This Strange Addiction, Julie Steimle [little readers txt] 📗

for everything. Getting the apartment for them was already taking way too much from Rick. Audry didn’t like owing him, even though they paid off a portion of the rent to Daniel, Silvia’s half-brother. Audry had never told Hogan about that deal either.

Stuffing both checks into the envelope and sealing it, Audry decided to change out of her dress and into more comfortable shirt and pants again. Chucking on some shoes, she decided to go out and get some food for the fridge. It was clear Silvia would no longer be making dinner. And the refrigerator (when she peeked into it) was out of the staples—especially, broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, and cucumbers. She liked them fresh.

 It was in a hop out the door, a quick lock, and a check to make sure it was secure—and Audry was on her way. She skipped down the stairs to her car. Once again, her eyes caught on pink. That hooker Barbie gal was not far from her last loitering spot, though this time standing with her were two other women. One of them spotted her immediately, while the other two looked her way, a little surprised. The one that saw her first was a sweet yet kind of creepy gal, the kind you’d expect to see in a horror film who was either going to kill you at some point, or was possessed and had to be rescued.

Audry rushed more hastily to her car.

They watched her, even as she started it.

Shivers ran over her skin. A notion pricked in Audry’s brain, almost shrieking subconsciously behind her ear, telling her who they were.

Witches from Middleton Village.

To be honest, when Audry had first met Silvia, she had given off the same vibe: creepy, sexy in a dangerous sort of way, slick and savagely intelligent. And dirty, like her hands had been sullied by serious crimes which, if they could be proved, the entire world would shrink back in horror and not believe. In fact, the world around her had mentally refused to acknowledge the depth of creepiness that floated around Silvia back then—just labeling her goth and shifting her aside in little boxed category to be ignored. Of course now Silvia was a bright, quirky, if not teasing, kind of woman who was enjoying her freedom like a puppy dog leaping through a field of flowers chasing butterflies. 

Or, she was like that.

Audry realized as she pulled out of the parking lot that she had not really seen Silvia for three weeks now. All she had gotten were notes.

Had Silvia even come home? Or had someone else brought all those notes? Silvia had friends at her work who would have done that for her. And if those prowling women were from her old coven, then of course Silvia had to be hiding from them.

When Audry arrived at the supermarket, she had to catch her breath. The realization had come clear to her. Silvia’s coven had found their apartment. Parking, listening to the rattle of her engine, Audry breathed in and out. It was already bad enough that Charlene was stalking her and Hogan. But this? She had to stop it now.

Turning off the engine, Audry sat in the car and texted Jessica.

 

Hey. I don’t want to trouble you while you are pregnant and all, but there are three creepy women who seem to have staked out my apartment building, and I think they are related to Silvia’s old coven. Can you help me get them checked out? I don’t want to call the police just yet, in case I am wrong.

 

Sending it, Audry breathed in and out and climbed out of her car. She dropped her check for the electric bill into the post office box in front of the store then went inside to get something to eat for dinner.

The good thing about this market was that it had vegan options in the deli. Audry filled her basket, and only a hand basket as she wasn’t into full scale store shopping as it risked food waste, and she mostly bought fresh. As she stepped to the checkout, Audry noticed coming into the shop Charlene, whose eyes set right on her.

If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.

 

Stalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Five

 

 

Audry paid for her purchases. As she tried to leave the shop, Charlene put herself in Audry’s way.

“So you’re Artemis,” Charlene said, smirking at her. Her coffee-colored eyes looked Audry up and down with intense disdain. This was the first time they had been up close. Charlene was definitely what one would call a goddess. And the name Isis really did fit her. Her skin was flawless, and her physique was of a woman who knew how to use a gym membership to its fullest extent.

Audry tried to step around her, huffing.

“You know he’s been with lots of women, right?” Charlene said, as Audry had finally made her way around the woman out the door.

Halting, Audry looked back and said, “He told me all about his past when I met him.”

But Charlene laughed, following her outside. “I’m sure not all. You met Hera today, didn’t you?”

Audry stiffened. That’s when she realized that Charlene must have told Cara where they were. There was no reason for non-company employee to have walked into that luncheon. No reason. Charlene had sent Cara.

“What do you want?” Audry asked, lifting up her chest and chin, bristling. “Hogan back?”

Laughing louder, Charlene shook her head. “No. I want him to suffer for what he did to me.”

This time Audry rolled her eyes.

“You have no clue,” Charlene said. “Chika, you deserve a man like him. You’re so stupid, you have no idea it is just a game to him.”

“Just a game?” Audry’s chest swelled in indignation, because to be honest, it all felt real. He loved her. She knew he did. None of it felt fake. All of it was real. And not once did he ever try to force her into sex or even try to touch her in any way that was not appropriate. Her last boyfriend had crossed most of those lines while they were dating, and she had to fight him off more than once when he was stalking her. Hogan had been a gentleman.

“He’s the hunter Orion, and you are his ultimate prey—the virgin goddess.” And Charlene laughed, eyeing Audry up and finding her wanting.

Huffing, Audry walked away. She went back across the parking lot to her car.

Charlene followed, calling after her. “I wonder if he actually would go as far as marry you just so he could bang you. He seems desperate enough.”

Audry turned around, keys in hand, her chest heavying as her anger swelled inside, reacting the fear she also was feeling. “You really think that is what he is? You think that’s what he is doing?”

“Obviously,” Charlene laughed. So much malice was in that laugh. She hated Audry—almost more than she despised Hogan.

Sticking the key into the slot for the car lock, Audry said, as she turned it, “Why don’t you just get a life?”

“Because he ruined my life!” Charlene growled out, reaching for Audry.

Audry whipped out her pepper spray, finger on trigger. “Don’t make me use this.”

Charlene stepped back, eying her differently. She nodded to herself, eying Audry more. She raised her hands. “Ok… To hell with you. I wash my hands of you. You deserve the gutter trash that he is. Have fun with that.”

Getting into the car, Audry quickly locked the door. As Charlene stormed away, Audry started her car. Something in the engine rattled still. Grasping the steering wheel, Audry breathed in and out, thinking that maybe Rick was right. Maybe she needed a bodyguard.

When she got back to her apartment complex, pulling into her parking space, Audry saw a cop car parked at the curb. All three women who had been loitering there were gone. When Audry parked and stepped out of the vehicle, one of the policemen came out of the patrol car. She did not recognize him but he seemed to recognize her. He nodded to her and said, “Are you Audry Bruchenhaus?”

“Am I in trouble?” she asked, as it would be the perfect end to a rather frazzling day.

He laughed gently, shaking his head. “No. But you texted a friend of ours who said you might need my assistance.”

Audry nodded, relief coming. “Yes. Uh, I think my roommate is being stalked by, uh… I know this sounds strange, but members of her old coven.”

And the policeman nodded as if this were par the course. “Ok. Can you describe them?”

It took a second to realize this man was not going to blush, act awkward, or mock her for what she had just said. And with this came more relief. So Audry went full on to the description, explaining why and how she believed they were witches of Silvia’s coven. He seemed familiar with Silvia’s name, and Audry inquired about that. That was when the police officer said, “I am part of a branch of NYPD that deals with… uh, unusual phenomena. News of dangerous witches in New York City is a notable event—especially ones from Middleton Village. I don’t know how much you are initiated in this sort of thing. But it would seem that your roommate was trying to protect you from it. You said she’s been leaving you notes, but has probably not been home for three weeks?”

Audry nodded.

“Ok.” He wrote more down in his notebook. Then he handed Audry a card with a glossy golden number seven on it. “You might need this in case of an emergency.”

“Uh… but I have one of these already,” Audry said, recognizing the card all too well.

The policeman blinked at her, surprised. “Really?”

“Jessica Mason—I mean Cartwright—gave one to me a while back,” Audry said. “She’s the one I texted. We’re friends.”

Blinking more, the policeman nodded, taking back the card with a bit more reassurance. “Ok.” He then dug into his wallet and pulled out another business card. “This one is for a friend who is a detective on the force.”

Audry took it and read Det. Matthew Calamori. She chuckled. Though she had not been given his business card before, she also knew him. And the policeman noticed.

“You know Matthew also?”

Audry nodded. “Yep. I met him a while ago. We met each other through Rick Deacon—uh, Howard Richard Deacon the Third.”

The cop looked shocked. “You know Rick Deacon?”

With a laugh, Audry nodded as the officer said it so familiarly. “Yes. Long story. Are you a friend of his?”

Shrugging, shaking his head, then nodding, he said, “We’re on friendly terms. He came to Gulinger Private Academy my senior year there.”

Her eyes widened on him. From what she knew about Gulinger, he had to have been someone who had been badly abused or special.

The cop winked at her, extending his hand for a shake—which wasn’t quite police-civilian protocol. “I’m Joshua Johnson—though they call me JJ.”

“Oh…” Audry gripped his hand. “So you’re JJ. I thought when Matthew mentioned you he was talking about Jessica. I had first met her when she was still a cop.”

Joshua laughed. “Oh, she’s still a police officer, I hear. A detective now, I think.”

Audry had heard that too, though she had not been sure if Jessica had been joking when she had said it. Jessica had a