The Girl on the Stairs

by V. J. Chambers

  “No. No, it’s fine. Sorry I freaked out.”

  Daphne breathed on the other end. “Should I be worried about you, Sam?”

  He laughed a little, almost hysterically. “I don’t know, Daphne. I really don’t know.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Sam said to Lola.

  She had a beer from his refrigerator. She was wearing a short white dress with puffy sleeves over a pair of leggings. She ran the lip of the beer bottle over her chin. “I figured you owed me.”

  “Owed you? Owed you what?”

  “Well, after you left today, I got a phone call from Nick. He said that he was going to kill us both. He said he was going to teach me never to cross him. He said all kinds of awful things. And I didn’t want to be alone anymore. I figured since it’s your fault he knows where I live, you can let me crash at your place.”

  “What?” He rubbed his forehead. “Lola, you cannot stay here.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…” He clenched his hands in fists. “Did you call the police? If Nick called you, you need to call the police.”

  “I did call them. They didn’t seem to take it very seriously.”

  “Well, let’s call them again, and make them see that it’s serious, okay? And then we’ll get you round-the-clock protection at your apartment, and you can stay there, safe and sound.”

  Lola drank some beer. “Did he threaten you, too? Really?”

  He guessed he hadn’t shared that with her yet. He nodded. “He was following me or something. He waited for me inside my car. Put a gun to my head. Told me he was going to kill me when the time was right.”

  Lola shuddered. “That’s what he said to me.” She set her beer down on the counter. “Oh my God, Sam, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I have nightmares about him, you know. Bad nightmares. I think about him breaking into my house with a baseball bat and beating me and beating me and beating me and—”

  He put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey. Calm down. Like I said, we need to call the police.”

  “Sam, you have to let me stay with you.” She was begging him.

  “You can’t stay here,” he said.

  She put both of her hands on his chest. “Please.”

  He backed away from her touch.

  “Sam,” she said. “You have to protect me. I know you want to. I know you wanted to protect Hannah.”

  Sam felt the name cut through him. He drew a shaky breath. “You don’t know anything about Hannah.”

  “I know you wanted to save her. I know you must wish that you’d done something different. Anything different. But you can’t, because that’s the past. And believe me, I know that you can’t change the past.” She took a step closer to him. She put her hand on his chest again. “The only thing you can change is the future. You can’t save Hannah, but you can save me.”

  He shook his head. “You’re not her. You’re nothing like…” But the truth was, she was more like Hannah than he wanted to admit. And that was why he’d been fighting her, trying to keep her as far away from as he could ever since he met her.

  The other girls—Daphne, Rachel, Melody—they were Hannah the way he wished she’d been. They were good, innocent, and victimized. They weren’t twisted up. Not like Hannah. Not like Lola.

  He put his palm to her cheek. “Lola.” His voice was hoarse. “You can’t be here.”

  She shut her eyes. “Protect me, Sam. Save me, Sam.”

  He swallowed.

  She reached up and grabbed the collar of her dress. Slowly, she pulled it down over her breasts.

  She wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

  She had firm, full tits with large areolas. They were mature breasts, women’s breasts, and they looked out of place against her girlish white dress.

  He let out a noisy breath.

  Her nipples were stiff. Stiff and large and pointing straight at him.

  She looked at him with wide, wide eyes.

  He was hard.

  “You should… You…” He was staring at her. He was trying to tell her to cover herself, to stop this. He wasn’t going to do this. He wasn’t going to…

  He lowered his mouth to her skin. He closed his lips around her nipple.

  She gasped, throwing her head back, burying her hands in his hair.

  His cock throbbed.

  Her hands moved. They squirmed down his chest, inside his pants, searching for him.

  And then she had him. She squeezed him. Stroked him, rubbing her hand from the root of him to the tip of him.

  He felt like he was on fire.

  He moved his mouth to her other nipple.

  He closed his hand over the breast he’d just had his lips on. He massaged it, gently kneaded.

  Lola moaned.

  Her hand moved fast on his cock, teasing him, urging him.

  The fire was in his torso, but it was moving through his limbs. All he could think about was how good it felt.

  Lola’s other hand was inside his pants now.

  He was sucking on her nipple hard. Harder with every second of pressure that built up inside him.

  Her fingers encircled his balls. There was a gentle tug.

  And then everything went white hot and blinding.

  He came—an abrupt, intense orgasm.

  Inside his fucking jeans.

  She let go of him.

  He was panting.

  She didn’t look like she’d expended much effort at all. “Let me stay, Sam.” And then she turned from him and ran back down the hall to the bathroom, slamming the door after herself.

  Sam clutched the counter for balance.

  What the hell?

  *

  Sam, wearing a new pair of pants and boxers, knocked on the bathroom door. “Lola?”

  Nothing. He’d been trying to get her to answer for almost a half hour at this point. She’d locked herself in the bathroom, and she wasn’t saying anything.

  “Come on, Lola, answer me.”

  Silence.

  He was tempted to walk away from the door. He’d done that probably five times already, telling himself that if she wanted to stay locked in the bathroom, that was her decision.

  But he couldn’t concentrate on anything other than the fact that she was in his house and that she wouldn’t talk to him.

  And that he’d… with her.

  Which he’d said he wasn’t going to do. He’d promised himself that he wouldn’t. He’d sworn up and down to everyone who’d asked him that he wasn’t going to get involved with Lola fucking Ward.

  And then what did he do?

  The minute she flashed him her tits, he acted like a horny teenager with no self-control.

  She didn’t even have nice tits, he told himself. They were freakish. Her nipples were too big.

  But that meant that he was picturing them again, and thinking about having his mouth on them, and then he started to feel a stirring in his crotch, and…

  Fuck.

  He banged on the door. “Are you dead or something? Was Todd hiding in the damned shower? Is he in there stabbing you to death? Scream or something if that’s what’s going on.”

  She flung the door open. “I can’t believe you’re joking about that.” Her face was red. She’d been crying.

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. Okay, good, he’d gotten her to open the door. Now what? “Are you okay?”

  She crossed her arms over her breasts, smashing them against her chest, making the tops of her cleavage push against each other.

  He looked away.

  “I always do this,” she said.

  “Do what?”

  “When I need something from a guy, I always seduce him. I keep telling myself I’m going to stop, but then I…” She retreated into the bathroom, turning away from him.

  He stepped inside after her. “That a confession, Lola? You telling me you seduced Nicholas Todd to get him to kill your
parents?”

  She whirled, her mouth gaping. “You ass.”

  He shrugged. She was probably right. He was probably an ass.

  “It’s all you think about, isn’t it? Whether or not I’m guilty. No matter how many times I tell you it’s not true, or how many times you claim you’re on my side.”

  He sighed. This wasn’t going well. “Look, I’m sorry about… earlier. I shouldn’t have let that happen.”

  “I told you it wasn’t like that with Nick and me,” she said. “I didn’t have sex with him.”

  Sam tugged aside the shower curtain. Just to be sure. No one in the bathtub. “He says he had sex with you.”

  “Well, he’s lying.” She lifted her chin.

  “Look, if you think you’re going to play me, Lola, you need to know that it’s not going to work.”

  “I only want someplace to stay,” she said. “That’s all I’m asking. And I didn’t mean it in any other way. It’s only that guys tend to be a little nicer to you when you’re getting them off, that’s all.”

  Wow, that was pathetic. Was it calculatingly pathetic, designed to make him feel guilty, like a huge fucking dickwad? Because if so, it was working.

  He scuffed his toe against the linoleum. “And now that I’ve taken advantage of you, I feel horrible, which makes it even easier to get me to do what you want?”

  “You think I’m awful.”

  He raised his gaze to look into her eyes. “I don’t know what I think about you.”

  “Well, I don’t know what I think about you either. It’s pretty fucked up that talking about Hannah gets you all hot and bothered, isn’t it?”

  He gritted his teeth. “Do me a favor. Don’t talk about her, okay?”

  She smirked.

  “And it’s not true,” he said. “I don’t get… about her.”

  “Whatever.” She sidled closer to him, her voice lowering in pitch. “What happened, Sam? Did your father make you watch? Or did you spy on your own?”

  Hannah unsnapping her bra, looking over her shoulder to the place where he was hiding, like she knew he was there.

  “You want to stay in my house?” he said. “This isn’t the way.” He stalked out of the bathroom. Fuck Lola, man.

  She came after him. “I’m sorry.”

  He kept walking up the hallway. “No you’re not. I don’t think you’re ever sorry. About anything.”

  “Maybe you like that about me.”

  “Who says I like you?”

  “You do.”

  He stopped walking and turned on her. “I don’t think so.”

  She grinned. “Maybe I’m not sweet and innocent like Rachel or strong and noble like Daphne or heroic like Melody, but deep down, you always wanted something else from them anyway. Something they weren’t even capable of.”

  He pointed to the door. “Get out.”

  She went over to one of the couches and sat down on it. She propped her legs up. “I can’t leave. I’m too afraid.”

  “You look terrified,” he said dryly.

  “You don’t know Nick.”

  He crossed his arms. “If you’re so scared and you want my help so bad, then why antagonize me every chance you get?”

  She threw her head back. “I don’t know. That’s the way I am, Sam. I can’t help it. I like watching you squirm.”

  “You like fucking with people. You like playing people.”

  She sat up. “Well, you can’t play Nick. He does whatever he wants.”

  Sam cocked his head to one side. Was this the truth? Was this how it had all gone down? Had Lola attempted to control Todd, only to find that he was uncontrollable, that he was too violent and frightening to be properly manipulated?

  “One night,” he said. “You can stay here for one night. In the guest room. But we’re going to the police tomorrow. Got it?”

  *

  “Yeah, we took this statement last night when you called.” The officer was tall and blond with a square chin. He looked bored.

  “But no one did anything about it,” said Lola.

  Sam and Lola were in the police station in Hagerstown.

  Sam leaned forward. “There’s an FBI agent on this case. I talked to him. Did anyone notify him about the fact that Todd contacted her?”

  “It’s protocol to pass any claims of contact on,” said the officer. He looked like a Ken doll.

  “Look, this is not just any claim,” said Sam. “This is Lola Ward. He’s got a grudge against her, and he’s threatened her life. Ask anyone who was in jail with him. I’m sure he went on and on about how much he wanted to kill her.”

  Ken smiled. “Look, we’ve done everything we can. I understand your concerns, but there’s really no need for you guys to be here.”

  Sam couldn’t believe this.

  Lola gave him a look, as if to say, See what I’m talking about?

  “You haven’t done everything you can,” said Sam. “She needs protection. She needs to be assured that she’s not in danger.”

  Ken eyed Lola. “You want to come into protective custody, sweetheart? That’s probably where you belong anyway.”

  “Hey,” said Sam. “You can’t talk to her like that.”

  Ken squared off with him. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to upset her boyfriend.”

  “I’m not her…” Sam shut his eyes. “I’m her biographer. That’s all. I’m just a writer. What the hell do I know? It’s only that I think that we would want to be focused on doing everything we can to catch this murderer so that he can’t kill anyone else.” His voice was steadily rising.

  “Oh, whatever,” said Ken. “The guy didn’t even do it. Everyone knows it was her. The two of you are trying to make him seem dangerous, but he was just a guy who got screwed over by his girlfriend.”

  “You cannot be serious.” Sam’s muscles tensed. “If you knew anything about the crime at all, you’d know it was physically impossible for Lola to have actually done any of the murdering. Besides, what? You think she killed all those people on the road too? Come on, man, she was twelve years old.” And now he was shouting. Really shouting.

  Lola looked up at him, gratitude all over her face.

  Sam took a deep breath. Shit. She’d done it, hadn’t she? She’d played him. He’d said she wouldn’t be able to, but here he was, coming to her rescue.

  Of course, maybe that was just his mode of operation. Hadn’t Daphne said he liked to play Prince Charming?

  Two other officers had come over to see what the commotion was about. Sam didn’t say anything. He let Lola explain the situation in a quiet voice. She gazed up at them with her huge eyes, her hands twisting in her lap. She looked delicate and feminine.

  The other officers gave Ken a funny look.

  “Sweetie, we’ve had people on your apartment since you reported it,” said one of the officers.

  Lola looked stunned. “Y-you have?”

  “Definitely,” said the other. “I can’t believe they didn’t tell you that on the phone last night.”

  Sam glared darkly at Lola.

  This was all a set-up, wasn’t it? Lola had known she was perfectly safe, but she’d wanted to play games with Sam, see how far she could push him. He bet she’d selected that cop specifically. He was probably the only short-sighted asshole on the force, and she’d wanted to pit Sam against him, just to watch Sam dance like a puppet on a string.

  And what had he done? He’d played right into her hands.

  Or maybe her tits.

  Whatever.

  He was going to have to do better than this if he wanted to get this damned book written. He was going to have to stop letting her get under his skin.

  *

  Sam drove back from Hagerstown, having deposited Lola back at her apartment. The police were keeping her apartment under surveillance, so if Todd showed up, they’d be close. Lola was safe, no matter what she’d said.

  He’d decided not to accuse her of manipulating him, though. Letting her know that he knew that she
was playing him gave her an advantage. He wasn’t going to give her an advantage. He was going to cut through all her bullshit, figure her out, and write it all down. Then he was going to sell her story and make lots of money and live happily ever after.

  And there would be no more… intimacy with her.

  Not of any kind at all.

  His phone rang. He tapped on the Bluetooth speaker that was attached to his visor and answered it. The speaker allowed him to hear everything in the car way more clearly than the speaker on his phone. It was invaluable when driving. “Hello?”

  “You going to admit that you’re fucking her yet?”

  He recognized the voice right away this time. “Nicholas Todd. How did you get my phone number?”

  “Oh, I have ways,” said Todd.

  “Did you call Lola last night?” Hell, maybe Lola had made that up too. Maybe everything that came out of Lola’s mouth was a lie.

  “Jealous?”

  “That mean you called her?”

  “I don’t have time for this right now, Sam,” said Todd. “I want to introduce you to someone. I have Hilary Fells here with me. She’s got a gag in her mouth, so hold on a second while I remove it.”

  Sam’s heart stopped beating. What?

  Suddenly, there was panting on the other end of the line.

  “Tell him how you’re feeling, Hilary,” said Todd.

  A female voice, strained and terrified. “I’m in the backseat of a black sedan. I don’t know what kind it is, but it’s black. A four-door. And—”

  “That’s enough of that, Hilary.” Todd sounded annoyed. He chuckled. “Girls these days are so smart, you know. They watch too much TV. Little Hilary here thinks you’re the kind of person that could rescue her. But we know different, don’t we, Sam?”

  Sam’s mouth was dry. He couldn’t speak. His tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth.

  Ahead of him, the road stretched out in front of him, but everything seemed blurry.

  I need to pull over, he thought.

  “Tell Hilary that you’re not anyone important. Tell her that you’re just the asshole that’s fucking my girlfriend.”

  Sam swerved off the road onto the shoulder. He put the car in park. “Nick? Nick, you don’t have to do this.”

  “Have to? Well, no, I don’t guess I have to.” Todd laughed. “Funny thing about life, Sam. You never know what it is you’re going to really like. I spent most of my life not thinking I was going to like brussels sprouts, because they just didn’t look like they’d be real appetizing, you know? But then one day, someone was frying a bunch of them in butter and garlic on the stove, and I tried one. It was delicious. But I never would have known if I hadn’t tried. Same thing with murder, I guess. I probably never would have tried it if it hadn’t been for Lola. But once I got a taste… well, delicious.” Todd burst out into laughter, as if he’d told a very funny joke.