Maneater

Chapter Eleven

    Austin reclined back in an overstuffed armchair with his elbow on the armrest and his hand covering his mouth. He'd changed into a black hoodie and matching sweatpants, and had offered Crystal one of his long sweaters, which fit like a dress on her. He stared across the room at her, trying to ignore how beautiful she looked, curled up on his couch with her damp hair falling down her shoulders. His eyes trailed down the length of her body, with its intricate valleys and curves.

    The room was dark, save a few dim lamps at the far end of the room. Rain continued to splatter against the windows of his Calabasas mansion. Heavy rain, uncharacteristic for this area. Perfect hoodie weather, as far as he was concerned. Definitely not the kind of weather for a pretty girl to be caught out in the rain, he thought, watching her sleep. And what was she doing out there, anyway? She refused to talk about it with me. Did that guy from the club try something with her? Did he try to force himself on her? She drove there, and he was nowhere around so I can't really piece together what happened. Why would she have driven there, of all places?

    She shifted in her sleep and released a sigh.

    With a sigh of his own, he rose from the chair and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows near the couch. He felt like a creeper, staring at her for as long as he had. It was hard not to, with the flash of legs that showed beneath the hem of the sweater and bit of shoulder revealed by the drooping neckline. Those bits of skin didn't even compare to the beauty of her face; the rain had washed away most of her makeup. Once they'd reached his house, he'd hunted down towels and set to removing the rest. He didn't know how it was possible, but she managed to look even prettier without makeup. Leaning a shoulder against the window, he cast another look at her over his shoulder.

"Angel sleeping while the skies are weeping,

Can't let her go, now she's mine for the keeping.

The benefits we'd be reaping, but maybe I'm leaping."

    He pulled his cell phone out of the pocket of his sweatpants and fidgeted with it while peering out of the window. Chuckling, he shook his head. "I'm one step away from singing about rain falling down my windowpane," he muttered, turning and pacing in front of the long stretch of windows.

"Someone once told me when you find love, you know it,

and that when you have it and fail to show it,

Chances are that you just may blow it.

That same someone once told me to appreciate what's right in front of me,

Especially if that special someone can handle the brunt of me,

The grunt of me...hand me a smoke, that was pretty blunt of me."

    He flipped his phone over and over again in one hand, running lines in his head and alternating between rhyming and humming melodies.

    "No consideration for the sleeping guest?"

    A smile was on his face before he turned his head. His steps brought him back around the couch and in front of Crystal, who was now sitting up looking at him with sleepy eyes. "No 'thank you for saving me from the rain'?"

    "I can handle rain," she grumbled. "I didn't need saving."

    "Bullshit," he said. "I beg to differ."

    She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "What were you singing?"

    "Nothing really, just playing around with words."