Unavoidable

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter One

 

 

Hurricane Hannibal had torn up from Florida all the way to New York, flooding the coastlines, but also heaving up much of the plastic from the ocean gyres as if the sea were saying, ‘Have this back, I don’t want it’. And though Audry Bruchenhaus thought it amusingly ironic, she also knew that if real activists did not join the clean-up, the plastic might just end up in the ocean again. So she gathered up with a group in the Green Club at NYU where she was finishing off her PhD in wildlife preservation, and they teamed up with an ‘environmentally friendly’ corporation to haul away the garbage for recycling. It would be nearly a week long event, but incredibly important.

Her boyfriend, Hogan Orwell, whom she had met on her Africa trip, had championed her cause and made sure they got all the right equipment, verifying that all the plastic would be taken to a facility that, according to him, were making great headway in converting all those petroleum products back into usable energy. It was a win-win, he said.

Hogan was perfect. Audry and he had hit it off right away back in Africa. He was a chemist studying water quality, trying to help increase health by figuring out a way to keep contaminants out of the water table, but also looking for simple cheap ways for tribes to clean the water. It was all about preventing chemical dumping and better recycling methods. Water, he said, was critical to life. But the best part about him? He respected boundaries, and he wanted a family one day. They had already talked about kids and marriage, but he had not yet proposed. Audry was waiting for it.

 Everybody was waiting for it, actually. The entire Green Club had been shooting them furtive looks all month, smirking and all that even while they worked side by side on the misty beach, untangling plastic bags from damp sea weed and tossing the plastic into a heap. There was a great turnout. The best part was that the cleanup had spread among the community and not just NYU students had showed up. There were business owners and policemen. It was beautiful.

Up above the beach, a groups of dump trucks pulled to a stop in the parking lot, rattling emptily to the curb.

“Ah!” Hogan lifted his crisp blue eyes to them, grinning his wide Dennis Quaid-smile. He raised the hood to his rain jacket to see as the mist in the air dropped heavily around them. “They’re here! We can start loading.”

Audry looked up to see who had come, whom Hogan had arranged the hauling with. Her blue-green eyes took in the insignia on the side of the large vehicles. Then her eyes widened more, recognizing the logo to Deacon Enterprises.

Of course. An ‘environmentally friendly’ business. At least as much as she knew anyway, though Audry was always suspicious of any big corporation. No one got that rich without some dirty dealing. She was sure of it. But what really took her breath away was the recognizable figure climbing out of a keen car alongside the trucks—Howard Richard Deacon III himself. His rusty brown hair and bold stature was unmistakable. ‘Rick’ Deacon was in a dark overcoat, not a fancy one either but one that looked like it was meant to get dirty. And walking alongside him was a tall black man in a rain jacket, whom she assumed was his bodyguard though she did not recognize him. This man was lankier than buff, though, and his clothes underneath the jacket were sweats, as if he too intended to help out on the beach. The presumed bodyguard was talking to Rick, and though Rick was listening, he looked a little annoyed.

“Whadda-ya-know. He came,” Hogan murmured, gazing toward Rick also.

Audry blushed. She didn’t know why, but she did. It had been a while since she had last seen Rick—before her Africa trip. But she had heard a lot about him in the news this past year. According to various news sources, he and some friends had survived a wolf attack in Germany. In fact, one of his friends had been killed. It was rumored Rick had barely survived himself. But here he was, walking with only a slight limp, out in public. And he had been such an advocate of wolves too. Audry was afraid now that he had changed his mind. He might even hate her for the wolf tee-shirt she was currently wearing.

“I heard you knew him,” Hogan said, turning to her.

Audry nodded. “More like a passing acquaintance. My friend Jessica Mason—uh, Cartwright just got married to his best friend. He went to high school with Jessica. But we have hardly had more than a few words at a time.”

“No kidding.” Hogan grinned. He then nudged her. “How about you introduce me.”

A rush of nerves ran through her. For some reason, Audry was not ready to do that. Rick wasn’t just a passing acquaintance. He was someone she had butted heads with in the past here and there over different issues. She had also secretly crushed on him… not entirely, as she really hated that he was wealthy kid, spoiled since birth. But he was admittedly handsome. However, knowing she had to get it over with, Audry agreed. “Ok. But let’s wait until he gets down here. He went through a rough patch this summer, and I don’t think he wants to be crowded.”

Indeed, there were people staring as he came down in (thank heaven) work boots into the sand. He had on work gloves and had grabbed a rake from another truck with tools. He also had brought workmen.

“Do you think they had volunteered or are they being paid?” their friend Neil Garret said, gesturing up the hill towards them. Neil, along with Farrah Brookes and William Johnson, had been collecting plastic bottle caps off the beach, complaining the entire time about them especially as such caps did not recycle and they were being eaten by sea birds.

“Paid,” Audry smirked, heaving up more plastic bag from the wet sand. “I’m sure.”

The group with Rick came down the hill. And Audry recognized more of them. That Italian police detective, Matthew Calamori, was with them, also dressed for dirty work. And she thought she recognized one of Rick’s fancier assistants. He was not dressed for cleanup, but was in nice shoes and was holding out things for Rick to sign, almost berating him for not being wherever the assistant felt was a dignified place for a future CEO. Their conversation carried to their ears the closer the group came toward them.

“…business. Other people can handle this sort of thing. Now your father—”

“Wants me to get outside and breathe the fresh air,” Rick cut his assistant off with a terse look. “Carl, look. I have to have a life. I’m done convalescing. And I’ve got two reliable friends with me who can easily act as bodyguards. I will be fine.”

“That is not my argument,” his assistant bit back. “You have stacks of work you need to sign and read.”

“Hopefully not in that order,” Rick muttered.

Audry stifled a chuckle, watching. At least he was sensible.

“Your priorities—” his assistant protested.

“My priorities are in the right place, Carl. We just had a disaster, and I can help.” Rick continued down to the sand.

“You don’t have to physically be here for it,” Carl snapped back.

“And why not?” Rick retorted defensively. “I am no better than any of the people here. I’ve got arms and legs. And extra hands are always useful.” He then turned to not have to look at Carl’s disgusted expression—but instead his eyes rested on Audry. He stiffened, almost stopped, as if scared.

Audry waved, feeling uncomfortable. Hogan grinned.

Matthew Calamori smiled and went down further. “Well… Of course you would be here! How are you doing Audry?”

He approached as if to hug her, but thought the better of it when he saw how close she was standing to Hogan. And also how Hogan took her hand. Audry noticed he almost peeked back to Rick.

“I am doing well,” Audry said, trying not to be awkward. Rick seemed to avert his eyes, unable to say even ‘hi’. And to be honest, she kind of felt the same way. She tried to hide her wolf tee-shirt, tugging her rain jacket over it.

Matthew came down closer, looking to Hogan again before grinning more at Audry with a fondness. “How was your Africa trip?”

Hogan lifted his eyebrows, wondering now who Matthew was.

Grinning wider, Audry felt sheepish as she said, “Brilliant. I got to study animal preservation methods there that, honestly, have inspired me. I hope to be able apply it to my study in the US over our native wildlife.”

She cautiously snuck a peek at Rick to see what effect that would have on him, as she was now sure he no longer wanted to preserve wolves at all. He had walked to Matthew’s side, stopping there.

Matthew slapped a hand on Rick’s shoulder, bringing him into the conversation with a laugh. “Rick will appreciate that. He might even hire you to do some research on some of his animal reserves. He’s still quite dedicated to wolf preservation.”

A shiver ran down Audry’s skin. That was not the first time she had the feeling Matthew could read her thoughts. But she looked to Rick who was wincing in pain, yet nodding.

Rick then pointedly looked to Hogan, nodding. “Uh, can you introduce us to your friend?”

Hogan smiled at him appreciatively.

“I’m sorry!” Blushing Audry looked to them both. “Rick, Matthew, uh, this is my boyfriend, Hogan Orwell.”

Both Hogan and Rick reached out their hands and shook.

“Nice to meet you,” Hogan said.

“Pleasure,” Rick replied, his eyes taking Hogan in intently.

Matthew’s smile fell at little, though. He was looking to Rick, kind of sad. Sad for him, really. And Audry knew why. It made her blush, as she knew Matthew had once suggested that she date Rick. But clearly now, Matthew could see that his friend had no chance now that Hogan was in the picture. It had been wishful thinking anyway. Her and Rick Deacon. It was crazy. They were like oil and water. At least, that was what she told herself. She was a vegan and he loved meat.

Then Rick said, gesturing to the tall silent black man at his right, “This is my friend Robert Lafon. Um, he is going to be representing me when I can’t be here to make sure company protocol is being followed with the waste removal.”

“Company protocol?” Neil asked, stepping up as his eyes took in some of the workers from Deacon Enterprises with suspicion.

Meeting Neil’s eyes with his usual haunting wolf-gray stare, Rick nodded. “Yes. They are being paid to collect all plastic and trash from this cleanup, and I don’t want them drinking or smoking on the job, tossing cigarette butts and making things worse.”

Hogan smirked, glancing at Neil who quickly felt abashed. Neil nodded, realizing Rick Deacon really was well-meaning in his efforts.

“I’m an employer, not a dictator. And they know it. But they do need to keep to contract,” Rick said. He then sighed, marching down to the shore to actually help in the cleanup.

His assistant, Carl, glared after him, not going further. “So you are insisting on this venture, sir?”

Rick merely waved, not looking back. “Put all the papers on my desk.”

Rolling his eyes, Carl turned to leave. He marched grudgingly up to the vehicles again.

Matthew chuckled, going toward the shoreline, winking at Audry as he passed, with Robert following right after. Matthew nodded to Hogan.

Everyone went right back to work.

The cleanup of that part of the shoreline took most of the day. Trucks came and went, and Audry noticed Rick occasionally conversing with the leaders of each cleanup group, discussing how he can best help. It amazed her, really, how he understood well that he got more headway putting himself among the workers than just providing trucks. It felt a bit like watching Henry V going about with his army. But she also noticed moments where he had to catch his breath. Rick was also limping from pain, and he did not have full use of one arm, as if his shoulder in particular was killing him. His friend Robert appeared to hover near him also, standing a bit like looming shadow. Robert didn’t say much either to anyone but Rick and Matthew.

“Hey…” Matthew walked up to Audry, damp from the mist and salty foam. He had been busy with Neil and their group, talking with them while collecting other kinds of trash. “I finally got you alone. Where’s your boyfriend?”

Lifting up the top of her hat, Audry looked around. She spotted Hogan further down on the beach and pointed him out. “Over there. He’s coordinating with that other group, uh, Green Tree, I think they’re called. We think this cleanup is going to take a while, maybe more than a week, and some of us have got other work. Do you need to talk to him?”

Matthew shook his head. “No. I wanted to talk to you without any peeping ears, see how you are doing… though I am curious about him. Rick once joked that you seem to be attracted to troublemakers. Though to me, you seem to be attracted to guys whose names start with the letter H.”

In a second Audry caught his meaning very well. Her last boyfriend, whom Matthew had not met but clearly knew about through Jessica, was named Harlin—and when they had broken up, he had stalked her. He only quit stalking her when she became great friends with Jessica who at the time was a policewoman who had worked with Matthew. But he was also hinting that she had crushed on Rick—whose given name was Howard Richard.

“Very funny,” she said.

Chuckling, Matthew then collected the trash she was raking up and helped her put the garbage in a bag. “I know…. But I am thoroughly disappointed. You and that guy seem pretty serious. And we like you.”

Again, Audry shot him a look. “Stop it.”

“No. Seriously,” Matthew said. “And we honestly had hopes that you and Rick would have gotten over your differences. I’m completely devastated. We’re going to have to look all over again for somebody else for our friend.”

Audry punched Matthew in the arm. “Stop teasing.”

Matthew’s mouth pressed together in a mocking smile. His eyes were shining.

They gathered up more plastic as it came, moving down the shoreline. As they worked, Audry glanced at him, a number of pressing questions on her mind. And now, for the first time, she realized she might get answers to them. There was no one to listen in after all.

“Um, can I ask…?”

Matthew lifted his head, staring at her face as if he already knew what question she was thinking. He thought for a minute and nodded. “Ask anything.”

“Ok…” Audry swallowed, remembering the odd feeling she always got around Rick’s friends. But she lowered her voice to a whisper. “I read on the internet a story about your father. Was he really killed by the Mafia?”

Nodding, Matthew sighed. “Yes. By my uncle actually. He was in the Mafia. A low level guy, but he was in it.”

Audry sighed, nodding.

But then he elaborated, as if he knew she really needed more. “It was Mr. Deacon that arranged for me to go to Gulinger Private Academy. Mr. Deacon knew my father.”

Surprised, Audry lifted her eyes to him.

Nodding, Matthew smiled sadly. “Yeah.”

Another question she had been dying to know the answer to for years came to her lips, and since he said she could ask anything, she asked it. “What kind of school is Gulinger Private Academy? I tried to research it, but the website did not give much information. Some of the questions for eligibility were—how do I put it? Odd.”

Chuckling, nodding, Matthew said, “Of course. Uh, Gulinger is not your usual private school.”

“The website said it was school for special needs children,” Audry said watching his expression as she formed her words. “But the questions weren’t about those kinds of needs. And to be honest, you don’t seem like a special needs kind of guy. It seemed more to me like a school for kids with PTSD.”

Matthew nodded approvingly. “Yeah… that’s a good way to describe it.”

Audry’s eyes widened. Was it true?

He cleared his throat and said while dragging their bag further up the shoreline to gather more garbage. “Uh, I don’t think Rick would be upset if I explained the school to you. You see, Gulinger is a school for children who are special and need protection.”

She drew in a breath.

“I was there hiding from the Mafia,” Matthew said. He nodded to himself, thinking more on it. Gesturing back toward Rick and Robert, he said, “Bobo went there to—”

“Bobo?” Audry looked back in that direction.

Chuckling, Matthew nodded. “Yeah. We never call him Robert. He’s Bobo. But anyway, Bobo was abused by an uncle, and all his family are dead. Murdered.”

She drew in a breath.

“And you’ve met Tom, Randon, and Troy, right?” Matthew said.

Audry nodded, remembering all of Rick’s peculiar friends. Tom Brown was an ADHD adult with white hair, weird orange eyes which he always concealed behind sunglasses, and currently working as a CIA agent. Randon and Troy looked like brothers but were just good friends, both with charcoal-colored hair and shining blue eyes. She had met all of them twice at least, though briefly each time.

“Tom was sent to the school to keep him off the streets—because his mother is in prison for, I think, armed robbery. She should be getting out soon.” Matthew nodded to himself, as if that might actually be a problem though it was not clear why. Maybe she was dangerous. “Randon’s mother and sister were self-declared witches and abused him, so his father grabbed him and ran. His father has been under witness protection and Randon went to Gulinger.”

Hearing that gave Audry chills. She was a friend with another self-declared ‘witch’ who had nearly successfully left her coven—her roommate Silvia Lewis. The woman was a New York hairdresser now. Audry knew through Silvia how nasty such people could be, never mind the nonsense about magic. Those folk did not allow people to leave them.

“As for Troy, his parents had nearly killed him. And honestly, I don’t want to get into the details about that,” Matthew said. He seemed disturbed, thinking about it.

“I see,” Audry murmured. It was a lot to think about. But then she said, “But why did Rick go there?”

Sighing, Matthew replied, “After his parents’ divorce, his father didn’t think it safe for him to stay in Middleton Village.” He then met her gaze knowingly. “You know about the witch covens there, right? You know Silvia.”

Audry nodded. That prickly feeling crawled up her arms and neck more.

“Gulinger is an extremely safe school,” Matthew explained.

She nodded again. But then another thought struck her. “But what about that debutant? Selena Davenport?”

Matthew laughed. He started to nod, picking off three plastic bottles and another bag the damp sand. “Ah… yeah. Selena. Um, Selena was actually gifted. Our school, as I told you, also took in special children. And I don’t mean it in a euphemistic way. I mean it literally. I’m gifted, actually.”

This startled her, though she knew from all the signs that it was a fact. There was something different about Matthew, about all of Rick’s friends actually, something she could not quite put a finger on. But now, she believed she would hear it.  

“Like, high IQ?” Audry asked, feeling it was not quite accurate, but she had to ask.

 A knowing look was in his eye as Matthew grinned at her. “No. Though Tom is quite brilliant. Um, rather… I think you know already.”

A rush of chills flooded through her.

“You’re pretty intuitive,” Matthew said, smiling more at her. “You can sense things about people.”

More chills swept through her.

“But, as for me,” Matthew said, cautiously smiling as he seemed to choose his words carefully, “I… I can hear thoughts when people speak.”

That didn’t quite make sense. Audry stared at him, puzzled.

“What I mean is, I know your true thoughts when you form words and speak.”

For a second, Audry was still not sure what that meant. He could read minds, but only when she talked?

“I can tell when people lie,” he clarified.

“Oh.” Audry brightened up.

“And also what people withhold,” Matthew added.

This time she stared. “No way.”

He nodded. “Yep. And it is incredibly useful when being a detective.”

Audry stared more.

“I mean, it is not admissible in a court of law or anything,” Matthew murmured, mostly to himself as they continued to collect garbage along the shoreline. “But it is useful in an interrogation room.”

She laughed. Such an ability would be.

“We call people like us ghoulies,” Matthew explained. But then he whispered, “But don’t tell Rick I told you any of this. It makes him uncomfortable. He works really hard to protect the school.”

Sighing, she nodded. That sounded like Rick. He seemed personally protective over a lot of things.

They worked once more in silence

Hogan soon joined them. He chatted it up with Matthew, joking and laughing as together they heaved up driftwood to a pile, and seaweed. Funny thing, though, Audry detected some jealousy coming from Hogan. He had easily placed himself between Matthew and her like a skilled dancer smoothly choreographing their interaction so that it was clear she and he were a solid item. She had never really felt such from him before. But then no one really stood as competition before. Hogan was amazing after all. And yet, as they were joined by Robert Lafon, Audry looked up to where Rick was working. She found him heading up the hill, taking his work gloves off. At the top of the hill stood Carl, waiting for him.

“He’s leaving?” escaped her lips before she could stop it.

Matthew glanced to Robert who replied, “His father called him in. And his shoulder has been hurtin’ him. I told him not to overwork it.”

“He’s not better yet,” Matthew murmured, watching Rick go.

“What really happened in Germany?” Hogan asked, putting down his end of some driftwood they had hauled from the water’s edge. He was tugging off a plastic bag hooked to a salty branch.

Audry listened.

“Neither of us were there,” Matthew said, thumbing to Robert. “But what I hear is that some kook sic’d his pet wolves on Rick’s friends, and Rick did everything he could to stop them.”

“What?” Audry put a hand over her mouth.

“Yeah.” Matthew looked to her specifically. “It wasn’t just a regular wolf attack.”

“Did Mr. Deacon tell you that?” Hogan asked.

“You mean his father?” Matthew gazed at Hogan in confusion.

Shaking his head, Hogan laughed it off. “No. Your friend.”

Robert broke into an amused laugh. “Mr. Deacon. Imagine calling Rick that.”

Matthew nodded, chuckling.

“Well, it’s only polite,” Hogan said looking a degree annoyed. Audry patted his shoulder understandingly.

“I suppose for business, it is,” Matthew said, nodding. He lifted up a larger two liter plastic bottle that still had on the cap, putting it into the bag. “But I think he’d appreciate you calling him Rick.”

Hogan shrugged.

Audry watched Rick’s departure up above. He had barely been there.

Ok, so he had been there for several hours, but he had barely even talked to her. He hadn’t even said ‘hi’. He had not even made one of his snarky comments. Indignation had begun to swell in her, and yet… he had been so hurt. She could tell he had been beaten down. She could tell he was in a lot pain.

“That shirt,” Robert said, gesturing to her shirt front. “Where did you get it?

Looking to his surprised, nearly amused face, Audry then peered back down to her shirt front which had her wolf on it. Immediately she colored, peeking once to Matthew who was smothering a laugh. It was like a running gag between those friends. They all knew the wolf, and they thought it hilarious she had put it on a tee shirt for fundraising.

“I… I made it,” she said, blushing. “I sell them to raise money to pay for my PhD.”

Smirking, Robert laughed. “How much? How much is it?”

Matthew chuckled, nodding.

“You want one?” Audry had to ask, though she knew the answer already. All of Rick’s friends wanted one.

Nodding, Robert pulled off a work glove and fished into his pocket for his wallet.

“No,” Audry pushed his hand back when he extracted it. “Just give me your size. I’ll get you one next time we come back for cleanup. You are joining us, right?”

Rolling his eyes, Robert nodded. Audry could tell he had not actually come to help clean up, but rather he had come because of Rick. It was a weird feeling. Not just because Rick instilled that kind of loyalty among his friends, but because there seemed to be a deeper story behind it. There always seemed to be something deeper going on behind things with the Deacon family. She just didn’t know what.

“So, Robert, where are you from?” Hogan asked, striking up a different conversation for some reason. Sometimes Audry got the feeling Hogan was actually jealous of the wolf. It was on her screensaver and was used all the time in her fundraising efforts. She loved it. The picture simply was perfect—the endangered wolf.

“Louisiana. New Orleans,” Robert said with a look to Matthew.

Matthew nodded, as if giving Robert the OK to talk about his past. Matthew was a bit like a big brother (not in the 1984 sense, but in the protective family sense) to Robert, and for that matter to Rick. Audry kind of liked it. And for a guy who could hear people’s lies, it gave her a funny, almost comforting feeling. Matthew made sure the people he cared about were safe.

“So, what brings you to New York?” Hogan asked, curious.

“Work,” Robert replied with a shrug in his mild Louisiana drawl. “But I also used to live here.”

Audry knew why, peeking to Matthew. She could tell Robert did not like to talk much. He had a soft-spoken personality, someone who stood in the shadows for some reason, trying not to draw attention to himself. He was a good looking man also. Healthy at least. A dark chocolate complexion, and tall, though clearly not inclined to go the basketball route. He seemed to be a thinker, rather.

“Really?” Hogan sounded intrigued.

“Rick was my classmate at Gulinger High,” Robert said, explaining. “I was hoping to get work with him as a bodyguard, as he needs one.”

Matthew nodded, almost in earnest. But he didn’t say anything. They all hauled together their full bag up the sandy hill to the trucks.

“What? Is he not going to hire you?” Hogan asked, reading what had not been said.

Robert cringed, peeking towards Audry, then Matthew. “No. He says I am too qualified—”

Matthew snorted, smothering a laugh.

“—And he’d rather I work in the office.” Robert sighed, passing up the bag he was carrying to the truckers. “I mean, the pay is fine and everythin’—but he really needs a bodyguard, but he won’t let me do it.”

“He just doesn’t want you to get hurt,” Matthew said, gently patting Robert on the shoulder. Audry noticed that Matthew was touching Robert so softly that it was almost as if he wasn’t patting him at all—like he was afraid of making contact.

Robert sighed. “Like I can get hurt…”

Hogan stared, puzzled.

“It still hurts,” Matthew whispered before he walked down the hill, “doesn’t it?”

Robert watched him, cringing. He heaved up one more bagful to the truck then followed Matthew down the hill. “Not the point. Tom wanted me to watch out for him.”

Matthew laughed, going back to another group to get another load to carry up the hill. “That’s only because Tom can’t do it himself. The Company is mad that he just leapt off to Germany.”

“So Tom was there?” Audry followed them down the hill.

“Who’s Tom?” Hogan asked, following her. This time she could feel his jealousy. Whoever this Tom was (Hogan’s mind went), he had to keep fingers off his lady. It was flattering to Audry, and surprising at the same time.

“Our friend,” Matthew said with a crooked smile. “My best friend—who also happens to be a CIA agent.”

Hogan stiffened, his mind clearly going over the logistics of handling a CIA agent if he ever set a hand on his gal. That did not come off too well.

Audry blushed. And yet she felt sure that Tom would have told Matthew the truth about Germany and Rick.

“Tom was part of the rescue crew,” Matthew said to her, answering her question before she could ask it.

She gazed at him, amazed. He really was psychic.

“So yeah, if you really want to know the truth about Germany, you can talk to him,” Matthew said. But he sounded sad, like asking Tom might bring up old wounds.

The conversation changed from there. And most of the cleanup in that section was winding down. Most of the volunteers wanted to go get dinner and rest, planning to return the next morning.

“I wish I could come back tomorrow,” Matthew said to Audry, gently glancing to Hogan as well. “But I can’t. I have a homicide investigation I need to return to, and my friend JJ just called me up.”

Audry was not sure she had heard of JJ, but she had a feeling she might have. She had overheard some funny conversations among his friends. Possibly Jessica was the one who had spoken of him. She had been an NYPD cop before her marriage and her move. But this was like Matthew was saying ‘Hey, if ever need any help, just holler. You’re one of us.’

  “I’ll be there, though,” Robert said, raising a hand.

“Acting for Mr. Deacon,” Hogan chimed in, nodding. But when he saw Robert’s look he corrected, “Uh, Rick.”

 Robert nodded. “Yes.”

“Alright, we’ll see you then, Mr. Lafon.” Hogan extended a hand for a shake.

 Robert eyed his hand, then gingerly gripped Hogan’s palm as if worried he would hurt him. They shook. “Yes. But, uh, call me Bobo.”

Audry lifted her eyebrows.

Matthew grinned.

Then Bobo and Matthew walked off. Audry noticed they got into the same car.

A low whistle escaped Hogan as he shook his head. “Man. Those guys are intense. Did you feel that?”

Audry nodded. “Yeah.”  

She felt a lot, actually. The heaviness that always was carried with Rick’s friends had come and left with them. But some still lingered on the air.

Hogan wrapped an arm around her waist, grinning widely at her. “Let’s go wash up and get some dinner.”

She nodded, wrapping her arm around him also. She was glad he was there. In fact, the comfort of being with a man so far removed from all that craziness which followed Rick Deacon was such a relief.

And yet… her mind went back to Rick. She wondered if he was ok. 

Overprotective

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

 

“Why does she always date players?” Rick moaned once Matthew showed up at the Deacons’ New York penthouse.

“So… you Googled the guy,” Matthew said, putting aside his shoes and hanging up his damp coat. Bobo had silently followed him in, stripping off all his wet jacket and shoes, and taking a seat on the couch with a heavy sigh, closing his eyes. The day took a lot out of him.

“No,” Rick said just as the oven timer went off. He jogged into the kitchen. They could hear bangs of an over door open and the sliding of the metal rack pulling forward. The aroma of chicken filled the apartment. “I had Semour hack around the net to find out about him. Google is useless. They censor things most days. But Semour was incredibly prompt.”

Matthew snorted. He dropped next to Bobo on the couch. “What’d you find out?”

“First tell me what you found out talking to that guy,” Rick called from the kitchen, handling something. They heard the oven door close.

“OK…” Matthew closed his eyes, thinking, as his body ached from the full day of work. “He’s a lot smarter than that louse Harlin. He respects her boundaries. He’s genuinely into the whole eco movement, and he’s a vegetarian, but not yet a vegan.”

Rick grumbled with a huff in the other room. The chicken smelled great.

“The guy might have once been a player, Rick, but he is way into Audry,” Matthew said. “I think they’re serious.”

Silence answered him.

Lifting his head, Matthew called out, “So… what did you find out? What makes you think he is a player?”

Groaning, Rick listed out loud, “Oh… his long history of girlfriends, maybe. He’s got a string of them. I wonder if Audry knows about them. He left his last gal right before his, uh, trip to Africa where I assume he met Audry. I read it off a social network site where he brags about finding her. Audry is his newest ‘goddess’.”

“His what?” Bobo sat up.

“Goddess,” Rick said, coming from the kitchen holding a meat fork in one hand and an oven mitt over the other. “That’s what he has calls all the ladies he has been with. He nicknames them.”

Matthew nodded to himself. “Yeah… I think I overheard him mentally calling her Artemis, the goddess of the—” He stopped, staring at Rick who looked as if he had just been kicked in the gut. “Are you ok?”

Rick shook it off. He breathed in and out. Shaking his head again, Rick said, “Maybe somebody should remind him that Artemis was a virgin goddess.”

A dry expression settled on Matthew’s face. “Oh, I think that was one of the reasons he nicknamed her that.”

Bobo rolled his eyes.

But Rick set the meat fork down. “What?”

Nodding, Matthew shrugged. “I think this is where he is… humph… uh, is still a player.”

“Yeah. So he is still of the same mind then?” Rick asked, anger rising on her behalf.

Matthew shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you. His thoughts were mostly about the work… oh and Audry. It’s not a cheating mind. He’s really gone on her, and he get jealous when another guy spends too much time with her. And he was pleased to see you avoiding her. Apparently she must have mentioned you to him at one point.”

Rick rolled his eyes. “Probably she was just talking about the wolf. My name would have been a side note.”

Bobo lifted his eyebrows.

“But he is in a social network where he goes by the name ‘Orion-the-hunter’,” Rick growled as if biting each word. “This is where he lists his conquests. And she’s Artemis?”

“What does that mean besides being an eternal virgin?” Matthew asked, wondering still about Rick’s knee-jerk reaction to the name. Rick’s thoughts were murky, calling Artemis Diana, which of course was the Roman goddess version.

Bobo chuckled.

They looked to him. Rick nodded. “You know.”

Nodding back, Bobo rose to shake off aches and said, “That means she is his ultimate conquest. In the myths, Orion was one of the few men allowed to hunt with Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. But he had also wanted her in an intimate way.”

“The virgin goddess,” Matthew said dryly, sure that Artemis had remained a virgin in all the myths and would have slain anyone who tried to change that.

“The ultimate goddess, in Orion’s eyes,” Bobo said to him. He then peeked to Rick as it really confirmed that Hogan genuinely liked Audry.

Rick closed his eyes, wincing. “Audry is against hunting.”

Matthew snorted, nodding, though he could tell that Rick was not upset over the goddess’s hunting aspect. There was something else lingering on the borders of Rick’s thoughts, though he was not thinking it about it at present. Rick was extremely good at banishing a thought if he did not want it to bother him.

“She’d be insulted,” Rick muttered peevishly.

Bobo thought on that and nodded. “She would probably prefer Demeter.”

“Athena,” Matthew suggested, pointing to him, as the goddess of wisdom was a pretty good choice.

But Rick opened his eyes and marched back into the kitchen. “I think she’d prefer not to be labeled at all.”

Bobo and Matthew exchanged looks.

“Audry is a modern woman,” Rick muttered as if it bothered him. “One which does not like to be put into a box… unless she is the one deciding the box. Damn, why does she have to be a vegan?”

Matthew laughed. Yes. That part bothered Rick. Not her eating habits, but rather that some vegans were self-righteous little pricks who assumed anyone who ate meat was a savage barbarian. And that meant Rick in her eyes.

“Why is she attracted to that guy?” Rick asked from the other room.

Coloring a little, Matthew coughed. “Do you really want me to tell you?”

Groaning, Rick huffed. There was silence for a while before he said, “No.”

But his mind was screaming ‘Yes’. He wanted to know what had attracted Audry to the man he had seen on the beach. Rick wasn’t all that impressed with him. Hogan was a posh hippie. He was neat where neatness counted, but the guy was all for his activism. Besides, Rick thought Hogan not just a player, but a skilled actor. Rick believed that he as playing a part and was clearly good at it. Like a method actor—which he thought were kind of creepy.

“I’ll tell you,” Matthew said, trying to end this argument so Rick could accept things and move on.

Rick groaned. He was fighting his instincts to get upset at Matthew for reading his thoughts. He knew it was a given in all conversations with his friend.

“She likes his looks, yes,” Matthew said. “But that isn’t what really attracts her to him. Whether he is the real McCoy or not, that guy acts in the way she likes. He is devoted to altruistic causes, he does respect her boundaries, and they have talked about marriage and kids.”

“Shut up, I don’t want to hear it.” This time Rick’s thoughts and words matched. He didn’t really want to hear why the girl he liked was attracted to a presumed player. It was possible that Hogan truly was reformed. And Rick was trying hard not to think about Audry in a romantic way. He wanted to keep their relationship in the realm of ‘annoying friend’. He wanted Audry safe from the supernatural world which he was unable to avoid. People like her died around him.

“Ok.” Matthew then looked around for the remote control to Rick’s TV. It wasn’t on the coffee table.

“Is there anything you can do?” Rick asked, coming back from the kitchen to fetch the meat fork he had left in the front room. “You know, for her? Just in case he is a total creeper?”

Shaking his head, Matthew weakly chuckled. “No. She has to make up her own mind. You know this. And he hasn’t made any plays on her yet. The guy is smart. And, I dunno, maybe all that was in the past and he’ll actually settle down with her. Like I told you, he likes her a lot.”

“Damn,” Rick muttered.

Bobo shot him a look, smirking. He snuck a look to Matthew, asking with his eyes how much Rick really liked Audry. Bobo had been out of the loop for a while. Audry’s existence had sort of been sprung on him, and back at the beach, Matthew had to quickly explain who she was and how Rick knew her. Bobo had been impressed.

Taking up the meat fork, Rick gestured with it for them to join him in the kitchen. “Come on. Dinner’s up.”

Both men quickly followed him and the wonderful aroma of roasted fowl.

Bobo said as he stared at the juicy meat in the large pan, partly carved, “Are we goin’ to have any vegetables with this bird?”

Matthew broke into a laugh, as the island counter where the roasted chicken was set was bare of anything else.

“Ha ha ha,” Rick ‘laughed’ back. “Salad’s in the fridge.”

Bobo went to get it. He also brought out some fruit.

As they were eating dinner, mostly in silence as a chicken roasted by a Deacon was a savory tender experience of almost euphoric proportions, Rick nudged Matthew with his fork and asked, “Can I beg a favor from you?”

 Matthew could already hear the favor, and he moaned. “Look, Rick. If your friend Semour can’t find anything on Hogan on the internet, I really doubt there will be a police record on him that Semour could not have hacked.”

Rick closed his eyes, moaning. “I’m sorry. It’s just…”

“You like her,” Matthew said, nodding. He patted Rick’s sore and bandaged shoulder. He could feel the wrappings underneath Rick’s shirt, having only barely seen the edge of them since Rick refused to show him the full extent of his healing wounds. Matthew knew he would see the scars later, but the way Rick’s body carefully moved to avoid pulling out stitches made him feel awful. He was sure Rick had barely survived the attack.

Rick tried to shake him off. But he did not refute it. He sighed with the weight of so much on his chest and back. “I don’t want her to get hurt. And I’m afraid for her. I can smell it on that guy.”

“Smell what?” Matthew asked.

Meeting his eyes, Rick said, “A predator.”

Bobo sighed with a groan. “Ok. Ok. I’ll do it.”

Rick looked to him, perking up. “Really?”

Matthew frowned, hearing their thoughts but needing to guess to fill in the real holes. He had not been present when Rick had asked Bobo of this favor, but clearly it was important to Rick. “Do what?”

Looking to him, Rick said, “Be Audry’s bodyguard.”

Entirely astonished, Matthew’s jaw dropped open. “What?”

“Not like a stalker or anything,” Rick added, making sure Matthew understood his thoughts better. “But to join their club and make friends with her at those functions where she might be alone with that guy. To be on hand in case she doesn’t have her tazer or her tranquilizer gun on her.”

It was impossible for Matthew to hold in his laughter. He found it ironic as Rick was in more danger than Audry really was. She was a capable woman and not a target of anyone who could hurt her, and more than able to hold off a hormonal creeper. And for that matter, Matthew honestly believed that that Rick was exaggerating the kind of player he thought Hogan was. Frankly, Hogan’s thoughts revealed a man who was enraptured by an amazing woman and was serious about his relationship with her. It was most likely Hogan and Audry would get married. Rick was just getting carried away by his jealousy.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Rick murmured, meeting Matthew’s critical eye. “I know I am probably just blowing this out of proportion. I know it. And I know I can’t have her.” He huffed, shaking his head. “I shouldn’t have her. A werewolf has no business screwing up somebody else’s peaceful life.”

Matthew set his fork on his plate, pushing aside the chicken bones as he weighed what he had to say. He cared about Rick. Rick was genuine and he was good. The whole werewolf business was more like dealing with an obnoxious disability which came and went, and afflicted Rick with heavy allergies. “Rick. You’re not contemplating going back to Daisy, are you?”

Immediately Rick’s cheeks colored. He peeked once at Bobo who didn’t know a thing about Daisy MacTire, the she-wolf he had a ‘thing’ with in Alabama many years ago. Bobo barely lifted his eyes in curiosity. But Matthew felt it was safe enough to mention this person in his presence.

“No,” Rick bit back.

“Because your thoughts always seem to go back to her whenever you’re depressed about—”

“Enough!” Rick’s face was now entirely red and warm. He then looked to Bobo. “I didn’t tell you, but that is another person you may need to watch out for.”

Bobo listened patiently, putting down his fork to stop eating.

The color in Rick’s face was now to his ears. He could hardly meet Bobo’s gaze as he said, “There is she-wolf I had a relationship with years back who had, uh, sort of made prior claim on me.”

“What?” Bobo then looked to Matthew who nodded.

“We,” gesturing to himself and other invisible friends who were not in the room, “met her at a convention last year,” Matthew said. “And she also met Audry.”

Rick nodded, glad Matthew could phrase it right. He could now cut to the chase. “The thing is, Daisy most likely sees Audry as a threat to her claim.”

“Because…?” Bobo peered into Rick’s face but peeked at Matthew for an interpretation.

Matthew laughed. “Think of Daisy as a crazy ex. Right? Rick is trying to lose her, and that girl seems to think Audry is his new flame.”

Rick put his hand over his face. Conversations about Daisy was beyond mortifying.

“Because Rick likes Audry,” Bobo said.

Shaking his head, Rick said, “No. No. No. It is because Daisy assumes that—”

“Yes,” Matthew said, nodding.

Rick grabbed his skull. There was no way Bobo was not going to believe Matthew. Of course Matthew could read Rick’s tangled thoughts.

“No.” Rick rose from the table. “Look. Yes, I like her. Ok? But the feeling isn’t mutual. Audry doesn’t see me like that, and that is good. I would be terrible for her. Her life would be in danger… and she is a vegan, like I said. I would have no problems with her living her lifestyle, but she loathes mine. So please, help me get over her so I can move on.”

They were both silent.

Until Bobo said, “But you want her to have a bodyguard.”

Nodding, nearly groaning inside, Rick said, “Yes. But only temporarily, at least until after all this mess is over and I am proven wrong about that Hogan.”

“Proven wrong?” Matthew asked.

“When I have their wedding invitation in my hands,” Rick said, nodding hard to him. “If I have that, I will breathe easier. Then I can set her in my head as somebody I used to know.”

Matthew nodded. It probably was for the best.

Matthew left Rick’s apartment, going back to his own more humble place of living soon after Rick arranged for Bobo to enroll in night classes at NYU. Bobo could not join the school club without being a student, and Bobo had also wanted to improve on his education. He had only gone to junior college for a couple years before getting a job around Louisiana where he had grown up, and it had not gone well for him there. It was only after bumping into Tom Brown again while Tom was doing a job for the CIA in New Orleans that Bobo thought about contacting his old friends for some help. After all, why waste knowing a powerful multi-billionaire? All real job searching was done through networking anyway.

Stepping into his apartment, Matthew’s thoughts were full. He had not expected to see Audry Bruchenhaus at the cleanup. He had thought she was still in Africa. And though he barely knew her, he once had hopes that Rick and she would eventually have gotten together. It would have helped Rick get over his addiction to Daisy at least.

But now that was a bust.

Taking off his jacket and hanging up his umbrella and coat, Matthew removed his shoes and went sock-footed over toward his bedroom. But opening his door, sitting upside-down on his bed, was Tom.

Tom Brown was reading one of Matthew’s books… also upside-down, which made it look right side up to Matthew. The cover said 12 Rules for Life, a book Matthew had not yet finished reading. The scrap of paper he was using for a bookmark had been tossed aside to the blankets.

“Don’t lose my place,” Matthew said.

Peeking out from under the pages, Tom sighed then somersaulted upright, landing in the middle of the bed on his feet. He was in ordinary clothes—hoodie and jeans—which these days was rather extraordinary. Normally Tom wore three piece suits with a tie. Tom hopped off the bed and said, “Lobsters.”

Matthew raised his eyebrows. “And?”

“Reading about lobsters makes me hungry,” Tom said. He then tossed the book to the side. And yes, Matthew’s page was lost. “Where have you been? I have been waiting all day.”

“You could have called.” Matthew went to his dresser, getting out his pajamas. He was beat.

“I took my battery out of my cellphone and left both at my apartment.” Tom followed him with a hop. “I need to talk to you. You know my mom is getting out of prison soon.”

Matthew nodded. He knew that very well.

“I’m worried for her,” Tom said.

Turning his head to look at Tom, Matthew tried to sort through the jumble of anxious thoughts in his friend’s head. “Worried that the Unseelie Court will go after her?”

Tom shook his head. “No. The CIA.”

Matthew had to smother a doubting laugh. “Um, was she in less danger in prison?”

Earnestly nodding, Tom cringed. “Actually, yes. Mom was in a safe prison. It is one of the least corrupted. And nobody had a beef against her because she was non-violent.”

“Your mom was arrested for armed robbery, Tom.” Matthew stared at him.

“It was a prop,” Tom whined. He dropped on the bed again. “She never harmed a soul outside a bar fight.”

Matthew did everything he could to control his impulse to make fun of that statement. But of course Tom heard his temptations as Tom could see and hear everyone’s invisible imps which shouted naughty things constantly for people to do and say. However, Matthew’s effort to resist was counted for good, and Tom never held Matthew’s temptations against him.

“Matt, I’m serious. You’re a cop. You know the law. I need a plan to help protect her. Any ideas?” Tom waited with big orange eyes, looking a bit like a pale puppy. Tom Brown was often mistaken for an albino because of his platinum blonde hair and fair skin. His orange eyes made people feel sure of it. But the man was half imp, not entirely human—which explained why he could see and hear imps… and defy gravity, walk through walls, and often go invisible. Those skills made him incredibly useful to the CIA. The problem was, the CIA could hardly control him.

Until now.

Matthew was finally struck by what Tom meant. The CIA would hold his mother hostage in order to control Tom. “Oh.”

He sat next to Tom, thinking hard on this now.

“The FBI would not cover for me,” Tom murmured. “I checked. So no witness protection program for my mom. The CIA would see through it anyway and find her.”

Matthew nodded. “Yeah.” Then a thought came to him. “Have you talked to Rick about this?”

Exhaling wearily, Tom shook his head. “I don’t want to burden him. Besides, I am sure the CIA would watch his connections first. They know we’re tight.”

Nodding, Matthew thought hard on this. Rick would have been able to relocate anybody. But if the CIA were intent on finding a particular person they would easily add up where the Deacon family could hide someone. But then another thought occurred to Matthew. He said, “What about Michael Toms? He’s just as rich. He probably has the same amount of connections. And he’s one of the Seven. And I don’t think the CIA knows how well you know the Seven.”

Tom made a face. “That California guy who looks at me as if I about to loose hell on the world? Are you kidding me?”

Rising, Matthew nodded. “Yeah… No one would suspect it. You and he don’t hang out. You could make the connection through the Seven, and I bet the entire Seven would make sure your mom was safe.”

That caused Tom to think. He tilted his head, considering it for several minutes in silence. He murmured slowly, “The CIA know I am connected with the Holy Seven through Rick. They might even be aware I chat with Dan and Peter a lot. But… I don’t think they would assume I have any other connection with the rest of the Seven. This might work.”

Yes, Matthew thought, it might. He also corresponded with Daniel Smith who was currently in England with Peter McCabe helping him with what he described as ‘crucial research’. The long and the short of it was they were searching for what they called a ‘patron elf’ who apparently had been charged to help the generations of Holy Sevens that had come and gone. Matt didn’t know much else about it except that elves were dangerous. He had met a few.

“Do you think that guy, Michael, would set aside his disgust towards me to help my mom?” Tom broke through his thoughts.

Matthew nodded. “I’m sure he would.”

“He has connections with the SRA, you know,” Tom said.

Matthew nodded on that too. “He does. But I don’t think he ascribes to their way of thinking. If he did, he’d be going after his friend Rick on the full moons. Michael knows where to find him.”

At that, Tom brightened. “True. Thanks.”

In fact, that cheered Tom up considerably. The good thing about Tom Brown was that he did not dwell on the negative long. He was opportunistic in good and bad ways. But that came from being half imp.

“So, is the CIA mad you interfered in Germany?” Matthew asked, going back to his dresser to get his pajamas.

Tom shrugged. “Uh…. I dunno.” He flopped back onto the bed. “I didn’t interfere with them. They are annoyed that I got there in time to rescue Rick’s friends, though. They would have loved a werewolf scandal, you know. And the autopsy on Jordan proved his throat was slit before wolves were sic’d on him, so it was proven as straight up murder.”

Matthew closed his eyes. He knew Jordan Hague, the roommate who had been killed in Germany on that backpacking trip. He was a nice guy—one of Rick’s better ‘normal ‘friends. Matthew had even visited Rhett Williams and Emory Lindberg undercover, listening to their thoughts as he asked them soft questions. Not once did they openly reveal that werewolves had attacked them, though their thoughts screamed over the event. The one thing he had learned for certain was that Rick had done everything within his power to save them.

This was why Matthew did not want to press Rick into a relationship anymore. His friend was heartbroken. Rick could not bear to see another loved one die. They had already watched him grieve over the death of Lewis, his family’s steward before Henry. And then later, after a hunter had been killed by the Alabama wolf pack, he was a total wreck. And it was happening all over again with Jordan dead and his friends badly attacked. To top it off, when he got back to the US, Rick had ordered a top-of-the-line security system for his mother’s home, intent on preventing any more deaths of people connected to him.

It was a shame, though. Rick and Audry would have made an interesting couple. It was always fun to watch them argue while also agreeing at the same time.

“But they felt what I did was right,” Tom’s voice brought Matthew back to reality. “In fact, they praised me for finally using my gun.”

Matthew looked to Tom, another thought coming to him. “You went to Paris after the whole deal, right?”

Tom gazed up from the bed, almost smirking. “Yeah.”

Matthew wondered. Then he said out loud, “Did you meet any of his brothers or sisters?”

Tom grinned. He sat up a little. “Yeah. I met both is brothers—Remy and Henri. And I got to meet one of his sisters, Louisa.”

Chuckling, Matthew shook his head. The Deacon family had their scandals, but they really were good at keeping secrets. He would not have known about the Paris Deacons if Rick had not bumped into Daisy again a half a year ago, putting Rick in a less controlled mental state. The secret of Daisy and the Alabama wolves had come out then. And on accident, Rick’s panic over his other werewolf relations spilled out before he could stop his thoughts. Since then, Matthew wondered what other wolf secrets Rick was keeping. Matthew hadn’t even known about the German man-eaters at the time.

“What are they like?” Matthew murmured, thinking on the French werewolves.

Tom shrugged. “I dunno. Remy was a lot like Mr. Deacon in a way. His shape at least. And he has a lot of Rick’s mannerisms. They’re about the same height. Decent guy. Harried, though. Oppressed by those Frogs.”

Matthew chuckled.

“And Henri looks a lot like Mr. Deacon if Mr. Deacon took up modeling.” Tom snorted. “He’s a bit vain and not as mentally together as Remy. As for Louisa, I have to say, she’s beautiful. She’s got weird hair. The top half of her hair is wolf gray, and the lower half is black. And she’s got freckles. As for her body—”

“Ah! Tom,” Matthew shook his head at him, “Don’t let Rick hear you say that.”

Tom laughed, nodding. “Yeah… he’d bite my throat out.”

Of course that was figurative. Rick would more likely just kick Tom in groin and watch him double over with a reminder not to look at his big sister in that way.

Matthew undressed for bed. Tom just stared at the ceiling, smirking to himself. Finally, once in pajamas, Matthew turned around and peered at Tom. “Are you planning on crashing here for the night?”

“Do you mind?” Tom lifted his head off the bed.

Hanging his shoulders, Matthew said, “Just as long as you get off my bed. I don’t care where else you sleep.”

Tom hopped off as if he weighed nothing. He seemed to float midair before gravity lowered him down like a soap bubble. Folding his arms, he said, “Fine. But will you help me arrange for my mom to get protection through the Seven tomorrow?”

Matthew cringed, but he nodded. “Ok. I’m on a homicide investigation with JJ right now. But if you don’t mind tagging along, we can do it tomorrow.”

Tom’s mouth crooked up and to the side with a defined manic smirk. “JJ? Oh… and I wouldn’t bug him?”

Laughing, Matthew shook his head, going to the bathroom to brush his teeth. “I’m sure you’d bug the crap out of him, but uh, he might be actually happy to see you. We’re a on a tough case which might involve some supernatural players. JJ’s been talking to some ghosts and uh, he thinks more than just human wickedness is going on here, in which case we might need your help.”

Tom laughed, following him. “And you don’t want to involve the Seven?”

Glancing to him, Matthew shook his head again. “Not yet. Bringing in the Seven is like bringing in a cannon. This is more like a small gunfight.”

Nodding, Tom grinned.

 

Hangers-on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

 

Audry woke early and dressed for the wet. She had arranged to be at the beach cleanup for a week with the Green Club, expecting a large turnout, though she knew not all the members could come as regularly as she could. They had school and jobs. When they had time, they would be there, they said. Hogan also could not come the second day, as he had work at the foundation where he was employed as a traveling water quality specialist. So, it would be her, Neil, William, and Jandra Washington among the others she did not know so well.

Her roommate Silva Lewis wasn’t there for breakfast or yoga, again. It was weird. Lately she had been leaving the apartment early and coming home late. Audry knew she came home because Silvia left her notes. Her most recent note was on the refrigerator:

 

Don’t wait up for me. I am sleeping over at a friend’s this week.

Sil

 

Silvia didn’t have very many friends, though. Not, at least, among the people Audry knew. Besides being a former practicing witch—a concept Audry found mind-blowing even now—Silvia gave off a dangerous vibe. She used to dress all gothic, but since she had been working in a hair salon in New York City, she had taken on a more quirky persona, the type you trusted to style your hair with skill. She was probably staying at an apartment of one of the other stylists.

So, without any more to do, Audry went out to her car and started it.

Something in the engine rattled. Frowning to herself, Audry knew eventually she needed to take the car into the shop to get it looked at. She just didn’t have the time or the spare cash. Thinking on that, Audry shut off the car and got back out, running back to her apartment to get her box of wolf tee-shirts, which she could sell at the beach to people during breaks. Fundraising was fundraising.

The trip did not take too long. Audry liked the drive, though she was not fond of the traffic. When she pulled to the curb, she saw there was already a Deacon Enterprises truck, the driver waiting outside it, smoking.

Getting out, walking by, Audry glanced to see if there were any cigarette butts on the ground. There was one. Glancing to the driver, Audry shot him a disapproving look.

“What?” he said, raising his hands defensively.

 Lurching to a halt, as she had first intended just to walk by, Audry turned and said, “I happen to know your employer, Mr. Deacon. And I know he would appreciate it if you would not make a mess on this beach.”

His eyes narrowed, questioning that statement. But as the people down below greeted her with waves and calls, he hastily stubbed out the cigarette he was smoking and picked up the butt off the ground, stashing both in the truck’s ashtray.

Neil was already down there, so was Jandra, dressed in rain gear.

Audry joined them.

More people came as the day progressed. That guy Bobo had arrived alone. No Matthew and no Rick, but he joined them all at the shore, looking a little more like he had volunteered for the job this time. He was smiling, but still avoiding human contact. Audry reminded herself what Matthew had said about him. The guy had been abused by an uncle and his family had been murdered. Clearly he hated being touched.

Bobo did not say much, but worked silently with a group near where Audry was picking up wrappers and bags. There was even a barnacled basketball and a pair of spandex swim shorts in the shoreline flotsam. Candy wrappers and potato chip bags were among their sea finds, and they raked out plastic six pack drink rings.

Then some idiot down the shore picked up a jelly fish. They had thought it was a bag.

A person on the beach up from them said you had pee on it to treat the sting, but no one volunteered. Then someone else said you could pour beer on it and it did the same thing. That was when someone was sent to fetch the beer—which was conveniently in his car. Audry wondered if she had to have a word with him. They didn’t need drunken volunteers at the cleanup. They would get in the way.

“Lunch break!” someone from the Green Tree club shouted amid the work.

With a consensus of cheers and calls to do just that, the clusters of volunteers left their half full bags on the shore and heaved up the full ones to the parking lots above. They all gathered up top around their cars to either get food they had brought in, or to go purchase food somewhere nearby. A lot of them had brought packed lunch, like Audry did. She got hers out of the trunk of her car as a pure vegan meal would be difficult to hunt down in that neighborhood—at least one that was truly vegan. Vegetarian options were available, but they were barely vegetarian, mostly with fake meat.

With her trunk open, her eyes rested on her box of wolf tee shirts, which was next to her cooler. Though she wanted to sell them, she had to do it tactfully. A lot of people in these groups were not fond on entrepreneurial spirit—even if it was for fundraising. They were more about petitioning for free money rather than selling a product people might want to earn money, and she had to keep that in mind. So, thinking of a good strategy, Audry’s thoughts went to Bobo again. He had wanted a shirt.

Audry looked for him.

Her eyes raked over the parking lot. It took a bit, but she found Bobo next to what had to be a company car for Deacon Enterprises. It was a sleek sedan, hybrid, perfectly clean, and did not quite match his outfit. He was sitting on the rear bumper eating cold chicken out of a Tupperware container.

“Hey.” Audry approached him, politely ignoring his chicken meal as it did not pay to harass a potential customer over his dietary choices. “Yesterday you said you wanted a wolf tee shirt?”

Lifting his eyes, Bobo smirked. He set down his food container of chicken (and apparently rice) nodding. “Yeah. Did you bring one?”

Waving for him to come back to her car, Audry said, “I brought the whole box. You can choose your size.”

Hearing that, Bobo nodded, carrying his lunch with him. They went to her car. Audry reached into the box inside the trunk and pulled out tee shirts, guessing his size. “Large or extra-large?”

“Give me extra-large,” he said.

Peering in, Audry dug down deeper into the box as the top levels were smalls and mediums. She had lots of those. As she examined the labels, the extra larges being at the bottom, her hand felt something hard, roundish and small in with the tee shirts. Curious, she extracted it, lifting it to the light. And she recognized it, though she could not remember what it was.

It was a small jar, the size of a lip balm container. Turning it in her fingers, she looked for a label, but there was none. Then her memory jogged. A rippled of electricity ran through her as she remembered this was the balm that Daisy MacTire—Rick’s ex—had forgotten at the convention booth less than a year ago. Audry had found it left behind then and had put it in her pocket. But after a while she had just tossed it back into the box with the tee shirts again as the idea of putting on a pheromone enhancer to attract men seemed ludicrous. She had entirely forgotten about it.

Shaking her head, Audry pocketed it and delved back for the tee shirt Bobo wanted. Grabbing an extra-large, Audry held it up to Bobo to see if it was the right size. “Try it on and see if it fits. We’ve got larger sizes if you want.”

Taking it, Bobo lifted it up to his chest also, then tugged off his jacket. The air was less misty that day. And being out of the ocean spray, he was starting to sweat.

Bobo pulled the shirt over his current one. It fit fine. In fact, it fit really fine. And the rust-haired wolf on it stared back with strength.

He grinned at it.

“So, you like it?” Audry asked.

Nodding, Bobo then dug into his pocket for his wallet.

And this was where the magic of sales worked. Audry knew others were watching. Neil and Jandra rolled their eyes as they were fully aware of Audry’s fundraising efforts. But those that did not know but were curious, got to witness what an amazing tee shirt Bobo had just purchased. And maybe they could get one too.

“Are you selling those?” someone from Green Tree club asked.

Pretending to be startled by his interest, Audry turned and said, “Well, he asked about my shirt yesterday, but yes, I sell these to fundraise for my PhD. You know how expensive school is.”

He nodded. “Can I get one?”

“They’re twenty dollars,” Audry advised him, in case that sounded too expensive.

He smirked at her, willing to pay twenty dollars for a tee shirt with that wolf on it.

And then others approached her.

Perfect.

Of course a product was only worth as much as people were willing to pay for it. If he hadn’t been such hunted looking wolf, or if she hadn’t chosen a good quality tee shirt fabric, it would be worth a lot less. It also depended on the crowd. This crowd was interested.

Bobo eventually went back to his car and finished off his lunch, quietly keeping to himself. Audry found it rather sad, Bobo’s self-imposed solitude. He looked so lonely. I kind of made her think of Rick. He was like that sometimes, though he had a lot of friends. She wandered Bobo’s way after finally closing her car trunk and locking it, sales done. “Thanks. You helped me a lot.”

Bobo looked up, surprised he was being talked to. His eyes rested on her carefully, and then he smiled, nodding.

But Audry had to ask, as it was on her mind now that she saw him enjoying the shirt, “You know the wolf, don’t you?”

Staring at her with more surprise, Bobo slowly nodded. “But how do you know that?”

Shrugging a little sheepishly, Audry said, “I dunno. All of Rick’s friends, whenever they see this wolf, they laugh and ask me how I got this wolf to sit still for a picture.”

Chuckling deep, the rich sound resonating from Bobo’s chest, he nodded. “Yeah… I thought about it. But then I figured the wolf just likes you.”

Audry blushed. It reached to her ears and made her chest feel hot.

What a notion! The

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 13.10.2018
ISBN: 978-3-7554-7905-5

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