Chapter Fifteen

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Cyrus

The sound of my cell broke through my sleep, making me jolt up in bed. My heart thudded, my gaze darting around as I tried to get my bearings. My phone rang again, my brain foggy with sleep. “Crow?” I said into the empty room, as though there was something I needed from him. Was Eddie calling me? He was the only person who would harass me in the middle of the night.

My stare landed on Crow’s spot on the floor, my chest tight, like the weight of the world had just been pressed against it.

He wasn’t there. Where in the hell would Crow be?

I fumbled my phone from the nightstand. Melody flashed across the screen. My shaky finger pressed the green button. “Hello?”

“Oh, Cyrus. Thank God you’re okay. I haven’t seen you in a few days, and I was worried, and I didn’t want to overstep, but just now I was coming out of the bar and noticed police lights. I walked down to your apartment, and they’re arresting the mountain man for breaking in!”

I shot to my feet. My mouth went dry, and my throat constricted. “No! Stop them! He’s not breaking in.” But really, he was. I didn’t know what in the hell Crow was doing at my place. Did he often leave at night and I slept through it?

“They’re trying to get him to calm down. They have him cuffed, but he’s flailing, trying to get free. He won’t talk to them.”

I couldn’t help but picture it, a feral Crow feeling trapped and scared. The vision made my gut churn.

I went for the door as if there was something I could do. He’d taken the truck, and I didn’t have my car, so how could I reach him? But the door wouldn’t open. I tried again, tugging at it, but Crow had locked me in the room.

A sense of dread flooded me. He’d locked me in, and that wasn’t normal. It was scary, but it was also Crow, and I didn’t believe he would ever hurt me.

“Please, Melody, you have to talk to them. Crow’s not going to speak in a situation like this—if he’s even able. Tell them I’m fine. Tell them I gave him permission to go into my apartment.”

“Cyrus…are you friends with him?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer that, and at the moment, it didn’t matter. “Please, Melody. I can’t… I don’t have my car, and I’m up the mountain. Please help him.”

She let out a loud whoosh of breath. “Yeah, of course. Let me see what I can do.”

I heard noises in the background but couldn’t make out what was going on, but then Melody said, “Officer Paulson?”

“Step back,” someone ordered her.

“This is Cyrus on the phone. He said he gave Crow permission to be in his apartment. Cyrus is…he’s at his place.”

It was hard to hear over the blood rushing through my ears, but suddenly, a masculine voice said, “This is Officer Paulson.”

“Oh thank God. Crow was doing me a favor. He didn’t break in. You have to let him go. You can’t restrain him. He’s going to feel attacked and react. Please, let him go!”

“Shit,” Paulson cursed. “I would like to do just that, but I can’t get him to talk to me. I can’t get him to settle down. If I unlock him, I’m afraid he’s going to hurt himself or someone else.”

“Let me try. Can you put the phone close to him?” I had no idea if it would work, but I didn’t know what else to do.

“Sure,” he said, then to someone else, “Disperse the crowd for me. All except for Melody, please.” There was a rustling noise, and then, “Crow? I’ve got Cyrus on the phone for you. I’m gonna hold it close to you so you can hear him, but you’ve gotta settle down. I’m trying to help you here, but you’re not making it easy.”

A recognizable growl broke through the night. Feral Crow had come out to play.

“Here he is,” Paulson told me. More swishing sounds, more snarling, and then Crow’s heavy breathing.

“Crow…it’s me. You have to settle down, okay? Paulson wants to let you go. He told me he would, but they have to know you’re not going to get violent and hurt them or yourself.”

He didn’t answer, just made a snarling noise that should have been scary, but really, it just broke my heart.

“Please, Crow. I need you. I’m locked up here,” I said, hoping like hell Paulson couldn’t hear me. “If you get arrested, what’s going to happen to me? You have to settle down so they’ll let you come back to me.”

His breathing slowed some and the noises stopped.

“This mountain needs you up here. You belong here, and the only way to get back to your mountain is to calm down. Please, Crow. Come home.”

I could hear the change in him, hear how different he sounded, which made the tension in me relax, my body slumping.

Paulson was saying, “I’m going to walk you to your truck, Crow, and then I’ll unlock your cuffs, give you the stuff you had, and let you go. I want you to head straight home, okay?”

I didn’t hear a response from Crow. Paulson must have pulled the cell back to his ear because he said, “Cyrus, we’re letting him go, and if we have any questions, we’ll give you a call.”

“Yeah, of course. Absolutely. Whatever you need.”

“You know this isn’t how tonight was supposed to be handled, right?”

“I do. Thank you.” Paulson was a good man, an ally Crow hadn’t been aware he had. “Can you stay on the phone with me until he’s in his truck?”

There was a pause, which I assumed had Paulson wondering what was going on, but then he just offered a soft, “Sure,” in response, and then I heard him say, “I’m going to help you to your feet, Crow.”

I held my breath, afraid Crow would react badly, but he didn’t.

“We’re walking to the truck now,” Paulson said. He was incredible, and I was so glad it had been him there tonight rather than Officer Dirk. They were the only two I’d had any experience with. “I’m unlocking him—here’s your stuff,” Paulson said before the door slammed, the truck rumbled to life, and Crow drove away.

“He’s on his way now. One of your neighbors called the police. I was just going to talk to him, but…well, that didn’t go as planned.”

Relief flooded me. “Thank you. I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

“No problem. I know he doesn’t get a fair rep.” He paused, seemed to think, then asked, “Are you sure you’re okay up there? Do you know what you’re doing?”

“I’m fine. This is where I want to be.”

“I’m going to have Melody take a photo of my card and text it to you. If you need anything, I want you to call me, okay?”

“He won’t hurt me,” I defended.

“I didn’t say he would, but I have no idea why you’re up there, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

I agreed. He must have handed the phone back to Melody because just before I hung up, she said, “What’s going on, Cyrus?”

Rather than answering, I said, “Thank you. I didn’t…I didn’t give you a chance before, and that’s my issue, not yours. But you were a good friend today. That means more than you’ll ever know.”

“No problem. I’m not going to see you for a while, am I?”

“I can’t say, but if you don’t, just know that I’m where I want to be and I’m okay.”

There was a short pause before Melody said, “I can do that, but will you do me a favor and keep in touch?”

I smiled, feeling like even though we didn’t know each other well, I mattered to Melody. That was an incredible feeling. “I can do that.”

As soon as we ended the call, I climbed into bed and curled up into a ball, with my cell phone clutched in my hand, watching each minute tick by. The anger was still there. Crow had locked me in a room and then driven down the mountain. What if there’d been a fire? What if Melody hadn’t called me and he’d gotten arrested? A million things could have gone wrong.

I was unsure what to expect when he came home too. Which Crow would I see? The one who’d been completely shut off when he’d nearly broken Billy’s hand? The one who’d cooked me meals and took a bath with me and taught me how to weatherproof windows and can vegetables? Or would it be a completely different Crow, one I hadn’t met yet?

None of that mattered to me, though. I just wanted him home.

Time ticked by too slowly. Every minute felt like a decade as I lay there waiting for him.

At some point I must have dozed off because I didn’t hear the truck. I didn’t even hear the bedroom unlock until Crow was pushing open the door.

I rolled over and jumped out of bed, not caring that I was still naked. “What were you thinking! Why did you go without me? Why the hell did you lock me in the room?”

Can’t you trust me? Will you ever?

It took me a moment to notice his eyes, the wildness to them. His pupils were huge, and his breaths sounded close to a pant. There had been numerous times before when I thought Crow looked wild, feral, but they had nothing on him at this moment as he took a step, then another toward me.

I walked backward, goose bumps racing across my skin. The hairs on my arms stood on end. It was me who couldn’t speak now, my adrenaline spiking. My gaze shot to his wrists when he moved closer. Bruises colored his skin from the handcuffs, making some of the fear inside me melt. “Crow? It’s me. I won’t hurt you.”

As unbelievable as it might sound, it was almost as if something flashed in his eyes, like when the electricity flickered off, then on again. He moved forward, and I went backward, like he was stalking me. Part of me knew I should be scared, but I couldn’t be—not of him.

The back of my legs hit the bed, and I fell down onto it.

“Need.” The one word came out broken, and grittier than I’d ever heard from him, like it had taken everything inside him to get it out. He started to shake, like he was struggling to contain himself, like he didn’t belong in his skin. “Yes or no,” pushed past his lips, clueing me in.

“Yes. God yes.”

And then Crow was on me.