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

to the open window. He then went over to his drawer and got out a small jar of pungent tiger balm, opening it. The camphor, eucalyptus, and clove oil almost overwhelmed her scent in the room. Almost. He could still smell Daisy in the room and on himself. Without Love

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Sixteen

 

 

Audry called her parents that evening and told them the wedding was off. They were surprised, disappointed, but understanding when Audry explained that Hogan turned out to be another in a long line of dirty rotten scummy boyfriends. She then called her grandmother, asking her to help her cancel all orders and appointments that they had made for the wedding. Her grandmother hardly responded, positively or negatively, when she asked this. But in the end, the elderly woman said, “It’s better to know now than go through all that trouble later.”

Her brother Greg asked after she had told him the news, “So what do you intend to do now? Head westward? Finish your PhD?”

Audry shook her head. She picked up the letter she had gotten earlier that day and said, “No. I just got an offer to go to Tanzania. And I’m going.”

“What’s in Tanzania?” Greg asked.

“Ngorongoro National Park,” Audry said. “A wildlife reserve.”

Greg sighed but agreed it was good idea to make the move.

Vincent was a little more surprised than Greg, as he really had found Hogan charming and polite when he had met him. But when Audry explained the circumstances, Vincent was entirely behind her choice. He was just sorry she was running off to Africa again, and not staying in the States to hang around with him.

It was agony, actually. Her heart had been ripped out. Audry sobbed into her pillow that night, all her romantic dreams gone. Hogan was nothing more than another lying scumbag who had wanted to get into her pants.

Yes, he had wanted to marry her. Yes, he had wanted kids with her. And yes, Audry had the feeling that he would have gone through with the wedding, and they would have stayed married for many years owning their dream house and having their dream life—up until she would eventually find out about all his affairs, or brought back a venereal disease from one of his side women on his trips. It was such a horrible thought that Audry considered herself lucky that Charlene was such a vindictive woman. Yes, Isis had destroyed her happiness. Yes, Charlene was nuts. But Audry now knew the truth.

Besides, if Hogan really loved her, if he was truly repentant and was truly intending to leave that life for good, he would prove it.

Audry texted Silvia and Jessica, letting them know what had happened. But she also tagged onto that message her plans to go to Tanzania that very week, and she added that she was leaving New York for good. She needed a clean break.

 So after packing her backpack with her basics, Audry gave the apartment one last look. She intended to mail Vincent the key so he could help her pack up the rest of her things for her final move from New York City. She really didn’t want to bump into anybody after the whole scandal with Hogan—especially not him. She did not return Hogan’s calls, and she blocked his number on her phone to stop his texts.

On top of that, she most particularly did not want to see Rick. When she had talked to Vincent about her breakup with Hogan, her cousin had joked about her getting together with Rick Deacon finally—until Audry told him what she had seen in the alley that day between Rick and his ex. She did it to entirely vaporize that idea from his head forever. Vincent was stunned, not quite believing. But she had to make a clean break, and that included sinking the ship of Breacon.

*

The news of Audry’s broken engagement rattled Rick when he had heard about it from Andrew and Jessica. Not that he deserved her or expected her to seek him out on the rebound—that idea was ridiculous. And despite that he had proof that he had been right about Hogan Orwell all along, it did not make him feel any better. His instincts had never been wrong. He just wished he had been braver about confronting the man rather than leaving it up to Audry to figure it out. However, he did agree that it was wise for Audry to escape to Africa like she did. A clean break. And the best part—no American witch would bother following her there. She would be free.

Unfortunately, the shadow spell with Silvia was also broken once Audry left. The witches would be able to find the apartment, though not Silvia. It had been extremely wise of Silvia to have created that second shadow in Jessica. But that meant he had to move the ladies’ stuff out of the apartment ASAP as the remaining witch could now track Audry’s last location and possibly follow her home when she got back. Rick went to the apartment, which Audry had barely vacated two days previous, to oversee the moving of Silvia’s things. When he got there, Vincent was already in the place, packing up Audry’s belongings.

The moment Rick stepped into the apartment with the movers, Vincent halted and stared at him. Vincent’s eyes were sharp and accusatory.

“Hi,” Rick said, walking in.

Vincent nodded, going back to packing Audry’s dishes, wrapping them in newspaper. 

The other movers asked Rick what they needed to take. Directing them to Silvia’s room, Rick said, “Everything in that room. But I don’t know about the stuff in the kitchen.”

Halting his packing, Vincent seemed to be holding on a thought which had trickled down into words on his tongue. He finally opened his mouth and said, “Did you really get back with your ex?”

Automatically Rick went pale. His eyes widened. He also had no clue how Vincent knew about Daisy, let alone her meeting with him. He had thought it had been a secret between him and Randon… and perhaps his other friends who were now keeping watch over him in New York. But they would never have told an outsider like Audry’s cousin, Vincent Williams. They didn’t even know him.

“Audry saw you making out with her in an alleyway the other day,” Vincent said with bite “—right before she discovered her fiancée was a total creeper.”

Rick stared more, his mind going back to that day. He had for a brief moment thought he had smelled Audry in the alleyway, but he had not seen her, so he had dismissed it.

“She had not expected to see you there,” Vincent bit out. “She had just seen your ex, and she merely followed her out of curiosity.”

Rick went pale, realizing Silvia’s spell had somehow masked Audry from them. But if Daisy had seen her… He shuddered. “Tell her not to do that ever again.”

Mouth dropping open, Vincent stared. “Are you annoyed?”

“No.” Rick shook his head. “Daisy is dangerous. She would have harmed Audry.”

Vincent stared, blinking, recognizing that Rick had admitted to it. “Out of jealousy?”

“Yes,” Rick replied, nodding sharply. He then cringed. “I cannot stress how dangerous Daisy—my… I don’t know what to call her. She’s not an ex. She’s…”

“Got you wrapped around her finger.” Vincent nodded now, insulted on Audry’s behalf, though really at Rick for being the scoundrel he thought he was.

Rick nodded plaintively. “Yeah.” He then paced the floor, realizing this was also the reason why Audry left to Africa so quickly. He told himself that she was right to go, smart to go. He didn’t deserve a girl that.

“Do you plan to marry her?” Vincent asked, implying Daisy, his voice going cold.

Closing his eyes, Rick cringed. “I seems I will have to sooner or later.”

“Have to?” Vincent grew angry, perhaps now on Daisy’s behalf. He may have not held the same distaste for the rich as Audry did, but he most definitely judged Rick on that same standard.

“I know I sound like scum, but—Daisy is more of an addiction than…” Rick shook his head. He leaned against the counter, dryly sobbing—suddenly overwhelmed by how trapped he felt. It was no use. Daisy owned him and his life was ruined. He had not been able to concentrate on his studies since she came back. And she did not care what effect she had on him. She wanted him fully animal, forget the human responsibilities he had. She was destroying everything human within him. “It’s not fair.”

“Not fair?” Vincent bristled, his voice almost like that of a condemning god. “Can’t you just pay her off or something? Isn’t that what spoiled punks like you do?”

Rick body hunched over. If he had his tail, it would have tucked between his legs. ‘Yes, kick me while I am down, Vincent,’ Rick said in his head. ‘I deserve it.’

“Can’t you just have any woman?” Vincent snarled, openly furious on Audry’s behalf. He clearly had thought Rick was an upstanding guy until now.

“No,” Rick replied from his miserable positon. “I have to have Daisy. It’s too late already. Either have her or break this addiction.”

“A woman is not an addiction!” Vincent shouted, pounding his fist on the counter.

It jolted Rick. He lifted his eyes to Audry’s cousin. They were bloodshot and almost wolfish. “True.”

Vincent pulled back.

“And you should take care of your cousin,” Rick said, stepping away. “Keep her far from me. Because I’m bad news.”

And he walked out of the apartment.

Vincent stared after him, confused.

*

Audry would not be in town when the trial for Danna Groves and Marta Lindon took place—which was later that month. They were charged with vandalism, stalking, assault—but not attempted murder. The NYPD did not have enough evidence for that. Besides, Marta’s thoughts confessed that it was Tricia who had lost her mind and had killed those two Silvia lookalikes and had tried to kill Harlin. The cat had been sacrificed in a failed spell. This was confirmed by the ghosts of those women haunting Joshua Johnson. No one knew where Tricia Garland was—not even the two witches. Danna and Marta had lost control of the girl, and she had gone missing around the time Silvia and Audry had moved to the new apartment. And they had nothing to track Tricia with. This left Matthew and Joshua with no leads.

Sitting in his office, looking at all the evidence again, Matthew frowned, muttering, “And they are sure it is Tricia Garland. Something about Tricia feeling betrayed by her mentor/‘major crush’… which makes this all the more dangerous.”

“But without DNA or fingerprints, we’ve got nothing,” Joshua said, arms folded. He sat on the edge of the desk, frowning also. “We have to think this through. Audry is out of the country and therefore safe. Silvia is her target, but she is being shadowed with Jessica who would sooner set a witch on fire than let them get near her baby.”

Matthew raised his eyebrows at him.

“What about our other problem?” Randon asked. He had been included, as a witch’s familiar was useful in hunting down witches. He had found the threesome’s hotel, just like he had found Daisy’s last apartment. “I don’t know where that she-wolf has gone. She’s not in New York anymore.”

They looked to him. Joshua cringed, the only one who