Homeward Bound - Chapter 5.
Prologue.
Chapter 1.
Chapter 2.
Chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
A filler chapter if you will, stay strapped in because next chapter it’s allll blowing up in the most delicious way possible.
Chapter 5.
There was a lot of beef she had with the U.S. military, top of the list being them perpetually taking the men she cared about away from her. But today, sitting at her bar and watching the Navy’s finest get oiled up and attack, ‘play’, one another on the beach, she was feeling pretty damn patriotic. Her and her mom had made a pitcher of margaritas and settled down on the porch for the occasion.
Jake had tipped her off to a game happening today over text, still trying to make up for cock blocking her the other night because she had stopped sharing her baked goods with him as punishment, and she was quick to call her mom and tell her to grab a few books and meet her down at the Hard Deck. They had arrived earlier than the boys and actually enjoyed their respective books in a content silence for awhile, both reading their respective romance novels (smut) and enjoying the summer sun. However, when the men had started to arrive, the books went down pretty damn quickly and enjoyed the view.
It had been a few days since their date, and she was steadily losing her mind. He had been busy with work, which she preferred because she would rather him master whatever it was he had to do for the mission versus fucking around with her, but she missed him. It had been a steady stream of texts, some more wholesome than others, and her impatience was at an all time high. Yes, she wanted him, badly, more than she even thought possible with the absolute filth he was texting her over the last few days while she was working. But it was more than that, she just… missed him. Missed leaning into him, feeling his touch, looking at him and knowing what he was thinking, teasing him. It made her feel insane, especially considering they had technically only had one night of time spent with him in 6 years, but it was a painful tease and made her heart constrict when she thought about what was going to happen in a month when this mission was over. Her stomach started to hurt and she wasn’t sure if it was the margs or the unclear future in regards to them, but avoidance was one of her best (worst) talents and she was going to cross that bridge when they got there.
Her neck tingled and she smiled, knew he was here before he even announced himself. A hard body pressed behind her and she tilted her head back, their bodies in sync with each other, to receive a kiss on her cheek while two strong arms wrapped around her stomach and pulled her back until they might as well be one.
“Hi Baby,” he whispered into her ear, kissing her jaw and she had to fight the urge not to melt back into him, to expose her neck and let him have his way with her right in front of her mom.
He shifted, moving her with him, turning to face her mom, “Hi Penny, you’re looking quite beautiful today.”
“I almost wouldn’t recognize you if you weren’t wrapped around my daughter Brad, but that is always your tell tale sign. Margarita?”
Wow, her Mom was in a good mood today, likely had something to do with the fact that Mav had just pulled up.
“I could’ve recognized you anywhere Penny, you’re like a summer wind on a dry desert day, but I’ll have to turn down your generous offer just this once, have to be in fighting shape to show these boy’s how it’s done out there. Speaking of, would you mind helping oil me up babe? It’s Top Gun tradition.”
Her and her mom seemed to be in sync too because both of their eyes rolled back at the same time, but still she took the oil that he dropped in her hand and turned around, straddling the bench in front of him. Jesus, it was almost pornographic. He had a faded blue Hawaiian shirt perched on his shoulders over his bare chest. Letting her eyes trail slowly down his torso she eyed the Jean cutoff shorts for longer than she cared to admit, for a brief, insane second almost wishing she was them so she could hug his thigh like that. The other night danced behind her eyes, the way she had straddled his thigh, the friction of his jeans. She had to remind herself for the second time today that her mother was right there.
“Nothing says Naval men like getting oiled up and tackling each other, I wonder if the Navy knows just how homoerotic their traditions are,” she said, not looking Bradley in the eye as she pushed the Hawaiian shirt off of his shoulders and got to work trying to apply the oil as quickly as possible, couldn’t let herself get too distracted by him in this environment (not that it had stopped her before).
Her hands went up to his shoulders and she wished they were in a different situation where she could be gripping his shoulders, preferably in a bed with him hovering over her but as the days passed she was getting more and more convinced that the fates that be were intent on her not getting laid. Her hands strayed down to his muscled chest and she might have spent a little more time than necessary rubbing the oil in, she was just really passionate about an even tan y’know. His hand reached up and covered hers, splaying her fingers out over her heart and stroking the back of her hand with his finger.
“Get it all rubbed in sweetheart?”
She let her hand sit over his heart for a just a second, let herself feel his heartbeat and remind herself that he was here, that this was real, until she pushed him away and went behind to finish up his back. He always got her off track.
“What I should be rubbing in is sunscreen, I don’t know why you guys seem to think you’re exempt from sunburns, when you’re all red and in pain tonight don’t come crying to me.”
He opened up his mouth to respond, but just as he did both Maverick and Jake arrived arrived on the scene.
“Hey Pen, hey kid. Hi Bradshaw.”
“Heyyy Mama Pen.”
She felt his body tense up underneath her, watched him ball up his Hawaiian in his hands she had taken off before hopping up, putting his shirt in her hands and kissing her forehead before stepping away to the beach.
“Watch this for me will you babe?”
She didn’t get a chance to respond, he was already running off, catching a ball from one of the other pilots that had been playing catch on the beach. She looked between Maverick and back to him. Weird.
“Hey Mav,” she said, giving him a hug until Jake came up and wrapped his arm around her neck, pulling , “I hoping you’re kicking their asses and showing them what a real pilot looks like.”
She dodged the elbow in the stomach Jake sent her way.
“Oh I think they’re learning their lessons pretty well, had to take them to school and show them how it was done but I think they’re catching on. Now I have to teach them how to properly play dog fight football, it’s gonna be a beautiful day.”
She watched her mom smile up at him like he was probably the most interesting thing to exist, and she wondered if this is how she looked at Bradley. Her heart was so full knowing that her mom finally had him back in her life, knew it had been all she had wanted for most of her adult life, and hoped to god he finally broke his terrible streak of leaving broken hearts behind as he rode away on his bike.
Jake squeezed her to him as she watched her mom and Maverick smile and flirt with each other. She smiled up at him. He knew what this meant to her, had known her mom their entire friendship, had listened to her whine and debrief her mom and dad’s entire relationship with no lack of bitterness, and had heard plenty about her wayward love who always seemed to be the one who got away.
“Will you help me oil up or will lover boy try to shoot me out of the sky if you touch my, much bigger than his, chest.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed the oil from the table, gesturing him to sit down in the spot Bradley had just evacuated.
“It’s not Bradley you had to worry about,” she said, gathering up the oil on the hands and spreading it across his chest and shoulders, flicking some at his face when he smiled up at her, “I’ll let your ass unevenly tan if you ever cock block me again bagman. However, you’re too cute to stay mad at, so I’ll let it slide just this once. I’m shocked though, I would think there was someone else you would want to do this.”
Both of their eyes inadvertently drifted to Bob who had just arrived in the cutest little shirt she had ever seen, a white patch of sunscreen on his nose. Her kind of guy.
“I think he’s scared of me,” he said glumly leaning back while she lathered up his shoulders before turning around on the bench at her instruction.
“Why don’t you try being nice instead of an asshole, that helps. Normally at this point you would’ve had him bent over behind the bar.”
“I’m off of my game. We don’t even know if he likes me, it’s not like I have given him a lot of reasons to.”
It was so endearing she had to resist the urge to hug him. So, she grabbed his face and made him look at her instead, also using the moment to get sunscreen on his face because she would be damned if BOTH of her boys were sunburned. Bradley had sulked away before she was able to get sunscreen on him and she hoped what she expected would be a future sunburn wouldn’t damper his already darkening mood.
“Who couldn’t like you,” she said, and they both almost laughed at that because the answer was a LOT of people, “But trust me, with the way he has been looking at you, I think you have a good shot. I’ll take care of the shirt issue, you stand by with the sunscreen and oil.”
She didn’t wait for his response before she turned around and grabbed the margarita pitcher from the table, approaching Bob.
“Hi! I don’t think we have had a chance to meet yet, I’m Jake’s friend.”
He smiled and immediately stuck his hand out. She was already picturing him and Jake’s wedding.
“Oh yeah! I’ve seen you at the bar and I’ve been wanting to say hi. You seem to be Hangman’s only friend, so I know you must have a lot of patience. You’re Rooster’s girl too right? He has a picture of you in his cockpit.”
Something warm and soft bloomed in her stomach and she let herself look at Bradley playing catch with the other pilots, literally glistening in the sun and so much so in his element surrounded by other people. Her boy.
“Yeah, something like that,” she replied, still smiling at Bradley.
“Oh I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to imply-“
She cut him off before he could work himself up into an apology over unnecessary things. Her and Bradley had not yet talked titles, but she would be hard pressed to think of a time in her life when she wasn’t Bradley’s girl, even when they were apart.
“You’re more than okay, I just can’t let it get to his head how lucky he is to have me, Jake is already unbearable at times because I’m his best friend, Bradley’s ego has to be kept in check to make him bearable for everyone else. I just wanted to come over and introduce myself and offer you a margarita before everyone started playing,” she said, offering up the pitcher to him and letting it ~accidentally~ slosh too much, staining the front of his shirt.
“Oh my god I am so sorry, we actually have a washer and dryer in the Hard Deck I can take this back right now and get the stain out while you play and have it ready for you for when you’re done!”
“That would be great, thank you so much,” he responded, stripping off his shirt and damn, the computer geek had a 6 pack. She peeked back at Jake and saw him flat out staring. She was a genius.
“You might want to put on some sunscreen, I have been known to take on some second and third degree burns and no amount of alcohol can offset the pain of that believe me. The boys all like tanning oil, but trust me in 3 hours they’re not going to be a fan. Jake has some sunscreen over there,” she called, already heading back into the bar and not giving him a chance to argue. She went and stain washed the shirt and threw it in the wash and walked back out to peek at the boys. Jake was putting sunscreen on Bob’s back and shoulders, letting his massive hands rest on his shoulders and the back of his neck for a little too long before running them down his back, seemingly taking extra time and care to really rub in the sunscreen. Bob’s face was so red it looked like he was already burnt.
“You’re a mastermind,” her mom said as she sat back down and watched the boys. Jake had finally finished and him and Bob seemed to be making small talk, Bob actually smiling, smiling!, until a football whizzed at Jake and hit him hard in the chest.
“You’re captain for your team Seresin,” Rooster said, a hard edge in his voice as he glared at Jake.
“Yeah I’m something,” she responded to her mom, the boys being shirtless and gorgeous a little less fun with Bradley having a storm cloud over his head, “Confused is mostly what I am right now.”
“I’m not sure what you’re so confused about, it’s pretty obvious that Bradley is jealous of Jake and trying to stake his claim over you, even your neck concealer is sweating off,” her mom said, dodging the napkin she threw at her and pouring more margaritas for them from a new pitcher that magically reappeared.
“No that one is fairly obvious,” she said, flashing a smile at her mom and leaning back to enjoy the view of the Navy’s finest going in on each other in a little “friendly” competition, “It’s even a little fun. I don’t get him and Maverick, Mav was basically a second father and now he can’t even be around him without flinching. Has he said anything to you?”
“No, but you know how he is, his loyalty runs deep, whatever happened he’s not going to be the one to talk about it,” her mom responded, her eyes following Mav’s every move. She wondered if that is how her and Bradley looked to other people.
She took another sip of her drink, and, feeling bold being four drinks in, decided to ask her mom a question she had been holding in for years.
“Do you regret being with Dad?” Do you regret having me when you could have had Maverick?
Her mom’s eyes didn’t leave the beach, but she imagined she looked wistful.
“I don’t have any regrets. I think everything happens for a reason. Even though your father and I got married for the wrong reasons, I did love him, even if I wasn’t in love with him. We were happy for a time. If I had a chance to do it all over again, I wouldn’t. We had you, and you were all I ever really wanted or needed. I… love Maverick, have loved him for most of my life really, but that wasn’t our time to be together, he wasn’t ready even if he wanted to be.”
She let that sit for a minute, ruminating for a time before responding. Her Mom and Dad’s relationship had always been rocky at best for as long as she remembered, it was hard to imagine they had ever been happy. It was partially was contributed to her hesitation with Bradley, her dad left at a young age, couldn’t get over the fact that while her Mom loved him, she was in love with someone else. He left BOTH of them, remarried, and she heard from him twice a year at birthdays and Christmas. If a man who is supposed to love her unconditionally could leave, there was nothing stopping Bradley from doing the same. He already had once, even if it was the right thing for both of them.
“Do you wish you and Maverick had more of a chance to do life together?” They missed 20+ years together. It made her shudder to think of that happening to her and Bradley.
“Right before your dad and I got married he actually asked me to go away with him. I considered it, but this area is my home, I’ve never been as restless as him and I knew that while he loved me he wasn’t ready to settle down and have structure and stability, and his job didn’t offer that either. I couldn’t ask him to give up what he loved, so I gave up what I loved. I don’t regret that either. He has lived his life and now I think we’ll get to have our time. I had you. And your dad is flawed, but he loves you too. Why do you ask?”
Mav had asked her mom to run away. This was the first she had heard about it. It put her in a whole new light. She had always seen her mom as this sad character who never escaped her hometown, was always watching the man she loved walk away from her. But, she had chosen her life, had been smarter than even she had been at that age and realized how much she loved this place (and that it wasn’t as much of a prison as she had once thought). She had been selfless, had put his thoughts and feelings over his. It was incredibly humbling, and made her feel guilty for all of the years she had spent hoping she wouldn’t become like her mom when she was younger. All she hoped now was that she would eventually become as wise and strong as her mom.
“I don’t know,” she admitted, watching Bradley play. They were all having a blast, even Jake. Bradley had somehow become the unofficial leader of his team and he had a smile on his face as they all seemed to just tackle each other, giving up the pretense of playing for score long ago. Maverick was tackled and he offered a hand to him, but walked away as soon as he was back on his feet. “We haven’t talked about what happens when this mission is over. We haven’t even talked about what we are to each other. His job doesn’t exactly provide stability either, and… this is my home. There was a time that I wanted nothing more than to leave and never come back, but I’m happiest when I’m here. I could never ask him to give up flying, but I also don’t know how long I can bare him flying away from me either.”
Her mom reached over and squeezed her hand.
“Anyone who has ever spent any time with the two of you know just how that boy feels about you. You could tell him the sky is green and he would agree just because it’s you. I know you still are hurt by what happened all of this years ago, but I know that when you’re honest with yourself you know it was what needed to happen for you both to grow up and follow your dreams. You both have decisions to make soon, but I trust that he will make whichever one is right for the both of you together, not just him. I don’t think he’s going to let you slip away a second time."
She looks back out at him, sees the sun glinting off the gold ring he still wore on his thumb. That was the thing, she didn’t think he would either.
———————————————————————
She was on her 6th drink and she was way past the point of drunk. Her mom had gone some time ago, going inside to prep the bar for that night. Maverick had trailed in after her. Her book laid untouched on the table and she had taken to catcalling the boys as they played football, flirting with anyone who would respond. She didn’t know if Bradley was turning red from the sun or from anger, it was cute.
She didn’t know what time it was, was pretty to content to die on that beach watching her boy dance around shirtless, but he seemed to have other plans, marching to her table and grabbing his shirt in one hand, and her in the other, throwing her over his shoulder.
“You’re coming with me.”
“Hey wait a minute I wasn’t done watching the game,” she argued, but she had to shut her mouth because suddenly the world was upside down as she was over her shoulder and she was afraid of what would happen if she spoke. She settled with letting her nails trail down his sexy, tanned back, before gripping his perky ass that had been teasing her all day. She had been in worse positions.
He strolled to what looked like his car and wrenched the door open, sliding into the car and throwing his Hawaiian shirt on the passenger seat haphazardly, maneuvering her on his lap until she was straddling his lap just like she had a few nights ago. One hand buried itself in her hair and pulled tight while the other one gripped her face. Hard.
“You have some damn nerve.”
—————————————————————-
A/N: Yeahhhh this chapter was supposed to be much longer but I’m traveling and wanted to get something out for y’all. Kinda a nice little character building filler because next chapter is a going to be a HAUL and spoiler… we will be getting some ground shaking smut AND conflict that is going to carry us into the next leg of this fic, so we have stuff to look forward to. Not sure if anyone is even still interested, but hey if you’re feeling so inclined a like and a comment is always nice to make my day :). Not my best chapter, but I have the entire ending planned out in my head and I write chronologically so I’m dying trying to get where I want to go. I’ll be out of country traveling for 2 weeks so we’ll see when updates happen! Stay w/ me & I hope y’all are looking forward to next chapter like I am ;)
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