Burn

Chapter four: Vaunting

Sorry this took so long to update. I promised a weekly update but this took longer to write and I was supposed to update this morning, but my school WiFi decided to crash and so I couldn't edit until about 5 this evening and then supper, and yeah.

But here it is. I hope you all enjoy it!

Like Steve had mentioned, the plane landed somewhere in Minnesota, in an open field in the middle of the night. Addie, in a drunken-like state between sleep and wakefulness, stumbled along the sandy field behind the two men carrying her bags. They hurried onto another airplane, a much smaller and less impressive one than Stark's, and flew off. Addie drifted off to sleep once she was buckled in, her head pressed against the mushy side of the plane.

Addie was not aware of the landing, but as she woke up, she saw rays of early morning sunshine seeping in through he tiny window over James' head. The latter was staring off to the side, his chin jutted out in thought. The brunette took her time to finally look him over when he wasn't staring at her with a frown. He had changed sometime when she was asleep, which made her feel dirty in her old clothes. His long sleeve black shirt was exchanged for a round collar tee the color of blood, which displayed more of his metal arm and more skin of his flesh limb. What impressed her the most was how broad his chest was and the waves the tight shirt made over his biceps. She wondered where the metal met the skin and if the sight was gross or endearing.

His face had the same shadowy stubble as before, but it was darker from being neglected, which made the light blue of his orbs gleam. He was not a bad sight to take in, yet the attitude that steamed off of him was almost disgusting.

"Alright!" Cap exclaimed as he jumped down from the cockpit, a huge pearly white smile on his face. "Time to go."

They marched down off the plane, Cap and Addie carrying her bags and James walking ahead. They had landed on a private runway, a black tower looming in the distance. It was early morning, barely passed nine in the morning, but Addie felt the heat like a brick in the face. Her palms were so slippery with sweat she almost dropped her bag, and she felt like a huge blanket that weighed tons was dropped over her shoulders. When she looked ahead, the horizon was beginning to shimmer.

"Where exactly did we land?" she asked, squinting her eyes through the harsh rays of early morning. Steve laughed coarsely and looked at her with one eye closed.

"We are near the city of Dalhart, but we'll be staying in a nearby compound off the city limits," he answered with a side smirk, sweat gleaming on his nape. The sun was making his skin glow and shimmer in the harsh light of the sun.

"Hold on," Addie said, her mouth dry, "we landed in Texas?"

Steve chuckled, but held back any remarks. They walked off the runway, the heat of the oncoming day making the ground steam and glimmer. They were met with another SUV, a very disgruntled Bucky sitting in the drivers seat.

"Should he even be driving?" she asked Steve as they loaded her bags into the trunk.

"I have a metal arm, not a dysfunction!" Bucky yelled from up front.

They drove for a while, the dry planes of Texas scrolling passed Addie's new eyes. She was drawn to the colors; sandy brown and ocean blue and peach beige. The sky was clear, the sun a huge sphere of orange and yellow shining from right overhead. If it hadn't been for the air conditioning in the car, she would have been sweating bullets and rocks. When they drove through the city, a rather small one, she was glued to the window like Allie was to Noah in the Notebook. She was not used to Southern ways of living, having lived in Canada her whole life. Not only was she strongly unaccustomed to the heat but also to the cities. Everything was a bit smaller, squarer, and short. She could only imagine how unaccustomed she'd be to life in Texas.