Predator. Prey.

Dress Up.

My eyelids fluttered open, awaking me from a dreamless sleep. But to be quite honest, I hadn't even remembered closing my eyes beforehand.

As my consciousness drifted to the forefront of my brain, the memories of the night before brought a smile to my lips.

Mr. J, despite scaring the living fuck out of me, had shown a side of himself that I had never seen before: it was a side he possibly didn't even know existed.

Fear.

He had tried to show dominance and intimidation, but Joker's little 'knife show' was a simply a classic textbook display of an internal power struggle he held with me. Despite me constantly submitting to his every whim, there was still a part of him that believed me to be uncontrollable: a force he didn't feel completely in command of.

He was learning to trust me, but trust breeds vulnerability. It creates connections and involves letting down your guard. It involves complete and total honesty. And he had no idea how to do any of those things. And therein lies his problem.

He's trying to toy with his own emotions, struggling to feel one thing without feeling the other. Even inside his head he has to be in complete and utter control.

Fuck I loved him.

Hugging the black sheets to my chest for only a moment, I sat up in the bed, not having the slightest clue what time it was or when Mr. J wanted me. Without making any sound, I sauntered over to the door, opening it ever so slightly to maybe catch a glimpse of his electric green hair, when an object at the foot of the entrance blocked me from pushing the door any further. Glancing down, a small squeal of excitement broke through the silence.

Below me were piles of beautiful new clothes, makeup, jewelry, and appliances. Everything was gold, red, blue, pink, black, or green. And the colors created a hypnotic combination that was absolutely breathtaking. With a smile plastered on my face, I placed pile after pile inside the massive bedroom, setting up a makeup mirror and jewelry stand on a desk that adorned the right corner of the room. I was in absolute awe at the detail of everything he had bought me: from eye pencils to a curling iron to nail polish to lingerie, everything was adorned with diamonds, or colors that matched my hair, or both.

Everything was perfect, and beautiful.

I couldn't wait to put a smile on his face.

Eagerly I searched through the seemingly endless pile of clothes, and decided on a skintight, thigh length diamond encrusted dress, which sparkled every color of the rainbow and took my breath away. I nearly choked in excitement upon seeing matching stilettos that were sitting right underneath it. He had gifted me with piles of necklaces and rings, most of which were either emerald encrusted, gold, diamonds, or rubies. After admiring each and every one, I picked out a dainty, gold plated chain that read "Joker" in diamond studded cursive. I hastily put it around my neck, feeling pure glee radiate from my skin.

Sitting in from of the makeup mirror, I surveyed my options. I used a black liquid liner to create a thick line, my usual way of decorating my eyes. But as I looked at myself in the mirror, I frowned slightly...there wasn't enough color. I glanced down at the eyeshadow pallets, he had given me only pink, blue, and shades of black and brown.

I bit my lip, trying to pick between the two bright colors, but a persistent voice in my head spoke with enthusiastic excitement,

'Fuck it, why not both?'

A laugh escaped from my mouth as I opened both colors, eager to test out this new idea. I adorned my right eye with the baby pink, and my left eye with the sky blue, feeling like a rainbow from head to toe. I was satisfied. Out of sheer instinct, I grabbed the reddest lipstick he had given me and puckered my lips to apply it. Red lipstick always made everything even better.

I stared at my wavy, tangled hair, unsure of how to manage it. I brushed it out and decided to curl it, taking my time with each stroke. I wanted to look perfect for Mr. J.

I wanted to see him look at me with that disarming gaze that sent chills down my spine. It was the look that made him dangerous, lethal, unstoppable: a look of sheer dominance.

Running my fingers through the curls, I took a deep breath.

I was ready.

With a childlike excitement, I ran to the door, ready to turn the handle and search for my Puddin', when all of a sudden I heard a soft 'buzz' reverberate through the leftover piles of clothes and random items I had left near the foot of the bed.

I turned around and sauntered over to it, kneeling down and searching for the cause of the sound. I almost gave up in frustration when I saw it:

Sitting at the bottom of the makeup pile was an iPhone, held together in a pink and gold case. The wheels clicked in my head.

He had bought me a phone.

I jumped up to my feet, letting my elation override my senses. I looked at the screen to see a text,

"Come down when ready."

Next to the message was a green haired emoji with no contact name. My heart beat in anticipation as fireworks began shooting into a dark sky behind my eyes.

He may call me his harlequin, but deep down inside of that brilliantly white skin, there's a part of him that yearns to treat me like a queen.