Chapter 48

Charlie Point of View

That night I could hardly sleep. I tossed and turned, then packed for a few hours, then tossed and turned again. By the time morning came, I was almost completely packed. Bianca knocked at my door nice and earlier with a sad look upon her face. "The paper just got delivered" She passed me the rolled up newspaper. We looked at each other before both sitting on my bed and opening it, only to find the headline on the front "Corrupt City Cop and the Seaside Criminal" with the photo of Brax and I plastered, underneath.

"Oh god!" I burst into tears into Bianca's shoulder.

"Who the hell came up with that title?! How are you corrupt?!" Bianca went off. We read further into the fabricated story of the explicit relationship between Brax and I. It went further into saying that the reason why the river boys got away with everything was because I was turning a blind eye to their criminal activity, which was further from the truth!

"I didn't think the story would be that bad" I sighed, wiping away my tears.

"Honey, just ignore it! You're leaving this scumming town anyway!" Bianca hugged me. "What time you going?" She asked softly.

"Probably around lunch time" I replied.

"I'm going to miss you and so is bub!" She placed my hands on her still relatively flat stomach.

"I will be here for every appointment involving that baby" I chuckled, hugging her tighter.

"I know you will" She smiled, breaking away from the hug. "Well I should head to work! Drive safe and call me when you get there!" Bianca kissed my cheek before walking out.

"Charlie! Charlie!" Ruby soon ran into the house and into my room. She looked at my watery eyes before coming up and hugging me.

"I'm sorry about all the stuff they made up about you!" She whispered and I tried not to cry.

"Its fine…the sooner I'm out of this place, the better" I scoffed.

"I'll stand up for you Charlie, don't worry" She smiled.

"Shouldn't you be heading off to school?" I questioned.

"Yeah, but I wanted to come say goodbye first" She gave me a small smile.

"I love you so much!" I hugged her again.

"Yeah I know" She chuckled.

Brax's Point of View

I was at the restaurant for an early shift when Heath stormed in. "Have you seen the this?" Heath slammed down the newspaper on the bar in front of me.

"I was hoping to avoid it" I replied as I looked at the headline; 'Corrupt City Cop and the Seaside Criminal'. "Fuck" I muttered as I looked at the photos and read the story. "That's a load of bullshit…you know that right?" I asked my brother.

"Of course I know that, but some of the boys don't!" Heath shook his head.

"I'll sort that out when I get back. I gotta go see if Charlie is ok" I threw the paper in the bin before heading out. I soon got to Charlie's house only to find a guy sitting in a car with a wide lens camera. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" I walked up to him and knocked at the window before he quickly drove off. I walked up and knocked on the front door before letting myself in.
"Charlie?" I called out. She walked out of her bedroom and I could tell she'd been crying. "Charlie, don't worry about what was said in that article!" I tried to reassure her before walking up and hugging her. She pulled away from me quickly.

"Just leave me alone Brax" She sniffled, walking back into her bedroom. I followed her in before noticing how all her stuff was missing and there were 2 large suitcases on the bed.

"What's going on?" I asked confused.

"I'm going back to the city today…its for the best" She nodded at me with sad eyes.

"The best for who?! You're just running away from all of this!" I yelled at her, losing my cool.

"This is what's best for me! I need to get out of this town and away from the mess I got myself into" She yelled back.

"So you're just going to leave me to clean up the mess and look after your daughter?!" I snapped back.

"See, this is why I wasn't planning on tell you because I knew you would react this way!"

"Charlie, you've got to remember you're not the only one who is effected by this! The boys want answers about all this and what am I supposed to tell them 'Well at first I was sleeping with her cause I thought it'd get the cops off our back, but then I fell in love with her'…how's that sound? You reckon that'll get me off the hook?" I answered back, walking closer to her.

"Brax, that story basically says that anyway! That you and the boys were getting away with everything when you with me…no damage to your reputation, if anything it'll make you seem like the big man, getting the copper!" She shouted as she grabbed both of her suitcases and dragged them out the front.

"Let me take them" I went to take both of them off her.

"I can handle it, its fine!" She snapped pulling them back, only to fall backwards on her arse then burst into tears.

"Charlie, I'm sorry" I knelt down and helped her up.

"Just go Brax…this will be much easier if I don't have to say goodbye to you" She wiped her hands on her thighs and grabbed the suitcases, putting them in the boot of her car. "I'll send Ruby some money each week for her living expenses and everything" She nodded; grabbing her keys outs of her pocket and closing the front door.

"What ever" I walked back to my house before watching as she got into her car and drove off. There was nothing I could do, but let her go. She had made it clear we were over, for good.