Burn for me, p.1
Burn For Me, page 1
BURN FOR ME
THE CONSUMED TRILOGY
BROOKLYN CROSS
Contents
Also by BROOKLYN CROSS
Shout Out
Aknowledgement
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
CHAPTER 1
Thank You
Stalk Me Links
Copyright © June 2022
Burn For Me
Book One
The Consumed Trilogy
Written by: Brooklyn Cross
FIRST EDITION.
ASIN: B09XM4XHNK
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Edited by: Rebecca Colvin from JustAskHer Productions In House Editing Team
Cover Art: Dazed Designs
Book Cover Disclaimer: Individuals depicted in the images on the cover and anywhere are models and solely used for illustrative purposes.
This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without the author’s written permission. Author Brooklyn Cross.
This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events, or locales is purely coincidental. The characters, incidents, and dialogues in this book are productions of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
The ideas represented in this book are not factual representations of anyone’s thoughts affiliated with Author Brooklyn Cross, or of any of the trademarked acknowledgments mentioned in this story. This story is simply a work of fiction.
Trademark Acknowledgements
The author Brooklyn Cross acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of familiar wordmarks, products, actors’ names, television shows, books, characters, video games, and films mentioned in this fiction work.
Created with Vellum
Also by BROOKLYN CROSS
The Righteous Series
(Vigilante/Ex Military Romance - Dark 3-4 Spice 3-4)
Dark Side of the Cloth
Ravaged by the Dark
Sleeping with the Dark
Hiding in the Dark
Redemption in the Dark
Crucified by the Dark (Coming Soon)
Dark Reunion (Coming Soon)
The Consumed Trilogy
(Suspense/Thriller/Anti-Hero Romance - Dark 4-5 Spice 3-4)
Burn for Me
Burn with Me (Coming 2022)
Burn me Down (Coming 2023)
The Buchanan Brother Duet
(Serial Killer/Captive Romance - Dark 4-5 Spice 3-4)
Unhinged Cain by Brooklyn
Twisted Abel by T.L Hodel
The Battered Souls World
(Standalone Books Shared World Romance- Dark 2-3 Spice 2-3)
The Girl That Would Be Lost
The Boy That Learned To Swim (Coming Soon)
The Girl That Would Not Break (Coming Soon)
The Brothers of Shadow and Death Series
(Dystopian/Cult/Occult/MFM Romance - Dark 3-4 Spice 3-4)
Anywhere (Coming Soon)
Seven Sin Series
(Multi Author/PNR/Angel and Demons/Redemption - Dark 2-5 Spice 3-5)
Greed by Brooklyn Cross
Lust by Drethi Anis
Envy by Dylan Page
Gluttony by Marissa Honeycutt
Wrath by Billie Blue
Sloth by Talli Wyndham
Pride by T.L. Hodel
Shout Out
I would like to say a huge thank you to T.L. Hodel for allowing me to cameo a few of her beloved characters in this novel.
Aknowledgement
I would like to say a huge thank you to Julia Murray PA for always being there when I need her, and for going above and beyond to help make this book launch special. I’d like to take a moment to thank Just Ask Her Productions for all their hard work and for putting up with me and my impossible deadlines. I would also like to thank my Beta, Arc, Street and Blogger team. Your support means the world to me. For a book is but a dream without a team like you.
Four Years Ago
My whole life boiled down to a split second in time. What I was before that moment and who I became after hinged on one pivotal act that shaped me into the thing I am now. I’m a thing—I can admit that. I’m not sure if I’m quite a monster but simply calling me a man wasn’t accurate either. Normal men didn’t enjoy the screams of people in pain as they burned while watching them reduced to nothing more than ash, but I did.
I didn’t just enjoy it—I fucking loved it. I craved it, and I wanted to fuck to the sound of their dying wails. Well, at least I fantasized about what it would be like to kill more. In reality I’d only ever killed four people that all deserved it, and only got to see my mother burn alive.
I screamed, my voice a high-pitched screech that sounded more animal than human as the excruciating pain matched the stench of my flesh burning. Pushing on the front of the stove with my shaking arms, I struggled against the hold that held me by the neck. Another terror-filled cry left my mouth as the flame licked toward my eye, and I kicked out with my legs, not caring what I hit.
I heard a yell and then we were falling.
With a hard bang, I crumpled to the floor and went to touch my face, but Asher grabbed my hand and shook his head no. His eyes were wide as he stared at my face. Unable to stop myself, I glanced at the glass in the front of the oven and saw the bubbled and ruined skin.
“Come on,” he said and yanked on my arm.
My father was yelling and struggling, his hand reaching for me, but my brother pulled hard and got me to my feet. I slipped on the tiled floor of the kitchen, the cheap linoleum not giving any traction. Asher kept his arm around my waist as we stumbled into the front hallway and pushed out through the front door into the night. My father was bellowing for us to get back there, his words slurred. I looked over my shoulder once to make sure our father wasn’t following and never looked back again.
I barely remembered the sequence of events but remembered every tiny detail about how my parents paid for what they did. The screams, the blood, and the burning awakened a demon in me. It awakened my true self, and I liked the new me, or I did until my butt landed in this fucking place.
What was it about an asylum where builders and caretakers of said building thought everything inside the place needed to be white and smell like cheap bleach? The scent aside, I thought white was the most lifeless and depressing color they could’ve chosen. Then again, maybe that was the point. Maybe they were trying to kill us with boredom and exasperate our depression.
Shifting my shoulders from side to side working at the itch that was driving my shoulder blade crazy. All I could feel was a tingly sensation like something was crawling on my skin and grew in persistence the longer it was left there. Fucking straight jackets were such a pain.
“Ahhh, no, no, get it away from me!”
Sighing, I looked away from the view of the back garden to stare at the patient in the middle of a psychotic breakdown. I didn’t know the name of this guy, he’d only been here like three weeks, but he sure liked to scream. All fucking hours of the day or night, and now he was ruining the only time of day that I got to pretend that I was still part of society.
“Hey! Fucknut, shut up!”
The guy blinked and stared at me, his eyes wide like I was going to jump up out of this wheelchair and beat him as if I weren’t tied to it.
“Yeah, I’m fucking talking to you. I have fifteen minutes left. Shut the fuck up, and then you can scream the place down.”
The guy looked like he might start screaming again, and I glared at him and growled low in my chest. I pulled up my gums snarling at him as I pictured ripping his throat out, so he bled all over this bleached white hospital outfit. The guy spun around so his back was to me and hunched over as he mumbled softly to himself.
A rule I’d picked up while being here, look like the baddest mother fucking crazy around, and the other nutjobs would leave you alone. Five years, three months, and twenty-one days…I glanced at the clock…and sixteen minutes. That’s how long it had been since I was first brought to this place. My life had become a rhythm of the same crap over and over. How they expected people to get better when they stuck them in this hole and then not give them anything to do was beyond me. Well, that wasn’t true. They gave you things like arts, crafts, or books. I’d never been a big sit back and relax with a novel kind of reader, but I figured out quickly that there was a lot of very useful information in books.
I’d learned that someone can survive a whole three minutes without breathable air. I glanced over again at the fidgeting man, who was being quiet but was giving off some serious nervous energy. That energy was filling the room and felt like nails on a chalkboard. Something else I learned was that it usually wasn’t the flame of a fire that killed most people. It was the hot gases that a person inhal
“Hi, you’re Derek, right?” a soft and pleasant voice said from behind me.
The reflection of whoever stood a few feet away was feminine and smelled like citrus. Bottom line, whoever she was, this person was new, which meant a new play-toy for me.
“What the fuck is it to you,” I snarled at the voice.
The woman stepped around into my line of sight, a stethoscope around her neck and a wide smile on her face. Her blue eyes weren’t like the rest of those that worked here. There was a sweetness that glowed inside of them. She also didn’t seem to care about my abruptness, which instantly made me skeptical of her.
What did she want from me?
“Well, I’m asking because if so, then I’m your new nurse, but if not, I’ll move on.” There was no way someone, especially me, wouldn’t notice how pretty she was.
She was going to be a walking target in this place, and my eyes glanced around to see what other guys had already caught sight of her. Her smile pulled at the rubble surrounding my heart as she turned to walk away, and I found myself calling out to her.
“Yeah, I’m Derek,” I mumbled and slumped into the wheelchair.
For the first time in a long time, I felt humiliated that I was strapped into a rolling chair. It had taken me a whole month to gain the privilege of being strapped into the wheelchair whenever they wanted to move my ass around. Initially, I fought it and spent the first couple of months confined to my room. I’d never been much for people as a whole, especially the crazy lot in this place. Yet, that much solitude even had me talking to myself for the sound of anything other than the screaming of my own mind.
The woman, who appeared not to be much older than myself smiled as she looked over her shoulder at me. “You sure about that?”
I could tell she was teasing. Her eyes sparkled with mischief that felt immediately addictive. The tiniest spark of ‘I wasn’t sure what this emotion was’ lit inside of me.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
With a flourish, she turned toward me and opened her arms up wide. “Well, in that case, how about we make it our first priority to not have you in that stupid white jacket? Wouldn’t it be nice to sit out here of your own volition?”
I snorted at the pipe dream she was painting.
“Spare me. They’ll never let me out of my room without this thing on. It’s like they think I’m a wizard or some shit, and if I have my hands, I can magically burn the place down.” Rolling my eyes, I turned my head away. No one needed to know I’d already figured out a couple of ways out of this hell and all of them involved burning it to the ground.
“Well, I’m a fountain of hope and optimism, so I’ll see what I can do.” She stepped up behind the wheelchair and placed her hand on my shoulder. “But unfortunately, that doesn’t stop me from having to take you back to your room now.”
“Don’t have enough pull to let me stay another five minutes?”
“Sadly, no. Hey, can I borrow you?” She waved to one of the orderlies guarding the sitting area. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you sorted out.”
She gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze, and I stared at her hand. Long after she let go of my shoulder, I could still feel the heat and impression of where her hand had been touching me.
I had rarely been touched with kindness in my life, but I hadn’t been touched here at all unless it was to beat me or torture me with one of their “therapy sessions.” It had been so long that I’d forgotten what it was like to be touched in any other way. My eyes found hers again.“What’s your name?”
“Oh, yes, sorry about that. My name is Adalyn, and I’m very happy to meet you, Derek.”She gave me a wink, and I had to wonder if Dr. Wallace decided to torture me with a whole new mastermind trick. I wouldn’t put it past him to screw with me like that. He took great pride in building me up, only to tear me down. He didn’t say it, but he didn’t have to acknowledge it verbally. I knew what lived under the disguise of the prim and proper glasses he had on his face, and none of it was good or kind.
“Adalyn, yeah, I guess that name will do,” I said, making her laugh.
It was too painful to think that there could actually be a little sunshine after all the rain? Adalyn hummed a soft tune as she pushed me toward my room, and even though I knew it was dangerous, I still couldn’t help hoping. I was a glutton for punishment, I guess.
Present Day
I smiled as the screams echoed in my mind, the flames dancing before my eyes as those inside the random building ran frantically like a bunch of mice. Hands pulled on doors that refused to open and banged on windows that wouldn’t break. I sucked in a deep breath relishing in the scent of burning wood and other things that would curl another person’s nose.
“Mr. West, stop that right this moment.”
I blinked as I was pulled out of the vision that felt so real. I could still feel the heat dancing along my skin. As my eyes focused on the man on the opposite side of the desk, I remembered where I was. The doctor’s hair had a mottling of salt and pepper in it, and his half-cut styled glasses made him look like my fifth-grade science teacher. Dr. Wallace pointedly glanced toward my lap, and I followed his line of sight. My hand was down the front of the white cotton pants they made us wear in this shithole.
I smirked, my lip curling up as my eyes flicked up to Dr. Wallace again.
“What’s the matter? Don’t you like to see a cock being stroked?” Instead of stopping, I made my movement more exaggerated. “I always took you for the voyeur type. I mean, you like to watch everything else.”
One of the small pleasures I got in this place was pissing off all the humans that worked here. They liked to pretend they were there to help me but ‘pretend’ was the optimal word. I didn’t need or want their kind of help. It always led to tons of pills, white jackets, and other forms of fun that the doctor liked to cook up. What they failed to see was that they were not breaking me or curing me, not in the way they thought. No, they were molding me into what they prayed I’d never become. Their ignorance only fueled the anger that burned as bright as the flames of the fires I liked to set. The more they tried, the more I wanted their flesh to taste the lick of my brand of punishment.
“I said stop that,” Dr. Wallace barked out as he bolted up from his chair and slammed his hands on his desk. His reaction was fucking fantastic and spurred me on. I pulled the semi-hard cock out of my white pants to waggle it in the air at him. “Orderlies!”
“You like it don’t you? Admit it,” I yelled.
