Chapter Six Hundred and One
It was Friday night and Bianca had called an emergency girls night at Buckton's with Charlie, Joey, Leah, Watson and Kerri, the latter three of whom had had to hurry to get babysitters. The teacher was in a state of distress over the situation with Liam and needed urgent support. Of course, her friends would be there for her. Bianca and Liam had not resolved their argument after he had been so cruel to Summer and then to April, who was still so vulnerable as she battled OCD. In fact, things just seemed to be escalating between them. They couldn't seem to talk to each other anymore.
At The Pizza Oven, Angelo was exhausted. He had been working all day and then Brax had told him he needed to work a double shift, meaning he wouldn't now finish until late. It was irritating to say the least. Nicole was living with him now, which he was thoroughly enjoying. He wanted to get home and spend time with her, providing she wasn't going to spend yet another evening trying to counsel the increasingly erratic and angry Liam. He missed her when they were apart. Nothing had happened between them but he felt certain that one day soon, something would.
"Come on then," Joey said, placing a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder. "Tell us all about it."
"I don't want to moan," Bianca lied.
"We're here to listen," Charlie assured her.
The others all agreed.
"He's just been so awful," Bianca sighed, gripping her second drink, even though they'd barely been sat down for ten minutes.
She explained everything that had happened between Liam and Summer and then everything he had said to April. Everyone was appalled.
"I get that he's in a bad place right now, especially now that his label has dropped him," Bianca said. "But why does he have to react like this? Why does he have to be so cruel?"
"Well, I mean, I hope you don't mind me saying but maybe he was dropped for a reason?" Watson dared.
Bianca looked at her for a moment, startled.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, what happened first?" Watson asked. "The record label thing or his behaviour?"
Bianca thought for a moment and then sighed heavily, realising that Watson had hit the nail on the very uncomfortable head.
"I just feel like it's my fault," she admitted.
"Why?" Kerri wondered.
"Everything was fine," she said. "Everything was perfect. Then I moved out of the tent to look after April and everything went downhill. He started behaving erratically. He started drinking. He's been carrying all this anger around…"
"And that's about him," Kerri told her firmly but kindly. "It's about something in him that he's refusing to process. You might have been the cork that popped out of the bottle, for want of a better analogy but that doesn't mean it's your fault. It means that he shouldn't have been using you as a crutch to keep him sober and safe in the first place. He clearly has a lot of things he needs to resolve and you can't make him do that."
Bianca nodded, grateful for the support of someone who understood what she was going through.
Brax was sat at a table with Heath and few of the other River Boys, heads close and voices low, plotting and planning. Angelo was growing more and more suspicious over what they were up to. The more time he spent with these men, the more uncomfortable he felt. He was sure The Pizza Oven was just a front for money laundering and that it was just a bonus that it wound Charlie and Joey up that he was running a rival restaurant. He was determined to find out what they were up to and to tackle them once and for all.
"Anyway, I'm taking up all the air here," Bianca said, waving a hand before it landed on her glass.
She lifted it to her lips and sipped.
"Who else has news?" she asked.
Leah shifted uncomfortably.
"Leah looks like she has something to say," Charlie pointed out.
"Well, uh… okay, something weird happened…"
"I love weird," Joey enthused.
"Miles told me he has feelings for me."
"Miles?" Bianca said, nearly spitting her drink out.
"Miles," Leah confirmed. "Silly, best friend, floppy, curly, platonic Miles. I mean, what am I meant to do with that?"
"Well, uh, silly question but do you have feelings for him?" Joey asked.
"She did just say platonic," Watson pointed out.
"Yes, because that's what he's always been but now?" Joey asked. "Now that he's suggested you could be more? What do you feel?"
"I don't know!" Leah said desperately. "I mean, we've been so close and such good friends for such a long time. He means so much to me. But the idea of us together… I mean, it's not terrible. They say relationships should be born from friendship… I care about him a lot. He is good looking. But then, what if we destroyed an amazing friendship? And then what about Elijah? He's just getting himself back on his feet. He's moved back into his van. He wants to start back at the shelter again. It would hurt him, I think, if Miles and I got together. I would never want to hurt him."
She took a large gulp of her drink.
"I was just never expecting this to happen," she said. "Not in a million years."
They were interrupted suddenly by Liam barging into the restaurant. He was already drunk. Charlie and Joey saw Bianca visibly cringe as her boyfriend marched unsteadily up to the bar and demand a drink. Romeo told him no, prompting an argument. At least it was Romeo, who was his good friend and could take anything he had to dish out. Mortified, Bianca, closely followed by Charlie and Joey, rushed up to the bar to try and talk him down.
"I guess this is what Bianca was talking about," Leah remarked.
"I think this is just the beginning of a very long road," Kerri replied.
At the bar, Romeo had firmly told Liam that there was no way he would be serving him alcohol. Liam had fired off a lot of unpleasant names and accusations in response. He turned to a red headed girl, sitting quietly at the bar, drinking a cocktail and working on her laptop. He slung his arm around her without permission.
"Hey, this guy's being a dick," he said. "I don't suppose you want to buy a nice guy like me a drink?"
He went to kiss her on the cheek but she shrugged him off.
"Liam!" Bianca snapped.
"Uh oh! Girlfriend's here!" he gasped.
He turned around.
"Buy me a drink?" he asked.
"No, I will not buy you a drink! What the hell are you doing?"
"I think I've been pretty clear," he slurred.
"Maybe we should go in my office," Joey suggested.
"What?" he challenged. "Hide me away so I don't embarrass anyone?"
"Well, yeah, kind of," Joey replied, bluntly. "You're upsetting everyone."
He shrugged and then vomited on his own shoes. Bianca shook her head and apologised. Requesting the nearest waiter to clean up, apologising to the redhead and telling Romeo to get her a free drink, she, Charlie and Bianca dragged protesting Liam into the office to sit down. Bianca crouched down in front of her boyfriend.
"Why, Liam?" she asked tearfully. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because I'm a has-been," he said, equally as tearfully. "My label doesn't want me. Nobody is ever going to want me again."
"I want you!" she said.
"You moved out!" he reminded her.
"Only to look after April," she said. "Not because I didn't want to be with you. Not because I don't love you. I will always love you. But this can't go on, Liam. Drinking…"
"It's not just drink…" he admitted.
She froze, as did Charlie and Joey.
"What do you mean?"
He dug a small packet of pills out of his pocket. She snatched them away from him.
"Where did you get these?" she demanded urgently.
When he didn't reply, she repeated the question even more urgently.
"Heath Braxton," he eventually replied.
Joey had called a taxi for Liam; Bianca, Charlie and Watson had decided to go with him to take him home. Returning to the table, Joey apologised to Leah and Kerri for the interruption.
"Hardly your fault," Leah said dismissively.
"My nights get regularly interrupted with Georgie's job," Kerri assured her.
"What's up with him? More of the same issues?" Leah asked.
"It appears he's moved onto drugs," Joey informed them, having been given permission by Bianca to explain. "Heath Braxton's been dealing to him."
"Oh, brilliant," Leah said sarcastically. "Just when we couldn't hate those guys more."
Joey sighed heavily.
"I guess he was always hurtling towards this point but… I don't know. I just feel so sorry for him. And for Bianca. She was so devastated. So was he. He knows he's messed up but he seems past the point of being able to stop himself."
Bianca had tucked a very sorrowful Liam into bed. Nicole had been most alarmed to see the state he was in.
"Did you know Heath was dealing drugs to him?" Bianca almost accused.
"What? No!"
"You just seem to know more about him than I do these days," Bianca said, her tone cold.
"I had no idea," Nicole said. "I mean, I've been worried. But then, we've all been worried, haven't we?"
Bianca nodded and sat down heavily on the sofa. Nicole, Charlie and Watson came to sit beside her. Nicole asked what happened. Charlie briefly explained.
"And he said that Heath had been supplying him?"
"These," Watson said, showing her the pills they had confiscated.
"We'll go and speak to Heath officially in the morning," Charlie promised Bianca.
"I can help you look after Liam tonight," Nicole offered.
Bianca thanked them all, feeling guilty for snapping at the teenager, of accusing her of keeping them in the dark.
"Do you want us to stay?" Charlie asked.
"No," Bianca said. "Honestly, you get back to your night. We'll be fine."
Charlie reached out and patted her friend's hand, instructing her to call if she needed help. Bianca thanked her, walking her and Watson to the door.
Angelo was ready to close up the second his last customer left. He didn't care if it was early and didn't care if he got into trouble. He had been carefully listening in on Brax's conversations and he knew where he and Heath were heading off to. He was determined to follow them and find out what they were up to. He was determined to catch them out.
Joey, Kerri and Leah were pleased when Charlie and Watson returned to Buckton's. Joey waved Romeo over and ordered another round of drinks. Charlie sat heavily in the chair beside her. Joey kissed her and asked if Liam and Bianca were okay.
"Honestly, I have no idea," Charlie admitted.
"Liam was asleep by the time we left," Watson said. "Bianca and Nicole were going to take it in turns to watch over him."
"We'll be hauling Heath in for interview tomorrow morning," Charlie said.
"I'll ring Bianca too," Joey offered. "Find out how she's doing."
"Thanks, darling," Charlie replied.
Bianca had pulled up a chair beside Liam's bed, a bed she was yet to become too familiar with. She wasn't comfortable in this house yet. She hadn't spent very much time here. Since he had moved here, he had become more and more distant from her and it hurt more than she could ever explain to him. Now, he lay on his side, snoring softly. She was too wired to sleep. Inside, she held his hand, tears running silently down her cheeks as she willed him to wake up in the morning regretful enough to want to turn things around.
In the lounge, Nicole was also deeply concerned about Liam, as was Roo. She had arrived home shortly after Charlie and Watson had left and also agreed to take turns watching over him and making sure he was safe. Both of them wanted to support Bianca as much as possible. She half jumped out of her chair when the front door burst open. Angelo practically fell through it.
"Angelo!" Nicole gasped, rushing towards him.
She was shocked to find him cut and bleeding.
"What happened to you?" she asked worriedly.
"Bit by a dog," he said.
"How the hell did you get bitten by a dog in a bar in the middle of the night?" she demanded, not sure if she was worried or angry.
"Best you don't know," he said.
His mission to tackle the River Boys has gone drastically wrong when he'd got caught by their guard dog, who had wrestled him to the ground and bitten him very hard on the leg. He had scrabbled to get away and to his car but it had been more than a close call. He was hurt and he was pretty sure Brax and the gang had heard him, if not seen him. He was in trouble, that was for sure. Any stealth he had once possessed as a cop appeared to have deserted him.
"I need to know!" Nicole demanded. "And we need to get to a hospital!"
"No," he said, attempting to pull his trouser leg up. "I can't."
"People only avoid hospitals if they've done something illegal."
"No," he assured her. "Not illegal. Just… I don't want to highlight my injury."
She frowned at him, then she winced when she saw how bad his leg was.
"This is to do with the River Boys, isn't it?" she concluded.
"Maybe," he finally admitted.
"Angelo, you have to stay away from them! They're bad news!"
"I wasn't hanging out with them, Nic!" he said. "I was trying to prove that they're bad news!"
"Well, the proof is in Liam's room right now, coming down from the pills that Heath Braxton pushed on him," Nicole said. "You don't need to start seeking out new ways to get hurt."
"Heath's dealing to Liam?" Angelo asked worriedly.
Nicole nodded, her eyes locked on Angelo's leg.
"Angelo, I really think we need to go to hospital," she said.
"No, please," he said. "Look, I swear, if it's worse tomorrow, I'll go. But it's fine. I'm sure it's fine."
"Fine," she agreed reluctantly. "But regardless, you have to see Sid tomorrow. Promise?"
"Promise," he agreed.
Nicole gazed into his eyes for a moment before helping him onto the sofa. Telling him to wait there, she rushed off to get the first aid kit.
"Well, that was quite the night!" Joey remarked, as she and Charlie arrived home together.
They had stayed long past closing with Leah, Watson and Kerri; the perks of owning the place.
"Yeah, not quite the evening I'd planned!" Charlie said.
"I wonder how Liam's doing," Joey said, gazing across the road at the house he shared with Roo, Angelo and Nicole.
"Hopefully he's asleep and recovering, ready to face tomorrow," Charlie said, fishing her key out of her bag.
Joey paused, wrapping her arms around Charlie for a moment and kissing her.
"I feel so bad for them," she said. "They were so together for such a long moment and now suddenly, they're all the way off track. I hope that never happens to us."
Charlie kissed her, letting it linger for several long moments.
"It will never ever happen to us," she said confidently.
Next time… Angelo has a bad day, Indi finds herself in danger and Charlie arrests Heath again…
