Witness

by Rachael Orman

  “Doesn’t mean they won’t change their mind, you know, since they can sneak in much easier now,” Eric pointed out.

  “So I’m just supposed to leave all of my stuff here unprotected?” I pouted but put on my own shoes knowing I was going with him whether I wanted to or not.

  “What’s more important? Your life or your crap?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Fuck off,” I groaned and grabbed my purse, phone and keys then opened the front door wide. “Let’s go. I’m tired.”

  He smiled and exited ahead of me.

  “And it’s not crap,” I said quietly as I settled into the front of his car.

  “No, but it is compared to your life.”

  Chapter Three

  It’d been two days since that fun-filled night. Eric had kept me locked away in his hotel room, while he supposedly took care of my window and the repairs to the wall. I don’t know why he bothered. Only two things could happen now. Either I left the area or they caught me. I wouldn’t be returning to my apartment, no matter how much security he put in the tiny place.

  After his statement about wanting to get to know me, and then helping me secure my place after it’d been shot up, I begrudgingly trusted him. He’d had plenty of chances to turn on me and hadn’t. Plus, I had no one else to lean on.

  On the third day, I finally got tired of only having four boring walls to look at with horribly dull daytime television to keep me company, so I decided I’d walk to the nearby grocery store to pick up a few things to snack on. We didn’t have a kitchen at all, so we were doomed to have to survive on takeout. However, that didn’t mean I couldn’t have some yummy snacks to survive on between meals.

  I’d filled a cart with my favorite things and was checking out when Sheriff Aaron appeared next to me.

  “Where you been hiding out?” he asked with a flirty smile.

  “I haven’t been hiding,” I said with an eye roll. The man was always all up in my business.

  “I haven’t seen you around the diner and it looked like you were having some work done on your place,” he observed.

  “Stalker much?” I glared at him as I handed the cashier enough cash to cover my bill.

  “You know, I’m just looking out for you, since you are a single woman,” he groaned in frustration.

  “Thanks, but I think I have it handled on my own. I’ve managed this long just fine,” I said, gathering my bags and walking away.

  I took the long way back, making several turns and detours that I didn’t need to in order to make sure if anyone was following me, they’d have a hard time keeping up.

  Once back in the room, I unpacked the few items on the dresser and was just trying to decide what to do next to waste time when my phone rang.

  “Yes?” I answered when I saw it was Eric.

  “Why did you go out?” he barked angrily.

  “Because I was bored. You know, I don’t get to traverse all over town at a whim like you do,” I snapped back.

  “Why were you talking to that sheriff? What did he say?” he asked, and I pulled my phone away to glare at it.

  “How the fuck do you know who I talked to? That’s creepy as hell. And nothing unusual. He’s not the one behind this shit,” I decided.

  Eric let out a long sigh.

  “Will you just be careful?” he finally said, worry evident in his voice.

  “I am,” I groaned, falling back on my bed. Thankfully, the room had two queens, and I got my own space to sprawl out and not have to worry about touching the infuriating man.

  Eric just grunted then hung up on me.

  Just as I was putting my phone down, it rang again. I immediately answered, thinking it was him calling back.

  “What do you want now?” I snapped.

  “Well, nice to hear you are doing okay after you missed work,” Mark said, none too pleased by the sound of it.

  “Sorry. Things are a bit crazy right now. I meant to call and let you know I wouldn’t make it in this morning.”

  “Well, we are slammed and getting our asses handed to us. You need to figure out how to get here, and soon,” he demanded in a stern voice.

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I exhaled exaggeratedly.

  “You’d better,” he barked then hung up.

  What was it with men hanging up on me? Seriously, saying “bye” wouldn’t hurt them. At least now I had a way to spend the afternoon, and Eric couldn’t be too pissed about me going to work. It was where I could keep an eye on everyone and look for anything weird without looking out of place.

  I changed into jeans and a tank top then walked the distance to the dinner. Slipping in the back door, I moved to grab an apron so I could get started on helping out, but I was surprised to find Mark waiting for me.

  “Mark, hi. I’m here to help,” I said with a slight smile hoping he wouldn’t want to yell at me since I had indeed shown up.

  “About fucking time,” he growled, stepping closer to me.

  “I said I was sorry. Let me get out there and get the customers taken care of. You can reprimand me later, okay?” I said, taking a step back. He was way too close for comfort after everything that had been happening.

  “Not going to happen.” He let out a low grisly laugh that sent a chill up my spine.

  I tried to get away, but he snatched a handful of my hair and pulled my back to his front, with a hand snapping over my mouth.

  “Time’s up, sweet thing,” he whispered in my ear before licking the side of my neck, making bile rise in my throat.

  He was much larger than I was, with much more bulk, so it wasn’t hard for him to muscle me back out the exit and into the back of the restaurant van. Something heavy and hard collided with my head, and the world blacked out around me as I heard the slamming of the van’s back door.

  The next thing I knew, my head was pounding, and everything was still black. Fabulous! So I couldn’t see, but I could feel the pain they’d already started inflicting. The only thing that was bothering me besides the back of my skull was my wrists where they’d been pulled behind my back and held together. I’d have guessed rope by the abrasiveness of the material.

  “Wakey, wakey, sunshine,” a deep male voice said, startling me. Before I could even figure out where the voice had come from, I was being yanked to my feet. “Time for some fun.”

  “Can’t wait,” I mumbled. Really, there was nowhere else I wanted to be. Except, like anywhere else in the entire world, but no one ever asked me what I wanted. “Are we having drinks and appetizers first, at least?”

  The man only grunted in response before I tripped and fell to the ground. With no way to stop the momentum, with my hands bound and all, my head slapped against the ground, and it was my turn to grunt.

  “Asshole,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

  “The more you talk, the more painful it’s going to be,” the man told me as I was once again hefted to my feet and forced to walk.

  “Oh, like you are going to take it easy on me anyway?” I snorted. I didn’t know why my sassy side had decided to come out when it was clear I was going to be paying with blood and screams. Probably because I was pretty sure it was the end. There was no way I’d escape the hands of the mafia enforcer. While I couldn’t remember his name, I knew that he was the sickest, darkest, most twisted individual in the whole organization. He had to be, when he was the one doing all the dirty work for the Boss.

  “You never know,” the man told me as I was shoved from behind to keep walking.

  I snorted again, but didn’t say anything. If anything, I was hoping I pissed him off enough that he’d just make it fast and get it over with.

  Eventually, I was pushed into a chair and the bag over my head was torn off. I squinted into the bright light of the room I was now in. There was nothing recognizable in the large room. Surprisingly, it was well lit, and I could easily see the whole place. There was a table with glistening metal pieces on it, but it was taller than I was seated, so I couldn
’t see what exactly they were. Glancing down, I noticed there was a drain right below me. Easy clean up. Glad they were thinking ahead. Then again, torture was pretty much a weekly thing for the mafia.

  “Ah. I have wanted to get my hands on you for so very long, sunshine,” the man who had brought me into the room said from behind me.

  Flicking my head to the side to try to get a look at him was a bad idea as my entire brain felt like it burst at the quick movement. I squeezed my hands into fists to avoid making any noises to let the jerk know he’d caused me pain without even trying.

  “Why don’t you come around here so I can look at who my torturer will be this fine day?” I asked.

  “Ah, but don’t you recognize my voice?”

  “Nope.” I shrugged. “Should I?”

  I listened as heavy steps slowly moved around me until a long, lanky body came into view, and I instantly knew who it was.

  “No. It was you this whole time? Why are you here now? Didn’t you just turn me over to Michele’s people and then be done with it?” I spit out questions as fast as they entered my head. I would never in a million years have pegged Sheriff Aaron as breaking the law. He couldn’t be an enforcer. I would’ve recognized him. It just wasn’t possible, was it?

  “Well, that’s sort of a long story,” he said as he picked up a power drill off the tray. Seeing him examine different bits had me tensing. Holding one up, surveying it, then putting it down to look at another one. Finally, he selected one and slid it into the barrel of the drill then turned to look at me. “Well, we weren’t initially here for you. We were here taking care of another idiot who thought they could get away. Then look at who falls right into our lap. I’d already killed off the good ol’ sheriff so I thought I’d keep playing the part. No one around here seemed to notice the switch anyway. Then again, we do look quite alike, being brothers and all. Nothing a haircut, shave and tan couldn’t fix.”

  He killed off his brother? What the hell? How’d no one noticed the sheriff had changed?

  “A faked accident to cover the supposed loss of memory,andvoilà, the perfect cover. Add in a sick little crush by a manager, and I had the perfect way to get my girl when the time was right. All I had to do was promise him he’d get some alone time with you once I got some questions answered. Too bad he won’t ever get that chance,” Aaron said with a sinister smile. “No one touches my girl but me.”

  I watched as he walked back around me where I couldn’t see him anymore. Every time he flared the drill to live, I jumped. Even when I tried not to, I did. I couldn’t help it. When his fingers slid through my hair, I gritted my teeth so I wouldn’t yank my head away in disgust.

  “I must say that I do like the new color on you. Looks much better than that crappy bland brown you always had before. Longer is so much more fun, too. More to grab onto and hold you with.” Aaron laughed and ran his fingers through my hair again. That time I did pull my head away in an attempt to get him to stop touching me like a lover would.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, sunshine. I think you should be a lot nicer to me than you have been since you landed in this crappy little town. I was supposed to kill you right away, you know. It would’ve been quick and painless. You see, I’ve been watching you for a very long time. I was tempted to steal you away from Michele a long time ago, but that would’ve just caused a big, dirty affair. Before I could even figure out how I was going to get you to leave him, you went and did something so incredibly stupid…”

  I cut him off.

  “I didn’t do shit! Michele is the one who was stupid. He is the one who decided to kill the man he’d invited over to fuck me without telling me. He is the one who wanted to watch someone else fuck his wife then got so insanely jealous he killed him when he touched me. He was the one who forced me to then stand by, covered in blood, while he had his men come in to clean up his mess. Then, and only then, was I allowed to shower and clean the dried blood off myself. And when I decided that I didn’t want to stay married to a psychopath who had already threatened my life on numerous occasions, it was all my fault that he did all those things. NO! It was not my fault, damn it. Kill me if you want to kill me, but stop saying it was my god damn fault.” I was out of breath, my chest heaving by the time I finished shouting the words that had spun round and round in my head for the last five years.

  “Do you really think any of that matters?” Aaron sneered. “You were there. You saw something you weren’t supposed to. You have to pay. Simple as that.”

  After having expelled all the hatred I’d built up, I felt the rush of adrenaline ebb, leaving me shivering from the crash and realization that I really was facing my death.

  “You were meant to be mine. That shithead didn’t know what he had,” Aaron whispered against my ear. Then he was back to stroking my hair again. “Too bad you went and touched that scum Michele sent to finish the job. You let that disgusting man put his hands and mouth on you, and for that, you will have to be punished.”

  I heard the buzz of the drill seconds before I felt the yank on my hair. Except it wasn’t a normal pull, but a hard, twisting sensation. The more the drill droned on, the tighter my hair got and the worse it hurt. Within seconds, the burn was so intense I couldn’t hold back a cry, then a scream, as a handful of hair was brutally torn from my scalp.

  “Mmm, yes, I think that’s a good start,” Aaron hummed as he held the drill around for me to see. The bloody locks hung from it.

  Revulsion flared in my gut as I felt wetness seep down the back of my head. I wanted to cry out or scream, but I was too shocked to react.

  “That’s right. See, you were made for me. Tough little thing,” Aaron said as he dragged the tip of the bloody drill bit along my cheek before forcing it into my mouth.

  I gagged around it instantly.

  He didn’t stop until I had a mouthful of my own hair and blood. Then he turned the drill on, making it bump into my teeth, gums and tongue.

  Just when I thought he was going to break out my teeth or drill through my cheek, he pulled it out, leaving the disgusting mess behind. I gagged again.

  “Spit that out and I’ll take more hair. It won’t be such a small amount next time, though.” Aaron glared at me, spinning the drill through the air with a dark gleam in his eyes as he smiled.

  I didn’t want to debate what was considered a “small amount” because a mouthful was more than that to me. I wasn’t going to object or spit it out no matter how much I wanted to. The pain pulsing through my head from the first time was almost more than I could handle.

  “Now, for letting that motherfucker touch what is mine…” Aaron said, moving to stand directly in front of me. He pushed my thighs apart, and I shuddered.

  I changed my mind. Please let him remove all my hair with his horrible drill as long as he didn’t rape me. I didn’t think I could survive that.

  “Don’t worry, baby, we have a lot more to discuss before we get to that part of the evening,” Aaron responded as if he knew where my thoughts had gone. He placed the drill bit to my kneecap. “However, since you wanted to run from me straight into the arms of another man, I think you should no longer be allowed to walk. What do you say?”

  Before I could even respond, the drill flared to life and pain exploded in my leg as he pushed the spinning metal into my yoga pants and through my flesh.

  I couldn’t keep back the scream as he made a burning hole straight through my knee. My vision blacked out as I hyperventilated. The pain was too much. Blood was pouring quickly from the wound, only adding to the lightheadedness I’d already been battling from the head wound left behind from the partial scalping he’d given me.

  “That couldn’t have felt good. Maybe next time you’ll think before you try to run from me,” Aaron grunted as he ran the tips of his fingers through the mess he’d made of my knee. He lifted his hand and sucked off the blood.

  “I didn’t run from you,” I gasped brokenly. I didn’t even know who he was at the tim
e. I thought he was harmless.

  “But you did,” Aaron shouted. “Don’t lie to me.”

  He started mumbling to himself, then took out my other knee cap.

  I screamed again as pain erupted anew. Everything blacked out again before he was finished. And thankfully, finally, I got a break from the insane monster that had captured me.

  When I opened my eyes, I found myself in complete darkness. I was still sitting up, very likely in the same fucking chair I’d passed out in. I couldn’t see anything this time, though. All of the lights had been turned out.