When she opened the front door to Eric's apartment, she expected him to be waiting for her in his usual stance, ready to greet her with a kiss and ask how her trip had been. Instead, she was greeted by blackness and had to grope around for a switch in the dim glow of the hall light. When that proved useless, she headed clumsily for the nearby lamp, knocking into the end table in the process with an exclamation of frustration. Suddenly, the front door slammed shut, plunging her into darkness.
"Eric?" she called tentatively. "Is that you?"
While she stood listening for an answer, two strong arms grabbed her from behind, one covering her mouth and the other pinning her arms to her sides. She struggled wildly against her assailant and tried to cry out, but she found herself in a vice-like grip, pressed helplessly against a hard male body that she knew instinctively did not belong to her boyfriend. The man began silently dragging her towards Eric's bedroom, moving effortlessly through the black apartment as if he were familiar with it. Beth felt raw panic rising inside her as she realized his direction.
God, he's going to rape me
, she thought. Where the hell was Eric? And how had this man gotten inside his apartment? She quickly pushed away images of this man overpowering her boyfriend, interrogating him, killing him…
At the doorway to Eric's bedroom, the man removed his hand from her mouth to open the door. Seizing the opportunity, Beth screamed as loud as she could, hoping the neighbors might hear her through the walls. She felt a strong pressure on the base of her neck and lost consciousness.
When she awoke, she found herself in Eric's bedroom, lying on his bed. The lights were dimmed, but she could make out a dark form sitting across the room by the door. She gasped involuntarily at the sight and realized that she had been gagged with a soft cloth material. Her long arms and legs were tied to the bedposts with what looked like Eric's neckties. Most shocking of all was her own body, completely naked and spread-eagled on Eric's navy sheets. She pulled at her restraints and twisted her body, but no movement could release her.
The dark form must have noticed her stirring and approached the bed slowly. As he walked out of the shadows, Beth saw the face of her attacker and gasped again. She recognized Joe, Eric's best friend, standing over her with a broad grin. She was completely puzzled. What the hell was he doing? And where was Eric? He saw her quizzical look and started laughing softly as he moved to the side of the bed.
"Hi Beth," he said. "How are you?"
Beth made a frustrated noise from behind her gag.
"Good," he smiled. "Because you and I are going to have some fun tonight. Just the two of us. What do you think about that?"
She shook her head from side to side, making noises of protest.
"Oh, come on," Joe goaded her like a child, brushing a stand of red hair out of her face. "You're not even giving me a chance. Is this because I had to knock you out back there?"
Beth glared at him from the bed, angered by his smartass remarks. She'd known him before she'd even met Eric—not well, she was realizing—and had never imagined him capable of this, no matter how much of a bastard he may have been. She had always treated him rather coolly, only joking with him when she knew she could one-up him. He had always teased her about one thing of another, most often about Eric's former girlfriends, trying to provoke her jealousy. It had never worked – Eric was so loyal, she couldn't imagine him ever cheating on her. Now here she was, about to be mauled by the one who had badgered her about Eric's unfaithfulness. She wondered if this was his way of one-upping her, getting revenge for all the times she'd made him look stupid.
"It looks like I'll just have to convince you how much fun I can be," he said in a low voice, staring into her.
His words were both chilling and damningly erotic. She found herself staring back at him, looking over his lean, muscled frame over 6 feet tall. She had always found him magnetic in his personality and physical appearance, which was so frustrating since he was such an arrogant fuck. His eyes were a shade between brown and black while his dark hair always had that fresh-out-of-bed look she found strangely attractive. He sat down on the bed next to her and looked down at her body. Beth felt the heat of a blush spreading over her cheeks. She couldn't believe Joe was seeing her like this, every inch of her body exposed.
