Page 10 of A Smile Full of Lies (Secrets of Stonewood #1)

God, I was hard again.

I kept my tone neutral, soothing, and just helpful enough to earn her trust.

StrayDog777

You’d be surprised how many people feel that way. Sometimes, watching content that explores those fantasies can help you understand them better. There’s a whole corner of social media dedicated to it.

She didn’t respond. Not yet. I saw her brows furrow. Her teeth tugged at her lower lip. Her thighs shifted beneath the blanket.

The hook was set, so I reeled her in.

StrayDog777

Have you ever seen MaskTok content? Clips where masked figures stalk and catch their prey? It’s primal. But safe. Controlled. Some people say it helps. That’s why I mentioned MaskTok earlier.

I watched her face. Her lips parted slightly, but not from fear. No, that was interest and desire. Her face was an open book. She was thinking about it… already picturing it.

Good girl. Let me show you exactly how dangerous healing can feel when it comes with a mask and my hands around your throat.

Her next message came in one slow keystroke at a time, like each word cost her something to type.

GraveyardGirl93

I think there’s something wrong with me.

I shouldn’t like this stuff. I shouldn’t get turned on by it…

but I’ve been like this for years. I’ve always been drawn to the wrong kind of men.

The ones in movies who aren’t supposed to be hot.

The ones who hurt people. Who chase them.

Who break them down. I shouldn’t want that.

I exhaled slowly, feeling tension coil low and tight in my gut.

There it was: the truth, peeled raw, and fuck, she really thought it made her broken.

She didn’t know I’d spent years watching her get flushed and quiet during our Wednesday horror movie nights, curled on the couch beside me with a blanket tucked to her chest, eyes wide and cheeks pink during the most brutal scenes.

She didn’t know I’d clocked every shiver, every breathless stillness.

She had no idea I clocked how she’d freeze, riveted, when the killer’s voice got low, especially the masked ones.

I always noticed how she pressed her thighs together when the prey stopped running.

She thought she’d hidden it. She never had… not from me.

I typed out another reply.

StrayDog777

You’re not broken. You’re wired for intensity. For edge. Some people like gentle. Some like safe. You like danger… when it’s contained. There’s nothing wrong with that.

She stared at the message for a long time. Her eyes flicked side to side, rereading it. Her frown said she didn’t believe me, so I sent another message.

StrayDog777

There’s nothing wrong with you, sweetheart. You just need someone who understands what you want and why you want it.

She swallowed hard. Her thighs shifted under the blanket again.

My girl didn’t need fixing. She needed someone willing to give her what she wanted and hunt her like prey, and I had just the mask for that.

Her next message was hesitant. Not scared, exactly, but shaken.

GraveyardGirl93

I know this is just an anonymous forum, but it feels like you see me. Like, really see me. It’s weird. I’ve used confessional forums like this before, and they never felt like this. No one else has ever made me feel like this.

Another pause. I stared at her blinking cursor in my keystroke logger and held my breath.

GraveyardGirl93

It’s kinda scary. But also… I don’t know. Nice. Like I’m not completely fucked up after all.

My mouth curved slowly.

Oh, sweetheart. You have no idea how seen you really are.

I watched her through both the live cam feeds running on my right-hand screen, one leg drawn up beneath her, hair falling forward as she stared at the screen.

Her bottom lip caught between her teeth, fingers curled against the keyboard, like she was afraid typing anything more would crack something open inside her.

I leaned closer to my own screen and typed, my voice calm and reassuring beneath the mask of anonymity.

StrayDog777

It’s not weird. It means something inside you recognizes what it’s been waiting for. Feeling seen can be scary — but it also means you’re not alone anymore.

Her eyes welled with something: shame, relief, hunger, I didn’t know which. Maybe all of it. She sniffed once and snatched her Gran’s crumpled handkerchief off her nightstand, wiping her eyes and huffing a laugh like she couldn’t believe she was crying.

She pulled herself together and typed back.

GraveyardGirl93

I sound crazy.

I responded instantly.

StrayDog777

No, you sound honest.

She stared.

Thanks to my security feeds and the scoop-neck tee she’d worn to bed, I could see the heat rising as a pretty pink flush creeping up her chest again.

She was unraveling beautifully, still thinking it was an anonymous stranger talking her off a ledge.

And I was right here, puppet-stringing every word, and loving every second of it.

She hadn’t typed anything for almost a full minute.

She just sat there blinking at the screen, her breathing shallow and ragged through her mic, fingers twitching like she wanted to say something — anything — but couldn’t quite find the courage.

She didn’t need to. I had something else in mind.

I waited until her eyes started to drift, like maybe the chat was over.

Then I typed:

StrayDog777

If I were someone you knew…

She froze like a deer in the headlights.

StrayDog777

…if I had a familiar body, hands you’ve seen before, and a voice you know…

StrayDog777

If I were there… would you let me chase you?

Her chest rose sharply. Her pupils dilated, black swallowing her blue-green irises.

I kept going, smooth and slow.

StrayDog777

Would you let me catch you, sweetheart?

She didn’t move, didn’t even blink.

StrayDog777

Would you let me help make your dark little fantasies come true?

Her hand flew to her mouth.

She wasn’t breathing… not properly.

Her knees curled to her chest, arms wrapping tight around them, like she needed to hold herself together.

I watched the whole thing play out in real time, one camera trained on her face, the other on her body.

She was trembling, flushed, and completely undone.

My cock throbbed behind my zipper. I leaned back in my chair, eyes half-lidded as I watched her struggle to even think , much less respond.

I’d be willing to bet every penny I have to my name she’s never been this aroused by a man before.

She’s never been this exposed with anyone, and she thought she was doing it anonymously.

To a fucking faceless, nameless stranger on the internet.

She didn’t type anything back… didn’t have to. The way her thighs pressed together said enough.

The way she whispered, “Jesus fucking Christ,” into her palm before slamming her laptop shut said even more.

The connection to her laptop cam and mic dropped.

I leaned back in my office chair and smiled to myself.

She didn’t say no.

She didn’t say no .