The Rooster and I - Act 2
Thanks to @wombtotombx for help figuring out Navy shit, @wildbornsiren for helping look over this part.
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Rooster was pretty sure that luck had abandoned him.
He had won poker night at Payback’s, even beating Hangman. But Toya was completely avoiding him and Rooster didn’t like that.
Maybe Toya had been embarrassed that they had met on Tinder and not through her brother. Rooster asked Payback point blank if his fellow Dagger squadron member would have a problem dating his sister. Payback had told him that he fully approved. “Maybe you’ll get Toya to relax.”
First there was Toya telling him that she had to focus on the grading finals, and turning in final grades. Then she went out of town with her sorority sisters for some kind of reunion. Rooster had called and texted but Toya had blown him off.
Normally, Rooster would have cut his losses. But ever since he saw Toya that night, he couldn’t see himself with anyone else. Mav had told him that his dad said he knew he wanted to marry his mom the day they met. Rooster was sure Toya was it for him, the same way.
Now, he was outside of Payback’s house. The aviator had a hot date of his own but he told Rooster that his sister would be home with no plans. Ringing the doorbell, Rooster stepped back to wait. The door opened quickly as Toya said, “This is the fastest pizza delivery I have ever had- oh hi.”
“But these are for you.”
Rooster watched Toya as he handed her the flowers. It was a simple bouquet with red chrysanthemum, white clover, and purple columbine. He had told the florist that he wanted to impress the woman he really liked and she said that if the receiver understood the language of flowers, she would be impressed. As Toya sniffed the flowers, the guarded expression on her face turned soft. Stepping to the side, she let Rooster in.
“Thank you, Bradley,” Toya said. The flowers were definitely amazing. Bradley was also wearing a red and white Hawaiian shirt and it looked amazing on him. It was a bit hokey but also endearing. “Let me guess, Reuben told you I was home.”
Toya sighed and Rooster grinned. Reuben was really being the annoying little brother with his matchmaking, in Toya’s opinion. It was as if her kid brother decided that she really needed to settle down when he needed to stop being a ho. “Come in,” Toya finally said.
Bradley walked into the house, toeing off his shoes at the door. Following Toya, Bradley psked when he saw what she was watching. “Love Island??”
“Judge my horrible reality shows, get out.”
Rooster raised his hands. “Sorry, sorry, sorry.”
The doorbell rang and Toya said, “That must be my pizza this time.”
“I got it.”
Opening the door, Rooster gave the pizza guy sixty bucks for one large pizza. His eyes bulged as Rooster slammed the door shut.
“Smells good,” he commented as he brought the pizza into the living room.
“It better be. This is my gift to myself before the start of school.”
“It’s not even September yet.”
“I have to get in the mindset early, Bradley. It may still be early August but school starts here at the end of the month.” Toya helped herself to a piece of pepperoni pizza, her favorite.
Rooster took a slice and Toya side-eyed him. “Hey, I paid for it, sweetheart.”
“I didn’t ask you to though. You decided to do that yourself.”
Rooster laughed as he finished his slice. “I was raised to be a gentleman.”
Toya rolled her eyes. She wasn’t going to finish that pizza anyway, and Reuben would have finished it in the morning before she could have got any. However, it felt a bit intimate to eat pizza with Bradley and watch trashy tv.
Toya was a good girl; she went to church every Sunday, she tithed, she tried to limit her cursing. Toya had pledged one of the most popular black sororities, she had tried to wait for marriage for sex (she made it to 30 before she decided to lose her virginity. Then she decided that she would have sex only in relationships.) Toya even took care of her parents and let Reuben focus on his career. What did that get her?
It got her to be forty one fucking years old, living with her little brother in his house, teaching across country. It was a leap of faith seven months ago, leaving mid school year but Toya was tired of Savannah, tired of the same old routine.
Now, there was something different than the same old same old but Toya was scared. As Rooster laughed at the stupidity of the contestants on the new episode of Love Island, Toya felt super cozy and content. Reaching into the box for another slice of pizza, her fingers brushed Rooster’s and Toya felt her cheeks get hot.
“Take it, it’s yours,” Rooster offered and Toya felt her whole body go hot. She wasn’t the most experienced woman out there but she could tell there was a double entendre there.
Rooster could have smacked himself after saying that. Toya was finally settling into being near him again and he could sense she was now feeling less comfortable. “You did order the pizza, sweetheart,” he finally added.
“I guess you are being a gentleman again.”
Toya smirked as Rooster blushed. Weighing his options, Rooster decided to just go for it. “I’m always a gentleman unless I’m asked not to be.”
“Pssh.”
Before Toya could say something snarky in response, the door opened and Payback walked into the room. “Reuben, you’re back early.”
Rooster and Payback made eye contact. Rooster wanted Toya, he wanted her badly, but he wasn’t going to pull a Hangman and make Payback change his mind about supporting a relationship between them.
Payback finally said, “It was a dud- no, don’t even go there, Toya.”
“I told you that taking Nadai out would be a bad idea but you didn’t want to listen to me,” Toya teased.
Rooster eased himself off of the sofa. “I had a great time, Toya,”
“It was fine, especially since you paid for my food,” Toya quipped.
Rooster weighed asking Toya out before deciding not to. It would be too fucking awkward with Payback here. Instead, he shook hands with Payback, “Night buddy. See you Monday.”
“Have a good one, Roos. Have fun with Mav this weekend.”
Payback watched as Rooster whispered something in his sister’s ear real quick. His usually unflappable big sister was very flustered at whatever Rooster said. But Rooster wasn’t an asshole so Payback wasn’t going to ask what he said. But when Rooster smirked at him before leaving, Payback smirked back.
Whatever was going on, he approved.
****
“Have you actually got anywhere?”
Rooster glared at Hangman, the fucking dick, before taking aim. His dart hit the inner ring but not the bullseye. “You don’t need to try to get me off game to fucking win, Bagman.”
“I’m just asking because I just saw Payback’s big sister come in with a guy not named Bradshaw,” Hangman taunted before hitting a perfect bullseye.
Rooster whipped around to see Toya at the bar, talking with Penny with some guy next to her. He wasn't in the navy, he was in civilian clothes. But Toya’s hand was on his arm and she was smiling at whatever he was saying. Rooster was ready to explode as Coyote snickered.
It had been about five weeks since pizza and TV. Unfortunately, Rooster hadn’t got another date with Toya yet. She wasn’t blowing him off the same way but she wasn’t letting him be alone with her either.
“I’d tell you to give up, Bradshaw, but you are way too stubborn. You’ll just wait and wait and wait til you find the perfect opportunity. And before that perfect opportunity happens, you’ll be in Europe and nothing will happen with you and that girl.”
Hangman gave Rooster a wicked smirk as Rooster gave him the finger. Throwing his next dart, Rooster made bullseye. “Fuck off.”
“You know I’m right.”
“Fuck off, Hangman, or I’ll tell Mav that you’re debauching his goddaughter.”
“Wow Bradshaw, you know a big word.”
Hangman glared at Rooster while Rooster and Coyote laughed. But Hangman, the dick, actually had a point. Today, they had both got their orders to support the Sixth Fleet in the European Theater with the war going on between Ukraine and Russia. They were currently on loan from VFA-151 to the Dagger Squadron. Rooster had just been reassigned to the Vigilantes but he was hoping to be assigned to VFA-27 or VFA-102 as soon as he could so he could get his Overseas Service medal. But first, he had this one hundred day Temporarily Assigned Duty (TAD) to get through.
However, as he watched Toya throw her head back in laughter, Rooster was ready to throw that guy out. Curious, Coyote asked, “Are you going to get your girl?”
“Maybe,” Rooster bit out as Hangman took out his phone. “Better that than dealing with Bagman.”
Throwing his last dart, Rooster cursed as he didn’t make another bullseye. But it didn’t matter as Hangman jeered, he was going to go talk to Toya now.
****
“Oh, you should have brought me out here before!”
Toya laughed as Kentrell openly ogled the Navy officers in their khaki uniforms. Kentrell added, “Especially since ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ doesn’t exist anymore. Ima get me a Navy boy tonight. Maybe that one who keeps glaring over here, the one next to him got some nice green eyes. Nah, they both look straight.”
Penny laughed as she heard Kentrell’s statement. “The one glaring over here is interested in Toya but she keeps brushing him off.”
Kentrell looked at Toya, his mouth hanging open. Toya shrugged. She didn’t even know why she was still saying no. Rooster was a lot though; he was so intense and determined and Toya felt like he could easily sweep her away. Yet, those puppy dog eyes wanted to make her melt.
As if he knew that she was thinking about him, Rooster strode towards the bar, looking amazing in his khaki uniform. When Rooster got close, Kentrell pushed Toya towards Rooster, making her stumble a bit. “Girl, you need to climb that so you can introduce me to one of his fellow officers.”
Toya’s eyes widened and her cheeks felt like they were on fire as Rooster chuckled. Rooster relaxed mentally; the guy Toya was with was definitely not a threat. But still, he asked, “Can I talk to you, Toya, privately?”
Toya nodded, giving Rooster her hand. Grasping it, Rooster maneuvered them through the growing crowd, ignoring the whistles from Hangman and Coyote. Going outside on the deck, Rooster maneuvered Toya into a shadowed area, to avoid being overheard. Pinning Toya to the wall, Rooster let out a sigh.
“When are you going to finally be my good girl, Toya, and stop throwing bullshit obstacles in our way?“
Toya felt her mind scrambling for words as Rooster pressed closer. Focused on the medals on Bradley’s chest, she finally said, “I’m forty-one years old, Bradley. You should find a younger woman who can give you children.”
A bright eyed little girl with two puffy ponytails popped into her mind and Toya internally groaned. Over the years, she dreamed of having two girls but it had never happened. Now, after meeting Bradley, the dreams were back again and more intense than ever. But it was just her mind playing her because there was this big pilot paying attention to her for now.
“Fuck that shit, Toya. You don’t even believe it with the way you said it. You make me so frustrated sometimes, with this stubbornness. But you’re arching into me and I’m not even touching you,” Bradley stated.
Toya looked down and her body was really arching towards him. Fucking traitorous body. Then Bradley pulled her closer and she squeaked. He was all hard planes and corded muscle, totally different from her softness.
Several moments went past before Bradley bent his head down to whisper in her ear. “All I ask is for one more date. You and me, Saturday, before I deploy.”
Minute she heard the d-word, Toya felt her heart plummet. Bradley was getting deployed. All her resistance melted away as she nodded.
“Use your words like a good girl.”
Looking up at Bradley through her lashes, Toya felt her breath taken away at the intense look in his eyes. She finally said, “Yes, I’ll go out with you.”
****
The first date, well really the second date, was dinner and a movie. The third date was bowling. Toya won each game, annoying Rooster but Toya had played on her college’s bowling team so Rooster had no chance. The fourth date was a plane ride in a little Cessna that had made Toya scream in joy.
Tonight was the fifth date, a fancy dinner where Toya wore a rather racy navy blue dress. Rooster wore a suit without a tie, looking absolutely scrumptious. And Toya had decided that she was going to let Rooster seduce her into his bed tonight.
Rooster was a flirt, a very sneaky flirt. Nothing super dirty or filthy but Rooster made sure Toya knew that he wanted her and wanted her badly. But Toya could also tell he was holding back, probably because of his respect for her brother. So, in like a total 180, Toya took matters into her own hands.
“Reuben says you’re flying out in two days,” Toya started as Rooster drove his Bronco, eyes on the road. Toya pulled her skirt up a bit, noticing Rooster’s gulp. “When were you going to tell me, Bradley?”
“Tonight, before I dropped you off.”
Rooster wanted to fuck Toya’s brains out. He wanted to rail her until all she could think was him and just him. Rooster wanted Toya to crave him, become his total fuck toy. Rooster needed to make Toya his but there was still his TAD. It wouldn’t be fair to make her his and go away for a little over three months. But dammit, he was so tempted.
Then his will evaporated as Toya said, “Rooster.”
Toya said his fucking call sign. Rooster blinked as he turned to his right to see a peek of a lacy blue bra and he gulped again. “Are you trying to seduce me, Toya?”
“Okay, so I did ignore you and blow you off for so long before we went out again. But you’re really hot, Bradley, and if you want, I’ll go home with you tonight,” Toya drawled. This was totally out of her usual good girl actions but Bradley looked so good that Toya was willing to say several extra rosaries to make up for the kind of sex she wanted tonight.
“And what would we be doing if I took you home tonight?”
Rooster pulled over, looking Toya up and down before licking his lips. She really did torture him so he wanted Toya to say what she wanted with her own mouth.
Toya playfully rolled her eyes before saying, “You’d be fucking me, if you want.”
“So, you’re going to take my cock tonight, Toya? You’re going to let me get a taste of that sweet pussy, kitten?”
“Kitten?”
“So sweet but with a couple of claws, that’s you, Toya. But you’re going to let me fuck you, kitten?”
Spreading her legs, Toya knew her lace thong was soaked. Her body felt flushed, she felt hot and so needy. And the only person who could fill this need was Bradley. “Take me home, Rooster.”
Rooster pulled off, tires squealing as he shifted directions to his apartment.
