CHAPTER TWO: don't make me throat-punch you, bradshaw.
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Riley watched him from across the room, her heart racing a hundred miles per hour. He hadn't noticed her yet as he made his way towards the group—and she wanted to keep it that way. So, she slipped out of her stool and hastily made her way towards her brother, hoping she could convince him to leave. Jake also wouldn't want to see their new arrival since they could never see eye-to-eye long enough to get along. Mostly because her brother was kind of an asshole, but also because Bradley Bradshaw was a stubborn jerk and that made them clash.
She had almost reached him when he suddenly turned away from the bar and made his way towards the jukebox with the beers in his hands. Riley tried to fight her way towards him as he chose a song. Slow Ride by Foghat began playing, one of her brothers favourite songs. He often played it whilst working out to knock off steam. And that's when Riley realised that he had, in fact, seen Bradshaw enter and this was him being his dramatic self about to make an entrance.
Bob was just about to take his shot as Coyote leaned against the pool table behind him. Her brother suddenly slipped by, grabbing the pool cue from Bob's unsuspecting hands, "Bradshaw, as I live and breathe." He drawled out as he walked around the pool table, a cocky look on his face and Riley cringed, knowing it was too late to grab her brother and flee.
"Hangman," Bradshaw greeted with a nod, "You look... good." He gave a shake of his head, a teasing tone to his voice. God dammit, that voice. Riley had hoped she would never have to hear it again. But there she was, standing like a deer caught in headlights as she watched the scene unfold in front of her.
Her brother leaned over the pool table, "Well, I am good, Rooster," He looked up, taking his shot without looking and still managing to pot the ball. He stood up straight, smiling smugly, "I'm very good. In fact, I am too good to be true." Any other time, Riley would swiftly cut her brother off with some sarcastic comment about his narcissism. But she couldn't bring herself to move, let alone speak.
"So, anybody know what this special detachment is all about?" Payback spoke up, attempting to diffuse the stiff tension everyone could feel in the air. It got that way whenever Jake and Bradshaw—or better yet, Rooster, were around one another.
"No, missions a missions, they don't confront me," Jake began saying as he leaned back down to take another shot, "What I wanna know is, who's gonna be team leader? And which one of y'all has what it takes to follow me?" There he went, once again on one of his self-absorbed tandems. Riley wanted to smack him over the back of the head. They didn't even know what the mission was yet, let alone who would be team leader.
