RIDERS ON THE STORM | ғᴀʟʟᴏᴜᴛ.

FOUR

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧 :
PUT IT DOWN

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     DESPITE THE PEACEFUL conclusion to yesterday's events, the first scene in the next morning was the opposite.

Brynn had woken up and found Cooper gone from the building. Since there was still an itching sensation in her for her weapon, she found herself eyeing the satchel he had left behind. Had he kept her gun in there? Her hands were still tied together, but that wouldn't stop her from snooping.

After listening for a few seconds and scanning the room—and finding nothing from both senses—Brynn couldn't help herself and moved forward. She opened the bag and found her gun tucked inside.

She took the silver gun before catching sight of something else inside the bag. There was a small metal tin. Slipping out the gun and pocketing it in her holster she glanced at the tin. She couldn't help her curiosity. She reached forward, taking it into her hold and opening it. There were many vials in the tin.

Brynn eyed it with interest, carefully slipping one out of its slot before closing it and placing the tin back where she had found it in the bag. What was it? She had never seen the amber liquid before. She didn't have much time to observe it.

There was a footstep at the door before she heard Cooper's voice order, "Get away from my shit."

Brynn slipped the vial in her pocket as she turned around, pointing her gun at him. "I'm leaving." She winced, knowing that her gun wouldn't do anything to him even if she pulled the trigger.

"That's cute." He laughed, but his expression quickly sobered, "Give me the gun back."

"No." She denied immediately. Thankfully her composure didn't falter, keeping her confident appearance.

Cooper only blinked at her, his expression growing more intense, "I'm not askin'." He slowly began to stalk forward, and Brynn's heart started pounding in her chest.

"And I'm not suicidal." Brynn argued, feeling a strange feeling growing in her stomach, "I need a gun."

Cooper didn't respond immediately, still slowly making his way toward her with a challenging look in his eye. Slowly, and subconsciously, Brynn had stood straighter as she began to shuffle backward at the same speed. "Do you now?" He inquired, the southern drawl making his low voice sound raspy.

It took everything not to move further back, but if she had she would've hit the wall anyway. Escape seemed too difficult to function, so she stayed still, "You know I do."

Cooper stood only a foot away, and she felt like she couldn't breathe. "Do I?" He reached up, moving two of his fingers to direct her pointed arm to the side, taking its place.

Brynn furrowed her eyebrows as her arm dropped. Instead of threatening, she instead wanted to protect her pride, "Stop doing that." She was the one who took the finishing step to close the distance. Their chests were almost touching. "You know how easy it is to die without a weapon out here?"

"You sure would." He laughed. In her face. Brynn felt a rush of annoyance as he spoke down at her, "But that isn't my problem darlin'."

"Then go find Lucy by yourself." She ordered.

Cooper raised his would-be eyebrows, a gleam in his eyes so mysterious she couldn't identify it. Hell, even he didn't know what it meant, only that it was overwhelming, "You think you could survive without me?"