Chapter 38 #3
“You don’t own her,” he pants, and then spits blood on the ground.
I lean in, close to his ear, and snarl.
“Wrong. I own all the important parts of Haven,” I say quietly. “And deep down, you’ve always known her heart belongs to someone else. That person is me.”
I see it, then. The doubt.
So I hit him again before letting go. He slumps to the ground, coughing. Bracing against the bus, I prepare to kick Charles’s head in until he stops moving altogether.
“Cyrus!”
Haven’s voice cuts through the noise sharp enough to register, and I pause before my boot can land.
“Stop!”
Hands grab and pull me back. It takes multiple people pulling, and Haven pushing me from the front, but I slowly move away from Charles. My eyes remain locked on him.
“You don’t get to touch her again!” I point at him. “You fucking hear me. Don’t you fucking touch her.”
“Cyrus, stop,” she orders, cupping my face and forcing me to look at her. “Stop. I mean it.” I focus on her wide green eyes and terrified expression.
“You can’t go back to him. I’ll kill him.”
She doesn’t hesitate, which is the only thing that saves Charles’s life.
“I’m not. Not ever.”
I relax and stop fighting to get to him.
Sirens wail. Lights flash as two police cars pull up. Cops flood the space fast, shouting and moving in.
“Break it up! Now!”
It’s pure chaos as Declan tries to run interference. I never look away from Haven. She is the only thing keeping me in one piece.
The officers grab Charles and me, forcing us apart. As my muscles relax, I realize that I’m breathing hard, and blood is running down my knuckles. I probably won’t be able to move tomorrow, but I don’t care. I’ll do it all over again.
“That man attacked me,” Charles says quickly, pointing like he’s already in a courtroom. “I’m a lawyer, and I want him arrested.”
A humorless chuckle bubbles up.
“He shoved me first. I was just protecting myself from my girlfriend’s violent and cheating ex-boyfriend, who stalked me here to our hotel,” I yell back, and Charles’s face flushes.
“That’s not how it happened.”
An ambulance pulls in, adding to the light show and action. Declan is suddenly in my face.
“Don’t say a fucking word to them. Do you hear me? Your only word is lawyer, and not another one,” Declan snarls as he makes a call. “I’ll have someone meet you at the station.”
“What about Haven?”
“She’ll be there too. Remember, say nothing.” He marches off.
My arms are pulled behind me, and cold metal snaps around my wrists. I find Haven in the crowd, standing with Eren, and talking to an officer. Her face pales as she turns around and puts her hands behind her back. I’m thoroughly fucking confused when they cuff her as well.
“She didn’t do anything! It was all me,” I yell, but no one is listening. “Get your hands off her.”
I lunge to get away, but the cop takes out my knee, and I go down, face-first into the asphalt. Every muscle and bone in my body screams in agony, but I keep struggling to get to her.
“Calm down. Right now,” the officer says.
“But she didn’t do anything,” I try to argue with the guy who has a hold of me. “Please…she wasn’t part of this. Why is she being arrested?”
“I can’t tell you that. Now, are you going to behave?”
“What am I three?”
“I don’t know, sir, you tell me.”
My body rages, but I stay calm.
“Yes. I’ll behave.”
He doesn’t respond, just hauls me to my feet and walks me close enough that I can yell out to Haven.
“Why are you being arrested?”
Her eyes flash, and her jaw locks. For a second, I think she’ll refuse to tell me.
“The girl from earlier is pressing charges,” she says, shaking her head. “Unbelievable.”
Oh shit.
“Move,” the cop says as he pushes me into the backseat of the cruiser.
The door slams. This isn’t my first ride in the back of a cop car, but I had kind of hoped I was beyond that stage.
Amid the chaos, people are filming on their phones, and a news crew is pulling in. Vex and Ledger are speaking to an officer. It looks like it is getting heated enough for them to end up in here with me. Declan is on the phone. Charles is sitting in the back of the ambulance getting treatment.
Fucker, this is all his fault. God, I hate lawyers.
The dark and twisted voice in my head laughs, mocking me.
This is all your doing.
A second later, the other car door opens.
Haven is shoved in beside me, eyes blazing.
The sudden silence is heavy as they close us in together. I look at her, but she doesn’t look at me.
“Are you okay?
Nothing. Haven doesn’t acknowledge me. She just stares out the window like I’m not sitting right beside her. My jaw cracks. I’m clenching my teeth so hard.
The car starts moving. And for the first time tonight…I feel something besides possessive rage. Not regret. Nothing that clean and simple, but close enough to feel like it. The sensation is worse than my heart being torn from my chest.
Because she won’t even look at me.
And that?
That’s worse than anything Charles throws at me, worse than anything my aching body can put me through.
Leaning my head back, I close my eyes.
Fuck.