The Grey Raven // Bucky X Oc (Discontinued For Now)

⠂Chapter 14⠐

“Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner,” Clare says, sitting quickly.

I scoot a cup of hot chocolate over to her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you’re here now,” I murmur,

Clare gives me an appreciative smile as she takes a slow sip of the hot cocoa. She exchanges a polite nod of greeting with James before looking back at me. “I’m assuming you saw that they are outside right now?”

“Yes. I nearly had a heart attack,” I joke, smiling tightly. I slowly reach over and pull Bucky’s apple cider toward me while he glares at me.

He does nothing to stop me, though he looks mildly annoyed at my choice of action. I take a sip of it and the flavor easily overpowers the taste of my tea. 

“That’s good,” I murmur, handing it back.

“Are you going to call the police on them?” Clare asks, choosing to ignore my momentary theft of Bucky’s drink.

Bucky and I exchange a look. “I was thinking about it but I think you’d have to be the one to make the call since you’re the one who’s noticed them,” I respond quietly.

“Do you want me to do it now?” she asks, looking between us.

“Wait until it’s closer to closing time,” Bucky murmurs, staring down at his cup.

Clare nods and glances back at the counter. “Brb,” she says, standing. She waits in line before reaching the front, making Owen pause and glance over to where I’m sitting. He blinks slowly before turning back to Clare and taking her order.

They quietly argue about something, which I’m assuming is Clare paying, until Owen gives up, letting her pay.

Grace, who’s even younger than Owen, comes out from the back storage room with a basket of fresh pastries to refill the depleting stock. A small smile springs onto my face as I watch her meticulously put the pastries into the glass case.

A moment later Clare returns with a slice of pumpkin pie. I screw my face up slightly at it. “You know it’s my favorite,” she mutters, giving me a look.

I roll my eyes. “Yes. That’s one of the only reasons I allow it to be made,” I murmur back.

“Why are you all dressed up?” Clare asks, eating a bit of the pie.

“I went to deal with Karl,” I respond.

Clare stares at me for a moment, chewing. “How’d that go?” she asks, seeming to try and prevent a laugh from escaping.

“I fired him,” I respond with a shrug.

Clare’s eyebrows raise and she stares at me for a very long minute. “I guess we’ll have to get a new CEO then,” she murmurs, looking down at her pie.

“Shit,” Bucky whispers.

I look at him swiftly to find him staring out of the windows. I glance over and my heart nearly stops as I see the people in the SUV get out.

“This is a bad idea,” I hear one of them say very faintly, their voice nearly getting lost in the noise of the cafe.

“I promise you. That was them,” the other says, their voice even harder to hear.

“Can you hear them?” Bucky asks suddenly, covering up whatever the other’s response had been.

I let out an annoyed breath. “Yeah. Until you talked,” I hiss, turning to him.

“Sorry,” he murmurs.

I look down at my cup and trace one of my fingers around the lid, trying to catch anything else they say.

“-our only chance to confirm if it’s him.” My eyes narrow.

“We’ll get other chances. Also, why would they go into the cafe she owns?”

“This is the best chance we’ve been given. Also, I don’t give a shit about them going into her cafe.”

“Don’t you think they might be onto us?”

“Ha! No. Of course not. We’ve been careful.”

I look over at Clare. “Call the police,” I say quietly.

It takes a moment for what I said to sink in before she finally takes out her phone and dials 9-1-1. “I’m going to the back room,” she murmurs, standing.

Since very few people are waiting in line at the moment, no one seems to notice as she goes behind the counter and disappears behind the curtain.

“What do we do?” I ask Bucky, turning to him.

He stares at me, some emotion hidden in his blank expression. “We sit, have a chat, and hope Clare can convince the police to get here in time,” he responds quietly.

“Have a chat?” I yell-whisper, staring at him in disbelief. “About what?” I exclaim in a hushed voice.

“Tell me about your aunt,” he says finally, watching me carefully.

I take a pause, frowning slightly. “Uhm… Her name’s Estrella. She’s three years younger than my mom and she’s married to my uncle whose name is Edwin,” I say slowly, still confused.

“Is she nice?” he asks, his frozen expression melting slightly to show genuine interest in his gaze.

“Yeah, she’s nice… She’s also very outgoing… maybe a little overly-friendly sometimes,” I continue, starting to smile. “Oh! She also loves doing crochet and knitting and she can make super cool stuff. She actually started a little business with it alongside being a hairstylist.”

“How long has she been a hairstylist?” Bucky asks.

I raise an eyebrow at his question but answer it anyway. “I think about twenty-five years.”

“So your entire life?”

“Nearly. She started when I was one… so. Yeah, basically.” The door opens and I instinctively look up, my eyes landing on the SUV people. They pull their hoods off but keep the baseball caps and their coats on.

“They’re young,” I murmur, my mouth barely moving as I bring my eyes back to Bucky.

“How young?” he asks.

I glance up again before swiftly looking away again, not wanting them to see me looking. “Seventeen, eighteen maybe,” I respond, taking a sip of my, now lukewarm, tea.

I have a moment of quick realization and take my phone out, typing out a text to Clare.

Don’t come out. They’re inside.

~~~~~~

dramaaaaaa... fun :)