Page 74 of Stalker

“Distracted?” Dane hummed, bringing me back to him and the present.

“Around you? Always.” I giggled when he gripped my hands and started pulling the bow open on the gift.

When I had the bow free, I lifted the lid, but Dane reached over next to us and clicked the small reading lamp on and I froze. “I’m trusting you, Puppet.” He laid wet kisses over my shoulders and I stared down at the present in my lap. “Be my good girl, baby.”

“Okay,” I whispered and finished opening my gift. It’d be so easy to look over my shoulder and see his face for the first time, but as he laid his cheek on my shoulder looking down at the gift, I forced myself to be good for him. “Oh,”

In the box was a black satin pillow of sorts with three very precarious items cushioned on top, and my body tingled as I looked down at them.

“Pick the one you want to explore first.” He stated, rubbing his hands up and down my thighs in a comforting yet teasing way. It was the first time he freely touched me when we weren’t fighting for control or power in the dirt like a couple of animals.

“Well, I know which one I’m not going to start with.” I whispered, grabbing one that probably wasn’t safe either, but felt safer than the other one.

It was two things, actually. A delicate black ribbon choker with a gold jewel closure and a matching bracelet in the opposite coloring. I noticed that the gold bracelet had a beautiful sparkling chain instead of ribbon, and when I lifted it to inspect it, the black closure on it seemed slightly scary. And sure enough, the black gem was a skull withemerald stones in the eyes, giving it an eerie yet painfully beautiful appearance.

I lifted the choker to examine the jewel closure closer, and it was a matching skull with dark black gems for eyes.

“What are these?” I whispered, noting the way the different colored gems reminded me of us. True, I’d never seen his eyes before, but I imagined they’d be dark. Just like Lincoln’s were. There was just something about his personality that said his eyes were dark, like his soul.

His fingers traced over the black ribbon choker and he responded, “Some people would call this one a collar.”

An image of a woman in a sex dungeon locked in a cage with a padlocked chain around her throat came to mind and I shivered at how unappealing that was. “What would you call it?”

“A token of commitment.” He said, taking the seemingly harmless ribbon from my hand and using both of his hands to bend the skull at the center. Right before I thought it’d break in his large hands, a seam appeared down the middle of the face and the token parted. “It’s something to be worn no different from a promise ring or something more conventional to prove to the person you’re with that you’re theirs.”

“That seems serious.”

“It is. It’s not meant to be taken lightly. I wouldn’t take it lightly if you were to wear it.”

I felt overwhelmed, so I shifted my attention to the glittering golden bracelet with a matching skull with glowing green eyes. “Then what is this one?”

He smiled into my hair and put the black choker back into the box. “This is the training wheels edition of the necklace. Something more normal with the same meaning. But this one represents a commitmentto yourself.” He ran his fingers over the glowing green jewels and opened it, the same way he opened the choker. “This one is a gift to yourself, linking you to no one but you. Because if you accept my necklace or not, I want you to accept this bracelet as the first step to regaining your individuality and autonomy.”

“I don’t understand.” I whispered, but that was a lie. Despite not being the one to disclose that part of my life, I knew what he was referring to.

“Choose yourself, Puppet, if nothing else. Choose your own happiness and your own path and stop doing it for everyone else.”

Tears burned my eyes as I felt the impact of his words on my heart. So instead of telling him how right he was, I held my wrist out, welcoming his brand and the vow it carried for myself. His fingers gently clasped the skull back together and then he reached into the box, pulling out a pin key. “If you lock it, it won’t come off without this key.”

“Lock it.” I whispered, watching as he twisted the small lock and I looked down at the symbol of me and him intertwined. “This is the same skull you have on your back.”

“Is it selfish of me to want to be a part of your happiness, even if it isn’t with you choosing me?”

“No.” I smiled to myself. “Not at all.”

“We’ll hold on to this one until you’re ready for it.” He took the key and tucked it back into the box with the necklace.

“Fair.” I ran my fingers over the bracelet and felt the warmth in my soul at the gesture he gave me. And then I remembered the other things in the box and groaned to myself, pushing my emotions to the side. “And the other parts of my gift.”

He chuckled darkly, lifting the black leather like blindfold that had cushions in the eye spaces with a tight elastic band to go around myhead. “This is so I can fuck you face to face like last night without worrying about you suffocating with my shirt over your face.”

I snorted, “Or you could just reveal your identity to me. And end the whole charade.”

“Soon, Puppet.” He kissed my neck again.

“Okay, and the last one?” I eyed the lastgift.

He snorted, “I thought that one spoke for itself.” I stared down at it in the box atop the satin cushion. “Pick it up.”

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