Layers Of

Chapter 10

Well after midnight, everyone stayed in the living room - drinking. Moderately, of course, since Pepper rationed the alcohol. Bruce had retired to bed early. Most of everyone talked except for Bucky and Kaylee. If he tried, Kaylee would glare at him - challenging him to even talk and she would hurt him. The alpha always backed down to the omega, not wanting to hurt her.

Steve kept looking between the two, almost about to say something when his best friend practically begged him not to with his puppy eyes. The beta wanted to help his friend get out of the situation when the problem fixed itself.

"We're going to our room," Nat said from beside the omega. She stood up with Kaylee and proceeded toward the elevator.

Kaylee seemed to let out a sigh of relief when the elevator closed and leaned against the wall. Throughout the entire evening and morning, the only thing she smelled was the stench of the Alpha and she fought with it. Everytime he spoke, his aroma grew and the more she felt like she owed him something.

Nat watched her closely, her arms crossed in front of her. "That went better than I thought," she muttered. "Thought you were going to attack him or something."

Kaylee looked up at her friend, glaring. "I don't do that. He's just a monster."

Nat shook her head as the elevator doors opened again. She watched as the omega stumbled out, opening her apartment door and going in. She tried the follow her in but the door was slammed in her face. The beta huffed but went back up stairs to the 'party'.

The only people still up stairs were Steve, Buck, and Tony. She sat back in the shadows as she got a clear view of what was happening.

Bucky sat where they left him, his head in his hands. "I can't tell you what happened," he said. "It's not my place."

Steve swallowed hard. "Buck, we can't help without someone telling us what's going on."

Buck looked up at his friend, his face red with guilt. "I was only following orders," he said. "I had no choice. They were going to make me do it anyway!"

"We understand that," Tony said softly. "My main concern is her safety. If she feels comfortable. I can't do anything if I don't truly understand why she hates your guts."

The brunette looked down, contemplating on the issue. He deserved to be hated by this omega. "I trained her-"

"The Soldier trained her," Steve said. "You are not him."

Buck huffed. "I trained her to be an assassin. She came with me on every mission. Without fail, we were accompanied by either two betas and an alpha or two other alphas and a beta. She was scared to death of them. They were always planning together on hurting her. There was this idea around the compound that she liked me cause everytime she had her heats, she came straight to me for help.

"Hydra gave her her own suppressants to take with her one missions but being the forgetful child she was, she always seemed to forget them. Everytime her heats started, she begged me to help. I had a bag of my own and that helped her just as much.

"I think what she really hates me about is her friends. Most of them were omegas as well, a few betas. She hated alphas. I wasn't allowed to do anything for my ruts when I got them. I get angrier - stronger. I break out of this cell they put me in, I break out of chains. I would run to to stop thinking of it. A few omegas get in my way and I screwed around.

"Hydra kept finding out. Put me on more suppressants. I don't even know what I did but they'd be found them the following day or the next dead. The doctors always came up with a ridiculous cause of death like "consensual marking". What really happened is that I strangled them. I never left a fingerprint.

"What I did was wrong. It will always be wrong."

"Why did you help her? How did you?" Steve asked, laying a hand on his friend's shoulder for support.

"I protected her from the others. I made sure not to touch her at all. I gave her suppressants."

"That's the only reason why she hates you? Because of her friends?"

"I trained her to be a killer!" Bucky snapped, standing up quickly. His heart began racing, running wild with anger. "I hate Hydra for what they did to me but they took care of me - of him!" He shook his head, growling. "She has every damn right to hate me. If that makes her happy so be it!" He yelled, storming to the stairs, slamming the door behind him and made his way downstairs to his cell.

He stopped halfway down, noticing a fate scent. A sweet, frustrating scent of Kaylee. His heart stopped, wanting to apologize. He wanted to show her he was different now, that it was hydra that killed her friends. The alpha followed the scent down a few more flights before he stopped at the door to her apartment.

"Kaylee," he sighed, sitting down on one of the stairs. He metal arm clanged slightly against the metal railing as he sat but he didn't mind. The man stared at the door, willing the omega to come out; to hear him out. Instead, his ears heard a soft crying noise. The scent of salty tears and more frustration, of anger, reached his nose and his heart sank in his chest.

"I'm sorry," he whispered and started downstairs once more.