Back to You // Bradley Bradshaw

Chapter Twenty-Three

    A few days after the Halloween party, things were back in swing in class. They had a maneuver test that morning. Haley and Blaze were now tied with Jake for first. It had taken some time to catch up, but being tied was better than were they had been. Rooster had made his way up to second behind them. He seemed to finally be overthinking less, and just doing what felt instinctual. That was what Maverick kept telling him, and Rooster seemed to finally be getting to that place. Graduation was a few weeks away now. Top Gun was only a 13 week program and it felt like it had gone by quickly.

    Out on the flight line, she and Blaze were getting ready to go up. She paused when she noticed her brother and Rooster seemingly heated. Next thing she knew, they were shoving one another. She glanced at Blaze, then the two of them ran over there to see what it was going on. "Hey!" Haley shouted and jumped in between them. Blaze grabbed Rooster, attempting to pull him back. Jake just looked amused.

    "What the hell is going on?" Haley demanded, looking between the two of them. They had been up in the air together a moment before, but she hadn't been listening to them on the radio.

    "This dick continues to leave his wingman. Which is selfish and a shitty pilot move." Rooster answered Haley, glaring over at Jake.

    "You couldn't keep up." Jake answered with a shrug and a smile. He did not seem to be bothered at all by the altercation with Rooster. "Not my fault. Maybe we should rename you 'Turtle'."

    Rooster lurched forward again, but Blaze kept him back. "He's not worth it." Blaze said, though Haley knew Jake was being a major asshole right now. If Rooster hit him, he'd wind up with consequences from it. She almost wondered if Jake was trying to get Rooster to hit him.

    "Now, little sis, move so we can finish this appropriately." Jake said, putting his hand on Haley's shoulder. He slowly started guiding her to the side. Rooster stepped forward out of Blaze's grasp, just in front of Haley. He was blocking Haley from Jake. Which she thought was ridiculous, it wasn't as if her brother was going to do anything to her.

    "Hurricane, Blaze, get to your jet." Cypher announced, suddenly appearing beside the group. "The two of you, come with me." He added to Rooster and Jake. Haley glanced at the two of them as they began to walk off with Cypher. "Now, lieutenants." She heard him add when she and Blaze just continued to stand there. The two of them headed to their jet to go up for the test today. "Yeah I get why you haven't told him about your boyfriend." Blaze said as they climbed into their jet. "I honestly can't believe you're related sometimes." He added. Haley didn't say anything as she pulled on her helmet with a sigh.

    Hours later when class was finished, Haley went home to her house with Rooster. He explained on the way there about the lecture he and Jake had gotten from Cypher. Thankfully neither of them had gotten into any major trouble. This wasn't the first time they'd been caught fighting verbally. It was happening a lot more lately. Haley kept telling Rooster to let it go, he was going to spoil his chance of graduating. Jake was purposely instigating fights with Rooster, just to mess with him. It seemed hard for Rooster not to let it get under his skin. This tacked onto not telling Jake yet either. Neither of them wanted to deal with that right now. When things were going good, that seemed to be when Jake acted like this the most. The arrogance, all of it, when he was doing well in life. Haley didn't know what had him on such a high right now. She didn't think it was leading the class, that was something he expected to do.

"We could get in the hot tub," Haley suggested. It was cooler outside now that it was getting into November. Still not as cold as some places, but the evening was cool enough to justify the use of the hot tub. She didn't think Sabrina was home. Her door was shut and her car wasn't there. Haley had parked in the one garage spot when she and Rooster got there and the driveway was empty. "What do you say?" She ran her hands up his sides and slipped them underneath his shirt, running them along his sides.

"Sure." Rooster answered, not having to be convinced. He reached up and pulled her hands out from under his shirt, lacing his fingers with her. He leaned down to kiss her. "Let's go."

If Rooster was bothered by the afternoon, he wasn't letting it show. Haley was just worried about him graduating, the arguing didn't look good. But enough with that, the hot tub idea was to relax. She knew he had swim trunks there from their use of the pool on and off. They both went to change and he was waiting in the living room. She walked out in a black bikini that she knew he liked. Haley passed by him casually as she went to the kitchen. She knew he'd be watching her and she was positive she heard him suck in a breath.

Haley glanced over the counter when she saw him gawking. "Something wrong, Bradley?" She asked. She reached up above her to get out two wine glasses. She knew he had a perfect view of her ass as she did so. She sat the two glasses down on the counter and seconds later, she felt Rooster grabbing her by the waist. He sat her up on the counter top, next to the glassware. They were almost eye to eye with her being sat up on the counter against his height. "Excuse you." She said, though she really didn't care about being put up there.

"You drive me fucking insane sometimes, you know that right?" Rooster asked her, his hand tracing her hip.

"No clue." Haley answered, tilting her head. "I hadn't noticed."

Haley leaned forward just enough to kiss him lightly before pulling back. "Shoo. I have wine to get," She patted his bare chest. She shimmed down in front of him to get off the counter. She heard him groan as she did so and she just shot him a smile. She had a suspicion she'd pay for the teasing later.

Haley got the wine she had intended and headed outside to the patio, where the in-ground hot tub was. She sat the glasses and bottle on a table that was near it. Haley was looking forward to a relaxing evening. Plus she could stare at Rooster shirtless for hours. Not that she'd give him the satisfaction of saying that out loud. She realized she forgot towels in the bathroom.

"Shit. I'll be right back." Haley told Rooster.

"Hurry up, shortcake." Rooster said, as he turned on the string lights that Haley and Sabrina had hung up on the patio. Haley nodded as she ran back inside the house, not wanting to delay their evening anymore. She felt like they both needed to unwind from the week. The program was getting more challenging lately.

Haley went inside the bathroom that she shared with Sabrina. She got the towels out of the closet in there to take back outside. She'd sat her phone on the bathroom counter and accidentally knocked it off with the stack of towels. It landed in the trash can next to the counter. She groaned, feeling disgusted it had landed there. It could be worse. Could be the toilet. Haley thought to herself. She reached down to fish it out. It looked like there was just unused tissue stuffed in there anyway. When Haley grabbed her phone, she noticed something unusual in there.

What the fuck?

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Author's Note
I've noticed a lot of new readers the last few days and wanted to say thanks for hopping on this ride! I hope you guys are enjoying it and we're about to hit some turbulence. Might do a double update today. :)