Fly With Me // Bradley Bradshaw

Chapter Five

Rooster and Razor walk into the bustling bar and head over to the other aviators in their normal spot. Hangman was playing nine ball with Phoenix. Payback, Fanboy, and Coyote watch each move carefully, hoping that Phoenix can pull out a win against the cocky pilot. Bob was sitting at a high-top table nearby, sipping on a beer and eating peanuts. Sophie smiles at the scene. These were her favorite nights. Everyone here, drinking and laughing together. Their jobs were stressful and they deserved to relieve the stress whenever they got the chance.

"Get me a beer," Sophie asks Rooster sweetly.

"Yes ma'am."

An arm loosely slings itself around her shoulder and she looks over to see her WSO. "Rebound," she exclaims, excitedly, "You made it tonight."

"Indeed, I did. I couldn't miss out on getting to know your one and only." He gives her a cheeky grin.

She rolls her eyes and shoves his arm away from her. "We're just friends, Mark. Don't do anything stupid," she gives him a look, attempting to threaten the man. Mark looks at her short 5'4" frame, with her arms crossed, and chuckles at her. He has the utmost respect for the woman in front of him, but he's never been able to take her threats seriously, so he just ruffles her hair, effectively messing it up. She runs her hands through her hair, trying to straighten it out, irritated by his response. She had no hope that he wouldn't do anything stupid.

Rooster comes up behind Sophie and hands her a beer. Mark watches their interaction carefully. He had a reputation for being a class clown, but he was extremely observant. It was one of the reasons why being a WSO was such a good fit for him. This was the first time he was seeing them around each other and he was curious about why Sophie was so dead set on convincing everybody that they were just friends. People who were just having sex don't act the way that they do. Rooster looked at Sophie as if she was the only woman in the world. Adoration sparkled in his eyes whenever she was around him. Anyone could see that he was in love with her. Well, anyone except for Sophie.

Rebound stares at them, amused. Friends his ass. He had realized a while ago that Sophie was clearly in love with him too. All she ever did was gush about the man. He also assumed that Sophie was too afraid to admit it to herself, but now he couldn't figure out why.

He finally speaks up to the man he'd been so looking forward to meeting, "So, you're the famous Bradley Bradshaw."

Sophie glares daggers at him as Rooster looks at the man confused. "Umm, yeah. And you're Rebound." He knew of the man but had never met him personally. Sophie made it her life's mission to keep Rooster away from him when he visited her in Pensacola.

"This is Mark Davis. He's been my WSO for two years," she begrudgingly introduces.

Rooster knew a little about him from talking to Sophie. She trusted him with her life and loved working with him, so it was strange to see her mood shifting to one of irritation.

Mark sticks his hand out to shake Roosters. "I have heard so much about you," he overemphasizes.

It all clicked inside of Bradley's head now. She was afraid of what Rebound was going to spill. He, however, was now more intrigued than ever. "Is that so," he smirks in the brunette's direction before shaking Rebound's hand. "What exactly has she said about me?"

"Kill me now," she mumbles under her breath. She walks away over to Hangman who has just finished his game and is standing over watching Coyote and Bob have a go. She needed a distraction from whatever Rebound and Rooster were about to talk about.

"Sophie, good flying today," he compliments.

She gives him a side hug, wanting nothing more than to hide away from Bradley. There's no telling what Rebound is talking about. He has no problem exaggerating or making things up in the name of a good laugh. However, she did talk to him about Rooster. All the time, in fact. And Rooster knowing that was going to make his ego grow ten times bigger than it already is.