45, 44, 36, 32, 31, 26, 22, 21, ?

I think the answer is 16.  Because if you look at the first 2 numbers they are 1 away from each other.  Skip a number and the next 2 are one away from another. Skip another and the next two are one away from each other.  Now lets look at the skipped ones.  36-26=10 so guess is that its 26-10=16.