TWENTY-FIVE—AN OLD MARRIED COUPLE
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"YOU KNOW, IT wouldn't be the worst thing if you actually came into town with me today," I shrugged, trying my best to be nonchalant as I spoke to Bucky. "You could meet my coworkers, get a haircut, see a movie. You know, the normal stuff." I checked to see that my phone was, in fact, in my hand and my Walmart smock was draped over my arm. Thanks to a reminder that I frequently forgot to set on my phone, I rarely went to work without everything I needed now. Though it seemed small, it was always a great achievement.

Oh, yeah. I got a job. Sure, I was just working at Walmart, but it was nice to be able to reach into my wallet or bank account without feeling a pang of guilt tug at my heartstrings every time. Besides, Bucky loved to eat. That was clearer than it had ever been before.

A few months had passed since our first little gallivanting adventure to the grocery store, and while we were both much more comfortable going outside without being seen, it had proven impossible to get Bucky to venture very far past the line of trees that would lead to town. I would usually try to trick him into going further than he realized we were going, but—frustrating as it was—nothing seemed to get past him. 

When Bucky scoffed and let out a grunt of disapproval, I was jolted back to reality. "Yeah, I don't feel like jumping at the opportunity to seal my own fate if someone recognizes me out there."

Sighing, I sidled up beside his hunched figure that was sitting in a chair at the dinner table. With an amused grin on my lips, I gently reached out and tapped his shoulder, letting my hand rest there for a moment or two. "It's been almost a year since you came here, Buck. No one's found us, and you're probably about as safe as you have been in a while." His head had tilted up to find my eyes; I unconsciously brushed his hair away from his eyes. "Besides, aren't you getting major cabin fever? If I were you, I'd want to just get in the car and drive."

Bucky's eyes were level with my torso and he wrapped his arm around my middle, tugging me closer to him. For at least a few seconds, I was breathless. When he glanced up at me and the icy blue depths of his eyes were sparkling with mischief, I knew that it had been his goal all along. "On the contrary, Elda Reid," he murmured, trailing his fingers up the side of my body and making me shiver with the contact, "I'd rather stay here...with you."

"O-oh," I tried—and failed—to mask my surprise, but my eyes widened as he began to stand up, his hand never leaving me. Soon he was towering over me, his chest pressed up against mine, and my phone clattered out of my hand and tumbled onto the table, my smock doing the same. 

In all the days we'd spent together, all the times he'd gotten like this, so deliciously flirtatious, he'd never looked at me the way he was looking at me now. With his pupils blown wide, his eyelids hooded, and his fingertips brushing lightly across my arm as he slowly made his way up to my collar bone. "Elda," he whispered huskily, his voice nearly cracking. It never failed to make me crumble when I heard his tongue roll over my name in his mouth. It may have been the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard. 

A shaky breath fell from my lips in an attempt at a response, my body refusing to let my brain function properly. "Yeah?" I managed to breathe out. 

Clearly satisfied with my reaction, Bucky cupped my cheek with his hand, resulting in my leaning into his touch. "Can I kiss you again?"

I blushed furiously as I replied with a breathless, "Uh-huh," and tipped my head up to close the distance between our lips. 

This was our eighth kiss. Not that I was counting, of course.

His lips were less hesitant than I'd come to expect from him now; he was going after my lips with a certain ferocity that I never knew was in him. It wasn't a problem, however. In fact, it was welcomed, the way he tugged at my bottom lip with his teeth, nibbling at it and no doubt leaving it red when he pulled away. My cheeks were flushed pink, I was certain of that, and I reached up with a hand to touch my lips, feeling the aftermath of his kiss. Grinning breathlessly, I planted another soft kiss to his mouth again, just a sweet, chaste thing. 

"You know, you dont have to keep asking if you can kiss me," I said. "I'll probably want to kiss you forever."

If it were possible, his eyes widened even further. Bucky smirked widely. "I know," he replied, brushing the pad of his thumb over my cheek. "I just like seeing you get all flustered when you say yes."

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After another shift at the register at Walmart, I finally made my way home. I suppose it was no surprise that I couldn't completely focus on the customers given the ghost of Bucky's little stunt before I left for work. So when I walked into the house and called out his name, I was in desperate need of seeing him again.

"Hey, did I ever tell you how good of a book this is?" he said, padding down the stairs in into my view. In his hands was my copy of Murder on the Orient Express. "I mean," he added, "Hercules Poirot is kind of an egotistical dick sometimes, but it's fascinating, right? It's like he already knew who the murderer was at the very beginning!"

I cocked an eyebrow and chuckled at his enthusiasm. "Okay, first, it's not Hercules, that's the Roman demigod that The Rock plays in the Disney adaptation. His name is pronounced with a French accent, more like 'air-cule.' Second, I wasn't aware you were sneaking into my bedroom and looking at my things now?" Crossing my arms, I waited for an answer.

Bucky reverted to his speechless self that had plagued this house for the first six months that he'd been here. "Sorry, I was just—"

"I'm only joking, Buck," I chuckled again. I set my things down on the couch and went over to him so I could playfully shove him. "I don't mind, as long as you don't look at my...undergarments." Smirking, I flounced away from him, where he stood rigidly, his eyes hunting over my body, no doubt picturing what I was hinting at. Oh, it was fun when he was like this. 

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath, and tossed the book on the table, the sound causing me to turn around and meet his eyes, see the undeniable lust in his eyes—

A knock sounded at the front door. Then a panicked voice. "Elda, it's me! Open up, it's important!"

Sam. He was back. 

The tone in the room was no longer playful as it had been, it was now hushed and tense, seeming as though the sun had gone down in a matter of seconds. I shot a worried look at Bucky, whose face was hardened into an emotionless mask. We both knew what this meant. If Sam was back, either something had gone miraculously right, or something had gone unequivocally wrong.

This time when I opened the door to someone standing on the other side, I didn't hesitate. Sam stared at us with a look of defeat and terror. "Elda," he said, and when his voice shook with the words, my heart dropped. "You've got to get out of here. Tonight."

Something was so, so wrong.

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yay, i finally got another chapter up! i hope you guys liked it, we're really picking up steam in these last few chapters! let's see if i can finish this book before 2019!

xoxo lola

publised on: dec. 28, 2018