Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,142

making two presents this year a surprise.

Aware that Dale was watching for a reaction, she obligingly opened the box and pulled out the bottle, covering herself with a generous spray before putting her nose to her wrists to inhale the scent. This had always been her favourite perfume but overkill over the last few years had put paid to that and she now found the scent slightly nauseating.

“Gorgeous,” she declared and smiled across at Dale, waving her arm in front of his face for him to smell also. “Thank you.”

He pushed her arm away a little roughly and the warning bells in her head began to chime again. This time she didn’t push them away. He had refilled his tumbler again and the bottle on the side table was definitely closer to being empty than it was to full. The ringing became louder and she reached for the second present in an attempt to hide her anxiety.

This present was also poorly wrapped and was fairly small and soft, completely different to the first. She had no idea what this could be; Dale would be unlikely to buy her clothes so maybe it was a new scarf and gloves? Although he had seemed very excited about her presents this morning, and she didn’t think her usual perfume and a scarf and gloves set would warrant such a level of excitement.

She glanced across at Dale as she began to open the package and she could see his eyes shining in anticipation. Whatever was in this present, it had him really fired up and for an awful moment she had visions of some kinky underwear or outfit that he would require her to wear later, such was his excitement.

In the same fashion as the first one she slipped open both of the ends and then slowly unwrapped the middle section, pulling the paper away to reveal a beautiful garment nestled in its folds. Clothing? From Dale? Definitely out of the ordinary and from what she could see of the item, it was absolutely stunning.

Uncertainly she looked at Dale again to find that he was by now almost bouncing up and down on the sofa in his excitement and Elise’s feeling of unease increased tenfold.

Running her fingers across the fabric, she had a momentary feeling of déjà vu as she thought that she recognised the texture, however she dismissed that thought immediately. How could she possibly have felt this fabric before? Dale had only just given it to her.

Slowly she looped her hands underneath the fabric, one on each side, and began to draw the garment upwards and out of the packaging. The paper fell to the floor and as it did so it released the rest of the dress from where it had been folded and Elise sucked in a shocked breath as a huge wave of sickness washed over her from head to toe. Recognition hit and she dropped the dress onto the floor as if it was on fire, only just making it to the downstairs toilet before she silently retched, losing the entire contents of her stomach in the process. It was as if a fog had cleared and everything suddenly began to make sense - Dale’s behaviour over the last few days, the walk, the movie, the food, the conversation, the Christmas tree. It was all calculated. More calculated than she could have ever imagined and more sinister than she would ever have given him credit for.

He had built her up. He had set her up and now he was going to take great pleasure in bringing her back down again, bit by humiliating bit by humiliating bit. This was Dale at his absolute best and she couldn’t believe that she had been such a fool as to not see through it.

She had known that something wasn’t right but she had decided not to question it – to go with the flow – too wrapped up had she been in her life and the situation with Vaughn. She had completely ignored all of the warning signals and now she knew that she was going to have to pay. There was no escaping this.

The last few minutes played out in her head in slow motion and the excitement that Dale had been showing over the final present abruptly came into perspective. He knew what that present meant and he knew how she would react. He also knew what the end result would be and for the first time ever she