The Role Model: A shocking psychological thriller with several twists by Daniel Hurst (read aloud TXT) 📕

best acting job. ‘In a minute, you can go upstairs with my daughter. But first, I want you to know that if you lay one finger on her in an aggressive or violent manner, then the deal is off. If I hear her scream or cry out for me, I will come into the bedroom, and your fun will be over. Do you understand?’

Jimmy looks like he is starting to get annoyed at the way I am speaking to him, but then Chloe starts to play with her hair nervously, and that seems to distract him enough into calming down.

‘I’m not going to hurt her,’ he tells me, his eyes alive with her vision. ‘She’s far too pretty for that.’

I grit my teeth and think about how all I want to do right now is remove the knife and drive it into his stomach, but I tell myself to wait just a couple more minutes. Right now, there is still the chance that he could stop me from attacking him and overpower me before using the knife against Chloe and I. But it won’t be long until he is so distracted with my daughter that he will have no chance of seeing me coming until it is too late.

As I watch him follow my daughter upstairs, that time can’t come soon enough.

36

CHLOE

I can almost feel Jimmy’s eyes burning into me from behind as I reach the top of the stairs and head for my bedroom doorway.

I know I have to keep calm as he follows me into my room, but that’s not so easy to do when he could reach out and grab me at any second. Fortunately, he heeds my mother’s warning from a moment ago and doesn’t lay a finger on me in any way that I could perceive to be alarming or dangerous. But as I watch him close the bedroom door behind himself, I know that I’m not going to be able to stop him invading my space any longer.

He is here for one thing, and he isn’t going to stop until he gets it.

‘I like your room,’ he says, looking around at my bed, my wardrobe and dresser table. ‘I was going to suggest a room at the Royal Tree like I did with your mother, but this is actually quite nice.’

I say nothing as I stand awkwardly by the bed, almost waiting for him to make the first move.

‘I imagine you feel more comfortable here than in a strange hotel room, don’t you?’ Jimmy asks, walking towards me.

I nod my head as he smiles before brushing a strand of my hair from my face and tucking it behind my ear.

‘How about we take a seat on the bed?’ he suggests, nodding at my duvet just beside us.

I do as I’m told and lower myself down onto the bed, feeling the thudding of my heart in my chest but doing everything I can to not let him see how nervous I am. Jimmy happily takes a seat beside me, and I assume he isn’t going to waste much more time before he makes his move. Unlike the guys I’m used to at college, he probably knows what he is doing.

Sure enough, Jimmy moves his head towards mine, his lips puckered, and his eyes closed, ready for what he hopes will be the first kiss of many in this exchange. But I quickly pull back and deny him, instead pushing myself further back onto the bed until I’m lying on my back with my head resting on my pillow.

Any initial signs of annoyance on Jimmy’s behalf are quickly dispelled as he looks at me lying before him, my eyes inviting him to join me in this much more comfortable position.

It doesn’t take him long to get horizontal too, and as he leans in again for another kiss, I know it’s not long now until this is all over.

‘Get on top of me,’ I say, just before his lips can reach mine, and he seems surprised by my command, so I quickly add to it. ‘Mum thinks this is my first time. But it isn’t.’

My words are meant to make Jimmy think that I am much more game than he would have anticipated, and they seem to do the trick because he gives me a wide smile.

‘You two continue to surprise me,’ he says with a chuckle, running his eyes all down my body one more time before moving to get on top.

I think about how the biggest surprise is yet to come, but say nothing until his body weight begins to press down on me, making me feel for a second like I am trapped and powerless though really I know that will change in just a second.

‘I have something to tell you,’ I say as he looks down at my lips.

‘What’s that?’ he asks, slowly bringing his eyes up to meet mine.

‘My mum is going to come through the bedroom door with a knife in ten seconds and stab you to death.’

Jimmy frowns as he processes what I just told him, but I nod my head to let him know that I am serious.

‘I mean it. This is her plan. She wants me to distract you so she can kill you,’ I say, enjoying the confusion I am creating in the mind of my tormentor.

‘What are you talking about?’ he asks, but the creak of the floorboard in the hallway outside the door lets him know that there is no time for conversation.

‘Here she comes,’ I say, raising my eyebrows as if to ask him what he is going to do about it.

Pushing himself up off the bed, Jimmy turns to face the door and is obviously intent on surprising my mum when she comes in here. But that is exactly what I expected him to do, and as he has his back to me, I reach across to my bedside table and pull open the top drawer.

As the door handle to my room is