This Strange Addiction by Julie Steimle (story books to read .TXT) 📖

went with what.

“… And then you put on the rubber seal.” Tom showed him how to do it with greasy fingers. Both were in shop work suits, undoubtedly covering their clothes. Roddy had on a hat, capping his spiky punk orange hair. There was something bumping out across Roddy’s back over his shoulder blades that moved a little. It gave Audry the impression of bat wings for a second, but that was silly. He had to be wearing his hoodie underneath his jumper.

Roddy lifted his eyes, almost hearing them coming. He smirked when he saw Audry. But then he saw Hogan and tilted his head like one examining a new factor to an equation.

Tom looked up. A wide smile spread on his face. “Audry!”

He popped onto his feet like a jack-in-the-box and almost reached out to shake her hand. Yet he halted, smirking and said, “Sorry. Greasy hands.” His eyes then settled on Hogan. Audry noticed a look in his eye, one with critical sharpness as he took Hogan in. He extended a hand out to Hogan saying, “So, you’re the infamous Hogan Orwell. Interesting. I’m Tom Brown, fixer of cars.”

Hogan gripped his greasy hand, chuckling with a glance to Audry. “Infamous?”

Tom shrugged, his expression tensing up as if he were struggling to get a read on Hogan. “Well, yes. Honestly, I wanted Audry to marry my friend Rick Deacon. It is a terrible disappointment that you’ve come up.”

Roddy snorted, covering a laugh. His eyes glittered as he watched Audry’s face turn crimson and Hogan stare in open shock.

“Honestly, Tom,” Audry moaned, covering her face with her arms as she had never been more embarrassed. Tom was just so blasted tactless. No wonder his friends nicknamed him Trouble.

Hogan’s eyes turned to her, his gaze asking once more if indeed she had been honest about her relationship with Rick. “Were you and that Deacon boy a thing?”

Deacon boy. Now his jealousy was showing. No more ‘Mr. Deacon’, apparently.

“No,” Audry shook her head, groaning. She shot Tom another dirty look. “I told you yesterday. He’s a friend of a friend, and we have never been more than passing acquaintances.”

Tom merely shrugged, displaying once again that he thought it a sad thing. He then gestured to where Audry’s car was parked.

But that kid Roddy laughed out loud. He was nearly cackling. But he also looked Audry up and down with approval as he said to Tom, “They would be a good match, wouldn’t they?”

Both Audry and Hogan stared at him. Did everybody in New York know Rick?

Hogan said, “You know him?”

Roddy nodded, grinning as crookedly as Tom always did, adjusting the cap on his head. “Sure do. The guy saved my life—twice.”

Audry stared wider. He had? Rick? Admittedly, she really did not know much about Rick at all, so she had assumed his interactions with other people were the same as most rich men. Or at least the stereotype was. She realized then that perhaps she had been too prejudiced about him. She had never really given Rick a chance.

Tom nodded, then he hooked an arm around Roddy’s neck to drag him away. For a second, Audry got the impression of two mischievous imps playing tag-team wrestling. Tom called back to Hogan as he beckoned them to the car, “You play honest with her, or else.” He then grabbed Audry’s keys off a hook and tossed them to her.

Audry caught them, wondering if Tom knew Hogan was kind of dragging his feet on their way to actually getting married.

“Or else?” Hogan laughed, his eyes razor sharp on Tom, assessing him also.

But Audry leaned near Hogan, watching a twinkle flicker in Tom’s eyes as he turned his back on them to leave the couple alone. “Uh, Tom is a CIA agent.”

Snorting, Hogan turned to challenge that, facing her. “Right.”

She shook her head, meeting his eyes so he would understand it was truth. “No. Really. Tom is. This is his side job.”

Hogan still stared at her with disbelief. However, after a while he realized she had meant it. His smile slipped off a degree, but then he said, “You mean, he said he was.”

Shaking her head, jingling her keys in her hand—which felt great because she missed having her automotive independence, she said, “Nope. I mean it is either a running gag with his friends, or the total truth. And I see more proof that it is the complete truth.”

Hogan looked to Tom who was snickering with Roddy over the car part once more, cracking some kind of joke.

Audry whispered, “Matthew—uh, Officer Calamori told me that Tom was with Rick in Germany when the ‘incident’ happened.”

This time Hogan really stared.

As she walked to her car to unlock it, Hogan whispered to her, “I know I asked you this yesterday, but you never really answered—how many of that Deacon guy’s friends do you know?”

Audry shrugged, opening the door. “I’ve never counted.” But after a terse stare from him, she said, “Fine… I met his Brown University friends first at the ski lodge. I think there were at least six of them. Then came his friends from Gulinger Private Academy—also about six. Same day. That’s when I met his first ex-girlfriend—Selena Davenport. I met Jessica over a year later. I’ve also bumped into (much earlier) Silvia’s brother Daniel, who is his friend from high school, but I didn’t meet him officially until after Silvia and I moved in together. I met his friends in New York City’s Junior league the same time I met Jessica, when I was dealing with my ex, and I met his mother, step-father and his half-brother and sister the same day. I met his best friend through Jessica. You and I both met Bobo—Robert—at the beach clean-up, and I met his other ex-girlfriend and a slew of really weird cultists he knew from Alabama last year. But Hogan, honestly, he’s a guy who has influence around the world. It’s not like we can avoid people who know Rick Deacon.”

Hogan seemed winded. Apparently it had not fully occurred to him how much Howard Richard Deacon III got around. Audry was a little dazed, thinking about it. She really was surrounded by Rick’s friends and—thinking of Danna and her coven—his enemies.

“Ok.” Hogan nodded. But he thumbed over to Tom. “When did you meet him?”

This time Audry snorted. “I first met him at the ski lodge, briefly. And I bumped into him again at the conference right before my Africa trip. We actually talked then. But honestly, Hogan, why does this matter? You once met Al Gore and sat the leader of Green Peace at a presidential dinner.”

Closing his eyes, Hogan leaned in and kissed Audry on her forehead. “Sorry. I guess I’m just jealous. That Deacon guy has a lot of people rooting for him, and I’m a little afraid they might turn your head.”

She stared. Then standing on her tiptoes, Audry gently placed a kiss on his lips. When they parted, she whispered, “But I’m in love with you.”

He smiled and kissed her back.

Roddy let out a loud moan. When they looked, the punk kid called out, “Get a room!”

Tom shook his head, still looking disappointed. Clearly he could tell she and Hogan were serious. There was nothing he could tease her about, and his ‘Breacon’ hopes were dashed. Apparently she had a lot of ‘Breacon’ hopes to squash before it was all over.

After paying for the repairs—which were not as pricy as it could have been because Tom was the one who had done it and for some reason said Gulinger High was footing part of the bill because they used the car for Roddy to practice his skills—Audry drove home, feeling relieved. The car also smelled nice, like something extra had been done to it.

She stepped into her empty apartment and immediately wished not to be in it. For the past few days she had been outside at work, and without Silvia, the place felt strange. Hauntingly lonesome.

But then she got a call from Hogan who said, << I miss you already. Can I take you to dinner? >>

Audry immediately said yes.

They went out to a nice Italian restaurant which had vegan options. Audry ordered the veggie lasagna and a salad. And afterward they just went for a walk, then went back to Hogan’s place in Queens to watch a movie on his computer.

At least that was the plan.

When they had started kissing, a lot of frustration and need for a friend overwhelmed Audry, and the kissing got passionate. A little too passionate. And while they were making out on the couch, Hogan leaned up and breathlessly whispered, “Marry me.”

Her heart felt like it would nearly explode as she threw herself at him with ‘Yeses’.

“We’ll look for a ring tomorrow,” he said, kissing her more, pulling her close.

This was it. He had finally done it! He had finally said it! And she laughed while embracing the man she was going to marry.

Celebrating with more passionate kissing, as he was nearly hers completely, Audry could feel his hands pulling her even tighter to him. What a celebration! She desperately wanted him.

But that’s when things got too heavy. At least too heavy for her. Back when she had dated Harlin, too many lines had been crossed, and she could feel it now as Hogan slipped his hand under the back of her shirt, fingering her bra hooks.

Audry pulled out of their kiss. “No.”

Breathing heavily, Hogan stared blinking for a moment as if not comprehending her. But then he sat back, removing his hands. “Sorry. I got overexcited.”

“Hogan, I love you,” Audry said, readjusting her shirt so it was straight again. “But need to save it for the wedding night.”

He nodded. “I know. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

Sighing, realizing that if they did continue, it might go too far. Her heart was pounding, and though she wanted him forever, this was not the way. She slid out from under him off the couch. And as she stood up, she realized they really were one step away from crossing the line.

“Will you drive me home?” she asked, one eye on sheepish Hogan who was trying to cool down his hormones.

He nodded.

All was well.

And he was going to marry her.

When Audry went to bed that night, just before, she texted Jessica.

 

He proposed. I’ll let you know the wedding date as soon as we have it.

 

She would have texted Silvia also, but Audry had the feeling Silvia had ditched her phone weeks ago.

A Conversation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Seven

 

 

“Engaged? Are you sure?” Rick asked as Tom stood in his living room while he was pulling on his pajama bottoms after a long day in their New York office. He had to go back to Brown University soon, but Carl needed him to stand in for his father while he was yet again in Seoul, Korea.

“Yes,” Tom said, eying the stitches and scars all over Rick’s torso. Most of the bandages were off now. It still had a bit of a Frankenstein look to them. “He was trying to find the right time to pop the question when he was at the auto shop. His imps were giving him really stupid suggestions which would have infuriated Audry, and he wisely ignored them. Rick, I’d hate to say