This Strange Addiction by Julie Steimle (e book free reading .txt) 📕

Mr. Brawny then extended his hand to Audry. “I’m James Peterson, but my friends call me Sir Iron Fist.”

“You’re telling her that?” the normal looking guy on the couch (except for the crystal and sword) called out. He rose, walking over. “I’m Edward White. You can call me Eddie.”

“Audry. Bruchenhaus,” she said.

“Oh…” Eddie nodded.

“You’ve heard of me?” Audry asked, curious now over what rumor was going around about her.

Eddie blushed a little, cringing that he had been so obvious. “Uh, yeah. Famously vegan and uh… seller of wolf tee shirts.”

Setting a hand to her face, Audry laughed. That wasn’t so bad.

“Do you still have some?” Eddie asked, curious.

James looked interested also, smirking.

“Why?” Audry said, raising her eyebrows and backing from them. “Because it would annoy Rick Deacon?”

They burst into laughter, nodding.

“But I also want to see it,” Eddie said, wiping an eye. “I heard it was a good pic.”

“Jessica has one,” Silvia suggested with folded arms. She then gestured to the wall where it normally hung and saw that it was not there. “Huh. It used to be on the wall. Maybe she is wearing it or it is being washed. You can raid her laundry if you want a look.”

They both stiffened with distrust upon hearing her speak. Audry could feel the tension between them. Apparently they didn’t really think Silvia was all that sincere about leaving her coven. Though, out of respect for Jessica and Daniel, they didn’t say anything about it in Audry’s presence.

The doorbell rang again. Standing in the doorway was a lean white-haired young guy who for a second Audry had thought was Tom with a goatee. But it wasn’t. He was lankier and nerdier. Also, his eyes were frosty blue and he wore glasses. Besides, he also had this mustache and goatee which made him look like the ghost of the Sheriff of Nottingham.

“So, are they at the hospital?” The guy just walked in as if he were the superior of the group. In fact, Daniel and rest did get out of his way with complete deference. Then his eyes set on Silvia. “What’s she doing here?”

“Jessica’s request,” Daniel replied briskly. Then he gesturing for the man to see Audry.

When the white goatee guy did, he blinked, took a step toward her and bowed like the Sheriff of Nottingham’s ghost wanted to make her acquaintance. “You must be Audry Bruchenhaus.”

She blinked at him. With a peek to Silvia and Daniel, she said, “And how do you know me?”

Straightening up, the man grinned as he said, “Sorry, I’m Semour Dawson. I have been, uh, researching your fiancée for the past month.”

She immediately colored. This was the computer hacker who had gotten the information for Jessica? He was not how she imagined him.

“I wouldn’t marry him if I were you,” he said, and walked on to the kitchen.

“Fiancée?” James whispered to Daniel.

Daniel nodded and whispered back, “The guy’s name is Hogan Orwell, and he was a bit of a player.”

“Hold on!” Audry lifted up her hands, feeling that pressure Hogan had talked about in the car. “My life is my life—”

“We know,” Silvia and Daniel both said. They exchanged a look.

Daniel stepped back, going to his friend Semour to hiss chastening words at him, while Silvia went to Audry’s side. “Don’t mind them. They are a little meddlesome, but they mean well.”

However, this was getting a little too overwhelming. There was a peculiar intensity about all of them that she could not put her finger on.

Then the doorbell rang again. This time, standing in the doorway was a redheaded family with four adults and one teenager. They seemed to stiffen upon the sight of James who had opened the door for them.

“Swift?” James called back.

Daniel nudged Audry forward. “Showtime. You are the hostess of this house while Jessica is gone. It’s your job to keep them sane.”

Walking with resignation toward the door, Audry put on a smile and said to the family of redheads, “Hi, come on in. I’m Audry Bruchenhaus, Jessica’s friend.”

And for some reason, that calmed them immediately.

Silvia worked behind the scenes while Audry led the family into the living room and the crystal-wearing men vacated it. The eldest of the bunch was a grandfatherly sort of man. With him was a modest, ordinary looking married couple in their mid-life, and a young woman with long, straight red hair, who appeared to be at the end of her high school year. They seemed as normal as normal could be.

“And what do you do?” the father asked Audry, “How did you meet Jessica?”

With that opening, Audry decided that the absolute truth was the best. “I am a student working on my doctorate in animal sciences and rescue work. I met Jessica while I was dealing with an ex-boyfriend who had gone stalker on me. She is the police officer who had arrested him.”

“Oh…” Their faces brightened. And they were immediately interested.

While they asked her all sorts of questions, including why she had not been at the wedding when clearly she had been invited, she answered them, telling them about her Africa rescue trip. As they talked, the crystal wearers shuffled off to a side room where they discussed something with Silvia.

There was another knock at the door.

Audry went up to get it.

Opening it, standing in the doorway was Danna.

“Can I come in?” Her voice had an odd allure to it, demanding Audry say ‘yes’, her eyes squinting intently on Audry’s face.

“No,” Audry said, shaking off that rude, oppressive feeling with disgust. “You are definitely not invited—stalker.”

The woman in Barbie pink flustered. It was as if she had never been told ‘no’ before. Or rather, she could not believe that Audry would have been able to refuse her.

Daniel was suddenly at her side, staring Danna down. “Get out. You’re not welcome here.”

Shifting her eyes sharply on him, Danna growled. “Where is she?”

But he merely smirked back. “Where you can’t get her.”

The woman-in-pink’s mouth pulled back, baring her teeth angrily. “How dare you.”

Daniel pushed Audry behind him, urging her to go back into the living room. He drew his sword. “Bring it on, witch.”

Silvia grabbed Audry and pulled her back farther, saying nothing. It was amazing that Danna could not see her—but she really couldn’t. Danna’s eyes were only on Daniel.

Then James, Eddie, and Semour stood beside him. Hastily, Danna stumbled back down the apartment walk from them. Audry could hear her clogs running over the concrete to her car. When they shut the door, Daniel said to Audry, “You should not be the one opening the door. She would not have seen you if you hadn’t.”

“So who’s on door duty?” Silvia asked. “You made her the hostess.”

The family on the couches stared wide-eyed on Silvia. The elderly man rose and approached her with a nod. “I can.”

Silvia grinned at him. Watching her, Audry could have sworn she saw tears in Silvia’s eyes, the grateful kind as she watched the elderly man shuffled forward.

So, as Audry raided the kitchen for snacks to serve the visiting family, Silvia went about setting up candles. She already knew a spell was going to be enacted there.

More guests came as things progressed. First, a business-like woman arrived, one with the same coloring as Jessica. And upon seeing Andrew’s family already in the living room, she sighed with resignation and greeted them with a nod. When Audry met her and offered her some lemonade, the woman introduced herself as Ms. Mason—Jessica’s mother.

“And so you are Audry?” Ms. Mason said, her eyes taking Audry in with increasing pleasure. “Jessica speaks highly of you. I am sorry you missed the wedding.”

Audry blushed.

“I also hear you are engaged to be married as well,” she said, though her eyes were full of thoughts. Jessica must have complained to her mother about Audry’s taste in men recently.

Nodding, Audry dryly said, “What did she tell you?”

Chuckling, Ms. Mason shook her head. “I guess you already know my daughter’s opinion about your boyfriend. I married a magician—a con man really. So who am I to criticize?”

Audry liked her. Ms. Mason was in many ways how she hoped to be one day—an intelligent and independent working woman. Audry knew a lot about Jessica’s mother. She spoke several languages and worked for Deacon Enterprises. She had a good life that allowed her also to travel if needs be. She also loved her daughter and tried to do what was best for her. But she was divorced.

Then Peter McCabe showed up.

Admittedly, standing in the presence of a world renowned soccer star was a little intimidating. Peter had that athletic physique, including a sun-kissed tan from so much training outside. And muscles. Also, his brown eyes were deep and thoughtful. The best part was that unlike his other friends, he felt his age. Daniel, James, and the rest all felt older than their youthful physique. Semour himself gave off the impression that he had already lived a lifetime and he was weary of ‘whippersnappers’. Peter greeted Audry with a smile and happily accepted lemonade before being dragged off with his crystal-wearing friends to the back room. He also had a crystal, but weird was his trademark. He wore his crystal on a necklace with shark’s teeth and he carried with him a small faux shrunken head.

Daniel’s phone then rang. He quickly snatched it from his pocket. “Hello?”

Everyone else listened in—the room silencing to a tomb.

“Yes?” Daniel’s expression brightened. “And?”

More silence.

Audry got up and walked over to him to listen in. Silvia had also, straining to hear.

<< …doing ok. >>

Laughing, Daniel nodded. He then shouted out to the room, “It’s a girl! And her mother is doing fine.”

Everyone cheered.

<< Put Audry on. >>

Blinking, Daniel handed Audry the cell phone. Taking it, Audry listened to apparently the happy father. << Hey, is this Audry Bruchenhaus? >>

“Yes?” She listened carefully.

<< Can I ask you a favor? >> Andrew’s voice said with a degree of trepidation.

“Um, sure,” Audry replied, wondering what the favor was.

<< Can we give our daughter the same middle name you have? >>

She blushed. “Um, yeah. I’d be… I’d be flattered.”

<< We’re calling her Ivy Chandra Cartwright. You can tell the rest of them for us, if you want. And I also need to ask another favor. >>

Shrugging, her face going a little pink at his their request, she said, “Ask away.”

<< We need to borrow Silvia for a while. Jessica and I have talked it over, and we think we need extra protection while Jessica recovers. Do you mind? >>

Borrow Silvia? As if she were using Silvia and not the other way around?

“I don’t own her,” Audry said.

He chuckled. << I know. But you’ll be alone in that apartment—though I doubt the shadow spell she set up would be affected at all. We just think that we ought to consult with you first. >>

That was fair. And thinking about it, it made sense.

“Sure. I’ll be fine.”

<< Thanks. Now, can you hand the phone to my mother? I know she’ll want to talk to me. >>

Carrying the cellphone into the living room, Audry handed the phone to Mrs. Cartwright. “Your son wants to talk to you.”

Giddily taking the phone, the redheaded new grandmother, wiped away tears of joy. Audry stepped back and watched.

The cellphone changed several hands before Daniel took it back and started to arrange for a dinner.

“We can order in pizza,” Eddie suggested. “Howie’s not here.”

But Daniel moaned. “No. We are not going to make Red’s house smell like garlic so his best friend can’t come in. Think of a better option.”

“We can cook something,” Silvia suggested with a nod to Audry. “We know some really good vegan recipes.”

“Vegan?” Peter said. “Why?”

Silvia gestured to Audry, giving him a dirty look.

“Oh.” He stared at Audry a full minute, then said, “You’re a vegan?”

Daniel slapped him on the back, shaking his head. “So quick. I’m amazed at you.”

 Peter punched him in the arm with a huff. “It never came up as a topic. Shut up.” He