Wild Ride // BradGa

four

Stefani, Jack and Bradley all stood in front of the monstrous gate, preventing them from walking onto the even bigger property, wide eyed. "Is this a house or a whole town?" Bradley asked, making Stefani giggle before she finally pressed the button for the bell.

"Who's there?!" Someone blared into the speakers in an angry tone.

"Uhm, hello! My name is Stefani! Is Travis home?" She asked in her sweet voice, trying to calm the angry man down a little.

"Stefani? Were you with Damian last night?"

"Uhm, I guess?" She answered hesitantly, smiling proudly at Bradley and Jack when the man buzzed the gate open, allowing the three to walk towards the front door.

Their smiles soon vanished from their faces when the front door opened and a man aimed his gun at them. They all jumped back and held their hands up. "Whoa! Whoa! Easy! We just want to speak to Damian!" Bradley said, instinctively stepping in front of Stefani to shield her from the gun that was aimed at them. She blushed at the caring gesture before her attention was back on the armed man in front of them.

"Damian isn't here and he shouldn't even dare to take another step in here or near me if he wants to live!" The bearded man yelled at the group, fiddling around with the gun, making Jack, Bradley and Stefani flinch every time, in fear he'd accidentally shoot one of them or himself. "You." He aimed the gun directly at Bradley now, narrowing his eyes at him. Bradley swallowed hard and pushed Stefani further behind him. She held onto one of his arms and carefully peeked over his shoulder.

"Me?" He asked in a high pitched voice.

"Yeah. You came here with Damian and your little wife. Do you have my money?" He asked.

Bradley's eyes widened and he made sure Stefani was still safe behind him once again. "No! We don't remember what happened yesterday, which is why we're here!" He tried to explain, but got interrupted by the man shooting his gun off right next to his head, barely missing him by a few inches.

"Shit! Man, please! We really don't know what happened! Damian was here with a woman and she's my sister. We only care about her!" Bradley said, the man putting his gun down.

"Holly?" He asked.

Bradley nodded eagerly, glad that Travis remembered her. "Yes, Holly. Was she here? Do you know where she went?"

"She was here with Damian and they stole my money! She's your sister?!" He angrily aimed his gun back at Bradley and loaded it. "You're a dead man!"

Bradley's eyes widened as they suddenly started running away, escaping the gun shots fired at them. Stefani grabbed Bradley's hand to pull him with herself and Jack jumped into the car, further ahead of them. "Fuck! Run faster you dumbasses!" He yelled at them.

"Oh fuck! Oh my god! Come on!" Stefani yelled, opening the car door for them while Jack was already driving away.

Before Bradley could reach the car he let out an ear piercing scream, holding his side. Stefani rushed towards him, looking back at Travis who seemed to struggle with his gun and she used the extra time to their advantage, pulling Bradley into the car and jumping in as well. Jack pulled out of the driveway, the tires squeaking at how fast he went and Bradley groaned at the pain shooting through his body while he was sat next to Stefani in the backseat.

Stefani shot him a worried look and carefully peeled his hand off of the bloody spot on his grey shirt. He was sweaty and clearly in pain and Stefani pulled the shirt up, gasping at the clashing wound. The shooter luckily had missed and it was only a graze shot, but he was still bleeding heavily and it looked extremely painful. "It's not as bad as it feels, I promise." Stefani tried to assure him and then searched the car for something she could use to clean the wound.

"We'll be back at the hotel in a minute, they have a first aid kit there." Bradley said, stopping her so she'd sit down and stay safe. The last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt as well. She nodded and helped him out of the shirt, bunching it up to press it down on the wound so it wouldn't bleed as much anymore. When his shirt came off, Stefani couldn't help but look at his toned body. She blushed when her fingers made contact with his now naked skin as she helped him adjust the shirt on top of the bleeding wound. "I'm so sorry." She whispered, her face close to his.

Bradley rose a brow and wiped some sweat off of his forehead. "It's not your fault." He mumbled, clearly confused.

"You tried to keep me safe and I just ran ahead. I should've waited for you or-"

Bradley placed his hand on top of her hand that was still holding the shirt to the wound and stopped her. "No. You could've gotten hurt as well and I'm glad it's not you who's in pain now, okay? I'm fine. Don't worry about it." He assured her, forcing a smile on his face through the pain.

She smiled back and nodded. "Okay." She whispered and put her head on his shoulder while they rode back to the hotel in silence.

++++

Jack helped Bradley up the stairs when they were back at the hotel, making sure nobody saw them. When they were inside of Jacks room, Jack let out a frustrated sigh. "I'll go back to the lobby to figure things out with that dog in your room. Will you be fine here?" He asked, rubbing his temples.

Stefani nodded. "I've got it."

Jack gave them a tired smile and left for the lobby, but before the door shut behind him she heard him answer a call. "Hello? Who's there? What kind of a deal?"
Bradley let out a groan making her divert her attention back to him. She turned around to grab the first aid kit, groaning when she found it almost empty. The only things inside were some scissors and a few small bandaids. "This is useless." She announced, eagerly searching the cabinets and drawers for something else she could use.

Bradley groaned at the pain again and leaned his head back against the couch, closing his eyes.

"Hey! Stay awake!" She warned, finally plopping down on the couch next to him. He opened his eyes just as she cut up some black tape and took the shirt off of the wound. She then grabbed one of Jackson's  shirts and rolled it up, taking the black elastic band out of her hair, the blonde waves falling down into her face. She looked like an angel to Bradley.

Stefani hurriedly tied the elastic around the balled up shirt and pressed it into the wound again, grabbing some of the tape to secure it in place. Her face was close to the wound, her forehead creased in concentration. Bradley occasionally let out a huff in pain and watched her. Before he could help it, his hand was brushing some hair out of her face and she looked up at him when she'd placed the last piece of tape over the makeshift bandage.

"Thank you." Bradley said, his hand still pressed to her face. Stefani blushed and smiled, nodding.

"You would've done the same for me." She answered,  their eyes locking for a long moment. "Uhm, here." She said, pulling away from him to hand him a glass of water she'd previously poured and some painkillers. The lingering feeling of Bradley's touch still had her heartbeat going faster and she couldn't deny that the urge to just kiss him was there, yet she contained herself from doing so.

Bradley downed the drink and then groaned, rubbing over his face in frustration. "What now? Travis' house was our last clue and neither Damian nor Holly are there and now we have no idea where they could've gone after that." He sighed.

Stefani chewed on her bottom lip and grabbed her phone, scrolling through the set of pictures once more. "Maybe the old man at the tattoo shop can contact him? I mean, Damian is his nephew after all?" She suggested. "I'll go there again." She jumped off of the couch but Bradley stopped her, his hand grabbing her wrist.

"I'm not letting you go alone."

"You're in pain and can't move around much. I don't know how well the tape will work." She explained.

"I'm not letting you go alone, Stefani. It's too dangerous now, with Travis knowing who we are and what we look like." He repeated, slowly getting up to join her. She giggled at his stubbornness and then nodded.

"Okay, but promise me you'll tell me if you can't go any further. We'll figure something out then, okay?" She pressed her palm down his chest, searching his eyes for a reaction. He nodded, grabbing the hand on his chest and squeezing it. Stefani blushed and then walked ahead to tell Jack about their new plan.

Jack got a suspicious call. What do you think it was?