Our Bruised Bodies | Bradley Bradshaw

ACT THREE - PART THREE

Welcome back and cheers!

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Icarus was in her head, thinking about how to figure out if Admiral Kerner had known about the state the squadron was in, or if this was just a mistake, but she was sure that Slider knew about everything that was going on, on his base. He was never one to not see things, Icarus knew that much but the thought was forgotten as she felt a hand around her wrist, turning her around on the dark path now that the sun had already settled to the accommodations.

"What on earth are you doing here, Gracie?" Bradley hissed at her, hair still wet form the shower he had taken in the common washrooms about three minutes away from the accommodations, as they were facing each other. He was still holding onto her wrist as he was glancing over his shoulder to check if anyone was seeing them.

He scanned her face for an answer, which was hard normally but unachievable in the semi dark. And even if he would see her, all he would be faced with would be a neutral expression, unbothered, frozen, but his thumb over her pulse point told him, that he had surprised her, confusing him for a moment. Grace wasn't afraid of anything, but then realisation dawned on him. He had jumped her out of nowhere as she was on the way back to her living quarters in the semi dark, alone with no one around.

"I didn't mean to scare you." Bradley then said, a bit of the heat leaving his voice as he allowed her to pull her arm out of his hold.

"You didn't scare me." She replied, but they both knew it was a lie. He had at least managed to startle her. And that was something not many people could say from themselves.

"What are you doing in Guam?" He wanted to know causing her to roll her eyes.

"I'm doing my job, Rooster." She told him, about to turn around and leave him standing, but Bradley was quick to fall in step with her.

"Call your father and tell him to get you out of here. This is no place for you." He pointed out, causing Kazansky to wonder if the rest of his squadron knew. If they had even the slightest idea who had raised him, in whose house he had grown up, at whose dinner table he sat every night for the better part of a decade, before he got up and left. Just like that. Only to then come back to her and leave her once more. She was so sick of being left behind by Bradley Bradshaw.

"But this squadron of retarded monkeys is a place for you?" She quizzed wondering what he was doing in Guam, her voice so levelled, so uninterested, something cold ran down Bradley's back. He wasn't used to that new persona, she had created. He wondered if there was a part left, a piece of the Gracie he had loved since the moment he first lay eyes on her, as his mother handed her to him, wrapped in a pink blanket on Maverick's couch.

"Actually, I can see you fit right in." Icarus said, as an afterthought, causing Bradley to clench his jaw.

"I don't want you here." He told her harshly, thinking that that might get through her thick skull, but all she did was look at him. "Surprisingly, it is very easy to just say what one wants." He added, causing Grace to snort.

"I don't care." Seemed like they both weren't sentimental tonight. "But I have an information that might make you sleep easier. I will be gone in six months again, with a shiny new rank if everything works out in my favour."

"Get your shiny new rank somewhere else. I don't want you anywhere near these guys, especially Shiny. I'm asking you to go home as long as you can still go unshattered." What on earth did he mean by that? Did he think her weak? Bradshaw respected her as little as her father did after all, but she would show them. Four stars, that will show them.