Maneater

Chapter Forty-Four

    "Where did you want to start?"

    "How did you know I was missing?"

    Austin leaned back in the chair and stroked his chin. "Well, when I keep texting a beautiful woman and she doesn't respond, clearly someone must have kidnapped her in an attempt to hide her away from me."

    Crystal stared at him blankly.

    Laughing nervously, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay yes I was joking, but there was some truth in that. We had this amazing night together, right? And then out of nowhere you stopped responding to my text messages, never picked up when I tried calling. A part of me thought that maybe you were just putting distance between us again because you were scared of getting too close to me, but that answer just didn't feel right. It didn't sit well with me. That night it seemed like we'd finally gotten over this invisible hurdle. So I had my team put a few feelers out to see if anyone close to you was also having difficulty with getting in touch with you, ran through both your professional and personal connections. At that point, it wasn't even about me or what you and I shared, it was just me wanting to make sure you were okay."

    "Was I ever reported as being missing?" Her voice sounded so small, like she was a child.

    Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat, he shook his head. "No."

    A sad look entered her eyes. "That's my fault. Some of the things I've seen in life has made me keep everyone at arm's length. Not just you. I was scared to let anyone get too close. To get ahead, I had to blow off friends and family. After blowing them off for so long, they stop asking you to hang out. They stop sending texts or cards for your birthday." She closed her eyes and blew out a puff of air. "It's like this entire time, I've been too afraid to let people in and feel things for them, even on a basic friends level. I have friends, great friends actually, but it's no different with them. They open up to me about their drama and it goes in one ear and out the other because I didn't want to worry or concern myself with their drama. I wasn't just gone for a day or two. I was gone for a while, and the fact that no one reported me missing speaks volumes."

    "True, but it's never too late to reconnect with the people who are important to you," he said.

    She peered at him for a long time before nodding. "You're right."

    "Once in a blue moon," he joked.

    Finally, he got a smile out of her. "How did you know where to find me?"

    He opened his mouth, thought better of whatever he was going to say, and paused to think about how he wanted to answer that question.

    "Keep it one hundred with me?" she pleaded.

    "All right. Um..." He paused again. Don't tell her anything about the Maneater story shit. Wait until she's about to be released from the hospital. "The short version is that I went to an award show."

    "I thought you hated those."

    "I do."

    "Why did you go?"

    "Let's just say there were forces strongly encouraging me to go to this one," he said. "Not important. But I went and saw Disney there. From the start, something about him was off. There was this permanent smile on his face as if he'd brought the hottest date ever, only no one was there with him. Then we got into the actual venue and he was playing with these-" Austin cut himself off and his eyes darted over to Crystal.

    "Playing with what?" she asked, raising up on her elbows.

    He pursed his lips shut.

    "Austin?"