Forbidden Lessons (Lessons in Cruelty #1)

1. Bastian

Chapter 1

Bastian

Anyone can be cruel.

It’s an innate ability we’re born with, like a muscle in our body. Some let it wither into atrophy. Others spend time and energy building it up.

Students are cruel to faculty members, and vice versa. Family members, friends, enemies. Kids seem particularly keen to be cruel to each other.

But the person we’re most often cruel toward is ourselves.

Maybe because it doesn’t trigger our conscience.

Maybe because no one will judge us for our internal bullying.

Or maybe because we’re all a little sadistic…and twice as masochistic.

My Lessons in Cruelty course attracts plenty of students each year. Undergraduates looking to score some easy credits. Scholarship students who want to get the biggest bang for their financial aid buck. Special grant chumps who don’t have a fucking choice, and usually wish they did.

Then there are the…others.

Sadists, hunting for inspiration.

Sociopaths, upping their game.

I love figuring out who’s who in the zoo. Professor Rooke’s intimate, rigorously controlled, mind-fuck of a zoo.

I’m seldom dealt a wild card.

This year, I got a pair.