𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍, bradley bradshaw

chapter nine

Dakota walked out to the hangar, helmet in hand, with the weight of her flight gear pulling down on her body.

After Payback had calmed her down a bit, which brought memories of the academy flooding her mind, and with help of Fanboy, Coyote, and Yale making sure that her and Rooster kept their distance, right back where the two were before that night he barged into her house and had his way with her right then and there.

The duo walked a bit ahead of her, having to clear some of the control regulations with Maverick before the last training sequence.

Heavy boots rapidly approached her from behind, she silently groaned, already knowing who was going to spoil her mood even more, "Mustang!" He yelled as she kept walking. "Lieutenant Jones!" No acknowledgment, "Dakota!" That got a reaction out of her, with her name sinfully rolling off his lips. She stopped walking, and turned to face him, "Yes, Rooster?" she sighed, looking up at him. He took a minute, seemingly scanning each inch of her freckled face. He smiled ever so lightly, "I just wanted to wish you good luck," She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she discreetly shortened the distance between them. "Go shove your luck up your ass, Bradshaw." She said lowly, anger laced with her tone, "What you did back there," Her teeth clenched, "Was over the fucking line-" "Why I have no recollection of what happened." A cocky smirk tightened on his lips.

"Cut the shit Rooster!" she wanted to die the minute she let her eyes drift down to his lips, watching has his tongue darted out to wet them, breaking the eye contact they held. "You know what you did." A huff, "Calling me a selfish bitch? Even that's low for you." He smiled down at her, tauntingly, "Just wanted to get you all hot and bothered." Rooster leaned in slightly, his mustache brushing over her ear as his mouth moved, "Plus it's cute when you get so worked up over something that used to get you to drop to your knees for me." Her breath hitched as he started backing up, walking back into the hangar, a smile on his tanned face. Cocky son of a bitch.

"Yo Mustang!" Payback yelled, making her turn her attention from the now empty space in front of her, to the F-18s lined up along the runway. "We got the controls checked by Cyclone, we're good to go." She nodded her head in acknowledgement, trying to shake the interaction that just happened between her and the one person she loathed.

Dakota walked towards her jet, unclipping the straps and closing the latches.

-

"Good afternoon fellow aviators, this is your captain speaking," Maverick's voice rang through her ears, as she flew alongside Payback and Fanboy, turning her head as she shook her head at them, a smile on their face, as they listened to him over the comms, "Same rules apply to this sequence as the one yesterday, first one to get hit gets two hundred pushups, hard deck is five thousand feet." Dakota gave Payback a playful smirk, "Why don't we put a little more skin in the game, sir." She chuckled to herself at his competitiveness.

"And what would that be?" Maverick questioned. The three of them smirked as Dakota spoke into her mask, "I say we bet four hundred instead of two." A small smile played at her lips, "I'm with all do respect that sounds like an obnoxious amount-" "Is that too much for the old man?" Fanboy teased, earning quiet chuckled from them. "I'm not the one who's gonna end up having to do them, guys." Dakota knew his tone, and knew that he was going to do a sneak attack on the pair. She put on her mask, "Payback break right!" she yelled, alerting him as she broke left, successfully avoiding the old trick of his.

Maverick laughed lowly, "You guys are lucky you have Mustang," "He's right, I am pretty amazing, despite what others believe."

Payback and Fanboy were unknowingly flying into his view.