Stalker

39

Adam carries on through the open sliding door to the next room. The wallpaper is darker here, with big, bold patterns, like pale green crystals.

The music is louder. Two naked men have put an orange plastic armchair on top of the bed. A woman with straight black hair is sitting on the chair, laughing as the others rock the armchair on the mattress. More men join in, someone grabs hold of her feet and starts to laugh louder.

The woman with the boyish haircut is kneeling in front of a glass-topped table, dabbing at the remains of some white powder and rubbing her finger on her gums.

He steps aside and almost stands on a large tube of lubricant lying on the floor. Dust and strands of hair have stuck to the goo that’s spilled out.

In the window are ten glasses full of champagne. Drops of condensation are running down the stems and forming small puddles on the marble sill.

Further into the room Adam reaches a windowless passageway containing wardrobes and a suitcase rack. The bathroom door is half-open. A naked woman is sitting slumped on the lid of the toilet, her stomach folded and one arm tensed.

‘Are you all right?’ Adam asks softly.

She lifts her head and looks at him. Her eyes are dark and moist, and he gets a strong feeling that he ought to leave the hotel.

‘Help me,’ she whispers.

‘How are you feeling?’

‘I can’t stand up,’ she mumbles.

A slim man comes towards them from the bedroom and stops in the doorway. His erect penis sways as he moves.

‘Is Paula here?’ he asks.

He looks at them through half-closed eyes, and then disappears the way he came.

‘Help me up,’ the woman says, breathing through her mouth.

Adam takes her hand and pulls her up on to her feet. He backs away and she stumbles out of the bathroom, managing to pull a towel down from the rail. Only now does he notice that she has a dildo strapped around her hips. She falls towards him and puts her hand round his neck.

The woman’s breath smells of alcohol, and the dildo slips between his thighs. Her legs begin to give way and he holds her up, feeling her heavy breasts against his body.

‘Can you stand?’

‘I don’t know if this thing is on right,’ she mutters against his neck. ‘Can you check the strap at the back?’

She turns round, leans one hand against the wall, knocking a brown wall-clock and making its plastic cover rattle.

‘Have you seen Eugene?’ Adam asks.

The black leather strap between her buttocks has become twisted, and she feels along it with tired fingers.

‘It’s twisted,’ Adam says.

He doesn’t know what to do, hesitates, then tries to help her. He twists the strap twice, but notices that it’s tangled further down as well.

Her skin is hot and sweaty, he’s trembling and can feel how cold his fingers are as he follows the strap down between her buttocks.

A naked man pushes past and weaves into the bathroom. He urinates without closing the door, or so much as glancing at them.

Adam can’t help noticing that the leather strap between her legs is wet and slippery as he tries to adjust it. She stumbles again and leans her cheek against the wall, as the plastic clock sways on its hook.

A woman in the next room is whimpering, two men move through the passageway, and then he sees the beautiful woman with the boyish haircut in the doorway. She’s no longer wearing her pants. She’s walking slowly towards the next room when she catches sight of him. She raises her champagne glass towards him in a toast, and he sees pale lip-prints on the rim.

The woman in front of him leans her shoulder against the wall, then slides down on to the floor and rests her cheek on the carpet.

The woman with the boyish haircut comes over to Adam, her neck looks flushed, and she leans into him, pressing her forehead to his chest, then looks up at him with a smile.

Adam can’t help himself. He kisses her, and she responds, and he can feel her tongue-stud against his tongue.

He tells himself that he couldn’t help it. It’s wrong and he already knows that he’s going to regret it and will feel terrible afterwards, but all he wants right now is to have sex with her.

The woman on the floor mutters something about falling over, and pulls at his leg, making him sway.

When the woman with the boyish haircut opens his trousers, a wave of icy fear runs through him.

This is too easy, too tempting, he thinks.

But his hands are touching her breasts, they’re warm and tense and powdered with something rough and glittery.

He’s never seen such a beautiful woman.

He picks her up, pushes her back against the wall, and slides inside. Angst and lust spin through him. He groans, and sees her mouth open and Saturn sparkles on her tongue. Her body billows and her breasts quiver with his thrusts. She’s smiling, eyes closed, but she makes no noise, no groaning, and she doesn’t really seem interested in what’s happening, maybe she’s too drugged.

Two women come into the passageway and watch them for a while before they carry on.

The woman with the dildo has got to her feet, she’s standing behind him and her hands are suddenly under his T-shirt, caressing his waist and back. He tries to pull away and doesn’t know if she’s felt his gun, but she suddenly stops, moves away from him, mutters something and lurches into the bedroom.

Adam knows his cover may have been blown, but he can’t stop now. The woman says something to his neck, and he can smell a raspberry aroma from her mouth, she’s trying to get him to slow down, puts her hand on his chest, but he moves her hand away and pushes her hard against the wall.