Page 75 of Burn Me Down

“Beck, Shriek can’t get out of the tank.”

“Shriek? That’s what you called it? It has a name like a dog?”

“Trust me, he has no interest in you and is perfectly safe inside the tank. I even have the lid weighted for extra security,” Derek said, walking toward me.

“And you won’t let it out? You won’t try to make me hold it or lose it in the house? If that happens, I don’t care if it was my grandmother’s. I’ll burn this place to the ground.”

Derek wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his body. “How is it that you manage to take me on, but you’re afraid of a little spider? This is mind-boggling, and I will say my ego is a little hurt,” he teased, and I glared. “Yes, I promise not to do all the above, and if that happens, I’ll give you the match to do it with.”

“Fine,” I said, as I let Derek guide me away from the wall, but I kept my eyes on the tank. “Where were you? I smell smoke.” Instead of saying anything, Derek took me outside to show me the fire he had going in a big oil drum. There was a half-empty box beside the drum, and he let me go as we got close and picked up a handful of DVDs.

“Each one of these is a fire I started. I filmed them all,” he said, and my gaze flicked to the box and then the pile in his hand. “You’re right. I need to take strides to move past who my father created and find the new me. The me not consumed with revenge and fear.” He tossed them into the fire before he added a bit more liquid that made the flames rise. I shielded my face as the extreme heat hit me, but he never moved, like he didn’t feel it at all.

“Every single one of those?”

“Yup, every single one.” He tossed more into the fire. “I thought this was the only thing in my life that would ever make me happy or give me purpose. I kept them like trophies, and I hate to say it, but I watched them over and over again, letting them fill me up. They made me feel something.” He picked up the rest of the movies and dumped them into the can before dropping the cardboard box on top. “I thought that was all I’d ever be until I met you,” he said, and his eyes locked on mine. “You’re so strong, Beck, so warm and thoughtful and filled with love and hope. You help me believe that I can be something more than what is in here and the pain that I caused. I don’t want to hang onto these memories anymore.”

I bit my lip and watched the flames, and my body filled with warmth. I knew what those meant to him, what those people did to him, and the justice he served. To step away from those memories was massive.

He pulled a plain, faded wallet out of his pocket and handed it over. “That is what set me off last night. I hadn’t wanted to tell you or worry you, but the father of that man is coming for me. It’s a long story, but his father was in the asylum with me, and he is scarier than I could ever imagine, and when I escaped, I set the monster free. He’s a serial killer, and I didn’t intend to kill his son or anything, but I now know that I did, and I can feel him closing in on me.”

Flipping open the wallet, I looked at the young man in the photo and then at the name and sucked in a deep breath. My hand shook as I ran my thumb over the license and prayed it was a coincidence, even though I knew it wasn’t. I didn’t believe in coincidences.

“What is it, Beck?”

“The man in the asylum, what was his name?”

Derek placed his hands on my shoulders. “Adam, why?”

My lower lip trembled as I recalled looking into eyes that felt like bottomless pits to hell.

“Because he was in my ER yesterday, I treated him.”

Derek’s mouth dropped open as his hands tightened. “What?”

“What do we do,” I asked as Derek took the wallet and tossed it into the fire.

“I don’t know, I need to think, but Beck…I’ll kill him before he ever hurts you.” Derek hugged me, and I buried my face into his chest. I wasn’t as worried about me as I was about what this serial killer had planned for Derek. An icy cold dread slithered down my spine, and I held on tighter.

DEREK

“Beck, please listen to reason. It’s best if you’re somewhere he can’t get to you. The clubhouse is safe.”

“Not a chance,” Beck fumed as she grabbed her dinner plate, walked over to the couch, and sat down. “We are better off sticking together.”

We’d been arguing about the best course of action all day, and the only thing I could come up with that would keep Beck safe was to stay at the Lost Souls compound. Adam would never think to look for her there, and even if he did, every man and woman on that property was packing a gun. It also had a high fence and gators. Shit, I just wanted to put her in a safe bubble.

“Besides, we don’t even know if he was at the hospital for me or just a weird coincidence. He never said a word about you or hinted at anything that would be strange.”

“You said he had no symptoms and gave you the creeps,” I argued, walking over and sitting down with her. I thought it was cute how she sat like a kid with her legs crossed as she ate. Even while she was angry, she made me smile.

“True, but….”

“You also don’t believe in coincidences. Adam was either checking you out as a target or seeing if he could find me through you. If he knows about you, then he knows that I’ve been watching you. Maybe even that I took you.”

I looked out the window, wondering if Adam was in the shadows, and I had been so preoccupied with my pursuit of Beck that I didn’t notice.

“This is a lot of speculation. We can’t live in hiding from this lunatic and the police forever. We need a solid plan and one that we do together.”