"Trust me." Still holding my hand, he led me into the store.
This looked like every other convenience store in the country. A display of Doritos off to the side. A fridge full of soda andwater. A shelf with a couple of half-blackened bananas and sad-looking apples.
Further back was a counter with a cash register. Behind it stood a woman a few years younger than me. She took one look at us and our clothes and her eyes widened in fear.
"We're not here to rob you," Archer said. "We're looking for Toby."
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. She nodded and jerked her head toward the back of the store.
"In the storeroom," she said in a whisper. Absently, she rubbed at a bruise on her arm.
Archer nodded and led me to the back, moving slowly, silently.
"Please," the young woman whispered behind us. "Make it hurt."
Archer glanced back and nodded back. "We will."
We stepped into the storeroom to find a man sitting on a box, his phone in his hand. His cock in the other.
"Yeah, just like that," he said to the video he was watching. "Hurt her good."
Was that… Ugh, sick. People like him made my skin crawl.
He caught a hint of movement in the corner of his eye and looked up to see us. He startled so violently he almost lost his grip on the phone. Hastily he tucked his cock back into his pants.
"What the fuck?"
"Toby Dent?" Archer asked, his voice menacing behind his mask.
"Yes," Toby started to say. "I mean, no. Never heard of the guy."
"You're a really bad liar," I told him. "Like, really bad."
He pushed himself to his feet. He was tall, but carrying a few extra pounds. Sweat glistened on his brow. The smell of fearwafted from him. Or maybe he hadn't showered in a day or two. Either way, it was unpleasant.
"We know about the things you got up to," Archer said. "With young women who didn't consent."
"What the hell? I'd never do anything like that. Ask Camilla." He looked around us in the direction of the young woman although he couldn't have seen her from where he stood.
"I did ask her," Archer said. "She told us to make it hurt."
"That little bitch," Toby, snarled. "I knew I should have whipped her ass hard—" He stopped mid-sentence, realizing he condemned himself.
"She deserved it," he said changing tack, like all abusers did. Blaming the victim for the things they did to them.
"We both know that's not true. I said. "No one deserves that."
"He does," Archer pointed out.
"Right, he does," I agreed. "But she doesn’t."
"What do you want?" Toby asked, backing up a few steps until his back hit a shelf.
"We want world peace, free chocolate, and no sexual predators," I said.
Not necessarily in that order.
Toby frowned, confused. "I can give you free fucking chocolate. You can have all the chocolate you want," he gestured wildly toward a shelf full of boxes.
