I’d spent the weekend getting back to Austin and my apartment near campus. Spring break week was over. Or I should say, hell week was over. What started as a fun trip turned into a fucking nightmare, except for the part about meeting the girl of my dreams, Allie.

Thanks to funds from AJ and his high limit credit card, I scored a flight out of Flagstaff, late Sunday night. My sorry credit card limit, with a college-student line of credit was exactly one dollar short of being maxed out, but as usual, AJ had my back and he paid for the flight.

The strange thing was, once Phoenix took me to the commune, Phoebe wasn’t there. But knowing how flaky, oh, excuse me, how free-spirited Phoebe could be, it hadn’t surprised me. Who knew how long a vision quest would last? I’d never heard of one until I met her, but I really didn’t have time to think about Phoebe. I had more serious fish to fry, namely, locate Allie and take care of my injuries. Pull my shit together and hopefully salvage what was left of my chances at the NFL Draft picks. Being the end of March, the announcements of the picks were only a little more than three weeks away.

When I got ahold of AJ on the phone, the first words out of my mouth had been, “Have you seen Allie?” But like a boulder through water, all my hopes fell when he said he hadn’t. AJ had been worried sick about me and Allie, too. He was on the road when I called, driving back to the University of Texas. He’d waited as long as he could at the Wynn in Vegas, but eventually he had to check out, considering he needed to be back in time for classes on Monday. So did I, but classes were the least of my concerns.

After I filled him in on what happened to Allie and me, he said to go back to Austin and he’d meet me at our apartment and we’d figure this whole thing out. Then he filled me in on what went down on his end.

As soon as AJ returned to our suite at the Wynn, he knew something was wrong. My plan of knocking shit over had worked. AJ contacted the Las Vegas police immediately, but they said they couldn’t do much. Why should they care? A college guy, missing from his hotel room after drinking and partying the night before. No news flash for Vegas Metro. Happened all the time. Plus, AJ didn’t even know Jade was involved, so the police were equally unhelpful.

But I knew Jade was involved so the minute I ended the call with AJ, I phoned the Vegas police to report what’d happened to me and Allie.

The thought of Allie, maybe being forced to stay with Jade, killed me. I’d promised to protect her, but I’d failed.

I’d contacted the same officer AJ had talked to with Metro in Las Vegas. AJ had given me the name. I reported Jade, his heavyweight muscle man, how I was assaulted, and that a woman was kidnapped, and taken against her will. At least I hoped that’s how it went down. I’d only caught a glimpse of Allie when she showed up at the door and threw coffee on Jade. After that, everything was a confused blur as I tried to save my throwing arm from being crushed under a heavy boot. I lost consciousness after that so I hadn’t witnessed how Allie was taken, whether by force or...if she went willingly. That thought really hurt.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have much information to give the police, just Jade’s first name. I didn’t have an address, maybe it was in Flagstaff or the surrounding area, and who knew where he really took her, but basically, I had no real information. Then the officer asked if I was sure Allie was taken against her will, and voiced what I didn’t even want to think. Sometimes women go back to a guy, even an abusive fucker, and that’s when the seed of doubt began to grind at my self-confidence. Reluctantly, I had to say I wasn’t sure. And to add insult to injury, I couldn’t even provide them with Allie’s address or phone number. I’d already considered calling her friends, Steph and Jen, but didn’t have their numbers either. So I was pretty worthless when it came to giving helpful information to the police.

When I got off the phone from talking with them, I was torn. I needed to get back to campus and my life. The biggest turning event was coming soon, but my heart ached for Allie. I wanted to find her and be her savior, but that would possibly ruin my lifelong dream.

I stretched out my throwing arm, rubbing the shoulder with my other hand. I opened and closed my hand, turned it over and examined the cut on my middle, fuck-you finger. How ironic. Was the universe telling me something? Fuck you, Cam? I snorted a laugh. I was still in a lot of pain and the muscles were tender there, as well as my ribs and ankle. And the black eye, along with various other bruises covering my body, had me looking like a chunk of blue cheese with mold spots.

As much as I wanted to go to Flagstaff and look for Allie, I needed to get to a doctor, and the athletic trainer, and see how much damage had been done.

* * *

My first night in my own bed at my apartment in Austin was the same as the ones before, sleepless. I had painkillers, but didn’t want to take them. They drugged me out, made me too lethargic, clouded my mind, and I had to think.

Not a minute went by that I didn’t wonder about Allie, what she was doing, if she was with Jade and if he’d hurt her. She didn’t mention physical abuse in our long conversations in the car, but then who would? It’s not something a person is proud to tell, not a good first impression, but after I saw how Jade operates, I was pretty sure that fucker resolved all of his issues with violence.

Feeling helpless, I tried to put Allie out of my mind. It’s best that way. Well, that’s what I told myself, anyway.

AJ was shocked when he picked me up at the airport and saw me in a walking boot and on crutches and a black and blue bruise the size of Texas high on my left cheek. I must’ve looked a sight because the guy next to me on the flight home kept leaning away from me.

Phoenix had been kind enough to drive me to the nearest hospital and the next day to the airport in his car. Yeah, his car. There was no jointly owned VW van or any other group-shared vehicle at the commune. That was a bunch of bull Phoebe fed us. Phoenix said anyone at the commune could have their own car if they wanted, and I just left it at that. I was tired, hungry and in too much pain to give a fuck about Phoebe’s hallucinatory explanation.

At the hospital, I learned I had a sprained ankle, cracked ribs and an ACL injury in the shoulder of my throwing arm. It would take some time to heal, days to weeks, but thankfully, these kind of injuries were considered short term. To a football player, like me, that meant there was still hope. And of course, Saul had a panic attack when I finally called him from the commune, after I had the hopeful news about my injuries. Yeah, no way was I about to tell Saul what happened without at least some reassuring details to calm him. He freaked anyway, yelling into the phone about needing to be in shape for a preliminary training camp that would happen before the regular one. I got the gist of it anyway from all of his ranting, and all I knew was I needed to heal soon. I already knew the NFL announcements would be broadcast on TV, April 28, and that was three short weeks away.

Monday morning dawned with me staring at the ceiling, thoughts pin balling around in my head.

I had to go to class.

I had to find Allie.

I had to rest and heal.

I had to find Allie.

I had six chapters of Western Civ to read before class.

I had to find Allie.

I needed to finish my Rocks for Jocks (Earth Science) essay.

I NEEDED TO FIND ALLIE.

That was it. Something snapped inside me. I would find her. I couldn’t just let it go, let her go and never see her again, never know what kind of hell Jade was putting her through. Fuck class. Fuck my injuries and fuck everything. None of that mattered without Allie. I had to help her. I was her Batman. And since the police couldn’t help, I’d have to go to Flagstaff myself and find her. I’d convince AJ to go with me. After all, Batman couldn't do anything without his Boy Wonder.

I had a plan. I’d return to the gas station. That’d be a good place to begin. Maybe she went back to her job and her classes. Back to the life she had when I met her. She’d need the money and like me, her college semester wasn’t over yet. Unless...my mind flashed to Allie being forced to stay at Jade’s house, wherever that was, under his watchful eye, cook for him, serve him a plate of steak and potatoes in front of his fat belly in a dimly lit kitchen somewhere.

When I was in high school, after my parents divorced and Ryan was already in the Marines, I’d spend Sunday nights watching TV with my mom. After dinner, we’d sit on the couch, a bottle of Pepsi and a bowl of popcorn. Mom liked to watch shows on the Learning Channel about strange things people did. Like what drives a person to be a serial killer and stuff like that. One time, there was a show about these mountain survivalist men, a strange breed, who distrusted the government and well, distrusted pretty much everyone and everything. They believed in living off the grid, in the mountains or woods, apart from society, reliant only on themselves and the land. And of course, they always needed a woman to live with them, along with their rifle, which was the only thing they trusted.

Maybe Jade had taken Allie to his lair in the mountains and was living off the land like those survivalists. I didn’t know. My mind was drumming up all kinds of scenarios, none of which was any good.

I bolted upright in bed and looked at the clock. It was eight in the morning. I could start by calling the gas station where Allie worked. I could find the phone number from my Google search in the history on my phone. AJ had returned it and my duffle bag from the hotel in Vegas. Luckily, at the time of the fight, my cellphone was on the nightstand in my bedroom and since the fight took place in the fancy living room with the pillars, Jade and his stooge never saw it.

I swept up my phone near the alarm clock and scrolled through my past searches. The draft picks wouldn’t be announced for a while, so I’d have time for a quick trip to Flagstaff, if needed, but first...bingo. There it was; all the information about the gas station where Allie worked. My pulse began to pick up when someone answered the phone, but when I recognized a man’s voice my heart sank. I’d almost expected to hear Allie’s voice.

“Is Allie there? She works there…” I started, pretending she did anyway.

“No.” His answer was short and quick. “Don’t know anything about an Allie.”

For some reason I was suspicious. He didn’t even seem interested in trying to remember.

“She works there. Tall, beautiful. Long dark hair, blue eyes, spunky attitude, nice...er well, nice body, gorgeous, like I said. Has she been in to work?”

“Nope, never seen anyone like that workin’ here.”

Then I heard him talking to a customer, as if he held the phone away from his mouth.

Rude jerkwad.

I raised my voice and said, “Hey, dude, I’m still talking here. Pay attention.” I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated with this guy’s attitude.

He came back on the phone and said, “Look, buddy, I don’t know nothing about a girl named Allie.”

“Well, maybe the manager got a call from Allie. Has the manager heard from her? Does she even still work there? Were you hired to take her place?” I had a sinking feeling this was the case.

“Jerry never told me anything about why I was hired. But if she was scheduled and didn’t bother to come in, then Jerry would’ve fired her for sure. That’s the way Jerry is. Kind of a prick.”

“Yeah, whatever…” My mind was spinning and I wanted to pump him for more information, but he rushed me off the call.

“I gotta go, man. I’ve got customers.” And then the line was dead.

I dropped my phone on the bed and swung my feet to the floor, careful about moving too fast and putting pressure on my ankle before I could get the walking boot on.

That was a dead end. The phone call got me no new information and time was of the essence. Then I remembered, Allie told me during the car ride to Vegas she’d called her boss and told him she was out of town so she should still have a job there. But now I wondered if what she’d told me was even true. Had she lied? Or was the jerk I’d talked to on the phone full of shit?

I’d have to go with what I did know and work from there. Allie hadn’t returned to her job at the gas station. Was she even in Flagstaff at all? I’d have to go see for myself. But first I needed to make a plan, and I needed AJ’s help for that.

* * *

“I’ll do what I can. Just shut the fuck up,” I said. It was the usual caustic banter I dished AJ, but this time there was an edge to my tone. I gritted my teeth and hoisted a fifteen-pound hand weight with my left. That arm was still good. “I have to work the muscles I can. I have to stay in shape.”

AJ moved to the stand with various hand weights and returned them to their slots. “And do you have to go after this chick?” I’d already told him my plan to go to Flagstaff and search for Allie. Now I needed to convince him to go with me. “I mean, think about it. Is she really worth it to you, all this hassle? She nearly got your killed...twice now.” He raised a brow, a palm upturned.

“If Jade really wanted me dead, he would’ve done it. He just wanted to scare me away from her.”

A deep furrow creased AJ’s brow. Then he began a litany of all the reasons I shouldn’t go through with my plan. “You’ll miss classes.”

I volleyed back, “We can get notes from someone.”

He tried again. “You’ll miss class assignments and reading all those chapters for Lit. Which novel are you on?”

“I can get Cliff notes for that. Summary, character descriptions, themes and motifs. Who needs to read the novel? Worse case scenario...I’ll watch the movie.”

“If they have one,” he shot back.

I stopped pumping the weight. “I have to AJ. I do have to.” I blew out a breath. “Besides, it’d only be for a couple days. We could fly…”

“Oh hold on there. Wait, wait, wait. We?” His eyes widened.

I smiled. “Robin...baby. You didn’t think I’d go and not take you with me, did you?

AJ shook his head. “Man, you don’t even know this girl, I mean, really know her, other than banging her in Vegas...seriously, think about it.” He pleaded. “Think with your big head, man.”

I did get serious for a moment and said, “AJ, you saw what Jade did to me. I can’t let her be out there somewhere with him. She’s not safe and I really like her. She wasn’t just a one-night stand. She’s more than that…” I trailed off not wanting to say out loud what I was feeling in my heart. Not yet anyway. “So, are you in Boy Wonder of mine? I need you.”

“You mean, you need my money don’t you?”

“Well, I’ll pay you back…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’ve heard it all before. When you get your big signing bonus. You better make one of the teams!”

“We’ll be in Flagstaff. You could see Jen again. Maybe. Once we find Allie. Or maybe we could find Jen and see if she knows anything about Allie.”

His eyes lit up. I could see him wavering, about to give in.

“Two days. Promise? And that’s all.”

“Well? Say it. Go ahead. Say it.”

“I’m in.”

I put down my hand weight and clapped him on the back. “Thank you, AJ. Thank you, man. You’re the best.”

“Hey, I care about Allie too, but mostly I care about what happens to you.”

“Aw, geez. That sounds kind of gay. Not that’s there's anything wrong with being gay…”

He laughed. “I know how you are. You’ll get picked, go to training camp and you won’t be able to think straight if you don’t find Allie. You’ll be no good on that field, moping around with a broken heart. You better be really sure about her because if this interferes with your career, you're fucked. Now that your name’s on the Draft list, in your junior year, you can’t come back and play for the Longhorns if the NFL doesn’t work out.”

I opened my mouth to speak and he held up a hand to stop me. “I hope it does workout, believe me, I do. But still...man, are you screwed.”

He was right. I could be screwing up my whole life for Allie right now. But I had to go.

“Oh, and one last thing. You gotta help me avoid Saul. He can’t know about this little excursion to Flagstaff.”

With mock excitement, he said flatly, “Oh, yay,” and threw me his best fuck you face.