I heard the gun cock and instantly dropped my cellphone.

“Who were you calling?”

“No one.”

“Get up,” the masked man said calmly.

With shaking legs, I did what I was told. He had the gun trained on me when one of his partners came in through the door behind him and said, “Should we get the safe too?”

“No time. This one called the police.” He said in my direction.

I didn’t say a word. I was too afraid to speak and it was then that I heard it. A banging noise that seemed to rattle the entire store.

“What’s that? Didn’t you chain the entrance?”

“Probably the cops trying to get in...”

“Damn it!”

“Let’s get out of here. If the cops are there, we’re going to need some leverage.” The one in front said as he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me from around the desk.

I struggled against his grip until he slapped me across my face. He dragged me through the store where I saw Mr. Seymour unconscious on the ground. The other cashiers were up against a wall with a few other customers, scared to move as another guy held them at gunpoint. He saw us coming and told everyone not to move as he walked backwards through the exit with us, never lowering his gun from the crying figures of my coworkers and regular customers.

His other partners pushed through the backdoor and dragged me to what I assumed was the getaway car. There weren’t any cops or signs of cops anywhere. But I saw the security guard’s body on the ground, he too looked unconscious.

I was crying and pleading for them to let me go when I noticed that the driver was the man who had been the irate customer from earlier. It was then that I understood that it had all been a set up. The driver had staged a fight with me to get the security guard out of the store in order for his partners to rob the store.

“Get in the car!” Yelled one of them, shoving me in the direction of it.

“Just let her go. There’s no cop. We don’t need a hostage. That just complicates things,” said another one.

“She can identify me. She’s coming with us,” said the driver.

I felt sick to my stomach as they attempted to push me into the car and I began to scream and struggle. No way was I going to get into that car. They would have to kill me first because I knew getting into that car was certain death.

As I kicked, bit and screamed, I closed my eyes as one blow and then another landed in my stomach and then someone slapped me across the face. I sucked in a breath, trying to breathe through the pain and then as I figured I was about to die, I heard one of the robbers say, “Who the hell are you?”

I didn’t know who that question was addressed to and I didn’t take the time to find out as chaos erupted and I heard a sickly sound of bone being cracked in half and then screaming followed by gunshots. I crawled away screaming and crying, so scared my legs weren’t working, but still trying to get away not looking behind me as I tried to escape whatever fate the robbers had found themselves in.

I could hear them screaming in fear and pain and then I heard another gunshot and the roar of what sounded like a wounded animal. I looked back then and the creature that stood there on its hind legs over the bodies of the three men and the driver was like something out of a horror movie.

It was built like a bear, but fiercer and more intimidating because its snout and teeth were elongated and bared. Its claws thick and deadly showed traces of blood and flesh. It lowered itself on all fours to inspect its handiwork and then its nose twitched and it caught sight of me.

I stared at it and began screaming, thinking that I had lost my mind, willing myself to wake up from what was clearly a nightmare and then it came walking slowly towards me. My eyes went wide and I screamed, about to faint when a car appeared from the opposite side of the alley and stopped right next to me. Winslow was behind the wheel and he climbed out and picked me up and placed me gently in.

“Oh my God, Winslow! Get us out of here! That thing…that thing killed them! Oh God!” I sobbed. Winslow squeezed my hand and casually stuck his head out of the window and said, “Hollis hurry up! We don’t have all day! The cops are right around the corner.”

With chattering teeth, I looked up and watched the monster that was in front of us shrink and its animalistic qualities slowly faded until I was staring at a naked man. But not just any naked man: It was Hollis.

“He’s such a show off,” Winslow said and it was the last thing I remembered before I fainted.

“Wake up, Ivy. Come on, wake up.” I heard a voice say and abruptly my eyes flew open. And instantly I began to scream.

“It’s okay. We got you. Calm down.” It was Winslow and he was stroking my hair. I had on nothing but a man’s dress shirt and I was in a house that I didn’t recognize.

“What--what --what’s going on? Where am I? I think I’m going to be sick,” I said grabbing my stomach. “Did you see it Winslow? That thing. That monster.”

“Yeah, he’s in the other room,” Winslow said nonchalantly.

I shook my head, not understanding and began to explain again as if Winslow was the crazy one. “You don’t understand. There was a monster. It attacked the robbers---”

“I think that sedative you gave her worked too well,” I heard a voice say as Hollis entered the room.

“What?” Winslow said tilting his head and giving Hollis a questioning look.

“Ivy’s talking about monsters.” He came and sat down next to me on the bed. Now Winslow was on my left and Hollis was on my right.

“You were there. You saw it right, Winslow?” I said.

He opened his mouth when Hollis butted in, “The cops showed up at the same time Winslow and I arrived. We didn’t see anything. Did we Winslow?”

Winslow seemed to hesitate and then he shrugged. I looked from him to Hollis feeling as if something was deliberately left unsaid.

“The mind plays some weird tricks on a person when they’re stressed,” Hollis said.

I just stared at him and nodded. Yes, I had hallucinated. Clearly that was what happened. The other option was too crazy to believe. “I guess…I must have imagined it all. It just feels so real. I don’t know.”

“They were planning to kill you and your brain doesn’t want to deal with that reality so it made up a different one.” Hollis said softly. He took my hand in his and began to rub it gently. “I’m sorry we didn’t get to you sooner.”

“Did the cops come?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Hollis said shortly and then he said to Winslow. “Why don’t you get Ivy something to drink?”

I was unsure why Hollis was ordering Winslow around, but Winslow seemed unperturbed as he did just that, disappearing through the door without another word.

Hollis leaned really close to me and I don’t know what happened, but I felt this almost uncontrollable need to get closer to him. I shook and wrapped my arms around myself. I figured I was in shock or getting over the rush of adrenaline I had felt earlier. Why else was I so turned on when I should be feeling nothing but remnants of fear?

“Are you okay?” He began to stroke my back and I sighed against his chest enjoying the feel of him and before I knew it we were kissing each other and I felt this strong desire to have him inside me. I don’t know what got into me, but I just felt as if I had to have him right then and there.

And he ripped the shirt off of me and climbed on top of me, not kissing me as he stared down into my eyes, pinning my wrists above my head. He easily parted my thighs with his own and didn’t bother to remove his pants. He just freed his member and maneuvered himself to the wet entrance of my sex. It was only then that I realized I didn’t have any panties on.

I didn’t get a chance to think of why that was as Hollis pushed into me roughly, groaning as he thrust so hard into me time after time, that the force of his blows rocked my body up and down the bed, until my hands collided with the headboard. He released my hands and I gripped my thighs around his waist and buried my nails into his backside. I wanted more of him.

“Harder,” I whispered.

And he obeyed, thrusting into me so hard that it began to hurt a little. I felt myself become wetter at the idea of the pleasure and pain he was able to cause and I closed my eyes and luxuriated in the feel of it. And it was then that I felt the presence of someone else in the room and looked up to see Winslow there. He was sitting in a chair across from us, just watching as Hollis pounded into me. And then I saw his hand moving steadily up and down the front of his pants and realized that he was getting off on watching us. And Hollis finally looked up and abruptly sat up bringing me up so that I was astride him.

“Are you just going to watch?”

“You seemed to be enjoying yourself,” Winslow said with a wry smile.

Hollis chuckled and picked me up, never pulling out of me until the moment he placed me on my hands and knees in front of Winslow. I didn’t understand what was going on.

“Here’s a better view,” Hollis said as I felt him position himself behind me.

“What? What’s going on?” I finally asked. Winslow slowly unbuttoned his pants and let them slide down his hips before kneeling down in front of me. He traced a hand across my face before lowering my head down to his member and I knew then what he wanted.

I traced my tongue around the tip of his already damp shaft and he sucked in a breath and it was then that I felt Hollis’ hands between my legs, parting my folds as he entered me roughly from behind. I gripped my hands around Winslow’s thighs as every one of Hollis’ thrusts sent Winslow’s member deeper into my mouth.

I felt my own body began to shake and my sex stretched to accommodate Hollis’ size as he slapped me roughly on the behind and buried himself deeper into me.

“Do you like that, Ivy?” Winslow said softly as my warm mouth encapsulated his shaft. “I told Hollis how good you felt the other night when I was inside of you. Good enough to make me want to share.”

The delicious wickedness of it all, knowing that Hollis and his boss had discussed how my sex felt didn’t offend me. In fact, it turned me on and as Winslow gently caressed my face and Hollis roughly gripped my hips and mercilessly rammed inside of me over and over again, I came. Hard. Unable to hold Winslow any longer in my mouth, screaming Hollis’ name. But he wasn’t done yet as he kept pounding into me until he came too with a hoarse shout, spilling his seed into me as he ground his hips against me one last time.

And with that he pulled out and collapsed next to me where I had fallen to the ground, my knees no longer able to hold me up. I felt Winslow picking me up gently and laying me across the bed. And then I felt a blanket cover me and Hollis’ hands caressing the curve of my hip before he kissed my ear and said, “Sleep tight, my dear Ivy.”

Then as I settled into a light sleep, I heard the words, “Maybe we should tell her the truth.” After a long pause, Hollis sighed and replied with a simple, “Someday.”

As the door closed behind them, my brain tried to process the words I’d heard, but my body had had enough and was already giving into sleep. And so I slept, feeling strangely more protected and safe in that moment than I had in my entire life.

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