Burning Truths (Consume Me #2)

1. Present Day

Chapter One

PRESENT DAY

Kenna

A raspy laugh bubbles out of my chest, “You seem a little tense.” I snark.

My throat aches from the chemicals that I inhaled when he took me. Two- no- three days ago? Fuck. How long have I been sitting in this chair? My ass starts to go numb, as if it needs to remind me that I’m strapped down, unable to move positions. I shift my weight to one side in hopes that I can save at least one asscheek from flattening out.

I huff out a laugh with that thought, effectively bringing the bastard to a stop just to the left of me. He’s been pacing for the past few hours or at least that’s how long it feels. Time passes differently when your body is weak from no food. I would ask for something to curb the gnawing hunger that’s rolling through my stomach, but I don’t trust this shit fuck.

Find me in the lilies.

It’s what Ryker taught me. Before. Before everything in our lives got flipped on an axis and whatever burning flame we had was singed, left as a pile of ashes on the warehouse floor. But this is after and now the lilies are tainted with all the scorching lies that have consumed us the last two and a half years. .

“Oh Princessa, that smart little mouth of yours is going to feel so good wrapped around my dick.”

My eyes almost widen. Almost. It takes effort I didn't know I had to keep a straight face at the remark he let slip. Knowing that the man standing in front of me has some delusional fantasy of having his way with me makes acid build in the back of my throat.

“No thanks.” I chuckle.

I’m good at hiding what I don’t want him to see and that’s the fear of any part of him touching me.

Swinging around, his hollow empty green eyes land on me. My smile slips an inch when he starts to storm my way. My gaze moves up his dirty jeans past the worn black belt and stretched grey shirt to the salt and pepper beard. His mouth is hidden by the coarse hair on his face, but the look in his eyes has my jaw clenching shut. When he’s only a foot away, his hand lashes out far too fast for me to track until the burning spreads across my flesh.

Fire creeps through my veins. Pain exploding through my head, forcing my eyes to clamp shut. Shit .

Breathe through the pain .

Inhaling deep through my nose, I force myself to swallow past the blood spilling from my lip into my mouth.

In and out . Rykers voice floats through my mind and suddenly I find it hard to swallow around the lump in my throat.

“You belong to me, Princessa. He was never supposed to touch your perfect skin.” His thumb trails down my cheek.

“When Ryker comes for me, and he will, I’ll take pleasure in watching him rip your throat out for touching what’s his.”

Using my tongue, I swipe up the blood from my lip and push it inside my mouth. My eyes widen in mock horror. “Although I think I’d rather him fuck me while you watch. Feeling how full he makes me while you see what he does to me. Knowing you’ll never feel me wrapped around you like that.”

His fist raises and suddenly I’m thrown into darkness.

My lips are cracked and sore when my eyes finally open, I find myself in the large space alone. Or should I say eye? I swear, if I don’t get my smart-ass mouth under control I won’t make it long enough for the boys to find me. Ryker, West, and - my train of thought stops. My chest cracks open with the image of Cole lying on the floor of the empty house. I’ve refused to let myself think about that day until now. What if they are so stuck in their grief that no one knows I’m gone? Would I notice if I were them? Cole was my best friend once. Family, even through the past two years of trauma.

Memories flood my vision. Images of his face smiling, the sound of him laughing when we were kids flash through my head. The pranks we would play on West, has a smile finding my face.

My chest heaves with silent sobs when my memories betray me with snapshots of that day. Each blink of my eyes brings me closer to Cole’s body hanging there lifeless. My mouth falls open with a wail of all consuming heartache that shakes me to my core. A loss like this is like losing a limb, phantom pain sets in and every time you sense, and sometimes feel, them with you, the pain gets to be too much. At that point, the only thing left to do is to lose yourself in the pain, because nothing can fix a soul that’s been lost.

Losing a loved one is hard, but losing a best friend? No one prepares you for that pain and then here I am shaking, and heaving through the worst pain in my life while being tied to a chair. Snot and tears pour down my face in a mess of darkness. Each tear that falls is another part of me that I lose. Kenna Kingston slowly drips away into someone I don’t know, a shell of myself, empty and cold. My voice is hoarse when my cries slowly come to an end. Eventually the cries for Cole turn into whimpers for me. For the girl I could have been with three powerful men at my fingertips, before they were turned against me. For the girl who lost her dad. Her mother. I cry until both eyes are swollen and raw.

It’s not until the room is shrouded in shadows that the sound of a door scraping against the floor wakes me. Licking my lips to wet them, I blink through pain while my eyes attempt to adjust to the dark room. I can hear the sound of footsteps growing closer to where I’m seated in the center of the room. Rustling, bounces off the walls with all the extra space around us, and it startles me, but I catch myself before I react.

“I brought you something to eat.”

As soon as the last word leaves his lips, my stomach growls loudly.

“I’m going to untie you so you can eat, but first-” He stops mid sentence to pull something from a brown backpack over his shoulder. “Don’t try anything and I won’t have to use it.”

My vision is still blurry from the blow to the side of my face, and the room is still cloaked in black, so I don’t see it coming. Instead I can feel the chill of leather mixed with metal touch my neck. A small gasp slips through my lips before I can drink it down, but it’s not until I realize what it is that bile rises up my throat.

My mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water, but I choose to keep quiet. He clasps it behind my head with a harsh yank, making the final adjustments and snapping a lock through the clasp ensuring it won’t come off without a key. Bound, starving, and now collared.

Ryker, I’ve never needed you more than I do now.

Lifting the remote up to my face, he bends down to inch closer, his rancid breath fans over my lips, our gazes clashing.

“I promised I wouldn’t hurt you again, but I will if you force me to. Be a good girl, and do what I tell you, and I’ll take good care of you.”

He closes the distance, pressing his mouth against mine in a harsh kiss that has my stomach rolling. The stench of his breath coats my skin, making my nose wrinkle in disgust and tears burn at the back of my eyes, yet I refuse to let them close. Keeping my stare on his face. I fight my own instincts that beg me to pull away. When he’s done getting his taste, I lean to the side, letting the acid flooding my mouth spill out onto the floor.

“You stuck up little bitch. You think you’re too good for me?” He grunts.

One hand yanks my head back, twisting my neck at an awkward angle while the other hand presses down on the remote, shooting electricity down my spine. My body locks into place unable to move, muscles spasming, my entire body on fire all at once. It’s not until my eyes roll that I realize that I’m soaked and sitting in my own piss.

“I’ll break you bitch. One way or another. Next time you’ll take whatever I give you with a smile on your face.” He turns and heads back to the door, the food in his bag long forgotten.

With his hand on the door knob, he looks at me over his shoulder, “Why don’t you sit there in your own filth for a while and maybe you’ll learn you’re no better than me.”

And then he’s gone and I’m still here. I’m still here and Cole is dead. I’m still here and my body is cold. I’m still here and Kenna is floating away into the abyss. I’m still here.

I’m still here. I’m here. Ryker I’m still here. I’m still here.