Heart of Steel: B. Bradshaw

Eight: Sun-tan lotion

Steely sat in her car outside of Omaha's house waiting for him to finish getting ready. Music blared from her rolled down windows as the wind tossed around her long hair. The door to Omahas house swung open and soon enough he was climbing inside Steely's car.

"Why is Maverick having us go to the beach?"
Neil asked snapping his seat belt in place.

"Something about bonding bullshit."

"I refuse to form any sort of relationship with Hangman," Neils finger pointed sharply in Steely's direction and she quickly pulled her hands off the wheel in defense.

"Believe me im not asking you too."

"Good cause it's not happening," The dark haired boy gave up to turn his head out the window.

The parking lot of the Hard Deck was pretty full when they pulled in. Steely and Omaha man handled all their stuff out of the car and down a stone path towards the beach. They could hear a few of the others that way so they just decided to follow the noise.

Bright hot sun beamed down on the pilots as they set up their beach chairs and waited for the rest of the team to arrive. Maverick explained the rules a little bit as they waited trying to kill the time.

As the last few people showed up they started the game. Steely whipped off her shorts and shirt to reveal a high cut, red one piece that reminded Bradley of Baywatch. He was standing next to Steely when she held a bottle towards him.

"Could you help me?" the bottle shook between her fingers.

"With what?"

"Sun lotion, on my back? please," she smiled up at him.

He grabbed the bottle from her, squeezed a good size drop in his hand then smoothed the lotion over her back. Her skin was soft, tan, and dotted with hundreds of freckles.

The swimsuit reached her lower back so he gently ran his hands as low as the swimsuit left uncovered. Once he was finished he handed her the bottle. She barely thanked him before he cleared his throat and scurried away quite quickly.

It was now starting time and Maverick decided to split them up into teams. On team one was Steely, Phoenix, Fanboy, Hangman and Maverick. The other team was Rooster, Payback, Coyote, Omaha and Bob.

Hangman threw the first ball towards Steely. She caught it and fumbled to run before darting between Payback and Coyote to score on the makeshift touchdown line. They were playing a game of dog fight football as Maverick called it.

"Yes Sunshine way to score!" Fanboy clapped Steely on the back and dragged her back over to their side.

"Let's show these walking beef sticks how it's done!" Steely turned to Phoenix and gave her a double high five before they zoned back into the game. It went back and forth with each time scoring, soon enough they lost count of who was winning.

Two hours later Steely and Natasha decided they were done and meandered their way over to the beach chairs Steely brought.

"Hey! where are you ladies going?" Coyote called out. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the two girls laying on the chairs.

"I'm enjoying the show from over here don't stop on my account," Steely lowered her glasses and gave Coyote a playful wink.

Soon after, the boys continued to play and the two girls chatted about anything they could think of. All of a sudden Phoenix slapped her arm and pointed down the beach. Rooster and Coyote jumped up to bump chests and Rooster did a victory shimmy which obviously meant he just scored.