Hardest to Love | Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw

𝟏𝟏 - 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑

Vigorously, I push the front door open, letting the door hit the wall behind it. I storm my way down the porch stairs towards Bradley's car. He turns his head and watches me leave the house with Thomas running after me. He tries take my hand and pull me back. I refuse to look and be near him right now. Or ever.

The moonlight shines above me as I pull my arm away from his grip. "Rowan, please. Can we just talk this out?" He begs as I open the car door.

I don't think for one second. I just want to leave this place and never want to see Thomas again. "Drive." I tell Bradley, shutting the car door.

Bradley doesn't dare to say anything and starts to drive off. I can hear Thomas yelling my name from behind as we drive away. My lips tremble as I face my face away from Bradley. Warm tears rush down my cheeks. I hide the sound of my sobbing from him. I couldn't believe he would do this to me. For four straight months, I didn't know. For four fucking months.

My hands are in fists right now as Bradley drives further and further away from that fool's house. I breathe in, shaking.

For the whole ride, neither Bradley or I spoke a word to each other. I think by the time I told him to drive off earlier, he knew exactly what happened and wanted to be respectful and not ask. I want to beat the hell out of that man of a liar. I've done everything to love him and he goes behind my back sleeping with another woman. I shake my head from my thoughts.

I swallow from all the crying I've done that's parched my throat. Wiping my nose as I sniff, I'm finally a bit more calm. My eyes are red and puffy. This is not how I imagined to end my night. Where's Natasha when you really need her?

We eventually arrive to my house. I unbuckle my seatbelt as Bradley watches me, quietly from his seat. I sniff again and walk out the car. Shutting the door carefully, I don't let go of the door and sigh. "Thank you for the ride, again." I bend down, revealing the pain in my eyes.

His jaw drops just a bit as he looks into my eyes. The moonlight, shining over me from outside, makes it easy to see that I've been crying. No matter how hard I tried to hide it inside, Bradley knew. He just knew. Bradley nods his head as he stares into my broken eyes. "Just, call me if you need anything."

"I'll... I'll, uh, see you tomorrow." I bite on my bottom lip and stand back up.

He watches me walk up towards my front door, carefully. I take my time and grab my keys out from my bag. Finally, I find it through my things and unlock the screen door before unlocking my main door. I can still hear the car of Bradley's engine from behind. He's watching over me before he leaves, making sure I get in safely.

I walk inside my empty and dark house. Pulling the door close, I can't help my fall on my knees and break down, crying. Now that Bradley isn't here to watch me in emotional pain, I can it all out here, alone in my house, without anyone watching.

—

I'm sitting next to Natasha in another team meeting. I stare off into the wall in front of me as Beau speaks up at the front. Natasha turns her head to look over at me, she notices my mood is different than usual. I'm not listening as I always do. Her eyebrows knot together.

"Hey." She takes my hand. "Is everything alright?"

I keep starring off at the blank wall in front of me and shake my head side to side, slowly. "I don't really want to talk about it right now." I quietly say.

"Talk to me about whatever's wrong later, okay? I don't like seeing you like this." She rubs her thumb in circles, holding onto my hand. Natasha takes one last look at me before looking back up at Beau.