Page 31 of On the Mountain
I let out a low growl in response, my hair a curtain over my face.
He lowered his voice. “I don’t want to arrest you. I don’t feel like you’ll get a fair shot, but you’ve gotta give me something. Where is Cyrus?”
I snapped my teeth at him like an animal. That’s what I felt like in moments like this, as though I wasn’t human.
“Jesus, I’m trying to help you. Did Cyrus say you could be in his apartment? Is there some way we can speak to him?”
Words were too jumbled in my head for me to sort them, anger raging inside me as I tugged to get out of the cuffs. Pain shot through my wrists, but it wasn’t enough to deter me.
“You’re going to hurt yourself. You need to stop,” Paulson begged.
He tried to reach for me, but I snapped at his hand with my teeth. He immediately pulled back.
My heart was breaking down my chest walls, head spinning. Any time the outside world restrained me, it followed the same pattern: they took me from my home, tried to keep me away, and I didn’t care what I had to do to make sure that didn’t happen again.
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.”