Vicious ━━ Bucky Barnes

INTRODUCTION

VICIOUS.

"Then how do you do it, James? Is it easy for you? To act like I don't exist?"

     He can't bring himself to look at her, not even as she sits in front of him. He's nervous, Ramona thinks. It's as if he can't bear her presence. The icy pang in her chest tells her this was expected.

     Bucky takes a sip of water from her favourite mug, and she remembers her mouth on it as much as on his lips, his cheekbones, beneath his ears. Ramona remembers whispering into the night, and hearing him whisper back. The ghost of his fingers weaving through hers and his quiet pleads of stay. Stay and don't disappear again, not just yet.

He tips his head back when he drinks and she can't help but watch his throat. He swallows. Wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and she knows in her soul, how it felt to hold him like he was the only thing precious in the world. How he yielded, softened, and surrendered to her touch, finally allowing himself to be treasured.

Ramona Valenti bites into her lip until she tastes blood and he still doesn't look at her. The jacket he wears looks like hers, but newer, without the hems frayed and leather worn. He hugs the jacket, his new jacket, closer to himself.

"It isn't easy. It never is," he says. "You're still— every night I lose my mind trying to sleep without you, and every morning I forget. Your name is still the first thing I say."

IN WHICH,
reuniting with a past lover can be difficult, especially if he's on a time sensitive mission and the people he's working with want you dead.

ana de armas ...
RAMONA VALENTI