His Witness To Love by Summer Rose

CHAPTER ONE

"I don't understand; what do you mean?" she asked, her voice shaking with fear.

Mack tried to reach for her, but she took a slow step back, her pupils full of uncertainty.

"Brie, think, please. Did you speak with anyone else when you were???" his eyes searched her face as he spoke.

The room went silent. The last few weeks had been hard on them, all of them.

"No, I mean, I saw a few others. When they would come for Rachel... But they never spoke to me, never really focused on me. I never even saw faces."

Mack watched her rack her mind, sifting through her memories. There was no helping it; he could tell she was being serious.

"It makes no sense! Damn!"

The rage and panic in him slowly gave birth to a new thing, something wilder, manic.

His heartbeat went harder with each second that passed, and then he stared straight at her, letting the wheels turn in his head until finally, it clicked.

"Bryan,” he spat.

"What? No, it can't be!" she shot back

"It could only be him, Brie."

"No, it's not! Stop this Mack," she begged

"I've seen people like Kamal, Brie, sick people, heck the nutter we already know caressed you before he even decided to plunge his thing in you. I wouldn't put it past your shriveled dead beat to hang around you just before he…"

"ENOUGH!"

Brie slumped into a ball at the end of the room

"That's enough; it can't be him, Mack. I know you want it to be, but it can't; it just can't!"

Once again, the room went silent. Somewhere in him, he knew he'd hurt her by how hard she took his going at her ex. A part of him wanted him gone, away from her; he didn't care how it had to happen. A bigger part of him clung to reason. Various alibis and cameras over the week would definitely prove the innocence of the man. He had no motive, and the Brotherhood of Blood didn't go for the average higher middle-class Joe.

He was jealous, he knew it, and he also knew he wasn't handling it well.

He had to admit that seeing them together had done more than just something to him; it was a lingering feeling, clouding his judgment.

I’m sorry, Brie,” he said in a low whisper. He made his way to where she was and lowered himself to her level. he put her hand in his and just let her squeeze him for assurance.

“I’m just worried, I guess, about all this, about us.”

She hid her face in her hands at his words.

“Brie.”

She poked her head out from behind her knees.

“I got a text, too.”

“Huh?” Mack asked.

“Earlier today,” she reached into her pocket and handed him her phone. “Mack I…” she began to shake, finding it difficult to finish.

“Hang in their Brie, I’ve got you,” he said and held her.

“You’re okay; you’re going to be okay; I won’t let anything happen to you."

She looked up at him and gripped his hand. The stares lingered for a moment, and then she sighed. “I know, I know. Thank you.”

Mack pulled her up, keeping her hand in his. She didn't object or flinch but instead held on tighter.

"So, what do we do now?” she asked fearfully.

“The next part is beyond us, but I know just who to call.”

Brie watched him pace the room waiting for a call to connect.

“Hello? Lauren? Thank God, I need your help.”

The pacing stopped, and Mack began to talk into the phone while Brie looked at him.

He finished with his call and hurriedly made his way toward her. The distance was closed faster than normal, and he paused when he got to her. He stared at her for a moment before finally speaking.

“Hey Brie, can we have your phone for a moment?”

Something wasn’t quite right about how he said that.

“We?”

Just then, as if on cue, there was a knock at the door.

“Ah yes, that would be him.” Mack walked toward the door.

“Brie, this is Lauren.” A burly man walked in after Mack; his face was almost all hair, a single mass of curly brown on a set of shoulders. Brie could only tell his eyes apart from everything else from the glasses struggling to stay on.

“Hello, miss, not to worry, I’ll be out of your hair soon.”

Mack came up to her. “Lauren here is going to need our phones for a moment.”

“A simple thing, miss. I just need to clone them; it won’t take too much time.”

“Clone our phones?” Brie asked, looking at Mack

“Excuse us, Lauren,” Mack took Brie out of the room, leaving Lauren with the phones to work.

“Lauren’s a civilian, Brie, a skilled one, yes, but I don’t want him in all this deeper than he has to be. His cousin works in digital forensics; he’ll take the clones and a note to them, she’ll know what to do.”

“Which would be?” Brie’s confusion was painfully evident

“Heck, even I don’t know, but those texts bother me. Hopefully, she can pin something to them or where they came from."

All throughout the conversation, Brie’s hand grabbed at his wrists, her knuckles starting to turn white.

“Mack, what happens if they get to me if the other one gets to me?”

“None of that matters. No one is going to get to you. Please don’t think about things like that.” His hands shot up to cradle her face. “I won’t let them get you, not again; I promise you, you have to trust me, Brie.”

“I do, I do trust you,” she replied.