Beast in the Night

Chapter 9: The Masked Man

“All set and ready to go home?”

Emily nodded as she smiled at her little accomplishment: chairs had all been put away, and the floors were mopped.

“You go ahead and clock-out,” Sharon said, dragging the floor mats out to the back to dry overnight.

Finally, Emily thought as she made her way to the back so she could clock-out and go home. It had been a long day, and she was physically tapped out.

She gathered her things from her locker and said goodbye to Sharon. She pushed the backdoor open. The air was damp, and the cold breeze gave her sudden chills. She zipped up her jacket and hurriedly, she walked over to her car.

The drive to her place was a short one. Opening the door to her apartment, she took a couple of minutes to see how Bunny was doing and then dragged herself to her bed.

Emily stirred tiredly and rolled on to her side, feeling something was watching her.

“Hello?” she whispered and looked around her room. Quickly, she turned on the lamp on her bedside table and surveyed her surroundings.

Then she heard a soft growl from the dark corner of the room.

“Anyone there?” she called out. After a moment, something tugged on her sheet, exposing her bare legs and sending a rush of cold air up her body.

Emily sat up and held her breath, waiting for whatever it was in the corner to jump out at her.

Time ticks by when another growl echoed. “What the―”

Before she could even finish a curse, a large grey wolf jumped out from the corner. Although her heart almost leaped into her throat, Emily didn’t shout in fear or make any sound at all.

Standing no more than feet from her bed, she stared deep into the magnificent breast’s gold-flecked eyes. When it didn’t make any move, Emily debated whether she should.

But the massive beast never took its eyes off her, and it looked as if it was actually waiting for her to make a move.

Slowly and carefully, Emily crawled out of her bed and kneeled beside the beast. She gasped as its thick fur bristled against her skin, shooting a wave of electricity through her body and warming her stomach.

The large wolf’s ears twitched when Emily buried her fingers deep in its fur, straddling him. “Aren’t you a beautiful one?”

The air from the window suddenly whipped around them, and the large wolf turned away from her and ran off again into a dark corner.

“Wait…Come back here,” she called out.

She slowly stood up, and her hands dropped to her sides in shock as a tall man came into focus and emerged from the same dark corner where the beast had gone off.

The man had nothing else but a pair of dark pants and a mask to hide most the feature on his face.

Emily squinted her eyes. "Who are you?"

But the man didn’t say anything. Instead, he slowly walked over to Emily, his gaze soft and hypnotic.

“Who…are you?” Emily breathed in. She gasped when the man scooped her up in his arms, the feeling of his strong arms around her gave a certain tightness in her chest.  

The masked man gently put her on the bed, a mischievous smile grazed his lips as he gently put her on the bed, his hands slowly crept under Emily’s nightgown. The latter gasped softly roughs hands made its way up past her belly button.

“What are you doing?” Emily asked softly.

“Relax,” the man finally spoke, his voice low and somewhat familiar to her. His warm hands crept up to her bra.

He placed a soft kiss on the corners of her lips, then his lips moved along her jaw to her ear, and his teeth sank into her earlobe, causing Emily to shiver. He laid next to her and started kissing his way down her throat. Rough fingertips dragged up and down the center of her body, smoothing over the sensitive bend in her waist.

Emily moaned. “Why are you doing this?”

Then the masked man’s hand worked its way down while his warm mouth was kissing the soft curve of her belly, across her hips and the roundness of her thighs. He moved back up, and Emily shut her eyes when she felt warm, wet tongue lapping her breast.

She was shocked to find out that she was already naked underneath the masked man. When did he remove her nightgown? It happened so quickly that she didn’t even notice.

Emily let out a series of loud moans, eyes still shut close.       

“Do you want this, Emily?” Gripping her ankles, he jerked her body down until her ass nearly hung off the end of the bed. Standing between Emily’s legs, he slowly licked the inside of her thighs, teasing her until nothing came out of her lips but moans.

Emily’s hips shot off the bed when she felt his wet tongue near her folds.

Then the masked man’s teasing mouth trailed away. She whined. “No. What are you doing? Don’t stop, please.”

“I asked you a question, Emily. Do you want this?”

“Yes!” Her voice was ragged. “Please…don’t stop… I f*****g want this.”

Then she felt his hands cupped her ass, and he began to dip into her. Her hands gripped his shoulder blades. She cried in pleasure as he slowly sunk deeper inside her, raising her up and down to meet his thrusts. She tightened her arms and legs around him.

"f**k, you feel so good." The man’s breath felt hot against her lips as he panted. He leaned lower and grazed Emily’s shoulder blade with his sharp teeth, drawing pinpricks of blood, marking her.

"Take off your mask. I want to see your face…" Emily trailed off, the edges of her mind blurred on her upcoming orgasm.

Then the man stopped and pushed her gently, drawing back. “Do you really want to know who I am?”

“Yes…” She tensed when she felt his hardness poised at her entrance. She was suddenly feeling empty without his full length inside.

The man slowly reached for the ribbon on the back of his head that held the mask and began to untie it.

“Hello, Emily…” the man said, throwing the mask on the floor.

Emily froze. “You.”

Emily jolted awake.

She was breathing fast and drenched in sweat. For a moment, she laid on her back and stared at the dark ceiling of her room.

It was just a dream, she told herself. But she could vividly feel how the man touched her in her dream.

Then she sat up and pressed her hand against her forehead. Her face was all heated up. With a sigh, she flopped back onto her pillows. When her mind was still racing with fresh images of her dream, she turned over onto her side.

Taking deep breaths, she wondered why she dreamed of her next-door neighbor, Rhys.

*        *        *

Emily gazed out the window, dreading the day. Unlike her previous days working as a cashier at Sanson Road Café, that particular day seemed and felt just plain terrible. She couldn’t quite get the orders right the first time, and the customers always grumbled that she took too long. 

She tried to convince herself that she was unbothered by the lewd dream she had last night and, impressively, it worked, regardless of how the customers reacted when she asked them to repeat their orders a couple of times. At least, their annoyed glances and under their breath comments had occupied her.

Well, until the bells chimed above the door that late afternoon and Rhys walked in.

Emily’s head immediately snapped up; eyes flickered to the doorway. A feeling of giddiness took over her stomach the second her dark eyes met his.

Rhys smiled. She looked away.

“Good afternoon,” Rhys greeted anyway as he moved to the counter to order a drink.

Emily’s face began to heat. “Brewed coffee with two sugars to go?” She wanted the interaction between them to be as brief as possible.

Rhys laughed and c****d an eyebrow. “You remember.”

“It’s hard to forget a simple order like that.”

“Thank you, Emily.”

Her heart rate sped up when she heard him speak her name, just like he spoke it in her dream.

“I asked you a question, Emily. Do you want this?”

Emily suddenly shut her eyes closed. “f**k,” she hissed.

“I’m sorry?”

“Oh, no! Nothing.” She shook her head, embarrassed. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, trying not to come off as weird again by blurting out some random curse.

“How’s Bunny doing today?” Rhys asked casually.

She glanced at the door and let out a silent curse when she didn’t see any other customers coming in.  “She’s fine.”

“Did she like the treats I gave her?”

She let out an impatient sigh. “Yes.”

Rhys smiled. “Great. Glad to hear that.”

“Anything else?”

“Huh?”

“Aside from your usual brewed coffee, is there anything else you want to order?”

He studied the surprisingly sullen look on her face and said, “I guess that’s all.” He gave her the exact amount, which Emily quickly took.

“Thank you.” She hit the buttons on the register, the bottom compartment opening up with a loud click.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Emily?” Rhys asked again, concerned that she might not really be. “Has your ex-boyfriend bothered you again? Logan?”

Emily noticed his jaw tightened. “No. He hasn’t. I’m just really tired, that’s all. I didn’t sleep well last night and I―” She stopped as it dawned on her what Rhys had said about the thin walls between them. She could still remember the loud moans she made in her dreams. Then a sudden thought that Rhys might have heard her moan in her sleep immediately mortified her.

Her face reddened in an instant. “Crap.”

“What?”

Looking up at her next-door neighbor while trying to look straight into his blue eyes, she carefully asked, “Did you ah―”

“Did I what?” Rhys smirked.

She looked away. “Did you hear anything weird from your side of the wall last night?” She waited for a few seconds before Rhys answered her.

“No.” Rhys smiled. “I didn’t. Why?”

“Nothing.”

“Brewed coffee for Rhys,” Sharon called out in a very cheery voice.

Emily watched Rhys walked over to the counter and grabbed the cup before smiling at Sharon. “You’re coffee’s great.” She heard him told Sharon, whose pale cheeks straight off lit up with rosy tint.

“See you around, Emily.” Rhys brought the steaming cup to his lips. “s**t!”

Emily gasped as he saw hot liquid spilled off the lid and onto his pants.

“s**t!” He leaped up to keep it from burning into his legs.

Sharon hurriedly went to his rescue and handed him a mound of napkins to dab at his now coffee-stained pants.

“Well, isn’t this great?” Rhys muttered. “I now have to walk around the street looking like I peed myself.” He turned to Emily and saw her hands clasped over her mouth, suppressing a laugh.

 “Oh, crap! You look like you just peed yourself. That’s hot!” Sharon said, looking rather amused at the wet area.

Rhys pursed his lips. “I know! It is hot.”

Sharon squinted her eyes; a naughty smiled plastered on her thin lips.

Emily burst out laughing. “I’m sorry!” she exclaimed. “I really didn’t mean to laugh at your situation.”

Rhys shrugged then grinned. “Well, at least you look happy again.”

Emily blushed as she began to laugh with Sharon.

“Well, ladies, good day!”

“Come back again tomorrow, Rhys,” Sharon said, smiling.

Emily just smiled and shook her head at her neighbor’s sudden mishap, her mind slowly getting rid of the shockingly scandalous dream she had with Rhys.