Gallium // Bucky Barnes // 18+

61. Naked Truth.

I'm the Queen of Hearts
The Queen of Hearts my baby
Don't you change the cards, you change the cards my baby
Cause' I tried and tried, but I'm moving on
And I love you and I love you,
though you did me wrong
Cause' I'm the Queen of Hearts
The Queen of Hearts my baby.

~Queen of Hearts.
(By: Starla Edney.)

"You better have a really good explanation for these." Krystal said sternly, looking at Steve and Bucky who were, still, standing by the closed door of Steve's office, not being able to move seeing Krystal.

"Uh-" Steve stuttered, "I have no idea what you're talking about." His voice pitched high as he curled his lips in with brows raised.

Krystal tilted her head, shadowing her eyes at him then moved her gaze over to Bucky who just shrugged, trying to avoid her eye line.

"Okay-" Krystal ran out of patience, "there are so many deals made under my name, one after the other!" She emphasized her words, stepping around the desk, "Which I never made." She added, flipping through the pages.

Steve and Bucky, shared a look while Krystal stared at them, blatantly.

"Well?" Krystal asked as she was freaking out. "Either of you gonna tell me what's happening? Because, clearly you know something, I don't." She repeated, her voice thinning. "I mean, wha- what is this?" She ruffled the pages.

Seeing her get all worked up, "Okay-" Bucky said to her, giving Steve a slight glance, "You wanna sit down?" He asked, taking a step towards her.

"No! I want answers." Krystal said, hysterically, shaking her head.

"Yeah, and we'll give them to you." Steve said, "just sit down for a second, Krys." He added, taking a step towards her.

"Kry-" Bucky got interrupted by a text as his phone buzzed in his hand and he looked down at it, "God-" He looked up at Steve, "Connie's here. I'll come back later, Steve will clear it up." He said to Krystal before rushing out of the office.

Krystal turned her head over to Steve with raised brows, and he exhaled walking over to the couch settled on the side of the room. Taking his spot he signalled Krystal to join him, exaspratedly, Krystal sat down beside him.

"Okay, before I begin-" Steve satrted, "Don't get mad?" He said in sort of a question.

"We'll see about that." Krystal said with scrunched eye brows, nodding her head ever so slightly.

Taking a deep breath, "fair enough." He snapped his neck a little, getting comfortable on the couch. "Okay-" he exhaled sharply, "we know that you never made these deals." He motioned towards the file sitting between the two people.

"And by we you mean?" Krystal asked, leaning back on the armrest.

"Me and Bucky." Steve answered and she nodded her head, "We received these from Connie, a while ago. Well- he did. He told me later." He added.

With narrowed eyes, "how long is a while?" Krystal asked in a low voice.

Steve took a breath with curled lips before saying, "months." He squashed his eyes, shut, in embarrassment.

"What!?" Krystal was caught off guard, "months? Are you kidding me?" She asked, startled by the truth. "You guys had these for months and didn't bother to tell me?" She added.

"We had our reasons, Krys." Steve said, sincerely to which Krystal didn't say anything. "Connie gave these to Bucky after we did the press and she threatened to release these to the authorities." He held the seriousness. "Bucky tried to negotiate but the documents were full proof with your name and information." He went on.