Page 5 of His Witness To Protect

Brie reached out and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back and held on, remembering.

His brother’s death had been a huge blow to the family—especially since he looked up to his brother and wanted to be like him. He revealed that his brother was the reason he enjoyedwatching crime documentaries. He decided to carry on his brother’s legacy by avenging his death, so he moved out of Destiny Falls, joined the Chicago FBI Institute, and here he was.

He whispered into her hair, “I swore I would never rest until I caught them—every last one of them. I won’t let them go. I won’t let my brother down.”

She hugged him even tighter. Mack felt her breasts press against his chest, and he couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He broke free from the hug and pulled her in for a kiss, and she didn’t object. He kissed her so deeply that she was lost in him, and he proceeded to pleasure her. His hands reached underneath her shirt, and she leaned into him.

His hands continued to roam all over her body, and she shuddered at his touch. His hands went lower and lower until she stopped him.

She whispered, “I don’t think I’m ready. Not now.”

Mack was surprised that he felt hurt. He realized that he never stopped loving her, even when they lost contact after high school.Settling for a cuddle instead, he stroked her hair and made a promise to himself to protect her and get her to trust him no matter what it took.

CHAPTER SIX

The morning sun shone through the window of the room as the loud ring from Mack’s cell phone jerked them out of bed. It was a call from his team leader that the sketch artist they requested had just arrived at the safe house, and Brie started feeling anxious. Mack tried to calm her down and encouraged her to try and give a detailed description of the suspect, emphasizing the importance of its success in achieving his lifelong dream.

They got dressed, and Mack gave her a pep talk. In a few minutes, there was a soft knock on the door, followed by the appearance of a tall and attractive woman with waist-length black hair. She wore a gray pantsuit and had a pencil carefully balanced behind her ear. Even with delicate facial features, like her full lips, cute button nose, and cat eyes, Brie didn’t seem to like her; she couldn’t exactly tell why, but it seemed to her that Mack was super excited to see her.

“Alexa!” Mack exclaimed when he saw her. It was obvious they knew each other but from where?

Alexa walked over to Mack and gave him a hug and a pat on the back. “I always knew you’d be one step ahead,” she said, dropping her bag on the small table in the middle of the room. Her eyes wandered to Brie in the middle of their warm greeting, and she let go of Mack and extended a hand toward Brie with a big smile on her face.

“Alexa Gonzalez,” she said with a slight Spanish accent, waiting with a smile for Brie to take her hand.

Brie eyed her outstretched hand and sighed. “Brianna Miller,” she finally said, lightly shaking Alexa’s hand.

“It is my pleasure working with you,” Alexa continued,maintaining her smile. It was like Brie’s slight show of disapproval didn’t phase her one bit. “Come. Sit,” Alexa gestured to the chair beside Brie while she took a seat in front of her.

Brie had no idea why she was feeling that way, roughly and nonchalantly describing how she found the killer in the storage room of the animal shelter where she worked. Still, it was as though the negative feeling melted away, and she immediately softened up to Alexa when she saw how concerned she was. Alexa also chatted lightly about her just-concluded wedding and honeymoon, which she described as “the best thing she’d had in a while” as she sketched according to Brie’s description.

Brie felt embarrassed. She realized she was jealous about how close Mack and Alexa were, and as soon as Alexa mentioned she had a husband, she felt a lot better. She was confused about whether she had feelings for Mack or not, for knowledge of Alexa’s wedding to be such a relief to her.

After a long day of describing to Alexa, the result she sketched looked extremely realistic as she captured every detail Brie hadmentioned amazingly. From the shape of his nose to the snake tattoo that had been etched into her memory, Alexa drew thesuspect as though she had seen him herself. Brie was thoroughly impressed and praised her talent while Alexa smiled, appreciating her for taking the time and courage to do the sketch description. Brie hugged Alexa this time, and she left on a light note.

Later that night, Mack and Brie were alone again, and Brie thought it was okay for her to finally open up to him, trusting him enough with her hardships since he had been so caring and supportive of her. She thought it might also allow her to pinpoint what exactly she felt for Mack.

She told him everything. In a voice choked with tears, the words scratched themselves out.

“Bryan told me so many times I’d never be good enough. We’d go out to dinner with his family, I’d be about to have another slice of cake, and he’d ask me with this disgusting smile on his face if I didn’t think I’d had enough.”

She blew her nose.

“It was little things like that. The way he’d compare me with all the petite-sized girls, asking why I couldn’t be like them.”

She told him how she’d cut herself every time it happened, how she felt she would never be good enough for Bryan.

“Finding out he was cheating on me broke me. I’d never felt so stupid, so unwanted.” Her breath hitched.

She took a deep breath and continued.

“Then he got married—toher. I couldn’t take it, the shame. I felt like everyone was laughing at me. I almost killed myself. I lost it completely. I was depressed for months.”

She showed him the scars on her shoulders and upper arms, and Mack almost lost it. He felt bad for her and angrier at Bryan for causing her so much pain, but the only thing he could do was comfort her, which he did all night while she kept spilling her secrets.

It was the best night she’d had in a while. Just talking without being judged.

It felt good to finally tell someone. It was cathartic.

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