Though there is a happy ending, this story features violence and intimidation and may not be to all tastes. Please skip this story if it offends your sensibilities.
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At ten o'clock that night, James and Liv were watching the news in the living room of their apartment. The couple, stripped down to their sleepwear, were bathed in the blue flickering light of the television and nearly napping at the end of a long day of work.
But it was Friday. Ten was too early to go to bed, and now that they were in their thirties, it felt too late to go out. If they followed their routine, they'd watch a movie after the news and go to bed around one in the morning.
James looked forward to lying in on Saturday and Sunday mornings. He usually woke with Liv's mouth or hands on his cock to begin their weekend love affair. Weekdays were just too tiring. He couldn't imagine how life would be if they hadn't decided to remain childless.
The anchorwoman droned on about the economy and James felt his head falling on his chest until he thought he heard a determined rap at the door.
Liv heard it too, pulling her own head up out of a doze. "Was that someone knocking?"
"I'd better check," James said, pulling on his housecoat and walking over to the apartment door.
He listened for a moment. There was a peephole in the door, but he couldn't see anyone. After a few seconds, he visibly relaxed and turned back to Liv.
"I think it's someone playing a prank. Nicky-Nicky-nine-door, or something."
"I haven't heard of that since I was a kid," Liv said.
"Me neither."
The doorbell rang and James and Liv shared a perturbed look. James turned back to the door, determined to catch the offending children, probably the Amos kids from two doors down. James would swing the door wide on them and give them a good scare, then talk to Mike Amos about keeping his kids out of his hair. He sighed, thanking God again he and Olivia didn't have children.
He yanked the door wide open and three large men in bulky clothes, gloves, hoods and masks shoved him backward, so that he tripped over a pair of his shoes and landed on the living room floor.
"Surprise, Motherfucker," the first man through the door said.
The men were inside and the door was almost instantly closed and locked behind them. The first man stood with his boot across James's neck. The other two men crossed the room to where Liv was. James could only partially see her on the couch when they immobilized her there and took away her cellphone before she could tap out 9-1-1. One of the men collected James' phone too from the table beside the couch. They didn't have a landline.
"Okay, if you two stay calm and don't do anything stupid, you'll come out of this just fine."
Liv started to scream, but the sound was stifled by a gloved hand. She tried to bite the fingers, but the thick leather prevented her from seriously harming the man's hand. He leaned in and told her to stop biting or she wouldn't like what happened. James could see her forcibly relax in the hands of her captors.
"Liv," he croaked, the boot heavy on his throat. "It'll be alright. Do what they say."
"Yeah, Liv," the first man said. "What your old man said. If you cooperate, you won't get hurt."
"What... what do you want?" James asked.
The first man responded. "What's your name?"
"James."
"I like it when people get straight to the point. I think we can do business. So, what we want here is money and a piece of ass."
Liv made a sound like a sob and James snarled.
"Save the anger, James. It's too late for it to do any good. Your concern is how you get you and the missus out of this predicament with your lives."
James seethed under the man's foot, utterly helpless. He knew if he resisted, it only took one man to restrain Liv, so the first man would have help, and from the look of him, he didn't need any help anyway. James tried to see the man's hands.
"Smart man. You're looking to see if I'm carrying a weapon. I'm not. Know why? Because I don't need one. Do you feel like testing that? You can, but you should remember it's not just you that will suffer."
James struggled for words. What to say to this creature? He seemed less than human, because not only was his face hidden by a mask, but his hood hid his eyes. How could he reason with something like this? For now, he accepted he could not fight his way out of the situation. Like Liv before him, he forced himself to relax in the man's control.
"Good. Now you're using your noggin. Like I said, we are here looking for money and a piece of ass. We saw your girl out tonight as she let herself in the building, all teeth and tits, those legs that go on forever. Class act, and we took a fancy. Didn't we, boys?"
They murmured their agreement.
"Then we saw her on the balcony on the second floor and figured out which apartment she must be in. We didn't know she had an old man, but she wouldn't be the first woman we took in front of her husband."
James couldn't help himself. He tried to raise himself against the leg holding him down. The man let him rise just far enough to make it hurt when he slammed him back down.
"So, anyway, we thought we'd help ourselves. We figured we'd wait until dark and let ourselves in. It's all worked out just fine so far, hasn't it?"
The man looked over at James's wife. "He called you Liv. Is that short for Olivia?"
She nodded.
"Good. I had a girlfriend named Olivia once. Proper bitch."
"Wait," James said, desperate.
"What, my man?"
"Please don't touch her."
"You got an offer?"
"I have some money. It's in the flour jar in the kitchen. Take it and go. We won't call the police."
"That's interesting, James. I take what you offer so that you don't feel like you left anything untried." James thought that was a quote from somewhere, but his mind was focused on other problems. The first man nodded curtly at one of the masked men. That man left Liv in the third man's charge and went to the kitchen.
"Bingo," he said.
The money was in a plastic bag. The man shook the flour off and it left a cloud on the floor.
"How much?"
"Twelve-hundred bucks."