Chapter Text
"Well, are you going to let us in on the blummin' secret?" Joel asked, his playful irritation coming through Gem's earbud. She knew he hated surprises, which was part of why she had done this. She loved teasing him and getting him all riled up.
"Maybe a hint, because I can't keep this all to myself," she said as she twirled in the foyer of the gorgeous house she'd managed to snag for the weekend. They all had hotel rooms for the con, but now that it was over, for a couple extra days she'd wanted a place to relax with her nearest and dearest.
"Well?" Etho's voice was amused, too, Gem's partner in crime when it came to teasing Joel.
"I'm standing inside an airbnb in an undisclosed location," Gem said, grinning ear-to-ear as she approached the sliding door overlooking a forested valley. It was so quiet and peaceful, the perfect place to unwind. The trio deserved a vacation. A private, in-person vacation.
Nobody other than her and Joel knew Etho was here, and it had to stay a secret. A thrill ran up her spine at the thought that she would get to hear his voice acoustic, in front of her. She dared not hope she'd even get to see his face, because he'd be wearing a mask, but oh how she'd fantasized.
Even if he did, though, she was still so excited to be in the same room as him. She'd hung out with Joel in person plenty of times, and video called a ton, but only had been on voice with Etho. Reclusive and mysterious, though they never held it against him.
"It's so perfect, I can't wait for you both to see it," she sang.
"So when do we get to see it?" Joel asked, petulance in his tone. "Checkout's in three hours."
"We planned to meet for dinner first," Etho reminded him, "I know you're obsessed and excited to see me but-"
Joel cut him off with a scoff, but there was no venom in it, and both Etho and Gem laughed.
They were everything to her. This dynamic, the back-and-forth, the subtle flirtation, god. These two men meant the world to her, and she wanted to show them properly. They'd have days here, together, and even if none of her fantasies came true, she was determined to tell them in person how she felt.
She knew their friendship could handle it if they didn't reciprocate. It would be okay. The butterflies in her stomach didn't fully agree.
They'd decided to go for dinner and meet Etho on neutral ground to make sure he was comfortable. When Gem had caught wind that both men had a few days post-con before their flights home, she'd immediately gone hunting for a private little vacation spot so they could hang out.
Of course, they'd been on a three-way Discord call for most of the afternoon already, because they couldn't go five seconds without talking to each other. It was a wonder her cheeks didn't hurt from smiling so much.
"I'm just going to drop off my stuff and then-" she began, but a knock on the front door interrupted her. What the hell? This was supposed to be a secluded empty place. Could there have been a double-booking?
"What's up?" Etho asked.
"There's someone at the door," she murmured as she strode back to the foyer. There was a tall figure behind the frosted glass, and she wrapped her hand around the doorknob.
As she pulled the door open, Etho began, "Gem, maybe you should-" but she lost the rest as the door crashed into her, sending the earbud skittering across the floor.
"Gem? GEM!" Joel cried as the line crackled. Etho yelled something too, but they both stopped making noise at the sound of Gem's screaming.
His heart thundered. This had to be a prank, right? Something she'd set up, trickster Gem, maybe it was Grian or Impulse and they were faking a break-and-enter just to fuck with them…
Except nobody was supposed to know they were doing this. Gem would never betray Etho's confidence like that, even for a bit.
"What the fuck…?" Etho breathed, and then grunting from Gem's end. Joel winced at the sound of a sharp slap, flesh on flesh, and a muffled cry, through a…through a hand…oh god oh fuck…
"Do you know where she is?" Etho suddenly demanded. "Joel? Are you in on this?"
Joel's brain blanked for a moment, nothingness. He didn't know what to do. What to think. What to feel. It was like shock had completely shut down his entire body.
"Joel!" Etho cried, and the agony and desperation in his tone broke through the fog. Joel had never heard Etho sound like that, and it chilled him to the bone.
"No, no she didn't tell me about - fuck, we don't know where she is, nobody knows where she is-" He gripped his hair by the roots and yanked, dread consuming his body in a cold wave.
"We have to find her," Etho said, and his voice sounded like Joel felt, hopeless desperation, and there was another slap and another muffled cry and all they could do was listen, what the fuck could they do?
Footsteps echoed closer, then there was a clatter that made Joel wince. Then, breathing.
"You boys still there?" a male voice asked, deep and completely unfamiliar. The glee-laced tone sent ice down Joel's back. "Hello, hello, anybody home?" And he laughed, and laughed, and the dread became all-consuming.
The Gem that was struck by the door was a different person than the Gem pressed against the linoleum, struggling to breathe. She had to be, because what was happening didn't make sense in her brain. Something had happened, something so quick and jarring that her mind couldn't piece it all together.
When her brain caught up with the fact that there was a human body pressing her into the ground and a firm hand over her mouth, the only instinct that took her over was to fight.
She thrashed.
Then she saw stars. And another disconnect, another Gem created, another out-of-body experience because she'd never been hit in her life and the shock of it - what is happening?
When she came back to herself this time, she couldn't move her arms, cruelly bound behind her back, and something was being pressed to her mouth. She tried to roll her head away but it was too late, she couldn't stop it, mouth unusable. Tape?
She screamed, but all she managed to expel was a muffled shriek, bottling in her throat like she was ready to explode. She took in quick panicked breaths through her nose, but they didn't feel like they were doing anything, and her heart thundered in her ears.
Cantbreathecantbreathecantbreathe-
"Shhh, it's okay pretty Gem," a voice said, so close to her ear, and it was an alien voice, who was he and how did he know her name? How had he known she'd be here?
A hand, petting her hair, so soft, so loving, and tears sprang to her eyes because what even was this nightmare? Was she about to become a statistic?
That soft hand wound fingers into her scalp and it wasn't soft anymore, but cruel as it twisted her head, and she saw nothing but blackness, no, it was a balaclava, or some kind of full head covering with only the mouth exposed, how could he see? A cruel mouth, twisted into a satisfied smirk. In his free hand, he held her earbud, up to the fabric bulged around his ear.
"Before we get started, gents, let's lay out some ground rules," that horrible mouth said. "My goal here was to come play with Gem while you listen, and if you play properly, when I'm done I'll leave her safe and sound for you to find. If I catch even a whiff of you involving the authorities, I'll take her out of here and leave her phone behind. Somebody might find her, someday. But somebody might just find her body."
The words didn't register right away, as panicked as Gem was, but when they did it was like a wave, and she fell completely limp, breaths so shallow they were almost nonexistent. She had an idea what this man was going to do to her. Fight had been replaced by fawn, and the only thing in her brain was doing everything she could to not become just a body, a body someone would find dumped so far from her home. She somehow managed to make peace with the fact she was about to have a traumatic experience…more than she already had, at least. But having that meant he would leave after…he would leave, and Joel and Etho would find her-
Oh god, Joel and Etho. They were still on a call. Somehow despite the speech being for them, her disjointed mind hadn't put the pieces together. Old Gem had been on the phone with Joel and Etho, excited about their secret retreat, happy and safe and-
The mouth laughed. "Glad we're all on the same page." He tossed the earbud to the floor and patted down Gem's leg, finding her phone in her leggings pocket. "Let's put it on speaker, shall we? So you can hear them whimpering like puppies."
She writhed, trying to wriggle away, because she didn't want to hear them, didn't want them to hear her, this. She wanted to go back to hearing them excited, hearing Joel be petulant over the surprise, oh god why did I do this as a surprise-
He sat on her calves to keep her from going too far as he swiped up on her phone. She expected him to have to use her face to unlock it - would it even work with the tape? - but he typed in her passcode to unlock it. How did he know her passcode?
Then her phone was breathing.
"Gem?" Joel's voice was strangled, hoarse, desperate, and she went cold. Joel was afraid, and if Joel was afraid then things were very bad. Joel was never afraid of anything.
She wanted to reply, forgetting her mouth was taped, and all that came out was a close lipped noise that ended in a sob.
"If you boys behave, I'll give you the address when I leave," the mouth said. "Hell, I could even give you gps coordinates. Big brain Etho knows latitude and longitude, right?"
"Who the fuck are you?" Etho's voice growled through the phone, laced with such venom and that frightened Gem even more. What kind of nightmare world was this, where Joel was afraid and Etho was angry? What kind of universe had been birthed when that door had opened, obliterating Old Gem and creating this twisted New Gem, helpless and bound while the men she loved bore emotions she didn't even know they possessed?
"I'm nobody," the mouth said. "Just a number, just a pair of eyes, always watching."
Oh god, a deranged fan. A deranged, psychopathic parasocial-obsessed fan. Wasn't this what everyone warned them about? Being in the public eye, being so accessible to the masses? Gem ran through every fucked up dm she could remember, every username she'd blocked, any inkling of who…it didn't matter, people used screen names and hit behind their computers for a reason. He really was just a pair of eyes, except now he had a mouth, and a body, and he was using it to drag her to her feet.
"There are so many eyes on you, on all of you," he continued. "Don't try to leave your rooms either, boys, you're being watched, too."
Dread made Gem's body so heavy, she had no idea how she was even moving. He gripped her waist as if his arm were made of steel, moving her like nothing, but then she realized they were approaching the closest bedroom and she scrabbled her feet a bit, trying in vain to push back, forgetting she was supposed to cooperate.
"I won't be angry if you fight me, pretty Gem," the mouth said, into her ear but loud, loud enough for the phone to hear, "but know the more you resist the harder I get."
More sobs, great, wracking fear sobs wrenched her chest, tears running down her face because nothing could escape her mouth. Helpless, helpless, helpless.
"I will fucking kill you!" Joel, and at the same time, Etho, agonized, "Please don't do this."
Now Joel was angry and Etho was afraid and Gem fell limp because what else could she do but get through this? He said he'd leave when he was done. That he'd tell them where to find her.
Then what? Then what? Everything would be okay? Nothing was ever going to be okay.
Softness, a mattress, a blanket under her face. She'd gotten a three bedroom house, not wanting to be presumptuous, and how fucking stupid did she feel now. How quickly this secluded house had become one of horror.
"I'm going to do whatever I want," the mouth said, and hands flipped her over, crushing her bound arms, body straddling her hips, holding her still. With nowhere else to look, she stared at the lips parted on a gasp as he ran his hands over her belly. "Whatever. I. Want."
He gripped a small breast in each hand and squeezed, and Gem wailed through the tape, because this wasn't going to be quick, was it? He wouldn't just fuck her and get out. The point of this was probably not even sexual for him, it never was with these types. It was a power fantasy, three for the price of one.
"You want me to turn on video?" the mouth asked. "Want to show your boys what they're missing?"
Gem shook her head violently, this was bad enough, them having to listen to this, but see it? She wished they'd just hang up, wish she could beg them to leave, turn it off, mute her, anything. It should have been comforting that she wasn't alone, but she hated thinking about them both frozen in horror on the other side of their phones, helpless to do anything for her. She couldn't imagine how mortified she'd be if roles were reversed.
That thought sent such a chill through her, and she took a small bit of comfort in the fact that this was being done to her and not one of them. That it was a horrible, fucked up situation, but that she was bearing the brunt of the physical part. She would rather it be this way than one of them here, her out of reach to save them. She didn't want to dwell on whether that was selfish of her or not.
Hands snaking under her tshirt, huge fingers against the soft flesh of her belly, and this was happening, hands pushing fabric up and up, a cute white tshirt she'd picked because she thought they would like it, a hint of her mint green bra showing through, it was for them, not for him, not for this Watcher but here he was, eyes on her, always on her.
"I'll tell you what," the Watcher said, that smirk again, how psychopathic was that fucking smirk, "if you boys turn on your cameras so she can see you watching her, I'll be gentle."
The being of pure agony that had possessed Etho said, "Don't."
"If you don't," the Watcher continued, unperturbed even as Joel spit more obscenities, "then I won't be gentle." He took that thin cute tshirt that Gem had picked out specifically, not for this, never for this, and tore it open, the sound of the rrrrrip so loud it was like a gunshot, and hands pushed up her bra, so rough the underwire must have left burns in their wake, and he gripped he nipples so tightly and yanked, causing her to scream and thrash, trying to move with him to ease the pressure and he just laughed and laughed, even as Joel and Etho yelled, she couldn't hear what they were saying through her own screams trapped in her skull.
The Watcher let her go and took her jaw in a hand, squeezing hard, leaning close, putrid lips puffing hot breath on her chin. "I'll fucking tear her in half and when you find her she'll be nothing but used and bloody and raw."
"They're on, they're fuckin' on!" Joel yelled, voice hoarse, and the Watcher chuckled darkly, turning her head to face her phone - why did she get one with such a big screen - propped up against a pillow, two windows there, two faces stricken with horrible fear.
Joel had his fists to his face, distorting his cheeks, green-striped hair ragged as if he'd been clutching at it, eyes wild. And Etho, sweet Etho, white shag over dark eyes, eyes that were wide and afraid but also so deeply sad, a faint sheen of rivulets snaking down into the top of his mask. Etho was crying for her. The emotional torture was worse than anything else at this point - she didn't want to look at them. She wanted to be free to suffer, free to hurt and express that hurt, but every bit that she let out would hurt them and the Watcher knew that, had banked on it, had planned it this way.
He was violating all three of them.
"Ready to see these perfect tits?" the Watcher asked, and pushed her on her side and settling in behind her before turning on the camera.
It was a blessing that the two windows got smaller with the addition of hers, but Gem could still see the visceral reaction on their faces to her predicament, how used she already felt.
"Please," Joel begged, scraping his nails down his face, "this is enough, you've done enough."
"No, no, it's not." The Watcher licked up Gem's cheek, tasting her tears as he gently cupped a breast, circling the nipple with a fingertip. "We haven't even gotten started."
It was almost worse, the gentleness, like the caress of a lover. This was a parody and fucked with her mind more, maybe it wasn't physically painful but it was emotionally painful. She wished she could disassociate but she didn't know how. It was not a skill she'd ever had to learn. It wasn't a skill anyone should ever have to learn.
"The only thing I didn't account for," the Watcher said, fingers still manipulating her flesh with cruel sweetness, "was having to keep you gagged, pretty Gem. I want to hear your voice so badly. I love listening to you online. With my cock in my hand." As if to accentuate his point, he slipped behind her, rolling his hips against her ass, the weapon in question pressing there and she had never felt so exposed, so small. She cringed and squeezed her eyes shut as he kissed the shell of her ear, so tender. "No no, keep those beautiful eyes open," he cooed. "Watch them watching you. You love being on camera, don't you?"
Gem didn't think she'd ever want to be on camera again. She opened her eyes and tried to stare through the phone rather than at it. At least none of them could really make eye contact, all looking slightly off from the camera lens.
"I can't risk you telling them where you are," he said, continuing the slow roll of his hips, so steady, methodical. "Even if I threaten you, threaten them, it might slip out. And then I'll be running out of time to have my fill of you, and none of us want that. We want all the time in the world, don't we? Pretty Gem?" He sucked her earlobe into his mouth and her sobs began fresh again. This would last forever and ever and even after he was gone, she'd be living this hell for the rest of her life.
"Please, please, stop, please," Etho murmured, a chanted prayer, head down, hands linked behind his neck.
"Hearing them beg for you is just as sweet," the Watcher said, and his hands curled around her, traveling down to the waistband of her leggings.
Old Gem had thought about wearing her overalls, but had chosen leggings to show off a bit. She'd wanted them to see the shape of her legs, her ass, how fit her calves were as she folded one up underneath her on the couch. How fucking trite that all felt, now. Her yearning. Would she ever yearn for male attention ever again in her life?
She wriggled but he just chuckled, still sucking at her ear, and she stilled, realizing her resistance was just spurring him on. He had said that. He'd said a lot of vile things that echoed in her skull.
"Ready to see if her pussy is just as beautiful as the rest of her, boys?" the Watcher asked, and Joel hung his head now too.
The slap, despite the awkward angle, was painful and loud, and Gem couldn't hold back the guttural sound of pain as her cheek exploded from the sting.
"I told you I'd be gentle if you watch," her captor snarled, his voice taking on a feral edge, and if Gem didn't believe that she could die here before, she did now. Etho and Joel seemed to be on the same wavelength, jerking wide, terrified eyes back up to the screen.
Joel bit his bottom lip as if he were holding something back, and Gem pleaded in her head for him to stay quiet, for them both to stay quiet, because her heart was already broken with their pain.
"Fuck it, I can't," the Watcher muttered, and flipped her onto her back, resuming the straddle, gripping her chin in his hands. "If you tell them where this house is, if you say anything to them that I think is a tipoff, I will fucking kill you, do you understand?" Firm, deadly. "Don't forget. If you slip up, you die, they will watch you fucking die."
She nodded jerkily, even though she didn't want the gag off. She didn't want them to hear her involuntarily make noises or speak. She didn't want them to remember her voice like this for the rest of their lives.
She whimpered as he ripped the tape off, like an electric zap to her lips, followed by burning rawness. She pressed her mouth closed.
"Such a pretty Gem," the Watcher said, voice sweet as honey again, like a switch flipped. He stroked her cheek, running his thumb over her lips, and she resisted the urge to bite him. He pushed her face to the side, facing the phone again. "Beg them to help you."
No, she thought, don't make me do this. She tried to stare through the phone again but she couldn't, couldn't not see their tortured faces.
This time he slapped her breast, and her shriek was so loud, ricocheting off of the walls, deafening her.
"Just do as he says," Etho rasped, and Joel was gripping his hair with white knuckles, jaw clenched.
"Please…" she whined, and fuck she sounded pathetic to her ears, and she must have to them too because they both winced, now knowing what she sounded like afraid, too. "Please help me."
The Watcher moaned, shimmying down her legs and pulling her leggings with him as he went. More tears now, the violent sobs escaping her lips this time, and she couldn't help but squirm to the side, twisting her body away from the phone.
"Oh, you want to show them this pretty thong?" he asked, hooking an arm under her thighs and bending her so her ass was fully pointed at the camera. "She wore this for you, after all." Mint green lace, to match the bra. Old Gem had worn it for them. Just in case.
Now they were seeing it. Against their will. Against hers.
Tremors rattled her bones.
"Poor thing, you're shaking," the Watcher said, giving her ass a hard squeeze. "Let's warm you up a bit."
She couldn't fight, couldn't make her limbs resist as he positioned her just how he wanted her, like a doll to be played with. When he leaned her back against him and spread her legs in front of the phone, she closed them, squeezing her thighs and her eyes shut.
The Watcher tsked, grabbing her under each knee and hooking them over his strong legs, holding them wide. She sat on him in a lewd tableau, like he was a chair leaning against the footboard. She stared at the ceiling, willing her mind to float there, float away.
He squeezed her inner thighs, dancing fingers softly closer and closer to the apex, and Gem didn't know how she even had any tears left to shed.
"Bet you wish you were me," he said, and fingers stroked her clit through the lace, and she sobbed because she didn't want it to be gentle anymore, didn't want her body to respond, wanted any kind of pain to remind her body this was a violation.
"Please!" Etho cried. "Don't! Don't fucking do this to her!"
Don't do this to us, Gem thought. He's doing it to all of us.
"Bet they jerk off to you too," the Watcher said into her throat, still stroking, other hand reaching up to play with her breast. Her wrists had gone numb. "Bet when you're on a call they have their cocks in their hands, wishing they had the guts to truss you up and have their way."
"No," she whispered hoarsely, even though it was what he wanted, because she knew them. They would never have done it like this. Neither of them would hurt her like this.
"Too bad they missed their chance, getting cucked without ever having a taste," he continued, fingers circling now. "Now every time they touch you it'll be sloppy seconds, and oh I'm gonna leave you so fucking sloppy."
He grabbed the lace violently, and jerked. It didn't rip right away, digging painfully into her tender flesh, and she wailed as the delicate garment burned then tore free, and she'd never felt so exposed. Every part of her, body and soul, forcefully exposed to the two people she loved most in the world.
Old Gem had wanted it to happen so badly, but not like this. Old sweet naive Gem could never let have imagined anything like this. He was stealing this from them, not only tainting her but tainting their first time together, forever branding this horror as their intimacy.
Joel screamed, spat, accent so thick she could barely understand the threats and obscenities coming out of his mouth. The hysteria in his voice gripped Gem's guts, as if he could blast his way through the screen to her himself. She let herself indulge in fantasizing about it, about Joel being here, ripping the Watcher limb from limb with his bare hands, spraying blood and viscera everywhere. She'd never entertained such gory thoughts, but New Gem reveled in them, imagined the relief of this man's horrific death. It should have frightened her, but nothing was more frightening than what she'd been experiencing at his wicked hands.
The hands that were parting her intimate lips, stroking and circling and manipulating, hips rolling his weapon against her ass, mouth groaning with pleasure at the feel of her.
"So soft, so perfect," he cooed, and slid lower, forcing a finger into her heat. "Oh, and wet, you little slut. I knew you were enjoying this."
"No!" she cried, humiliation settling over her, choking her, how could her body be reacting to this? How could he have turned her flesh against her in such a way?
"Yes," he said, thrusting in and out, with such little resistance her chest flushed with shame. "And so tight. I wouldn't be able to fit even this one finger if you weren't soaked like this. Imagine what my cock will feel like."
Gem forced herself to look at the camera, directly into the black hole, so her eyes would be on Etho and Joel on the other side. So she wouldn't have to see the window of herself, looking like this, open and dripping on her rapist's hand.
"End the call," she begged, using every ounce of her strength to make her voice as firm as possible. "Turn it off."
"They're not going to do that," the Watcher laughed, correctly assuming she was asking Etho and Joel and not him. "If they're not watching they can't be sure you're still alive. They'd just go crazy, alone, wondering what I'm doing to you. Better to see for themselves, however torturous it is." He was right, the master manipulator, so right. "Or maybe they like it, hm? Maybe they're hard right now, enjoying it as much as I am."
Through Joel's screams, Etho said, "No, Gem, don't listen to him, please, he's trying to break us but we're going to get through this, okay?"
"Spoken like a true cuck," the Watcher said. He withdrew his fingers and threw her down, and before she registered what he was doing he was dragging her legs to the edge of the bed and kneeling. He held her thighs in and iron grip, his mouth hovering over her spread pussy. "Let them hear what you sound like when you come."
"No!" she shrieked, for all the good it did as he descended on her clit, and this was worse, this was worse than anything else he could do, because he was making her complicit. He could insinuate all he wanted that Joel and Etho wanted this without proof, but he could force her body to want it and she didn't want them to see. "Don't, don't make me, please," she babbled through thick tears in her throat.
"Gem," Etho said, and his voice was so close it was jarring, she turned her head and found the phone right there, close enough that her stricken face took up most of her window. "Look at me," he said, so firm but so calm somehow, only the slightest shake, his eyes wide but determined. "You're going to get through this. You're not alone. You're going to be okay." His voice cracked a little at the end, because they all knew none of them would be okay ever again.
"I don't want you to see me," she whispered hoarsely, "I don't want you to see this."
"This isn't your fault Gem," Joel growled. "No matter what happens it's this fucking psychopath's fault, not yours."
"You're not alone," Etho repeated, and maybe it was a comfort, even though she felt selfish for feeling that way. If she was alone they wouldn't know, they would see the aftermath and be horrified but they wouldn't truly know, and that would be so much nicer for them.
She whined and squirmed, because she couldn't ignore the mouth anymore, manipulating her sensitive flesh into betraying her. A coil began to tighten in her guts, shame blossoming through her because it was inevitable, she was going to come, and her rapist chuckled against her clit like he knew it was coming, and forced two fingers inside, stretching her tight walls, and she moaned a long drawn out "Noooo-" and tried to thrash away but he was too strong. "Nonononono-" and her words caught in her throat, a wail/sob punching out of her as an orgasm racked her body.
Oh, traitorous flesh, the pleasure so sick she thought she might vomit, nerves singing through her dread as she gasped and whimpered and he drew it out so long, drinking every last drop of her humiliation from her weeping cunt.
The Watcher kissed up her belly, crawling up her limp form, then claimed her mouth, forcing the evidence of her taste onto her tongue and she gagged and retched, willing herself to actually do it, actually vomit right into his throat, but there was nothing in her stomach and she didn't have the strength.
"You're so gorgeous, Gem," he groaned against her lips. "You taste so good. So sweet."
"Fuckin' bastard," Joel's voice was utterly broken, throat thick, and Gem couldn't look at him, if he were crying too. The world must be over if Joel were crying.
The telltale sound of a jeans zipper opening tore through the room like the nail in a coffin. Gem couldn't stop trembling, feeling more pathetic than a lamb to the slaughter as she lay there beneath a monster, the blunt head of his most deadly weapon rubbing against her entrance.
"Beg me not to do it," he moaned, wrapping his free hand around her throat.
"Please," she whimpered. "Please don't."
"Don't what?" His voice had a note of teasing mania, the sick enjoyment of a power trip he had won the second he'd crashed through the front door and was milking it for all he was worth. He pressed a little, stretching her around the head, and at least it would be painful, at least it wouldn't feel good.
"Don't…don't rape me, please," she croaked, as if it would work, as if he would stop at the words, because it was what he wanted and if he got what he wanted it would be over faster, maybe, more pretty lies she told herself so she could survive.
The Watcher moaned, a long, loud, euphoric sound as he slid into her, parting her unwilling flesh, burying his face into her throat as he bottomed out, stretching her body around his intrusion, holding there, and Gem stared at the ceiling, focusing on the pain, holding on to it, because pain was better, pain meant this was being done to her, not with her.
"Tell them how it feels," he said, giving his hips a slow deep thrust.
"It hurts," she whispered.
"God fuckin' dammit!" Joel cried, and there was a boom and clatter, as if he'd slammed his fists down on a table, but she couldn't look at him. "You sick fuck, stop it!"
The Watcher just laughed, breathily because he began to thrust more rhythmically, enjoying himself. "She's so tight, you boys don't know what you're missing," he moaned. "She feels like…heaven."
At this point, Gem found herself able to float a bit, staring at the ceiling, not daring to close her eyes for fear of him demanding she open them, look at the phone. She couldn't pretend she was elsewhere, but she could almost pretend that she wasn't her anymore, that this was happening to a different person, a nameless, faceless person, because what kind of awful beast would she be if she wished this on anyone else?
The pace sped up, and his thrusts deepened, pulling out further to push back in, bobbing her body on the bed, bouncing her breasts, the pain sharper. It was harder to float when her body was screaming in such a way.
She found herself completely unable to when he spoke again. "Should I put a baby in you, Gem?"
Gem found in that moment, miraculously, that she could still fight.
She screamed like a banshee and thrashed and kicked, blood even managed to pump past the bonds on her wrists and her hands twisted. Through this entire performance the Watcher laughed maniacally, batting and subduing her body and not missing a beat as he pounded into her.
"Oh that gets you excited, huh?" he teased as he pressed her knees painfully into the bed, pistoning into her with fervour, grunting with the exertion. "Big bad GeminiSlay can't stop me from breeding her."
Joel and Etho were yelling, but her blood roared so loudly in her ears she couldn't make out what they were saying. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. She ran out of breath, ran out of voice, her throat almost as ragged as her wrists, her entire lower half throbbing from the abuse being wrought upon it.
"You have this place booked for three days," the Watcher declared between pants, "I could stuff you full of come and leave you trussed up here, until the next tourists come to claim it and find you. Too late for Plan B at that point, huh?"
"No, no, you said you'd tell them where I am, you said-" she managed to wheeze out, fear gripping her lungs like a vise. Three days, she didn't think she'd survive. She was sure she was already dehydrated at this point, let alone being left here, bound, for three days. Her body couldn't take it. Her body could barely take this moment.
"Unless you want me to come somewhere else," he cooed, and let go of one of her legs to dance his fingers behind his cock, tickling her ass.
"No!" she cried, clenching everything, wincing as she squeezed the spear so deep inside. She was as experienced as any other woman her age, and this was still horribly painful, but she'd never had anything in her ass, she couldn't imagine what damage that would do.
"Why not?" he teased, managing to worm the tip of a finger inside. "No risk of pregnancy back there. You can't have your cake and eat it, too, bratty girl. I'm going to come inside you, Gem. Where do you want it?"
And there it was again, that complicitness. He wanted her to choose. Like she wanted it.
"Please don't do this to me," she rasped, uselessly, she knew begging wasn't going to do anything.
"You have to pick," he said, leaning down and cradling her body like a lover, thrusting deep and slow, winding his hands into her hair and forcing her face to look at the blackness of his mask. "Where do you want my come? Your soft, wet pussy? Or your tight, spankable little ass?"
"I can't," she sobbed, "I can't!"
"If I get to choose, we'll do both," he warned. "I'll just stay longer, and use you everywhere, back and forth, maybe your mouth, too. Want to swallow my cock, pretty Gem? Want to know what your pussy and ass taste like?"
"You said you'd be gentle if we watched, you fuck!" Joel yelled, cutting through the insanity.
"Well it's her choice, now," the Watcher drawled, and twisted her head to face them, "unless you want to make one of them decide for you."
She didn't blink back the tears in her eyes, glad she couldn't see their faces. "My…this," she whispered, almost soundlessly.
"Your what?" the Watcher asked, even though he knew, he fucking knew. "Say it."
"My…p-pussy," she stammer-sobbed, eyes burning, don't blink, I don't want to see-
"Beg me to come in your tight little pussy," he crooned, thrusts speeding up again.
If he finished it would be over, she had to believe that. "Please come in my pussy," she breathed, and she couldn't hold her eyes open anymore, she blinked, and the agony in Joel and Etho's eyes cut through her like a knife.
"Like you mean it, Gem, come on, beg me!" the Watcher huffed, grunting, speeding, and maybe, god maybe it would be over soon and she could be alone in her misery and shame.
"Please come in my tight little pussy!" she wailed, and he yelled his release, burying into her, that thick, putrid weapon pulsing over and over for what felt like forever.
He collapsed on top of her and she didn't care that he was crushing her, and she finally let her eyes close because what did it even matter anymore, she had died here already, that plucky happy version of herself that felt like a ghost now.
She looked like she was dead, and Etho's panic ripped through him at a fever pitch even though he knew she wasn't. His devastation was palpable, splattered all over the walls as if this monster had shot him point blank through the heart with a shotgun.
"Gem?" he managed to rasp, gripping the phone like a lifeline, his only link to her, his only proof that she was still with them.
She didn't answer, but her pale sweaty brows knitted slightly at the sound of his voice and it was enough, enough to remind his anxiety-riddled brain that she was still breathing.
"Tell us where she is," Joel demanded, desperate and ragged, "you got what you wanted tell us where she is and leave her the fuck alone!"
The monster laughed, turning his faceless mouth towards the screen and reaching for it. "Soon," he said, and Gem's window vanished as her account left the call.
"Fuck!" Joel roared, standing up, there was a crash and his screen fell, showing only the ceiling bathed in the fading afternoon light. "Fuck what do we fuckin' do?!"
Etho didn't know. It was horrendous having to be present for all of that, but at least they knew she was okay, well not okay, but alive. Panic crept in again, but he couldn't panic, couldn't let the fear take over, because they had to find her. They had to get to her.
"I can't-I can't-FUCK!" Joel grabbed his phone and came back into view, furiously wiping at his eyes with one hand. "I'm gonna - I'm gonna come to you, I'll come to yours so we'll have my car ready to go if he-fuck-" his voice broke, "when we can go get her."
If. If if if, that word echoed in Etho's brain. He couldn't stand it.
"Will you…can you stay on the call?" he asked, hating how desperate he sounded, how selfish it was that he didn't want to be alone because Gem was alone, she was all alone and he didn't want to think about how she might always be alone now, how the last thing she might ever be was alone and his throat closed as he struggled not to think about how dark the world would be without her in it.
"Yeah," Joel said, taking a deep breath and shoving an earbud in his ear, cutting the video, and Etho vaguely heard the sound of keys and a door creaking and footsteps echoing in a hallway accentuated by sniffles.
He didn't say anything during Joel's trip, but the sound of life was comforting as he furiously stared at his phone, waiting for something, a message, anything.
At one point Joel spoke to someone, and it took Etho's foggy brain a delayed amount if time to realize he was talking to a pharmacist. Fresh tears silently flowed down his cheeks into his already soaked mask and he ripped it off, burying his face in his hands.
How could he have been so stupid? So fucking reclusive? It was his fault they had needed secrecy, his fault she'd gone out on her own to find them a private space just to be with him in person because he was so fucking neurotic. He could have done that, could have reassured her, could have made plans for them to meet at his hotel instead of dinner plans maybe she wouldn't have felt like she needed to do all of this-
"Almost there," Joel murmured, the scream of his engine revving in the background.
"Be careful," Etho said before he could stop himself, what stupid advice at a time like this.
Joel just laughed. There was no humour in it, only dark bitterness, because it didn't matter anymore. What use was being careful now? They should have been careful with Gem.
He would have been. He's wanted to be. He'd imagined kissing her so many times, imagined the feel of her silky hair in his fingers as he softly explored her mouth, so careful, so gentle.
Bile rose in his throat, just thinking about how horrible gentle could be, when used to violate. The Watcher had been gentle, and it had hurt her probably more than any pain could, ruining something that would feel beautiful if it wasn't being forced on her. If it were something she wanted.
"Tell me she's alive," Etho whispered, and Joel let out an agonized noise, something between a groan and a sob, and his tires squealed and he revved again.
"She's alive," he finally said, firmly, as if he were trying to convince himself just as much. "She's alive."
Joel had barely knocked when Etho opened the door, and the shorter man fell into his arms. They clutched each other, his phone dropping to the carpet, weirdly echoing the sound of the door closing on a delay through his speaker.
"Eefo," Joel cried into his chest, and broke, heaving sobs, and what remained of Etho's heart shattered as he held him, burying his face into Joel's hair and letting himself go. They let it all out, ugly demons of fear and panic and trauma, for how long he didn't know, but long enough that when his phone dinged it took him a beat to realize they were sitting on the floor together.
A second later, they both seemed to realize what a ding could mean, and scrambled for their respective devices.
The message in their group chat was a screenshot of an airbnb confirmation, with an address and a map.
Below, the text read: leaving the door unlocked, hope no predators find their way here before you do
Joel fumbled with his keys, dropping them twice before he managed to grip them and scramble to his feet. "You're navigating," he said, and though his voice was raw it was stronger than it had been in what seemed like years.
Etho nodded, following him out into the hallway, frantically entering the address into Google maps. "Twenty minutes, outside of town on the east, take the highway." He was proud his own voice only wavered a little. This was focus time now, strength time. Gem was alive, she was alive but not out of danger yet and they had to get to her. When they did, they were going to have to be calm and strong and whatever she needed them to be.
Gem let out a whimper as the Watcher ended the call. She knew she should feel relieved, happy that they didn't have to look at her anymore so broken, but the crushing loneliness hit her full force, laced with the fear that this was it now…was he going to kill her?
She'd thought that at this point she'd be ready to die, but there was still some will to live in her, it seemed.
"Ugh, you are something else, Gemmy," the Watcher said with a happy sigh, and bile rose in her throat at the words, as he pulled out, the slick noise making shudders lance through her body. "That was everything I ever dreamed of, and more."
"Please go," she croaked. "Please." She couldn't take another second of his voice, of his touch.
"Soon, pretty Gem," he cooed, kissing her sloppily, an afterglow-ridden kind of kiss. She stayed as still as she could, just letting it happen, just do what he wants, he said soon, let it be soon.
"I want to make sure you're ready for them when they get here," he said, slithering off of her. She wasn't sure if she could move her legs even if she wanted to, they were so heavy. Her core throbbed with pain, a horrible burn, a constant reminder of what she'd endured.
He dragged her sideways, stepping around the end of the bed, pulling her legs over the footboard, dragging her over the hardwood painfully until she was bent over it.
He took one ankle and pulled it taut, wrapping something around it until it was secured to the bedpost. She realized once he grabbed the other what he was doing, binding her spread so her raw, leaking pussy would be facing the bedroom door, and tried to jerk away but it was weak, so weak, and he laughed.
"Haven't you figured out yet you have no power here, Gem?" he taunted as he finished securing her other foot. She couldn't raise herself up to ease any pressure with her hands still bound, stuck in this lewd, uncomfortable position.
He brushed her hair from her back and made quick work of breaking off the remnants of her bra and shirt, whatever good they were stil doing her.
"In fact," he said as he sat back on the bed, running a hand casually over her ass cheek, "I think I'll have power over you forever. You'll never forget me, will you, Gem?"
No, she didn't suppose she would. But she was loathe to admit it to him.
"I'll tell you something else you shouldn't forget," he continued, stroking her spine. "If you tell anyone about this, at a hospital or get the cops involved, you won't be able to hide from us. Even if they somehow figured out who I am and caught me, it's not just me. There are many of us, and we know where you live, where you spend your time, everywhere you go. At any time any of us could visit you. We could do this to you again and again, or to Joel, or Etho, yes we know where he lives, too. Your boys can't hide, either." Here he paused, and Gem had forgotten how to breathe. Her body had been plunged into ice and she never thought she'd be warm again. "Do you understand?"
"Yes," she heard herself say, like an automaton, like the broken doll she was.
"Good girl," he cooed, and leaned down to kiss her one more time. "I hope the boys like the present I've left them. Maybe they'll take advantage of how accessible you are before they free you. Wouldn't that be one hell of a stream?" He laughed, a sick, barking sound, and Gem squeezed her eyes shut, silently pleading for him to just leave.
"Goodbye, sweet Gem, pretty Gem," he said, stroking her hair. "I hope you know this was the greatest day of my life."