Absolutely Unforgivable (22 page)

I tried to shake off the sensation and then my mind for some reason drifted back to what Trista had said earlier. If news of my antics were all over the internet, did that mean that my parents possibly knew? I should have called them when my accident happened. I bet they were worried. I wonder if Jeromy knew what was going on. He doesn’t normally keep up with the news when he’s busy on a project, so probably not. But my parents, they did keep up with me on the internet.

I pushed Billy off of me and grabbed my phone. I saw they had been texting and calling me. I don’t know why I didn’t call them after the accident. I should have. Suddenly the thought of calling them was the only thing in my mind. Nothing else around me seemed to matter. I had to get in touch with my parents and let them know I was okay; that the bump on my head had already healed and everything was perfectly fine.

Waves of guilt washed over me as I realized what a horribly thoughtless daughter I had been. Without thinking about anything else going on around me, I took my phone and ran upstairs to call them. I think my mind was just trying to deal with the fear of what was going on by focusing on other things. It was the best way I knew how to cope.

As I reached the top step the rest of the events played out like they were happening in slow motion. From downstairs I could hear Vin talking to Billy. “Where is she? The little fucker got away.” I could hear Trista saying that the cops should be here any minute.

And in front of me stood the crazy eyed man, walking towards me with a knife. He must have gotten away from Vin by climbing up the terrace and coming in through one of the open windows upstairs. As he stepped towards me, I stepped backwards. He leapt for me and I jumped back, only there was no more ground beneath my feet and I tumbled down the stairs. Billy jumped up and caught me in his arms before I could make it all the way to the ground.

The crazy man took the knife in his hand and stabbed himself in the stomach and then leapt forward, diving off of the stairs and landing on top of me. Vin pulled him off of me and tackled him and held him in place as the cops arrived. I started to pass out. Billy held me tight, rocking me back and forth, whispering, “It’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay.”

Not much later I came to, slightly disoriented as a paramedic shone a bright light in my eyes. I looked around to see if the man was still there, and he wasn’t. Then I heard a noise upstairs. I was trying to figure out what it was I was hearing while Billy explained to me that just as the cops arrived the crazy man had gotten away and ran up the stairs. They were up there right now chasing him.

“Miss, please look over here,” the paramedic said while continuing to check me out. “Her pulse rate is a little fast but that is to be expected.”

I was cold, and confused. I looked down at my body. I had the man’s blood all over me. I was drenched in the crazy man’s blood. It was on my swimsuit, on my face, all over my arms and in my hair.

“Her blood pressure is a little low, but she’s probably in minor shock.”

As the man continued to poke and prod at me, I could hear loud noises upstairs, then a distinctly loud pop, followed by a dull thump.

I dug my hand into Billy’s chest and he squeezed me tightly. I started to panic, worried they were going to take me back to the hospital when I didn’t want to leave. I frantically looked around the room and found Vin standing by the window near the front door. I jumped out of Billy’s lap and leapt towards Vin. I scurried behind him for protection and sheepishly hid as the paramedic came towards me.

I shook my head and squeaked out a soft “No.”

Vin cleared his throat and told him, “I think the lady doesn’t want to be touched anymore. We are done here.”

“Sir I’m just doing my job. I need to make sure she is okay.”

This time Vin raised his voice and folded his arms across his large chest. “I said we are done here.”

In frustration the paramedic turned towards Billy and Trista. “She doesn’t seem to have any permanent damage; her vision isn’t blurry; she isn’t dizzy and she’s not vomiting. Just make sure she takes it easy for the next couple of hours. If she notices any bouts of dizziness or she suddenly has a hard time focusing, take her to the emergency room as quickly as possible.”

The man looked over at me hiding behind Vin, still covered in blood and then he looked back towards Billy. “Because of the possibility of blood-borne pathogens, you will want to make sure she pays a visit to her primary care physician for testing. It’s probably not an issue but it really is better to be safe than sorry. With all of that blood, you just never know.”

The man began to pick up his equipment and as he walked by me to head out the door Vin stepped in his path, making sure to block him from getting near me. The paramedic said, “I’m sorry ma’am. I didn’t mean to scare you. I know you’ve been through a lot.”

He walked out the door and began speaking to the others who were just arriving. After the shooting, the two cops that were at our house soon turned to five and before long the five cops turned into ten and from there I just lost count. There were so many people coming and going I just couldn’t keep up with them all.

As I stood safely between Vin and the wall, I began to look at myself. The blood was everywhere. There was just so much of it. Still holding on tightly to Vin’s waist I popped my head around his big arm and asked Trista if she could help me.

“Sure, hon. What is it?” She asked as she walked over to me and took me by the hand.

“I want to get this off of me,” I said pointing at the blood all over my swimsuit. “Can you help me?”

“Of course. Let’s get you in the shower.”

Without thinking I walked to the foot of the stairs and Vin quickly jumped in front of me shaking his head. I looked up, suddenly remembering why I couldn’t go there. My stalker’s dead body was sprawled out on the floor.

Trista pulled me by the hand towards Billy’s bathroom but before we could get too far an officer approached us. He needed to take pictures of me in my current condition for evidence. I didn’t want to do this. I wanted everyone to just leave me alone.

Billy came up to me, stood by my side, and assured me it was going to be okay and held my hand the entire time that they took the photos of me. Luckily, they were pretty quick about it. I wanted to get out of that room so badly. The officers said they wanted me to turn my bloody swimsuit over to them to be bagged and tagged for evidence, and Trista said she would bring it to them after.

Trista and I made our way to Billy’s bathroom once again. Vin went in first to make sure the room was clear. It was and then he allowed us in and then stood guard by the door. Billy stayed in the foyer talking to several of the police officers and paramedics who had just arrived to the scene.

Trista ran the bath water and I sat on the floor and sobbed uncontrollably. It had all just been so much to take in. Trista helped me take my bloody swimsuit off and then sat me down in the tub. She grabbed a nearby rag and washed my entire body while I sat there staring off into space. I started to come to as she rinsed the shampoo and conditioner out of my hair.

She helped me out of Billy’s big bathtub and put a towel around me to dry off. I looked down at my clothes laying on the floor, suddenly realizing I had nothing clean to put on and I couldn’t exactly go upstairs to get anything either.

Trista didn’t give it a second thought. She flung open the bathroom door, pushed Vin aside and went into Billy’s closet to find me something I could wear. Billy was much bigger than I was so it wasn’t exactly easy to find something that wouldn’t just fall off of me but finally she settled on a white polo button up shirt and a pair of his black silk boxers. Vin walked me into the bedroom and turned his back so I could dress in privacy, then he walked with me back to the bedroom.

I sat on the bed and lifted my legs, one at a time, as Trista slipped some socks on my feet and then I got up and carefully walked behind Vin to the kitchen where several police officers were waiting to speak to me.

Trista, ever the constant professional didn’t want to pass up a marketing opportunity, sat me down in the kitchen as the men spoke to me. She grabbed her purse and pulled out her makeup bag and started touching up my face while the police officers were asking me question after question that I didn’t really know the answers to. She acted as if the police were not there talking to me about a dead man upstairs near my bedroom. To her it was just like I was there getting ready to greet fans.

When she finished touching up my face she started messing with my hair, still sopping wet from my bath. Maybe that was for the best though. Her constant touching was soothing and helped to distract me from the seriousness of all that was going on around me. I think left to my own accord I might have fallen into a full blown panic attack and been completely unable to speak to anyone.

Even with her help, I had a hard time focusing on what the policemen were saying to me. I just kept remembering the man coming towards me. The look in his eyes would no doubt haunt me in my dreams for a long while to come. I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t understand why he came after me.

Vin stood behind me, ever vigilant, with his arms across his bulky chest. Then one of the younger looking police officers came up to me. “Are you Stacy Keller, Superstar?” When he said it the other policemen in the room gave him a look of disdain. You could tell he regretted asking me by the look of embarrassment on his face, but it was too late. It was out there already.

Vin took a step closer to me and in his deep husky voice said, “Not right now, man.”

The police officer took a look at Vin and took a step back. “I’m sorry. I just can’t believe it’s really you. I just saw your superstar video on YouTube this morning. You’re so awesome.”

Something about his adoring fan boy attitude shook me out of my haze. I turned to Vin and put my hand on top of his which was now resting softly on my shoulder. “No it’s okay. Really.” I turned back towards the policeman and smiled.

“Yes. That’s me. Do you want to take a picture or sign something?”

“You sure you don’t mind?” he asked sheepishly while pulling out his cell phone.

“Of course not. As long as you don’t mind how dreadfully horrible I look right now.”

Billy stepped into the kitchen as the officer said, “Are you kidding? You look amazing.”

I walked over and stood in front of Billy as he put his hands around my waist. He bent down and whispered in my ear, “What’s going on?”

“Just taking a few pictures.”

And before Billy could protest several of the police officers pulled out their cell phones and began snapping pictures of Billy and me, while Billy complained. “What the hell, Trista. There is a dead body in the other room and you are in here playing publicist. Are you fucking kidding me?”

I turned in to face him and put my hand on his chest. “No, Billy, please. This was my idea. Trista had nothing to do with it.” I stood up on my tippy toes and reached up to kiss him on the cheek. When I did you could hear snap, snap, snap in the background as a few more pictures were taken.

Vin stepped in front of us as Billy squeezed me tightly. “Okay, that’s enough of that. She’s been through an ordeal. Let’s give her some space.”

Billy leaned in to me so that he could whisper in my ear, “Can you and Trista try and behave while I finish up in there?” Billy pointed to the officers with clipboards in hand standing in the foyer near the foot of the stairs.

“I promise.”

He kissed my forehead and went to speak to the men while Vin blocked the door with his body, obstructing my view.

I posed for a few more photos with different officers and then sat down at the table and made small talk with Trista and a few of the officers who remained in the kitchen with me. I did my best not to think about what was going on in the other room that Billy and Vin didn’t want me to see. Instead I just tried to focus on what Trista and the others were talking about.

Before long Billy returned and the rest of the officers started to leave the house. When the last police officer had left, I looked down at the clothes I had on. Billy’s silk boxers were comfortable but still I wanted to put on my own clothes. Without thinking I started heading up the stairs. When I hit the top stair Billy cried out. “No, Stacy! Stop!”

I froze in place, unable to move. Pools of blood were at my feet. I couldn't muster the strength to run away or even scream for help. Billy came up behind me pulling me into him, forcing my face into his chest.

“I ... I just ... I didn’t ...It was just ....”

“Sssh. It’s okay. Let’s get out of here,” he said softly as he led me back down the stairs. When we got back downstairs he put his hand on my chin and gently tilted my face up, so that I had to look at him. “What were you thinking going up there?”

Tears were now streaming down my face. “I just wanted to get my own clothes.” I started sobbing uncontrollably and he pulled me into him tightly.

While Billy tended to me, Trista was on the phone with the security company. The house, it seems, was about to get a heavy-duty upgrade. There was even talk of adding in a safe room.

We went into the living room and Billy sat on the couch and propped me up on his lap. I was mindlessly running my finger across his chest when I really started to think about what happened. My mind flashed to the man from the Fourth of July fiasco, and then to the man in the backyard. It suddenly hit me, they weren’t the same. There were two of them. I popped my head up and without realizing I had done it, squeezed Billy’s arm, -- my nails digging into his skin.