Oleander - Bucky BarnesxOC

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: BULLETPROOF

A/N: I'm just ramping things up in this chapter. This is the fallout from the previous chapter, and it's only going to get crazier. No smut, this is all plot development. More notes at the end.

She's terrified. She can barely hold the bottle of body wash in her hands and winds up sinking to the floor, sobbing. James has to strip his clothes off and help her wash her hair and scrub down her body. She's a fucking mess. He brushes her hair for her and braids it before picking out some comfortable clothes for her to wear. She puts on one of his old NYU sweaters and a pair of leggings. They don't speak the entire time. He dries her tears and she lets him kiss her on the cheek. As devastated as she is and terrified that he's going to say something that will break her heart, she doesn't want to push him away. She needs someone right now.

With his help, it doesn't take her long to get ready. They hop in the car and drive toward Cedars Sinai where her aunt is currently in the ICU. Dahlia's fists are clenched. She can't lose the only family she has left. James is gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles are white.

Dahlia watches three dots pop up and then disappear again. Her stomach is in knots as she looks over at James. There's no music playing, but his hand is still on her thigh, as it it always is. She's not angry with him, but she needs answers, and it feels like James has been lying to her again. This relationship cannot work if it's solely based on lies.

"You'd better start talking," she says softly.

He takes a deep breath.

"I'm trying to figure out what to say."

"We don't have time for that, James!" Dahlia spits. "You said you had something to tell me, so you'd better start talking."

She's furious, grief-stricken, and scared. Rita's life is on the line, and if they both know who did it, one of them better say it out loud right now.

"I think Steve shot your aunt."

"Fuck," Dahlia whispers. She covers her face with her hands. Deep down, in her heart of hearts, she knew it was true. She was just hoping he would say something like that Wilson Fisk guy - someone who was separated from the two of them. Dahlia has had a bad feeling about Steve since the very beginning. He's been hot and cold toward her, and she's never liked the way he looked at her.

"Steve has a history... it started back when I was in college. Once he gets his hooks into someone, he becomes obsessed and he won't stop until he controls anything and everything about them."

"What do you mean?"

"He's killed women. For leaving him, and I have it on good authority that he's pissed off that you're going to inherit everything from the business and be my partner. He doesn't like to be pushed out, so he's trying to get to--"

Tears prick Dahlia's eyes and she shoves him in the chest.

"You knew this. You knew this and you didn't say anything to me?!"

"I thought that he had gotten help. He mentioned he was going to therapy—"

"James, I told you that I didn't want our relationship to be based on lies! You just put me in danger and this might have killed my fucking aunt!"

"He's never done anything like this before!" James snaps, looking over at her. His eyes are blazing. "I had no idea he would do something like this."

"Are you sure it's him?"

"Yes," James says softly. "I kept him close because I didn't want him to go after Rebecca, or anyone else I cared about. But he's never gone after the family of the woman I love." He breathes deeply. "When we were in college, he killed his ex-girlfriend... and then there were others. I covered for him, lied to the police, paid money, made it go away."