Maneater

Chapter Thirty-Five

    There was a light tapping sound, off to her left. Nearly inaudible to the ear, but so repetitive that the sound still managed to rouse Crystal from her slumber. There was also a subtle odor assailing her nostrils; it was as if she had her entire head shoved into a giant change purse. Her body jerked – and it was that one involuntary action that made her realize her motion was restricted. She wasn't able to stretch her arms or legs because they were bound. It felt like they might even be glued together, but she knew that was a silly thought. Her eyes snapped open, but only opened to blackness. All she saw was darkness, on all sides of her. Then there it was again: that light, nagging tapping sound that she'd convinced herself she'd conjured up in her own mind until a small flash of light created a bright halo, off to her left.

    The light from a tiny yellow, orange, and blue flame lingered for a few moments, long enough for her to make out a broken chair next to her, a large hand controlling the flame, and a broad, handsome face near the flame. The flame revealed that the light-colored eyes set in that handsome face were fixed on her, even though the room was nearly completely dark. One minute, his eyes were there...dark, shadowed, filled with malice. The next minute, the flame died out and his eyes were completely shrouded in darkness, save that shining glint of ill intent.

    "Justin?" she croaked out. Everything hadn't added up for her yet. Her brain was processing everything individually. She was here, in a room in the dark. There was a chair next to her that was shattered to splintered pieces. Oh, and Justin was sitting somewhere off to the side, lighting a blunt – and she could only tell it was a blunt he was lighting from the telltale scent wafting over her way minutes later. Her brain hadn't yet pieced together the fact that she might be here because of Justin. Not until he spoke his next words.

    "Oh, you're finally awake. I thought that I hit you too hard. I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to wake up."

    Her blood froze in her brain, and then the events leading up to this rushed at her. The phone call. Nicole's panicked shrieks. Brief glimpses of pavement and the trunk of a stylish luxury car, and then darkness. Blissful darkness, where every bad memory was distant, all gathered in some far-off place where they could no longer plague her. She jerked against her restraints again, so hard that they began cutting into her skin. "What is this?"

    "This is what happens when a man who isn't used to being told 'no' is told 'no,'" he responded, and she could hear him shifting and moving in the dark. The sound of his footsteps reached her ears and gave away his general location as he moved around the room in the dark.

    He's walking around in complete darkness. This must be a room he knows well. Those thoughts were courtesy of the years when she used to watch Law & Order: SVU and CSI: Miami in day-long marathons. Those thoughts were also evidence that the fogginess of her blackout was lifting, and she was now capable of logical thought. "Nicole called me. She tried to warn me."

    "I'm still not sure how she got out," he mused aloud after taking another puff. The end of his blunt glowed before going dark again. "But don't worry. I'll make sure not to make the same mistake with you."

    "So you...hit me and then brought me here, why? Because I ended whatever it was we had?"

    "'Whatever it was we had,'" he echoed, his voice drawing nearer to her. He chuckled, low and deep. That chuckle sent goosebumps prickling along her forearms. "Why are you here? Hmm. I'm still sorting that out for myself. Because, you see, I've had my share of women. Skinny to thick, and beyond thick, women who drove me crazy. But no woman has driven me quite this crazy before. I don't know...there's something about you. You got under my skin. It seemed like everything was going well. And then you just...pulled the plug on everything, and I couldn't even function after that. I was in meetings zoning out, obsessing over how I could get you back. Then I was obsessing about why you ended things in the first place, and that's when I started following you. Just...trying to get a sense of your life, get to know you a little more." His voice grew tighter and tighter, until it was shaking with agitation. "And then I saw you with him."

    "Austin," she whispered, closing her eyes.

    "Even though you ended things, you still belonged to me," Justin said. "You should've known that. No one moves on that quickly. You chose some womanizing prick to be your rebound though, and I just couldn't let that go."

    "First of all, you don't own any-damned-body," she corrected him. "And who I chose to be with is not of your concern."

    He was quiet, and his silence had her wondering where exactly he was standing right now. Was he standing right behind her, or right in front of her? She squinted into the darkness, but couldn't see even a crack of light.

    "Look...what we had was good. It was short, but it was nice. You were nice. So...continue being nice, and let me go?" She was trying to keep the fear out of her voice. But those years spent watching crime thriller shows taught her that often these kidnapping situations didn't go well. Hardly anyone in her life knew Justin, so even if her friends thought it was odd she wasn't answering her phone or showing up to work, they wouldn't have a way of helping to find her. Austin knows, but who knows if he even remembers Justin's name? He's always calling Justin "Disney." And he can't go to the damned cops saying that I've been kidnapped by Disney. That would be zero help.

    All of a sudden, the room was filled with light.

    Crystal blinked her eyes, giving them time to adjust to the change in lighting. The broken chair came into focus, and the low weight bench that Justin must have been sitting on originally. Her eyes shifted over to the area in front of her. Dark red stains marked the concrete floor in long arcs. She instinctively drew back in her chair, her wrists moving against the zip ties binding them.

    The long, red stains led her eyes all the way across the room, where Nicole's body was slumped against the wall. A deep, red line marked her throat, and red splotches had ruined the designer outfit she'd worn.

    A scream built up in Crystal's throat, but it came out as a warbled, anguished groan.

    Standing off to her right, Justin followed her gaze. "I know. I'm trying to figure out what to do with her. She talked too much, so I couldn't just let her run. It was a lot of juggling, really. Bringing you back here, going back out and hunting her down. Praying you'd still be here when I got back. You were still passed out, thank God. I don't know what to do with her now that I've dealt with her, though. Disposing of the body seems to be what get people caught up."

    Fear overwhelmed her. I have to get out. I have to get out, or else I'm going to end up like that.

    Justin moved closer to her, then walked around to the front of her chair so that he could kneel in front of her. "And as far as letting you go?"

    Tears streamed down Crystal's cheeks. She couldn't rip her eyes away from the still figure of Nicole, hunched over on the floor behind Justin.

    Justin raised a hand and gently grabbed Crystal's chin in his hand. "I think you and I both know that I'm never going to let you go, Crystal."