Soul Stealer ~ (A Bucky Barnes Love Story)

Cant Stop This Feeling

"Put this on."

Bucky tossed his jacket at me, eyes still laser focused on the road. The jacket was so huge I could live in it, and it smelled like him which did funny things to me. It was all I could do to stop myself from burying my nose in it and inhaling his sent like the stalker I was. Pulling on the garment I couldn't suppress a hiss of discomfort when the fabric slid across my many cuts, abrasions, and bruises.

"Is everyone OK?"

"Are you?" he countered, finally looking at me. I felt his worry slip through the walls surrounding the bond, and swallowed hard.

"I'm OK. I'll be good as new by the time we get to wherever we're going." Hopefully. "What about Steve and Tony? Oh my god, I never saw Nat or Clint or Sam or Bruce."

"Evie, calm down." A sense of peacefulness washed over me, and I sank into the seat, head in my hands. I heard Bucky sigh than felt him rubbing my back. "They're all fine." I looked at him and he smiled, nodding. "No one was hurt and they're all safe."

"Oh, thank god." Closing my eyes, I sank against the seat, my head resting on the window. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe."

"That's not vague or anything." He winked at me, and I rolled my eyes. "Worried they somehow have ears in the car?"

"Not really but you can't be too careful." He shifted in his seat, his metal arm whirling. "They never should have made it into the tower, but they did. Underestimating them would be unwise."

"How did you get out?"

"Through the front door." Of course he did because he was a straight badass. "What about you?"

"I jumped off the roof." I was the opposite of a badass. He slammed on the brakes, and I shot forward only to be stopped just shy of colliding with the dashboard by his arm. Cars zoomed past, horns blaring in protest at us. "Uh, I know the last time I drove we crashed, but I really don't think you're supposed to stop in the middle of a highway."

To punctuate my point an 18-wheeler flew by, coming so close to hitting us we traded a little paint.

"Wanna run that by me one more time?"

"Drive." He grumbled under his breath in Russian but complied. "I couldn't get out. They were everywhere. Steve told me to get to the roof so I did then I jumped off. Tony caught me."

He exhaled harshly. "You saw Tony and then you jumped?" I pursed my lips, looking out the window with interest. "Evie," he growled.

"If you want to be technical about it...no...I didn't see Tony before I jumped." The vein in his forehead was so red it looked ready to burst.

"So, you just jumped...off a skyscraper?"

"Bucky..."

"No," he interrupted, "No." He shook his head, his hair whipping around his face. "Goddamnit Evie, how could you do something like that? Do you have any idea what it would do to me if..." He got choked up and trailed off.

I reached over, placing my hand on his thigh gently. For a moment neither of us said anything. We just sat in each presence, thinking about all the ways tonight could have ended differently.

The city whipped by in a blur of lights and sounds. A couple exited a bar, hands around each other, laughing and smiling. An older lady walked with her dog, enjoying the twilight hours when the city was half awake and half asleep. It was all so...normal.

Something I'd never experienced.

Something I'd never been.

"I don't want to die," I whispered, blinking rapidly to keep the tears at bay. "But I can't be a prisoner again. I can't." Just thinking about it made me shake uncontrollably. "Having my choices stripped away...it's a fate worse than death."