Chapter Five #2
“Make yourself at home. I’ll be in my studio. The kitchen is to the right and bedrooms are upstairs. The gate is closed and locked and the security code is set on the house. You should have nothing to worry about.”
“Thanks, Austin. I appreciate it.”
“Hell, it’s because of me you’re going through this.
You don’t owe me any thanks.” He grabbed her suitcase, took it upstairs, walked down the hallway to the left, and showed her the bedroom.
“My room is down the other hall, so you have plenty of privacy. I’ll leave you in peace, unless, of course, you want my company.
” He stood there, no shirt on, body to die for, offering what so many women wanted.
“I would, but geez, there’s something about being threatened that just takes the wind out of my sexual sails.”
“Just let me know if that wind changes direction.” He kissed the top of her head and went back downstairs.
Christine stood in the hall thinking about his comment.
She was flattered. He’d offered twice now.
And twice she’d said no. Not because she was a prude or because she didn’t think it would be fun, or great, or any number of adjectives that could be used to describe Austin.
She just knew it wouldn’t last. And she didn’t want a one-night stand.
Flattered as she was, she knew part of her allure was that she kept turning him down.
Christine wanted something more. She wanted it all.
Smart, stable, sexy, and dependable. A vision of Matt came into her head.
Those were all characteristics she’d use to describe him. A shiver ran through her.
Christine took a hot bath and admitted to herself that she enjoyed girly soap.
She made sure to use a brand-new bar that was still in the box.
She wasn’t a germaphobe but drew the line at sharing soap with Austin’s flings.
With her bath taken, teeth brushed, and jammies on, she sank into the soft mattress in Austin’s spare bedroom, impressed at how clean and crisp the sheets were. He probably used a cleaning service.
She felt safe. After the threatening posts, and then finding the note on her door, she was grateful to fall asleep without worrying.
SHE WOKE EARLY, TOOK A SHOWER, and dressed for work. She tiptoed downstairs in case Austin was still sleeping and found Matt in the kitchen.
“Oh, hey. I didn’t expect to see you here.” She felt awkward around him because of her drunken night. She had a vivid vision of straddling his lap and kissing him. It stirred something in her that didn’t resemble guilt. She fought the urge to straddle him right there in Austin’s kitchen.
“Christine? I didn’t expect to see you, either. I guess . . . well . . . I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, huh?”
His tone carried an edge that Christine didn’t understand. Unless he was still angry about her drunken escapade. Maybe she should apologize again.
“For the record, there were no cookies consumed last night. Wheat or weed. I don’t need to do anything else stupid. I apologize again for that night,” she said.
He stared at her, opened his mouth, and then closed it. What did he want to say? She was about to ask when Austin came strolling into the kitchen in a pair of sweatpants, sans shirt.
“What’s up, Matt? I thought you were coming over at nine,” Austin said.
“No, I changed it to eight. Remember?”
“Hmm. And I agreed to meet that early?”
“You did. You don’t remember?”
“No, but it’s cool. I heard Chrissy get up and it woke me, so it’s all good. How’d you sleep?” He surprised Christine by giving her a quick hug from behind and a kiss on her cheek.
Matt turned away, focusing on his iPad.
“I slept well. Thanks again for inviting me over. I’m going to head to the office. Matt, good to see you again.”
“Yeah, you, too,” Matt said, not looking up from his iPad.
Christine headed for the door, and Austin followed her to her car.
“If you get any more notes or threats, let me know.”
“I will.”
She drove straight to work, where Julianna was waiting in Christine’s office.
“Um, did you spend the night with Austin?”
“How did you know?” Christine asked, throwing up her hands and plopping on her chair. “I thought I was careful.”
Julianna held up her phone and there it was. Social media already had a photo of her car pulling up to Austin’s house.
“Someone’s stalking me.” She told Julianna about the note and why she’d stayed at Austin’s.
“Next time, come to my place. Did you call the police?”
“No. What can they do? Nothing happened. It’s just a note and an idle threat.” Christine shook her head and it drooped down to her shoulders.
“At least they can put it on record,” Julianna said.
“True. Maybe I’ll report it later today.
Right now, I have music to listen to. I refuse to let this rule my life.
” Christine grabbed her headset, signaling that Julianna should let her get to work.
She tried listening to music, but her mind was somewhere else.
All she could think of was the nasty messages splayed across social media.
She never thought she’d be the kind of person people paid attention to.
She had always been invisible, at least until she befriended Austin Garrett. Was it worth it? She had to wonder.
He was heading out to the West Coast for a four-week tour. She wouldn’t see him for at least a month. Maybe things would calm down and get back to normal during that time. She could only hope.
TWO WEEKS LATER, CHRISTINE WAS surprised at how bored she’d become.
On the one hand, she’d received no new notes and nothing was circulating about her on socials.
Not one photo. But she had a new barometer for what was exciting.
Road trips, crazy phone calls from Austin, and seeing Matt all added up to fun.
And hope. Every time she saw Matt, she hoped he’d give her some indication he was interested.
Something she could latch on to, turn around, and make something out of.
She knew she’d never be the aggressor unless she was drunk—and she had no intention of that happening again.
But if he gave her any hint of interest, she would follow his lead.
The month dragged on with no communication from Austin, aside from the few times he sent her songs for feedback.
She answered honestly and gave her opinion, and she took the opportunity to send him a song from Hit Songs Publishing.
She didn’t want to push him, but the weight of Rick’s words remained on her shoulders.
She watched Austin’s posts and could see he was having a great run.
She initially resisted the temptation to follow Matt, not sure she needed the extra anxiety that social media can bring.
But she missed him so she started following him on Instagram.
He didn’t over-post and share every moment of his life.
He mostly posted before-show photos of empty venues and invited fans to come to the concerts.
There were also some photos of him and Austin doing guy things.
They went fishing one day and rode scooters another.
What she didn’t see, much to her relief, was a bunch of women.
She didn’t realize she was holding her breath and waiting to see Matt with some buxom twenty-two-year-old until she had scanned about thirty photos without seeing any. She exhaled.
THE DAY AUSTIN WAS DUE BACK in town, a Monday, Christine checked her phone every fifteen minutes.
She knew she could text him but didn’t want to seem needy.
She was disappointed he didn’t call her the minute he arrived.
Then she chided herself for being an idiot.
She wasn’t his girl or his bestie. She was just his song plugger.
She lay in bed that night, looking through Matt’s Insta account. He’d posted a photo of a road sign announcing that Nashville was five miles away and captioned it “Home sweet home.” There was no picture of a woman waiting for him.
Christine scrolled through his other photos and found one she had missed.
It was of him and the crew guys playing basketball at one of the venues.
Matt was wearing gym shorts. His calf muscles were well-developed.
She wanted to run her hand along them. He was sweating and his hair stuck to his face .
. . he was sexy as hell. She took a screenshot and saved it.
Then she worried someone would see it and deleted it.
She could always look at his account if she wanted to see it again. She knew she would.
When her phone went off at midnight on Wednesday, she grabbed it so fast it fell on the floor. She heard a man yelling and picked up the phone.
“What?”
“Chrishy! I need help.”
She sat up in bed. “Austin? What’s wrong?” Her voice carried a tinge of panic.
“I’m stuck. I need you to come get me.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know. But there are dancing naked people all around me.”
“What? Are you in Nashville?”
“I was at the Tin Roof, but I left. Everyone was too drunk for me.”
Christine wondered how drunk they could have been if they were too drunk for him. “Where did you go after the Tin Roof?”
“Don’t know. But there are naked people all around me. They look happy. And the guys have really big dicks.”
“Austin, what else do you see? You’re not making any sense.”
“Naked people. Dancing naked people. Please come get me.” The call disconnected.
“Austin? Austin? Are you there? Damnit!” She pulled up Julianna’s number and called her.
“Christine? What’s wrong?” Her voice was husky with sleep.
“Austin called. He was drinking at the Tin Roof, and now he’s somewhere with naked dancing people. Is there a nudist colony in Nashville?”
“Not that I know of. Maybe he’s at a strip club,” Julianna said.
“That would make more sense than a nudist colony. But he said men were there, too,” Christine said.
“Men?”
“Yes. Men with big penises. Naked dancing people all around him.”
“Oh, God. He’s on the circle.”