The Landlord

The landlord sat in his chair, sweating profusely. His heart pounded in time with his hand’s movements, and his breathing was rapid as he watched the scene before him. His heart pounded harder still as he achieved an orgasm, and he had to be careful not to moan too loudly so his wife wouldn’t hear him from the next room. He grabbed a tissue just in time and sat there panting until his breathing returned to normal, along with his heart rate. He threw the tissue in the nearby trash can and adjusted his boxers. He continued, however, to gaze at the monitor in front of him. It wasn’t a porn video he’d been watching. No, he was watching Amanda Kendrick and her boyfriend get it on in their bedroom. He guessed that was close enough, though. He giggled to himself when he remembered the time he knocked on Amanda’s door, hoping to see the sexy yet young and innocent-looking girl. He knew he might lose control, and this was something that worried him. It was getting harder for him to keep himself together, but he couldn’t help himself. He just had to see her, and so far, while he had been a suspect in a few cases, he had managed to escape the clutches of the law. He was prepared to come up with a story as to why he’d come to the apartment, but when she didn’t answer, he assumed she was out on one of her walks, even though her car was present. That was when he decided to take the opportunity to scout out the best places to hide a few cameras within the apartment. He knew where the vents were, but he didn’t know what furniture or other items might be in the way. He had to get inside the place and see how it was set up. Vents weren’t always ideal when hiding cameras. The funny part was when he realized he wasn’t alone in the apartment. He sensed a presence in the cabinet and knew the girl was tiny enough to fit in it if she wanted to squeeze herself inside the thing. He could practically smell her fear. It amused him so much that he had to place a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. He made a point of stopping right outside the cabinet to taunt her, and could swear he heard her trying to control her breathing. Later on, he thought about returning or giving them a call to let them know he’d been inside the apartment, but then decided to use it as a test and see if she would contact him first. She didn’t, though, which didn’t surprise him. When he was sure the apartment was empty without a doubt, he installed three different cameras—one in the bedroom, one in the bathroom, and one in the living room. The one in the living room was placed at the end of it and inside the exterior wall, since there was no vent on that wall. Placing one in the living room vent wouldn’t give him nearly as much of a view. It was no big deal, though. He only needed to drill a tiny hole in the wall, which no one would notice, no matter how good their vision was. It was able to capture the entire living room, most of the kitchen, and the short side of the L that formed the hallway, including Amanda’s hideaway. Returning to the present, he seethed with hatred and jealousy toward Marcus. This guy had what he wanted, and he didn’t understand what the guy had that he didn’t, other than a better body and fewer birthdays. Then he thought of what he wanted to do to Amanda. He wanted to fuck her brains out and torture her slowly until the light went out of her eyes, with him being the last thing she ever saw. He hated Amanda as much as he was turned on by her. The chick was hot, but she reminded him of his dead sister—the one everyone suspected he killed but couldn’t prove one way or another. Yes, their suspicions were correct. He did indeed kill Rachel when they were home alone one day, when she was seventeen, and he was just a year younger. He ran up behind her with his bat. He did it because he was sick of her always being the one to get all the attention. Their mother doted on her like an obsession gone wild, and she was always the apple of her daddy’s eye. She could never do any wrong. She was just perfect. Countless times, he was told that he should be more like Rachel. Well, with Rachel dead, he couldn’t be more like her, could he? Yet her death hadn’t changed things. If anything, his parents alienated him even more until they finally gave up on him and sent him to boarding school when he began to hang out with the wrong crowd. Boarding school wasn’t any better. The other students either picked on him or feared him. Even the teachers seemed wary of him. He overheard a couple of them talking about him one day. They suspected he would go on to live his life on the wrong side of the law, with one failed relationship after another. But they were wrong. Other than being a person of interest at times, he was able to keep himself grounded enough with his wife and daughter, a daughter who thankfully didn’t look anything like his sister had. They were what kept him from going over the edge completely, but it wasn’t like he loved them or was devoted to them in any real way. He just used them to help keep him out of serious trouble, but that didn’t mean he didn’t indulge in hookers or force his way on a few of the young, sexy chicks that wouldn’t give him the time of day, no matter what he gave them. Edward Rollins was a man of entitlement. He took what he wanted, even if his luck might one day run out.