Page 75 of Controlled Burn
Red eyes. Smeared makeup. Bite marks on her neck and shoulder. Cum smeared across her stomach.
She didn’t feel ashamed.
She felt claimed.
Not by them. By herself.
But the pain came crawling back, thick and inescapable, an emptiness deeper than her bones.
This wasn’t about love.
This was punishment—a consequence.
Of wanting too much. Of needing to burn.
Of trying to fill the hole Maddox left.
Jake tapped on the door. “You okay?”
She turned, eyes hollow but wild. “I’m perfect.”
She wasn’t. Not really.
Because when she came back to the bedroom, Ryan was holding a phone—Jake’s phone, screen still lit, camera open, a video playing.
Her.
On her knees. Between them. Moaning, bare, filmed. Mouth stretched, eyes glassy, everything raw and on display.
She didn’t blink.
Ryan’s jaw clenched. “Jake—what the fuck is this?”
Jake went pale. “I didn’t mean to—I didn’t even know it was still open—”
Talia’s voice was flat, empty. “You filmed it.”
He opened his mouth. Closed it. Shame, fear, guilt—none of it mattered.
She deleted the video and tossed the phone onto the bed.
Jake flinched. “I didn’t—fuck, I wasn’t trying to—Talia, I swear, I wasn’t gonna show anyone.”
The silence that followed was volcanic. No yelling. No tears.
Just a quiet snap, deep inside.
Of course it ends like this.
Her eyes stayed dry.
But inside, she was already burning. Already ash, and wanting more.
Chapter 27
Burn Notice
Talia
