𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝗜 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗧𝗼 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗲 (𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘈𝘜) ❶

Chapter 39

Everyone agreed to move Nat out of the university. She should stay at someone's house this weekend to avoid Steve. She hadn't been the same since her confrontation with Steve. They decided that Nat should stay at Jane's home because it was far away from campus.

…faraway from Steve.

Since they anticipated she would argue the suggestion they decided to ask her nicely and to their surprise she willing to complied and packed her bag.

Jane and Darcy decided they would take care of Nat this weekend. Jane had half a mind to tell Natasha everything about Steve but from what she saw she didn't think Natasha was in the mind-set to listen. Jane optioned that Natasha would assume that everything she said about Steve was a lie so she kept the truth to herself.

As Jane led Natasha through her humble apartment she quietly said, "It's not the Four Seasons but it's comfortable" as she pushed the door to a small cozy bedroom.

"Thank you, Jane." Natasha responded quietly with a weak smile.

As Natasha settled in, Darcy and Jane animatedly discussed the plans for what the three of them were going to do over the weekend. Natasha watched them blindly, lost in thought, pretending to follow along with their cheerful conversation. But she felt like a zombie, detached from her surroundings, a puppet playing at being a human. She laughed robotically at a joke Darcy said, and faked a smile to keep her friends unaware of her heartache.

All the while the same phrase kept looping around her mind; this must have been how Alexei felt when she left him. Karma had bitten her on the ass.

Back at the university, Steve was trying to find Natasha to no avail. Either no one had seen her, or no one was talking to him about her. He had gone as far as to threaten people with physical pain, but no one was talking. He approached Phil, who just looked at him with disappointed eyes.

"Where is she, Phil?!" Steve growled at his former assistant, as he curled his fists menacingly. "I need to talk to her."

Phil looked at Steve's hands fearfully before meeting his eyes, and saying with an audible gulp "you can beat me to death if you want to Cap but I won't tell you a thing."

Steve just stared at Phil as a muscle ticked in his jaw before turning and stalking away.

Steve knew that Clint and Stark were not options so he didn't bother approaching them, and instead headed to find Banner. But Bruce simply said he didn't know where she was. His last option was to go to the one person he was trying to avoid the most, and the one person he knew would have the answer. So he sighed, and walked toward Natasha's room to talk to her roommate. He stood at the door for a few seconds before yelling into the locked door.

"Pepper! I need to talk!"

"Go the fuck away, Rogers!" Was the shrill response he received through the wood.

"Where's Natasha?! I need to apologize to her. Please Pepper!"

The door swung open and a red faced Pepper appeared. "What in the hell would makes you think that I would tell you anything after what you did to her?!"

"Please, I need to explain things to her. Please Pepper. I have to!" Steve begged openly.

But Pepper was unmoved by Steve's pleading, and mercilessly said, "Just leave her alone, Steve. You had your chance and you blew it. It's over!"

"I will never give up on her, Pepper. I will do anything in my power to get her back." Steve responded with conviction.

"Then I have to tell you, she hates you, Rogers." Pepper said with a sneer. "You're wasting your time, because there is no way she is ever going to listen to any lie that comes out of your mouth." With that Pepper slammed the door in Steve's face.