Find Me (WITSEC, #1)

by Ashley N. Rostek

As he got closer, I got the feeling this was one of the plural brothers Colt had mentioned. They looked very similar, but he was clearly older and taller than Colt by a few inches and his eyes were brown. They had the same pale golden hair. His was shaved on the sides and styled messily on top. “I was just introducing myself to our new neighbor. This is Shiloh. Shiloh, this is my brother Keelan.”

I had more than just the scars on my arm, wrists, and ankles. I had two really bad ones on my stomach and one on my back shoulder. The ones on my stomach were from stab wounds that had almost killed me.

Creed’s aquamarine’s eyes met mine. “That’s what it looks like when I don’t like someone.” “Noted,” I said.

“Jealous you didn’t get a shake to share with Shiloh?” I heard Keelan ask Creed. I glanced over at Creed to see him glaring at his older brother. “Shut up,” he grumbled. Keelan just smirked.

“My uncle is a U.S. Marshal, and his current assignment requires him to travel a lot. He took something like a sabbatical last year to take care of me after my parents and sister died. Now that I’m eighteen, it was time for him to return to work. I didn’t want to travel with him. I wanted to finish my last year of high school without interruptions. I don’t live with another relative because I don’t have anyone else. I chose to move to Arizona by closing my eyes and putting my finger on a map of the U.S. I wanted to move somewhere new because I wanted to start over and find a way to move on. I bought the house next door with my family’s life insurance money. My birthday is July twenty-seventh. I’ve been a straight A student all my life. My favorite food is popcorn. I hate the color pink. I’m currently trying to quit smoking. I haven’t had a cigarette in over a week. Only reason I picked up the disgusting habit was because my family had just died and drowning myself in alcohol and smoking seemed like better vices than drugs. I dyed my hair this strange color because my sister used to dye her hair wild colors all the time and it’s my own way of honoring her. Plus, whenever I look in the mirror, for just a minute, I forget that it’s me standing there.” I looked to Colt, then Creed, who were wide-eyed. “I used to be a twin,” I said, my voice just shy of a whisper.

“If I hadn’t bitched in public to my friends the next day about moving, Mr. X wouldn’t have found out and slaughtered us a week later.”

Keelan looked to Knox. “I have the sudden urge to binge watch all the Superman movies.”

“You fucking shoved her?!” Creed yelled. Colt set me on the bottom bench of the bleachers. “I’ll be right back,” he said tightly before heading back over to where Creed was now up in Gabe’s face. Gabe straightened his stance. “Get out of my fucking face.” Then he shoved Creed. Before Creed could react, Colt came up behind Gabe, jerked him around by his shoulder, and punched him in the face. The impact and force behind the punch made Gabe crumple to the ground. “What the fuck!” Gabe roared and scrambled to get back up to his feet. Colt shoved him back down and cocked his arm back to hit him again. Creed grabbed Colt from behind, locking his arms around Colt’s. Colt struggled to get free as Creed pulled him away from Gabe. I jumped to my feet and winced when pain flared in my hip. I didn’t think anything was broken. I was definitely going to have a nasty bruise, though.

Knox slammed the Jeep’s door and stormed around it to stand along the oleander bushes that separated our properties. “Please tell me you didn’t ditch practice so one or both of you could try and get between Shiloh’s legs?”

His intense brown eyes met mine for a moment. “I just need you to be my sacrificial lamb.”

“Creed, it’s time to wake up,” I said softly. Creed groaned. “Fuck off,” he grumbled, making me laugh. I climbed up onto the bed, leaned over his back, then lightly brushed my finger down the arch of his nose, tickling him. “Good morning, Sunshine. It’s time to open those pretty eyes.” His nose scrunched before his hand reached up to capture mine, stopping me from tickling him anymore. “I don’t want to wake up. I’m dreaming about a pretty girl lying on top of me,” he mumbled with a tiny smile, then opened one eye to peek up at me. My cheeks became hot. His body shook underneath mine as he chuckled huskily. “You’re too cute,” he said with a tired voice. He pushed up from the bed without releasing my hand and turned just enough to wrap his free arm around my waist.

“Can you blame a girl for looking? Keelan is very pretty.” “Thanks, Shiloh,” Keelan said, his tone hinting that he was amused. My back was to him now and even though I was displaying fake bravado, there was no way I would’ve been able to look him in the eye right now without blushing like crazy. “You’re welcome,” I shot over my shoulder. Both Colt and Creed frowned. “I’ve tried to tell them that I’m the prettiest, but they’ve never believed me,” Keelan said.

“Why don’t you go put a shirt on, gorgeous?” Creed grumbled at Keelan as he made it over to the chair on my right. Colt snorted from where he sat on my left. Keelan arched a brow at Creed. “You and Colt aren’t wearing shirts.” “Maybe we should all put our shirts on,” Colt suggested. “I don’t want Shiloh to feel uncomfortable.” The three of them glanced at me. “I’m fine,” I assured. “Don’t feel the need to put your clothes on because I’m here.” Knox erupted with laughter from where he stood at the stove, followed by Keelan and the twins. I gaped at all of them as they laughed, even Knox as he brought a plate of bacon to the table while shaking his head with a smile. “Thanks for the permission to be naked, Shiloh,” Keelan said as his laughter settled. “I—” Then it clicked. “Oh.” That caused another round of laughter. “Alright, that’s enough,” Knox said. “Let’s eat.”

For Ethan’s game, I wore my dark blue Football God jersey with black shorts. My hair was back up in pigtails with the gray, blue, and black ribbons. Using black eyeliner, I made those black grease marks footballs players put under their eyes, and with white eyeliner I spelled out Go within the black mark on one cheek and Team on the other. When I was all set to go, I made my way next door. Keelan answered the door. His eyes did a slow descent and he whistled. “Looking good, Shiloh.” I smiled. “Thank you.” He stepped aside for me to come in. Knox and Creed were sitting on the couch. Both looked in my direction when I entered. Knox’s brows shot up when he saw me, but Creed’s eyes narrowed. “Colt!” he yelled before standing. Keelan chuckled as he sat on the couch next to Knox. “This should be entertaining.” Creed came to stand in front of me, arms crossed over his chest. I frowned. “What?” I knew I looked ridiculous, but was it really that bad? Colt walked into the living room from the hall that led to his room. He noticed me and smiled. As his eyes took in my outfit, his smile dropped. “What?” I repeated with a little bit of bite. Colt looked to Creed. “Fuck Ethan, let’s just stay in and watch a movie.” What?! “We can’t do that. He’s our friend and we promised him we’d go to support him.” “I agree, fuck Ethan,” Creed said, siding with his brother.

“You’re wearing another man’s jersey, looking hot as hell, and we don’t like it,” Creed said bluntly.

“You matched your underwear to your pajamas?” Creed mumbled tiredly. “I was feeling Wonder Woman vibes this evening and wanted to represent with every layer,” I said as I lay on my side facing Colt. “Will you get the lights?” I asked him.

“You two should go.” They both looked stricken. “If you don’t go now, I’ll grow more attached.” Neither of them moved. “Please!” I cried. “I’m more trouble than I’m worth. I cry more than I smile. I have nightmares—” Creed grabbed my face with both hands and slammed his lips onto mine. At first, I was so taken aback that I was frozen like a statue. Creed pulled back a little to look me in the eye. “I’m already attached,” he said before returning his lips to mine.

The door ripped open. Knox stood there, taking me in with wide eyes. Without permission, I ducked under his arm and went into their house. “What’s wrong?” he demanded. I had the heebie-jeebies so bad I wiggled my arms out to get relief before hugging myself. “There’s a giant tarantula in my house.” He stared at me for a moment and then the corners of his mouth slowly started to lift. I glared at him. “Don’t you dare laugh at me.” He snorted. “Knox, it’s not funny,” I snapped. That just set him off and he started laughing. I put my hands on my hips, fuming, and waited for his laughter to stop. “When is Keelan going to be home?” Still grinning, he shut the front door and headed over to the couch. “Not for a couple of hours.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait for one of your boyfriends to help?” “The twins and I are just friends,” I said quickly. He gave me the look, one that screamed sure.

Knox let out a grunt when the heel of my shoe hit him in the butt. Other than that, he just stood there and let me scale him. “Shiloh,” he said calmly.

“Don’t do that. Don’t walk away,” he said, his livid eyes boring into me. “You talk about how you’re worried about us kicking you to the curb, but have you ever stopped to think that we feel you’ll do the same?

Keelan smirked. “You get her all the time. Learn to share.” Knox rolled his eyes and pressed play on the remote to the TV. The show began to play and Colt and Creed still hadn’t stopped glaring in our direction. “I don’t know how I feel about this,” Colt grumbled and looked to Creed. “He’s not going to bite her. Let it go and watch the TV,” Knox said.

Creed went to grab the tongs to pick up some chicken and Keelan smacked his hand away. “Since you’ve already eaten, you can go last.” Colt snorted and hid his mouth behind my hand that he was still holding. When he caught me staring, he cleared his throat. “Sorry.” Keelan took the tongs, picked up a piece of chicken, and put it on my plate. “I was going to serve Shiloh,” Creed deadpanned. “Well, you’ve serviced her enough tonight,” Keelan said in a put-off tone. Everything Keelan had been saying to Creed registered in my head at that moment and I blushed. Colt kissed the back of my hand to comfort me. Creed straightened in his chair. “Sounds like you’re jealous.”

“I’d like to see you try and throw me over your shoulder now that I’m sober, you bench-pressing jerk face,” I muttered to myself as I plopped back in my chair. I angrily scooped coleslaw onto my plate. “I’m pretty sure I could take your giant butt to the floor in three moves.” I grabbed a large portion of fries next. “I can hear everything you’re saying,” Knox grumbled. I bit a fry in half. “You were supposed to.” Keelan snorted from across the table, followed by Creed. That caused Colt to erupt with laughter. Keelan and Creed burst out next and the room filled up with the three of them laughing. “I would pay to see Shiloh kick your ass,” Keelan wheezed at Knox in between laughs. Knox rolled his eyes and dug into his food.