Maneater

Chapter Thirty-One

    Austin pulled the car into the parking lot of the largest aquarium in the city.

    Crystal gave him a dubious look.

    "What? You have something against aquariums?"

    "No," she replied, peering out of the windshield. "I just never expected you to take me to a place like this."

    He flashed a wide grin at her. "What were you thinking? Basketball game? Club? Some award show bullshit?"

    "Something like that, yeah."

    A car pulled in behind them, which prompted Austin to park the car. "That's the thing about expectations. They're a complete waste of time, because they're often wrong."

    "And to assume makes an ass out of you and me," she muttered. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." She opened the car door and stood out of the car.

    The aquarium was a huge, nondescript building with four tall columns posted in front. Other than the car that had pulled in behind them, the parking lot was empty. The car was parked several rows away, idling.

    "Is the aquarium even open?" Crystal asked as Austin walked over to join her.

    "No. I rented it out for the night. For us." He extended a hand to her. "Come."

    All night long, if you wanted me to, she thought dreamily, taking his hand and walking alongside him.

~~~~~~

    Justin watched the couple cross the parking lot, heading for the main doors of the aquarium. Then he sat and waited, while heavy metal soothed his fraying nerves. He didn't like seeing Crystal with Austin. They didn't even look right together. When he saw Crystal take Austin's hand, Justin was tempted to leap out of the car and beat the rapper to a bloody pulp. That was his girl Austin was holding hands with, his girl Austin was playfully leaning into as they walked. Justin had to remind himself that this problem was only temporary, that Austin Gaines would be dealt with in time.

    Maybe Austin can have a seat next to Nicole, Justin thought darkly, narrowing his eyes into thin slits. I'll have to kill him slowly, in between spending time with Crystal. After finding out that Austin is MIA, she might need someone to lean on, someone to console her.

    One of the front double door sets was pushed open as Austin and Crystal approached. They disappeared inside, and still Justin waited. He couldn't pounce too quickly. So he took his time, continued listening to music while thinking of different ways to torture the man who was attempting to steal Crystal away from him.

    When he felt that enough time had elapsed, he turned off the engine of the dark Audi and climbed out of the car. He still held back, taking a moment to withdraw a pack of cigarettes from his suit pants and digging around in his pockets for a lighter. On numerous occasions, he'd attempted to stop smoking, and now only did when stress was at an all-time high. Like now. When he was worried about potentially losing the one woman he could see himself being happy with for the rest of his life. The drag from the cigarette restored some of his common sense, and helped bring him to a point of near-normalcy. His nerves weren't quite so raw, and his movements weren't so jerky. He stood staring at the aquarium, and shook his head. A fucking aquarium, he thought to himself. The man rented out an entire aquarium. For a date. With my girl. At least he couldn't fault Austin for his taste in women. But this time, he'd chosen the wrong one.

    Dropping the cigarette on the ground, Justin moved forward and headed towards the tall building, shoving his hands into the pockets of his dress pants.

    There was an attendant at the door. He'd expected as much. The short, thin man with thinning dark hair looked Justin up and down.

    Justin forced a smile on his face. "I'm a part of Austin's security team," he explained. "My name is Greg. I'm sorry – I'm a bit late in arriving. But I'm supposed to follow Austin and his date around, make sure there aren't any threats to his personal safety."

    The door attendant bobbed his head up and down in understanding, and the suspicious look cleared from his face. "We were told that Austin wouldn't have any security this evening, so we weren't expecting you."

    "Last minute change, after we received some threats from Pusha T's camp," Justin lied. "Don't get me wrong – I love my job, but plans are always changing with this guy."

    "What's a Pusha T?" the attendant asked.

    "The fact that anyone has to ask is why my employer won that battle," Justin said, smiling. He made a show of checking the watch on his wrist. "Do you know where Austin and his date are? I really should get in position."

    "Just through that hall and past the doors," the attendant, whose nametag read Henry, directed.

    Justin joined his hands together in a gesture of appreciation. "Thank you and have a nice evening."

    Henry stepped aside to allow Justin past him.

    The halls were dark, save a few dim sconces mounted on the walls. The hall opened up to a large dark room, where the only sources of light were the lit tanks where the fish tanks and ponds. He was surrounded by the sound of splashing water, but somewhere off to the right, past a few of the vertical tanks that held seahorses, shrimp, and jellyfish, there was the distinct sound of voices speaking in hushed tones.

    Keeping his steps as light and quiet as possible, Justin weaved between the tanks until Austin and Crystal were in his line of sight.

~~~~~~

    "So beautiful," Crystal said with her hand pressed against one of the glass tanks.

    A cluster of jellyfish illuminated by color-changing light pushed themselves towards the top of the tank. Long tendrils still hung low, bathed in light.

    "Yes, so beautiful," Austin said with his eyes anchored on her face.

    She turned and arched a look at him.

    "I can see why he'd be obsessed with you."

    The blood in Justin's veins ran cold. They weren't...they weren't talking about him, were they?

    "Stop it," she murmured, tracing her fingers up the glass, following the path that the jellyfish were making.

    "Sorry." Austin took a step back from her to give her some space. "I just feel like I could stare at you all day and never get bored."

    "How many women have you said that to?"

    "I thought we were past all that," he said sternly.

    She pursed her lips shut and turned to face him.

    "You have this habit of making this connection with me, and then pulling away from it. Don't do that."

    "I'm not doing it on purpose," she muttered.

    "You just don't want to ever be hurt again. Trust me, I get it. But...I would never hurt you. You do understand that?"

    "I understand that your intent is not to ever hurt me," she said carefully.

    He shook his head. "Tonight is about living and enjoying life." With those words, he walked around the tank and pressed a hand to the glass.

    Watching him through the glass, she raised her hand back to the tank. Then, keeping her hand on the glass, she moved around the tank to join him. For a moment, she watched him admiring the jellyfish. His eyes reflected the colorful light flashing up from the bottom of the tank. Take a chance, Crys, she thought, a leap of faith. She rose up on her tiptoes, an act that drew his attention. When he turned to look at her, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips.

~~~~~~

    And not twenty feet away from them, Justin stood glowering and seething, his fists clenched at his sides and his rage reaching new and frightening levels of intensity.