The Vegan and the Wolf by Julie Steimle (red white and royal blue hardcover txt) 📕

Chapter Two

Rick Deacon was not outside the building when Audry emerged refreshed and ready to continue her shift at the booth. Silvia was there, though. Same place in fact. But with her, arguing like he had a vendetta, was Harlin.

He looked the same as ever, a bit like Heath Ledger, only these days he seemed post Joker with that manic look in his eye as if he had personalized that role. Harlin’s wavy sun-kissed hair was pulled back into a man-bun, which really didn’t suit him. He was also wearing his dusty fedora. But his usually crystal blue eyes had such a wildness to his stare that Audry was amazed she had ever fallen for him. The idiot still had not completely accepted that their relationship was over.

“…her. Admit it! You know where he went!” He was shouting at Silvia who, as always, remained calm and deviously collected.

Silvia caught sight of Audry almost immediately, yet responded unruffled to Harlin (whom Audry wanted to avoid), “It is irrelevant where he went. You are delusional. Audry dumped you because of you. Not because of any other guy.”

“It’s not like you would know,” he snapped at her. Then his eye caught on Audry who was trying to sneak past. “Audry!”

He rushed to get at her.

Silvia chased. For the first time, Audry saw panic on her face.

“Leave me alone!” Audry shouted, hurrying away to get back to the crowd and the booth.

“I just want to talk,” he said.

“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Silvia snapped, not quite reaching out to grab him but with a look of someone who in a more secluded, remote setting would use claws to shred him apart.

“Stay out of it!” Harlin bit back.

“I don’t want to talk to you!” Audry shouted at him, hurrying faster.

But he was quicker and got in her way.

Luckily, Silvia also reached her, putting herself in his path. “Leave her alone!”

“This is none of your business,” he bit out.

Shaking her head, Silvia said, “Exes stick together.”

Audry raised her eyebrows. She didn’t think that was Silvia’s real motivation, but then she could be wrong.

“She’s not my ex,” Harlin retorted.

“Am.” Audry folded her arms, pulling away from him.

Giving her a particularly dirty look, Harlin said, “Not. We are just on the outs right now.”

“No.” Audry raised her chest. “We broke up in December. You made it clear you wanted nothing to do with marriage and everything to do with sex, and I don’t want a dead-end relationship like that.”

“Marriage is the dead end,” he snapped.

Audry sharply shook her head. “You are the dead end. Leave me alone. I am not your girlfriend anymore.”

Leaning peevishly back from her, Harlin said as if his mouth were full of acid, “You are only saying that because you had an affair with that rich Deacon boy.”

“What?” Audry recoiled from him, trying hard to truly make distance. “Are you insane?”

He shook his head. “No. You cheated on me.”

Moaning, Audry stared at the sky. “You are the biggest moron, Harlin. The only interaction I ever had with Rick Deacon was—”

“See! You call him Rick!” he shouted at her. “That’s sure proof that you are on intimate terms with that rich boy.”

Groaning with so much disgust, Audry replied, “He tells everyone to call him Rick.”

“That’s true,” Silvia spoke up, nodding.

“What do you know?” Harlin snapped at her.

Silvia gazed dryly at him. “More than you.”

He looked about to slap her.

Audry dug into her pocket for her pepper spray.

He saw her do it, backing off. “Hey! No need for that!”

“I’ll spray you again if you try anything,” Audry threatened, prepared to do it anyway. Her fingers wrapped around the can, a finger on the button. She had already sprayed him twice before. It was insane that he kept coming back. Any guy with sense would have taken pepper spray to the face as a definite ‘Get out of my life’ message.

Silvia smirked back at her.

“Look,” Harlin said, in a slower, more placating tone. “I only know that everything was going great until he came along.”

Audry stiffened, because technically that was true. She had been ready to melt to his wants around the time Rick had stopped by the ski lodge where she had finalized her Master’s thesis. Long story. It mostly had to do with Harlin’s old cell phone ring tone. It was a player’s ringtone—everyone had said so, though Audry had ignored them. In fact—Rick had the same one. Hungry Like the Wolf. But Rick’s ringtone had been change to that by a friend as a prank who was teasing him about his wolf fetish. She had even met the friend who had done it. And now Harlin’s phone played Animals from Maroon 5—which was a stalker song. This knowledge had woken her up to the realization that her boyfriend was nothing more than a guy seeking to get laid.

Besides, her family hated Harlin and had been hoping she would dump him for quite a long time.

So Audry said, trying to be clear, “There was no affair. In fact, all we ever did was argue.”

Silvia snickered, complete belief in her eyes.

“That’s just foreplay,” Harlin responded bitterly.

Flinching, Audry wanted to slap him. Instead, she bit back, “Let me make this clear. I realized then that you were a scumbag. And yes, he is the one who pointed out that you were a player when I finally believed it.”

Silvia busted up. Her laughter carried like sharp mockery.

“Shut up!” Harlin shouted at her, nearly manic in his anger. But he did not strike her as the pepper spray was still in Audry’s reach and she was a quick-draw with it. Then to Audry he said, “You’re lying. You had an affair with him. I know all about you and him in Paris.”

Silvia looked back to her, surprised

Audry rolled his eyes. “Oh, give me a break. It was a chance meeting, and Paris was like, ages ago. And I only spoke to him for a few minutes.”

“You have his picture on your cell phone!” Harlin snapped. “And you’ve never deleted it!”

“My two best friends are in that that picture!” Audry shot back. “We were at the Eiffel tower!”

“You kept it because he was a celebrity and you thought he was cute,” he bitterly protested. “Don’t deny it.”

Recoiling further from him, Audry realized it was useless to argue. He would believe whatever he wanted. True or not.

“Really?” Silvia whispered to her with almost hungry interest. “Can I see the picture?”

Moaning, Audry said, “Later.”

Laughing, Silvia looked even more astonished. Because of course it was true—except for the part about the affair.

“So, I heard he came here to see you,” Harlin said.

Audry blinked at him, confused. “What?”

“He came to your booth.”

“He was here for a business conference. He was just passing by.” Audry moaned, annoyed now because Rick really had agitated her. Of all days, she had to bump into him today. And he most definitely looked just as surprised to see her as she had been to see him. She doubted he had planned to just pop in to tease her.

“Pull another one, liar,” Harlin said, disgusted at her.

 Audry stared at him, appalled. “Oh my gosh. Harlin, you are an idiot. He and I don’t have a thing going on.”

“Bull.” His glare deepened. “Where is he?”

Shaking her head, Audry decided she really just ought to walk away. She started to.

He followed her. “Where is he?”

Silvia walked with them, staying close to Audry for her protection.

“You are delusional,” Audry muttered.

“You are hiding him.” He chased after in long strides.

Marching faster, Audry dodged around people. “Not in the least. I didn’t even know he was coming to the conference.”

“You are waiting for someone who is at the conference,” Harlin accused.

Audry halted. “My cousin Vincent.”

“Liar. There are no Bruchenhauses at the convention. I checked. And your other family are all hippies.”

How did he know all that? It made her skin crawl as she knew he was stalking her. She had to make sure every door and window was locked these days.

“Am not lying!” Audry shouted, but kept marching. “My cousin Vincent Williams is coming over, and he is going to kick your butt if you keep harassing me.”

“You made him up,” Harlin said. “There is no Vincent Bruchenhaus.”

“His name is Vincent Williams, my aunt son,” Audry said, keeping up her pace. “And he already hates your guts.”

Harlin pulled back, the possibility of finally believing her rising into his eyes.

“All my family hates you,” Audry added.

“They just don’t get us,” he retorted, going faster.

Groaning in a way that bordered on a scream, Audry shouted with another halt, “There is no us! We are not together! You were just a sexual predator who wanted to get laid, and you can’t handle that you got rejected.”

“Predator?” Glaring furiously at her, Harlin was taken aback. “Predator? Have I forced you into sex? I have loved you—”

“No. You lusted after me,” Audry snapped like she would bite him. Honestly, at this moment she kind of wished she were a wolf. A good bite to the jugular would end him and she would be done with all this trouble.

He rolled his eyes. “Trust me, honey. You are not that hot.”

Feeling that stab, then ignoring it, Audry said, “Then go away.”

She continued on back to the booth.

“No… I just have to win you back from that real predator,” Harlin growled, following her. “You’ve been captured. This is Stockholm syndrome.”

Audry marched on, her eyes skyward in exasperation. “I was not kidnapped, you jerk. Having respectful conversations about my Master’s project is not having an affair either.”

He huffed at her. “Yeah. Like that was what you were really doing.”

She jerked to a halt and slapped him.

He stared at her, clutching his face.

“Don’t you ever say that again!” Audry shouted. “If I wouldn’t sleep with you, why in the world would I have done it with him?”

“So he did…” Harlin muttered.

“No! Are you stupid?” Audry felt like pulling out her hair.

“You would not protest this much if he didn’t,” Harlin growled. “I’ll kick his a—”

“No, you won’t,” Silvia cut in, blocking him from Audry. “Howie Deacon has bodyguards. And I think he’d kick your butt first anyway. He’s not a weakling.”

Audry looked to her. “Howie?”

Silvia blushed, her face revealing she had been caught with a secret.

“That wimpy Deacon guy?” Harlin laughed with mocking hardness. “Are you kidding me? Soft hands and a weak arms under that fancy suit.”

But Audry recalled the one time she put her hand on Rick’s chest to stop him from… well… hugging her in thanks for rescuing the wolf last winter. His chest was solid. And she had gotten the impression that he was ripped, or at least had a six pack. But how did Silvia know? And why did she call him Howie? Only people who were close to the family called him Howie.

Snorting, Silvia shook his head. “Howie Deacon is no wimp. He was on the Middleton Village basketball team in seventh grade and the varsity team in high school. And I think he might be on the college team at Brown, if I am not mistaken.”

“How do