn't message her back. He just raced out of the house in a flash.

Soon enough, Casey was knocking furiously on Ruby's door. She quickly opened it and wanted to know why he was panting so badly. "I need to talk to Charlie urgently," he said, taking deep breaths in between.
"Why?" asked Ruby.
"I just need to talk to her. Like right now. Can you get her? Please?" Casey begged.
Ruby looked hesitant but did as her boyfriend asked. She shouted Charlie's name. Fortunately, she was only in the room next door. Charlie didn't have any time to greet Casey because he had already started to talk. "Charlie, you've got to get to the National Park. Brax, Heath and the rest of the boys are there now, trying to get some crop. They've got all the equipment. I tried to stop them as soon as I found out about it, but you know Brax, he wouldn't listen," Casey said in a low voice, hoping nobody would overhear their conversation.
"Wait, Brax is going for drugs again?" Ruby asked looking shocked.
Casey ignored her and turned to Charlie. "I don't want them to get in trouble, but I don't want them with the drugs. Can you please go to them? I don't know what else to do."
Charlie was too shocked for words. She never thought Brax would return to that scene again. "He wouldn't," was all she said.
"I wouldn't lie about something like this. We're wasting time here. Can you please go?" Casey asked again.
"Why didn't you go?" responded Charlie.
"He won't listen to me. To him, I'm just a kid," Casey said sadly.
"Alright, I'll go," Charlie said, and went off to grab her keys. Once she returned to the door, the expression on Casey's face showed that he was ever so grateful. He thanked Charlie before she left.