My heart pounded wildly from the sudden slam. The rain was thick enough that I couldn't make out the features of the police officer. A small part of me knew that it probably wasn't a police officer even though he had a police car. I should have driven away without opening the door but I was afraid of angering him further. Besides, the roads were dangerously slippery and I wasn't that good of a driver to venture out in such weather.
The hand knocked on the window again. Trying to gather courage miraculously from the air, I rolled down the window. In a raincoat with the hood pulled over, Micheal's sweet face made my stomach turn with relief. Okay, it was only him. Even though my great escape didn't end up to be so great after all, I'd rather face the wrath of Micheal than Cage's.
"Why?" His voice was clipped and short with anger.
I stared at my bloodied thighs. "Because Cage wasn't going to let me go back home unless I took matters into my own hands. And so I took matters into my own hands."
"November, do you know how absolutely fucking reckless-" Micheal cut himself off, trying to control his temper. He took a deep breath and looked back at me, his brown eyes holding a dark shade of disappointment. "That was a very stupid thing to do. Why are you covered in blood, November? What happened?"
Micheal deserved the truth and I was going to give that much to him. He was the only person who honestly made an effort to treat me nicely. As regretful as I felt for giving up the chance to go back home so easily, I didn't want to take my frustrations out on Micheal. "I took that stupid tracker out." I admitted with some contempt. "So how did you find me anyways since I destroyed it?"
Micheal rolled his eyes. "There's a tracker in the car, too."
"What?" I yelled with anger. "Where?"
"After the stunt you just pulled, I'm not telling." He replied wearily. "Come on. I'm taking you back to Delia's. And before you try convincing me to let you go, just remember that it's not up to me to make that decision. Cage gave me an order and I will follow it no matter what. Your freedom is not up for negotiation." Micheal reached inside and pulled keys out of the ignition. "Get out of the car, November."
Even though I had no way of escaping now, I didn't move. Micheal pulled open the door, letting the rain inside. Still, I made no effort to get out of the car. "How did you get a police car, Micheal?"
"We killed the owner and hijacked the car. It was the only way you'd willingly pull over anyways. Cage couldn't risk a car chase in this weather." His offhand reply startled me. "Let's go."
I patted my arm, trying to soothe the burning pain. "So Cage is okay?"
Micheal sighed. "Yes, November. He pulled through, just like I said. But I would recommend that you apologize to him as soon as you get in. He's....I've never seen him that angry, November. I'm not going to lie to you and say everything's fine. After Delia fixed his wound, he was supposed to rest. But would you like to know what Cage did? As soon as he found out you stole the car and left, he started to break things and throw them around the room. Delia locked the door and let him ride out his anger. He's pretty pissed at you so please, for your own safety, be careful, November. Now let's go-"
"One more question." I said nervously. What Micheal just said only made me even more terrified of going back to Delia's. I didn't want to face Cage for anything in the world. "How is Cage even alive? That bullet-"
"November, it was a very small bullet and it didn't hit anything important. Cage got lucky. Please, can you just come with me? You're going to catch a cold." Micheal tugged gently on my good arm. With some apprehension, I got out of the car and followed him back to the police car.
"One more thing." Micheal said as we walked back. "Cage is here."
"Here where?" I asked, glancing around as if he was going to miraculously appear out of thin air.
"In there." Micheal jutted his chin out to the waiting police car.
"In there?" I pointed to the car, trying to figure out if he was joking or not.
"Yes."
"Um, no."
"I'm serious, November." Micheal sounded serious, for the most part.
"No, you're kidding."
"I'm not kidding."
"Yes, you are." I argued back, refusing to believe Micheal. Cage couldn't be out here, he was at Delia's house...right? Of course he was. A bullet was just removed from his body, there was no way anyone who went through that was going to be out in this weather.
"It's okay, November." Micheal shuffled through his pocket until he found an injection. Panicking, I slapped his ear and tried running away but he caught me by the back of my shirt. "Stop trying to run away, this isn't for you." I calmed down after he said that. "Heath asked me to inject Cage with this after he saw you. It's a sedative spiked with pain medication so Cage won't completely Hulk out on you. Would you like to do the honours?"
Handing me the injection, Micheal walked back to the car. I stared at him in disbelief as Micheal slipped into the driver's seat. The windows were tinted so I couldn't tell if Cage was really in the backseat or not. "Wait, you're serious?" I squealed with incredulity. "What about the car?"
From the window, Micheal imitated an explosion with his hands. Oh, of course. Just blow up the car. Hey, I guess it was easier than cleaning up all the blood inside. Holding the injection tightly, I pulled open the door and slipped inside.
It turns out Micheal was telling the truth.
Cage sat on the left side of the backseat, his eyes fixing me with a cold glare. The look of complete fury and downheart on his beautiful face made my heart sink. Micheal began to drive, his eyes travelling through the rear view mirror to give me a supportive look. When we were a couple miles away, Micheal pressed a button on his phone and a faint boom light up the rainy sky.
I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what I could say to smooth things over. Obviously, my plan hadn't worked out. A small part of me, the very tiny part in the back of my mind where subconsciousness throbbed, knew that I didn't fight as hard as I should and that maybe I did let myself get caught. Quickly, I smothered those thoughts and fiddled with my sliced arm, trying to focus on anything but the way Cage's jaw was locked.
There was a large rectangular bandage on the back of his neck. A small dot of blood peeked through the middle. I also noticed that Delia removed my cat-shaped bandage from Cage's hand and replaced it with the same white rectangle gauze.
"Do it." Cage suddenly growled, holding out his arm to me. Micheal cast me another weary look. I bought the injection out and held it tightly, unsure of what was going to happen next. "Just inject me, November. Because-" He took a shaky breath. "-I don't want to hurt you. I'd rather leave you with bruises you want than ones you don't."
"I'm sorry." I whispered, my voice cracking on the last word. It was the only thing I could manage to say out loud before the feelings overwhelmed me. Taking his arm into my lap, I carefully removed the covering from the needle and drained the liquid into Cage's forearm. He didn't even flinch as the needle went into his skin.
"Thank you." Cage replied softly, taking his arm back.
We drove in silence for a while. After about five minutes, the fun began.
You see, what Micheal supposedly forgot to mention was that the sedative also included a very strong anesthesia. Cage began to trip out like he was on acid, except minus the acid and triple the freak out. Micheal never told me this vital piece of information so I was more than concerned when Cage pressed his face against the window like a little kid and gasped at all the rain that was pelting from the night sky.
"The sky.'' Cage laughed, pointing outside. "It's crying."
I stared at Micheal with disbelief. His response was an amused shrug.
Cage scooted closer to me and, out of nowhere, suddenly licked my ear.
"Micheal!" I whispered with concern, watching as Cage now began to pretend like he was a ghost (and he got really into it, too...waving his hands, shouting 'boo', and pulling hilariously scary faces). It was utterly ridiculous. I had no idea what kind of drugs was in the sedative, but whatever it was, it turned one of the most handsome and powerful men in the world into a very badly pretend ghost.
"Your face..." Cage leaned over, smirking with all of his teeth showing. It was actually kind of creepy. Even as I scooted my little butt away, his fingers began to stroke my face like it was a cat. "...it's so soft. I like it." He tweaked my nose. "Whoops, I got your nose." Sticking his thumb under his index finger, Cage wiggled it at me. "I bet you can't get it back, N-November. How are you gonna smell if you don't have a nose?" And then Cage laughed quietly to himself as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.
I reached over and tweaked his nose. "I got yours, too."
Cage looked like he was going to cry. The expression of utter disbelief almost made me lose my composure.
"How much longer?" I whispered to Micheal with both amusement and concern.
"Two more hours. It should wear off by then." He responded wearily.
Cage began to loudly belt out the words to 'Let It Go' in a very broken, slurred voice and off-key tone.
"Please!" I mumbled. "Stop. You're going to shatter the windows."
"Don't say that, November." Micheal warned with a smirk. "It's only going to make him sing louder. Reverse psychology, okay?"
"The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside...couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried..." Cage was singing his cold heart out.
Leaning forward to make myself heard over Cage's terrible singing, I tapped Micheal on the shoulder. "How does he know the lyrics? I thought he hated that movie."
"Are you kidding?" Micheal scoffed. "He loves that movie! Don't expect Cage to admit to that anytime soon, though."
"Noooo-vember!" Cage tugged my arm, his voice slurred as he dragged out the 'o' in my name.
"What?" Annoyed, I sat back. Suddenly, a pair of warm lips pressed against my cheek. Cage moved back, pleased with whatever he thought he just accomplished. Even though I knew the kiss was only the drugged part of him talking, it still made me flustered. Micheal watched the whole exchange through the rear view mirror, his lips pressed into a thin line.
"He's going to fall asleep on you, soon. We're almost back, so don't worry." Micheal said.
No sooner as the words left his mouth, Cage suddenly grabbed my arm. Pain coursed through from his rough touch as the movement irritated the blistered cut. However, it hurt too much to remove myself from Cage's grip. He settled his head on my shoulder, lacing his fingers into my own. Cage's hair tickled my neck. His eyes slowly closed.
"What happened?" Just as I thought Cage had fallen asleep, his index finger traced along the laceration, even in his high state was able to avoid touching anything hurtful directly. "Why are you bleeding, p-princess?"
"Nothing."
"Are you okay?"
Cage was slowly slipping to unconsciousness. He wouldn't remember anything that happened now. "Sure." I mumbled, turning away to watch the trees blur past the window. To be honest, I didn't know if I was okay. Kinda silly, wasn't it? Not knowing how I felt even though I knew every part of myself inside and out, literally.
I was tired of not knowing. I wanted to sit down in an empty room and carefully inspect each and every one of my thoughts and actions. I needed to figure this out. Not knowing made me vulnerable and with a man like Cage Vickers around, vulnerability was dangerous. But I was absolutely sure about one thing.
And this one thing would completely give me a different outlook on life. And perhaps if I told Fern this, she might never look at me the same way again. Because one of the very first things I told myself was not to fall. Not for Cage or anyone that was associated with the Crows, and that included Micheal. But I was not going to deny myself of this one thing any longer. It's been eating away at me ever since that night in his house where Cage first asked me about the scar on my palm from that terrible night.
I was in love with Cage Vickers.
And how silly it was of me to think those feelings could be returned. However, that didn't stop me from thinking about it. And thoughts can be a very dangerous thing as well.