Flirting With the Devil

by Heather C. Myers

  “Excuse me?” Harleen asked, narrowing her eyes at the man – Andrew, he had called himself. Did he just say what she thought he had said, because if so - Well, she didn’t exactly want to think about it. As her eyes trailed over Andrew’s face, she realized that his crooked smile had turned into a crooked smirk. He had said what she had thought he had said! Now Harleen’s mind swam with confusing sentences, but it didn’t matter.

  Who was this guy anyways? Who did he think he was, coming over to dinner at her house while telling her in oh so many words that she belonged to him? I don’t even know this guy, Harleen thought to herself, but before she could open her mouth and offer some retort, Edgar intervened.

  “Hey,” he said from behind Harleen, giving Andrew what Harleen interpreted as a familiar smile. How in the hell did these two know each other anyways? “Andrew.” Edgar stepped next to his niece and pushed her out of the way, trying to be subtle about it, so he could shake hands with Andrew. “It’s good to see you. I’m glad you could come.” He gestured in the house. “Please, come in, won’t you?”

  Okay, this was too weird for Harleen. She had to say something.

  “Uh, Edgar?” Harleen asked her uncle as he led Andrew through the hall and into the dining room. “I just have a small question, no big deal really. How do you know this guy? He looks like he’s my age. Oh my God, are you selling drugs? Is that how you got all of this money? Selling drugs? Is he your supplier? Oh my God, I’m going to jail.”

  “You’re not going to jail,” Edgar said, his tone flat, as he rolled his eyes. Andrew couldn’t mask the chuckles that slipped from his mouth if he tried. “And I don’t sell drugs.”

  “Then how do you know this guy?” Harleen asked as she took a seat across from Andrew and on her uncle’s right. “Because I know you, Edgar, and I know your friends. This Andrew guy – if that is his real name” – she shot Andrew a suspicious look – “is not one of your friends I know.”

  “Your uncle can have friends you don’t know about if he wants to,” Edgar told his niece, his tone slightly serious. He glanced over at Andrew, however, not exactly sure what he should say. He didn’t have a back story on how he was supposed to know Andrew in the first place. In all honesty, Edgar didn’t think he would need one. “Well Andrew? Why don’t you introduce yourself to Harleen here. It appears that she wants to get to know you better seeing as how I’m not allowed to have friends that she doesn’t know.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Harleen muttered under her breath but her eyes reflected a deep curiosity in them despite the fact that she had said otherwise. She really did want to know just who this Andrew was and how he came to know her uncle.

  “Right,” Andrew agreed as a maid – a maid to Harleen’s utter belief, and she should mention that this particular maid was an attractive one as well – set drinks down for everyone. Harleen had ice water, Edgar had a Diet Coke, and Andrew had some soda as well, though since Harleen never drank soda, she couldn’t tell which one. “Well, as you can obviously tell, I am from Australia originally, but my parents moved me out here when I was in middle school. By the time I entered high school, I divorced from my parents, so I’m living nearby, alone, and I’m about to be a senior. In fact, I’m going to the same high school you’re going to Harley.” He flashed her that crooked smile of his. “Newport Harbor, right?”

  “Oh joy,” Harleen said under her breath. “And by the way, it’s Harleen, not Harley. I’m not some motorcycle.”

  “I call her Harl,” Edgar said with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

  “Okay,” Harleen said, going back to the original subject as she narrowed her eyes in Andrew’s direction. “I believe that you moved here from Australia. But how could you possibly get divorced from your parents at fifteen, and, not only that, but afford to live in Dover Shores of all places by yourself? Unless you really sell drugs.” She thought about what she said for a moment. “And guns.” She frowned, still not satisfied. “And are some kind of pimp. You’re my age, and I know for a fact that I couldn’t possibly make that kind of money unless I did something illegal.”

  “The money I have, I’ve earned legally,” Andrew assured her, though the smile on his face revealed even less than his words. “Everybody has something valuable to sell.”

  “Not me,” Harleen said, glancing down at the table before looking back up at Andrew.

  “No,” he agreed. “Not anymore.”

  Harleen didn’t quite understand what he had meant by that, but before she could ask Andrew to further explain, Edgar interrupted.

  “Do you believe me now, Harl?” Edgar asked, looking over at his niece before taking a long sip of his Diet Coke. “I’m not doing anything illegal.”

  “Yeah, but neither of you answered my question,” Harleen pointed out, looking between her uncle and Andrew with sharp eyes. “How do you two know each other?” Before either one of them could answer, another thought crossed Harleen’s mind. “Wait a minute. If you live here in Dover Shores, you would obviously go to Newport Harbor – which you say you’re going to now. Why the sudden switch? It’s nearly the end of the semester. And how come I’ve never seen you there?”

  Andrew smothered a chuckle. She would definitely be amusing once he claimed her as his own. She seemed to favor asking so many questions.

  “I used to go to CDM,” Andrew answered, cocking his head to the side.

  “Corona Del Mar?” Harleen asked, furrowing her brow. “Isn’t that a bit far from where you live?”

  Andrew shrugged his shoulders as though something as trivial didn’t bother him too much. “Not a big deal to me, Harley,” he said with a crooked smile.

  Harleen rolled her eyes. “It’s Harleen, Harleen,” she said with obvious annoyance. “It’s not like the ‘n’ is suddenly silent, you know.”

  This time, Andrew started chuckling and he glanced over at Edgar, who sat frozen in his chair, trying to decipher if Andrew would be offended by Harleen’s big mouth. “She’s a spitfire, huh?” he asked, this time directing his question in Edgar’s direction.

  Edgar felt himself relax when he realized that Andrew might enjoy the challenge his niece provided the devil. “You have no idea what you got yourself in for,” Edgar muttered in agreement, hoping Harleen wouldn’t overhear.

  Harleen frowned, before tilting her head down and glancing at her food – something she hadn’t noticed the maid had placed before her due to how enthralled she was in the conversation between herself and Andrew. Her nose twitched upon seeing it; it was some sort of fish, and by the color of the thing, Harleen guessed it was salmon. Because she saw just what she was eating, her nose started to pick up on the scent of it, a scent that would, at times, make her nauseous.

  “It’s fish,” Harleen said, her eyes flashing over at uncle. What, just because Edgar had some guest over for dinner meant he had to show off and have his hot maid cook up some delicacy of salmon? “Edgar, you know I hate fish.”

  “You can learn to like it,” Edgar quipped before taking a big bite out of his own fish. He glanced over at Andrew and rolled his eyes at Harleen’s ridiculous behavior. “It’s healthy,” Edgar added, glancing back at his niece.

  “Says the smoking alcoholic,” Harleen said as she stood up, and though she muttered it under her breath, both people overheard it. “I’m going to go get some real food.” With that, she headed over to the front door and grabbed her keys, hanging from the key rack before walking outside and slamming the door behind her.

  ---

  Andrew glanced around, drumming his fingers against the cool oak of the dining table. He wasn’t exactly sure how he should feel. The only real reason why he had come to this dinner in the first place was so he could meet and interact with Harleen, hoping to charm her into some sort of infatuation for him. But it turned out that the complete opposite happened. She had argued with him, corrected him, but most of all, she challenged him. And for whatever reason, he liked that. She was passionate, and passion was alwa
ys a good thing. He couldn’t wait until she was his.

  “Well,” he said, his hazel eyes finally locking with Edgar’s. “This is going to be easier than I thought. With her aberration of you, it’ll be no time before she runs into my arms.”

  Edgar winced upon hearing this, not because he was offended but because of something else. “Yeah, I should probably tell you,” he murmured, pointedly avoiding looking in Andrew’s eyes. “She has a boyfriend.”

  The crooked smile slid off of Andrew’s face.

  Chapter 3

  Upon hearing of Edgar’s news – that Harleen wasn’t as single as he had originally thought – Andrew left the Dover Shores mansion Edgar had bought with the infinite amount of wealth Andrew had bestowed upon him and hopped into his cherry apple red nineteen sixty-eight Ford Mustang, deciding to follow Harleen. He hadn’t come over to shoot the shit with Edgar; he had come to get to know Harleen, to know his future Queen. And she had just left abruptly, without so much as a “Goodbye Andrew, it was nice to meet you.” He had ensnared quite a few souls since humanity was first created, and though he had encountered many different people, there was just something about Harleen, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on…

  And he realized that he wanted to know more about her.

  Upon hearing about the fact that she had a boyfriend, Andrew found that he was increasingly territorial of her. Not that he liked her or was interested in her, but she was rightfully his, thanks to her uncle. He idly wondered just how long the two of them had been together. Harleen and her boy, that is. And, if it had been for a while, he wondered if they had done anything sexual together. Originally, he wanted Harleen because he thought she was pure – a rare find in today’s society. But now upon knowing that that might not be the case…

  Well, he would still claim her soul. Who knew? Maybe she would still prove to be a valuable find.

  Andrew made a left at the light and after a few more moments of driving, stopped in the front of a Coco’s Diner. It interested for Andrew to see what happened only because unlike God, he, as the devil, was not all-knowing. However, that didn’t mean he didn’t have a few tricks up his sleeves that he didn’t particularly mind using in his favor. Which he did at that moment. He wanted to listen in on any conversations Harleen had with anyone – maybe because she wasn’t around her uncle, she wouldn’t be as guarded. But he wanted to listen without being caught, and to do that, he simply became invisible.

  Nobody could see him as he walked into the restaurant, but his dark hazel eyes saw everything. He could even see Harleen being seated in a booth, though it didn’t look as though she was sitting with anyone, so Andrew slid in the same booth, sitting across from her, watching as her eyes skimmed the menu.

  His eyes sparkled as he regarded her, and the same crooked smile slipped back onto his face. His elbows rested on the surface of the table, and his chin rested on his knuckles. Now that Andrew couldn’t be seen, he could study Harleen freely, studiously, something he had wanted to do for a while now. When Edgar had first called upon him, he had caught a glimpse of Harleen, but he knew he wanted her which was why it was so easy for him to strike up a deal. At dinner that evening, he couldn’t exactly stare at her lest it creep her out, but now… Now he could look at her without worry.

  His sharp eyes traced the shape of her face with swift motions. He saw hints of freckles on her cheeks, and her nose was small, upturned, but fit her face. Her lips were full and looked soft, but it appeared as though she bit the bottom one quite a bit; he could easily make out broken skin. Her chin was curt and curled up, sharp as her jaw line. Her cheekbones were high, and her eyes were a green-gold color, though he had never seen an eye color like it. Her hair was strawberry blonde. Her elbows rested on the table, her hand reached up to cup the back of her head as though she tried to relieve herself of whatever stress was causing the vertical wrinkle between her brow. Though the items of clothing concealed her body, he could tell she had what looked like an hourglass frame, slim in some parts, curvy in others, short but with long legs. She didn’t exactly look regal; instead of being exotic, she was more approachable in a girl-next-door sort of way.

  At that moment, a waiter came over, looking around the same age as Harleen, and asked to take her order. At that moment, Harleen’s eyes sparkled and she gave him what Andrew what considered to be a familiar smile.

  “Hey,” she murmured.

  “What’ll you have, Harl?” the boy asked, glancing down at the notepad in his hand. “The usual?”

  “By usual, you mean deviled eggs benedict, then yes, yes I want that,” she said, and then handed him the menu. She gave him a soft smile, the two staring at each other for just a moment. “Thanks Rosco.”

  “Anything for you babe,” Rosco replied before heading back into the kitchen to put Harleen’s order in.

  So this was the boyfriend, Andrew realized, thinking to himself. He wasn’t exactly threatened or anything. This Rosco, whatever his name was – Andrew didn’t think it mattered – was probably the boyfriend Edgar was talking about. He didn’t look that much, in fact. From what Andrew saw of him, Andrew wasn’t worried about anything, at least on the physical end of the spectrum. Rosco was tall and had plenty of muscle – no doubt he was on the varsity football team. He had crystal blue eyes and a squared chin with an indentation in it. Sure, he was handsome, Andrew could admit that. He had that pretty boy look going for him, and could understand Harleen’s attraction to him. Whatever.

  What Andrew needed now was some sort of way to get Harleen to fall for him rather than to keep tabs with this brute. Though she was guaranteed to Andrew thanks to her uncle, Andrew couldn’t take her unless she consented. Free will was a big issue amongst religions, and even he couldn’t sway someone to change their mind if they didn’t want to do so. Of course he could tempt someone, deceive them, something along those lines.

  But it would seem that Harleen herself would be harder to sway. Another smile crawled onto his face as he watched her lean back in the cushy booth, sighing through her nose, her hands resting easily in her lap. If this would be anything, it would no doubt be fun.

  Within another fifteen minutes, Rosco had Harleen’s food, and as he placed it down in front of her, he leaned down to give her a soft, lingering kiss on the lips. “Your uncle piss you off again?” he asked once he broke apart from her.

  “You have no idea,” Harleen murmured. “He took me to our new house, somewhere in Dover Shores and” -

  “Wait, your uncle got you guys a place in Dover Shores?” Rosco asked, complete disbelief etched out on his features. “That is sick, Harl. I’ll have to come over some time and you can show me around, huh?” He winked at her, and Andrew slammed his fist down on the table, causing it to vibrate.

  Both Harleen and Rosco looked at each other, confusion clearly written in their eyes. Neither one of them had placed that amount of force on the table to cause such a loud noise.

  “Earthquake,” Rosco said, thinking of any sort of explanation for what had just occurred.

  Harleen nodded, but didn’t actually agree. She wasn’t stupid; if it was an earthquake, everything would have moved rather than just one table in the entire restaurant. “Thanks,” she said, licking her lips at the sight of her food. “You should probably go. I don’t want to get you in trouble or anything.”

  Rosco nodded and kissed Harleen once more before heading over to another table to take their orders.

  Andrew knew a lot. He had seen a lot because he had been around even before the creation of earth. He had resided in heaven before he led an attack on God and His angels, and when he lost, he was condemned to Hell for the rest of eternity. However, a feeling left him somewhat unsettled. There was this raw surge of protectiveness he felt for the woman currently enjoying her food. Of course, logically he knew why he felt this way. She was his, simple as that.

  Andrew didn’t like to see Harleen showing affection for anyone if it wasn’t with him. He didn’t care if she a
nd her boyfriend had been together for three days or three years. Edgar had given Harleen to him, and Andrew didn’t like to share.

  As he sat there watching her, a plan started to formulate in Andrew’s mind, and his confident smile soon came back to rest on his face. Harleen would be his, one way or another. Andrew would make sure she forgot all about that brute football player and fall madly in love with him to the point of asking him to take her away.

  And take her away he would.

  Chapter 4

  That weekend, Harleen decided to stop by at Fashion Island, a mall near her house just off of Pacific Coast Highway, and update her wardrobe. It wasn’t to update her fashion because she had never been one who had followed the trends, but she desperately needed a few new pairs of jeans because she hadn’t gotten a new pair in a couple of years. She also wanted to get some new t-shirts and jackets, plus she had always loved boots, and wanted to find a couple of pairs. Oh, and some flip flops since summer was coming. Though she would never admit it to her uncle Edgar, having what seemed like a limitless bank account definitely had its benefits.