Now I stand in my underwear, shivering against the cold as all three of them leer at me with sickness in their eyes.
“Make her fight a little,” says the man with the camera, and he drops one hand to his crotch, adjusting his pants as he speaks. “It’s always hotter when they fight.”
“You want me to fuck you?” barks the ragged man as he advances. “Do you want me to fuck that sweet pussy of yours?”
“No!” I gasp through my tears. A tremble takes over my entire body as if I’m about to shake apart at my joints. “I don’t! I don’t want to be here, please I’ll do anything just let me go. I want to go home!”
“This is your new home,” he sneers. “Get on the fucking bed and tell me the truth! Tell me you want me to fuck you until you can’t walk, until my cum is dribbling out of you like a fucking faucet!” With each step, he shoves me back toward the bed, and I try to resist. I try to fight each shove, but he’s so much stronger than me and everything Falco taught me flies out of my mind.
I hit the mattress and suddenly he’s on top of me, slapping me repeatedly while yelling in my face. “Tell me you want this! Tell me you want to fuck me so bad you’re going to be addicted!”
Through the tears and sobs that wrench out of me, I try to protect my face with my hands, but he catches my wrists and forces them onto the bed above my head.
His weight is crushing and he leans down, yelling so loud in my face.
I jerk my head to the side, trying to escape him as his demands pour past my lips like vomit.
“I want you to fuck me,” I sob. “I want you to fuck me so bad I’ll b-be addicted!”
Cheers rise up from behind the man. No matter how I kick my legs or twist my body, I’m unable to dislodge the man crushing me. He rises up and grabs my bra with one hand, wrenching the fabric aside until my breasts spill out.
I scream and he slaps me again, then he punches me hard enough to daze me.
“Spread your legs, whore,” he yells in my face. “He wants a close-up before I fuck you!”
His weight disappears from my body. Just like every other command, I do as instructed while sobbing into the pillow, sick with fear at what’s to come.
But it doesn’t come.
The touch I dread never makes contact with my skin.
There’s a loud crash, a flurry of yells and screams, then several short, sharp bangs that bring the room to silence.
Then, suddenly, Falco’s face floats over mine as a blanket covers my body.
“Aerin?”
“F-Falco?” Even through my tears, his handsome face is undeniably recognizable, and a fresh wave of heartbroken tears surges through me, clogging my throat as I try to speak. “O-Oh my g-god.”
“I’m here. I’m here. You’re okay. You’re okay. Sit up for me, Aerin, can you do that?”
Just like before, that same compulsion washes over me and I immediately sit up without much thought. Three dead bodies litter the floor around the bed, but the second I glance at them Falco’s body suddenly blocks my view.
“Don’t look.”
I look away and gaze up at him, struggling to wrap my head around how he’s even here. Shadows move in the dark behind him as he shrugs off his jacket and drapes it around my shoulders.
“Keep your eyes on me, Aerin, okay? Just on me. Can you walk?”
I don’t look away. Before I can answer, Falco’s already scooped me up into his arms.
“You want a route to a hospital?” asks a distantly familiar voice.
“No,” Falco replies as he holds me close in his thick, strong arms. “We need someplace safe.”
I don’t look away. Through the walk out of the apartment and into a waiting van, I keep my eyes locked firmly on Falco’s face.
I count the bristles of his facial hair, mixing between silver strands and dark ones.
