Deputy Hutton

7

Liam Rawley

"Beer?"Tess offered me.

"No," Brady answered for me sternly and I nodded as a sign of agreement.

"What about you?"Tess offered Brady.

"Sure," He grabbed the bottle and opened the bottle cap with his bare hands, making everyone looked at him weirdly.

All of us gathered around the fireplace during the night with blankets on because it was getting cold.

Roy tried to open his beer bottle the same as Brady but he ended up cutting himself and tried to hide the pain by pretending it didn't happen but everyone already saw it.

Everyone just froze as Roy started to bleed like crazy.

"No reaction, like no pain at all?"Dan asked sarcastically.

"I don't know what you're talking about?"Roy shrugged but we could see that he was holding back tears.

I noticed that Brady didn't have any blankets on so I decided to share mine with him by placing the blanket on his lap and the both of us were sitting pretty close to each other but neither of us minds it at all.

After Roy wrapped his hand with some clothing, he was about to take a sip of his beer but froze, "You're not gonna nark on us for drinking right?"Roy asked Brady.

"Are you older than 21?"Brady raised his eyebrows even though he already knew the answer to that.

"Yes."Roy lied dumbly.

"Why don't you check his Id."Dan retorted.

"Shut up, Dan," Roy said in an angry tone as if he was nervous about Brady being around.

"Relax, buddy," Brady calmed, "I'll give you guys a pass tonight."

"My man, "Roy let out his hand for Brady to high five but he got ignored, "We're not there yet? Got it."

I couldn't help but let out a chuckle while shaking my head.

Brady didn't look like he enjoyed being there but I kinda liked the fact that he was. We had become friends in the past few days and I just felt more comfortable and safer when he was around.

&&&&&&

By midnight, everyone got really drunk except for Brady and me.

I haven't had a drink and I guessed that Brady probably had a high tolerance for alcohol since he took way too many drinks but was still sober enough.

"Brady, "Roy called, "Truth or dare?"

"I told you that I'm not playing," Brady said and continued to scroll through his phone.

"Just pick one," Roy demanded.

Brady took a glance at me before sighing, "Fine, truth."

"Are you Russian?"Roy asked drunkenly.

"No, Roy, I'm not Russian," Brady said disappointedly.

"Brady, "Laurel screeched as she was probably the drunkest of them all, "Truth or dare?"

"I'm saying this for the last time, I'm not in this game."Brady clarified.

"Please, just one last thing."She begged, "Please?"

"Hurry up and get this over with."He rolled his eyes and seemed very annoyed, "Truth."

"Dare."She demanded, "Choose dare."

"I feel like I don't have a choice here."Brady said frustratedly, "Yeah, dare whatever."

"I dare you to take your shirt off," Laurel said and let out a giggle with Tess and Roy.

"Yeah, take it off."Roy cheered.

"I'm not doing that," Brady said.

"You have to."Tess pointed out," Or we tell Liam's daddy that you've been doing a bad job."

"I need some air," Brady mumbled and went outside.

I decided to outside with Brady to see him lighting up a cigarette. My ankle still hurt but I was just glad that I could start walking again as I limped toward him.

"You do know that those things can kill you."I pointed at his cigarette.

"The sooner the better."He said casually.

"That's not funny."I frowned.

"I'm not trying to be."He pointed out.

We stood in awkward silence for a few seconds and the only sound that we heard was the wind and some crickets. Brady started to blow the smoke from the cigarette and I couldn't help but notice how tense he looked at the moment.

"I'm sorry about my friends."I finally said, "They're just really drunk."

"Please, I'm a cop, I've seen crazier."He shrugged, "That's not the first time someone asked me to take off my shirt."He started and a smile crept on his face, "I once had to stop a bachelorette party after a noise complaint and everyone thought that I was a stripper."

"No way."I chuckled.

"They tore my uniform apart."He added, "Funny thing is I'm still considering being a stripper. At least I get to keep the uniform and not be around idiotic teenagers like the ones inside."

"You have the look for it."I joked but quickly cringe, "I didn't mean that you look like a stripper or anything. That's just offensive."

He chuckled and shook his head, "You should get back inside, kid."

"Yeah, "I agreed, "But you should do the same. It's freezing out here."

"I'll be inside in a minute."He said and I went inside the cabin only to see my friends dancing terribly.

The most surprising part was when I saw Dan dancing.

"Damn, "Roy whispered to Dan, "You sure put the Dan in dancing."

&&&&&&

I was the one that settled everyone to bed.
Roy was the last person I had to help. I put him down on his bed and was about to leave him there with Tess quickly.

"Tuck me in."He yawned.

I sigh and pulled the blanket up to cover his body.

I tried to walk away again but I heard him say, "Can get a kiss on the forehead?"

"No, Roy, you can't," I said.

"Please, Liam, I really need it."He begged like a child.

"Just do it, Liam."Tess said exhaustedly, "Make him shut up."

I rolled my eyes and gave him a chaste kiss on the forehead before leaving and I heard him say, "Thanks, mom."

After that, I looked through the closet and took out a blanket to give to Brady, who was crashing on the couch.

"I thought you might be cold," I said to Brady, who was laying his back on the couch, starting to get comfortable.

"Yeah, thanks-"He drifted away and fell asleep almost instantly. Maybe the alcohol was finally getting the best of him.

I wrapped the blanket around him and tucked him in. While my hands were still on the blanket after I placed them above his chest, I couldn't help but noticed how unease he looked even while sleeping. It was the same look that he had while being awake and I worry about him sometimes.