Witness Protection (The Witness Series) (2 page)

“I thought I am not meant to tell anyone.” I say, keeping my arms crossed across my chest.

“Cops.”
Nate reminds me.

“Hmmmm.”

“Can show you my badge, if you like.”
Ryder says with a hooded
gaze.

“Let me guess, it’s in your pants?”

The two men roar with laughter.

“Are you always so antsy?”

I huff again. “I am not antsy.”

“Ok…are you always so snappy, rude…”

I frown. “I am not trying to be
rude;
I have been upended from my home, job and life…to stay with two men I don’t know
. How the hell would you feel?”

“Must be hard.”
Nate says, well at least someone has some manners.

“It is hard, and I just want to be alone. Do I have a room?”

“This way.”

I follow them down the hall and into a spare room, when I walk in, I gape. Wow, huge doesn’t even cut it. King sized bed, a desk, a couch and a television. I can see a door, which I assume is a bathroom.

“Oh wow.” I whisper.

“Not so unhappy now eh?”
Nate grins, I flinch away as they step in closer.

“Don’t panic baby, we don’t bite.”
Ryder muses.

“Don’t call me baby.”
I snap.

Both men laugh again and I watch as they walk off down the hall, singing “Don’t call me baby.”
Assholes.
I shut the door angrily and fall onto my bed, flustered and al
one. Here I am trapped with two
gorgeous men who I don’t know, in a house I don’t know with a name I don’t know…and wondering if I am going to be murdered by a man I don’t know. It doesn’t get better than that.

I get up after a moment, deciding to make the best of the situation and shower. I unpack what little things I brought and go to step into the shower when I hear the bedroom door open. Sighing, I wrap a towel around myself and peer out. Nate and Ryder are standing at the door, looking far too gorgeous for my liking. They also look far too cop like, scanning the room. Ryder is wearing a black shirt and vest now, and a gun is tucked into the belt of his black jeans. Oh my.

“Showering.”
I say from the door and two eyes swing my way.

“So you are.” Nate grins, still wearing his shirt and faded jeans.

“Can I help you?”

He lifts a box and rattles it.
“Hair dye.”

I sigh and shut the
door;
I pull on my clothes and walk back out.

“What is
GI Joe doing dressed like that?
”

Ryder gives me a look. “I am going to work for a few hours.”

“Well, ta ta.”

Nate laughs and Ryder glares.

“Nate, keep her in line.”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“You listen to what he says.” Ryder says in a stern, dominant voice.

I laugh. “Yes boss.”

He gives me a long, hard look and then turns and walks out of the room.

“Sit.”
Nate says with a chuckle.

I do and he walks up behind me, when his shirt touches my back I straighten.

“Not used t
o being touched much sweetheart?
”

“What is with you two?” I ask in an amused tone. “Sweetheart and baby, let me guess, it works on girls right?”

“Nothing is with us, those are nice names and no, it doesn’t work on girls.”

I go to open my mouth but he cuts me off.

“Girls come to us
on their very own
.”

I snort. “I bet.”

“No boyfriend then?” He asks, draping a towel over my shoulder.

“None of your business.”

“So there
is,
h
mmmm
, interesting.”

“How is that interesting?”

“You come across as untouched.”

“I beg your pardon, I have had sex!”

“How many times?”

“What?” I snap.
“None of your business!”

“You got hurt huh?”

I stiffen. “Drop it.”

“Alright, alright.
Lean back.”

“No.”

“I will tug these pretty locks.”

I let out a frustrated sound and lean back, Nate leans over and
grins
down at me.
Stupid, beautiful man.

“So what crawled up your
partner’s
ass and died?”

Nate chuckles. “Ryder is a bad boy, it is an image.”

“Yeah I got that, doesn’t mean he needs to be an ass.”

“He isn’t so bad. Girls love him. He just doesn’t do a lot of chit chat.”

“What about you?”

“I am the nice guy, of course.”

“Of course.
What colo
r is that?”

He shoves the box in front of me and I sigh.
“Chocolate.”

“It will suit you.”

“No, it
won’t
.” I mumble.

“Trust me.”

“I know my hair, it won’t.”

“You have light olive skin, big brown eyes and a pretty round face, it will suit you.”

“Someone pays far too much attention, and I am not round!”

He laughs and rubs his fingers through my hair, oh, that is nice.

“You have a round face, not fat
but round,
delicate round.”

“Delicate round, now I have heard it all.”

“You’re real pretty.”

“For a round girl.”

He bursts out laughing and I can’t help but join in.

“You and I will get along just fine.”

I smile to myself, I think we will.

“There, all done.” He says after a moment.

I stand and turn, doing a nice twirl. “Well?”

“
It’s
wet, stick
y
and gross. You don’t look good.”

I smile.
“How long till I can rinse this?”

“Half hour.”

“Thanks.”

“I know it is uncomfortable for you.” He says suddenly as I am walking to the shower.

I turn and meet his brown gaze. “Yeah, it isn’t easy being thrown into a strangers house and not knowing how to feel.”

“It will get easier, I promise. Ryder and I, we aren’t so bad to live with.”

“It’s not that I think you are,” I say, sitting on the bed, he sits beside me. “It’s just that…well…I don’t know either of you, I am not allowed to live my old life, I had to quit my job and change my number. Everything has been upended.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I am grateful though,” I say gently. “I really am.”

“We won’t let anyone hurt you, and we will find him so you can go back to your life.”

“Is he really a serial killer?”

“Yeah, and you are the closest anyone has ever got to finding him.”

“I was just driving home,
” I croak. “Just driving home fr
om a weekend away with my sister, I heard a
scream and…”

He takes my hand, and the move shocks me. I don’t pull it away, but I am uneasy.

“Go on.”

“I heard her scream, so I pulled over and got out. I thought…maybe
someone had fallen or been hurt but I was wrong. I was lucky I hid, because I think it could ha
ve been worse. She was strung up on a tree, and he heard me approach. He turned, grinned and then slit her throat…he saw me, he looked right at me.
”

“I believe you.”

I turn to him. “You do?”

“Yeah, I do. I think he did look at you, and I think this is the best place for you to be. Ryder and I are good cops and we will be by your side at all times until we find him.”

“Has he really killed nine people?”

“Yeah
.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. We don’t know anything. Damn man gets away
every time
we get a lead, we don’t even have a name but we have suspects.”

“Are the killings always in this area?”

“No, he stays close
but far enough to give us a shake up.”

“I am scared for the next victim, I really am. He was so brutal.”

“Yeah, let’s hope we get him before he finds another.”

“Yeah,
I should wash this out.”

“Ok, come out if you like, we don’t bite.”

“I was just going to rest a while.”

He smiles and stands. “Ok sweetheart.”

I frown at him, but he simply winks. When he is gone, I feel a small sense of ease wash over me. He is right; we will get along just fine. I shower and rinse my hair, then stand staring at the new me for what seems like ages. I am the opposite of what the killer usuall
y picks
. I am petite, probably not even five th
ree, I am tiny from head to toe
. I have light olive skin, brown eyes with thick lashes and big, full lips. My hair is long, thick and was my favorite thing about myself; until the hair dye.

I
get into bed when I am done and fall into a deep sleep;
actually sleep is what I do for the next few d
ays.
Nate spends time trying to cheer me up and encourage me out and Ryder pretty much works most days, and is out most nights. Some protector he is. I find him overbearing and hard to handle, and having a conversation with him is near impossible. Nate on the other hand is friendly and welcoming and he makes my settling in easier.

On day four, when things have settled for the most part, I decide to join them men out in the lounge, I
know they are both home today
and I figure
it’s
time we bonded a little more. I
am trusting
them with my life after all.
They are kicking back on the couch when I walk out, chatting about the case. When they notice me, both men stop and stare. Nate smiles, as he always does and Ryder simply stares.

“I thought I would come and see what you guys are up to.”

“We were going to head out to lunch, you up for it?”
Nate says with a warm smile.

“Oh, sure, that would be great.”

I sit on the couch beside Nate and stare at the screen, 007, of course.

“Good movie.” I comment.

“You bet it is.” Ryder says.

“So Ari, how are you feeling?”

“Ok, I feel a bit out but I will get used to it. You guys have some good books in that library.”

“Yeah, Ryder likes to read.”

I gape and stare at Ryder.
“Really?”

He shrugs. “I am not all good looks and charm.”

I snort. “I could have told you that.”

He gives me a look. “You are a strong willed little creature aren’t you?”

“I am not a creature.”

He grins. “We are all creatures baby, the lot of us.”

“Don’t call me baby.”

“You two
stop that,
every time
you get together one of you
gets
snappy. Seriously, were you former lovers in a past life or something?”

I laugh.
“Yeah,
unlikely
.
I have better taste.”

“Same.” Ryder huffs but I can see a small smile playing around his lips.

“So what do you feel like eating?” Nate asks, ignoring out little attacks.

“I am good with whatever you guys want.”

“We will go over to Kazaly’s.” Ryder says.

“Oh?” I ask, never having been.

“It is a seafood place, you eat seafood?”

“Love it.”

“Alright, well let’s go before it gets crowded.”

“Is it safe for me to go out?” I ask.

Ryder stands, sliding his gun into his jeans.

“Yeah, you will be fine. Just don’t go off on your own, not even to the bathroom.”

“Guess I better go now then.” I mumble.

“Guess you better.”

I change and go to the bathroom,
then
we head out in Nate’s flashy car. It is a convertible and the warm fresh breeze touches my skin as we zoom through the streets. We arrive at Kazaly’s and Nate parks while Ryder leads me inside to get a table. It is a beautiful restaurant and is packed full of people. I feel a little
nervous;
considering I haven’t been out for a few days and now I wonder if every person staring at me is a killer.