Echoes in the Bayou (14 page)

Magnus
soon spotted his fellow writers and after making the introductions, the drinks
were ordered and shortly after, the meet and greet was well under way. Magnus
however, found it quite hard to take his eyes off of Ava. Whether she knew it
or not, the sexual energy was pouring out of her and it was turning him on like
no other. And he knew that it had nothing to do with his drink.

He had
been turned on by her the moment she rested her injured leg in his lap tha
t very first day that he met her. Ever since then he’d
fought the urge to rip her clothes off and make love to her. He hoped by asking
her to be his date that she would know how he felt about her. He could have
gone alone or asked someone else but he didn't want to, he wanted Ava by his
side and here she was seductively eyeing him while making small talk with one
of his writer friends.

 
"How about a dance?" His friend asked her.

Ava
turned and looked at Magnus before answering.
"I'm sorry, but I promised Magnus that he’d be the only one taking me out
on the dance floor," she grinned at him.

"
In case you didn’t catch that Magnus, that was a not
so subtle hint for you to ask her to dance," his friend Nicholas playfully
nudged him on the arm. "You are one lucky man Magnus," he told his
friend and politely excused himself from the table. Magnus stood up at the
table and very seductively placed his hands around her waist as they eased onto
the dance floor. The lively music had slowed down to a sultry, bluesy melody
that forced them both to have to mold their bodies into one another.

Ava
wasn’t sure if it was the drinks or just being so close to him that made her
want him so incredibly bad. Had they not been in a public place, she would have
liked to slowly strip off his clothes and take him right then and there. Magnus
held her tight as they swayed to the music. He could feel her hips moving to
the slow and steady rhythm of the saxophone. The heat that was flowing from
their bodies was intense and soon they were wet with perspiration.

 
As the slow, melodious tune played, Magnus lifted her
face to meet his and when their lips met, the feeling of hot electricity surged
through them both. The saxophone got louder and his kisses grew more intense.
He casually pulled her over to a corner where his mouth continued to control
hers. With every thrust of his tongue Ava knew that he was showing her what he
was quite gifted at doing. Her heart was racing and she hoped that the music
would go on and on. She was getting swept up in his multitude of kisses and had
it not been for the drunken patrons that had noisily burst into the bar, she
was sure she would have climaxed.

Magnus
had to lead Ava back to the table, she was dizzy. But it wasn’t from the drinks
she told him, it was from the dancing and the kissing she laughed. "It’s
been a long time since you’ve been swept off your feet hasn’t it Ava?" He
asked. He was amazed that she was so unaware of her powers of seduction.

Ava took
a sip of her drink
before answering. "Yes
it has," she said and looked him in the eyes. She marveled at how in just
the right light, his eyes seemed to burst with flecks of gold. "Magnus, remember
earlier when I told you that I had a boyfriend who told me that I wasn’t
worldly enough to have intellectual conversations?"

"
Yes."

"
Well that boyfriend was my boss, Gavin." She had
to shout over the music, it had grown loud again as a group of tourists had
invaded the balcony and started dancing.

 
Magnus looked in the direction of the balcony and made
a face. He knew that she was about to open up to him and he wanted her to know
that she had his full attention.

"
Ava hold that thought, let’s say we take our drinks
and get out of here? Follow me," he said and was already leading her
towards the door. Summer in New Orleans meant that tourists would be the
majority on Bourbon Street and the partiers flowed out into the streets. Ava
followed Magnus to nearby Jackson Square; the park was even more beautiful at
night with its twinkling lights and horse drawn carriages ready and waiting to
take the steady flow of passengers on an evening tour.

 
Ava smiled when she thought about the tour they’d
taken hours before. "Ava sit down," he patted the park bench and
handed her a drink.

"
Now please continue with your story," he said. He
was sure that Ava was ready to spill everything about her and Gavin’s
relationship. He wanted to know out of the two, which on was still interested.
He needed to know, it would define the rest of the weekend for him, for the
both of them.

 
A heavy sigh escaped her lips before she continued
with her story and by the end of it; Magnus had not wanted to hear any more, he
was furious. It was quite obvious that Ava was done with him but for whatever
reason, Gavin was trying his hardest to get in touch with her. And based
on the multitude of phone calls from Gavin to his cell, Magnus got the
distinct feeling that it had nothing to do with work. Now he was glad that Ava
choose to ignore the phone calls.
Thank god he’s no longer in the picture
,
he silently cheered.

"Ava,
how could he be so cold and calculating?" Magnus wondered out loud.
"And to someone as wonderful as yourself? That man is nothing but a
coward, and I will be more than happy to relay that to him should we ever meet
and if your so called best friend is with him? Well let’s just say that I have
a few choice words for her as well. What they did is inexcusable Ava."

She
kissed him on the mouth, a quick, succulent kiss. "Magnus thank you for
calling me wonderful but I am afraid that I am far from it. You know sometimes
I think that I drove him away."

"
Now you’re talking non sense."

"
No, I'm serious. I mean maybe I wasn’t sexy enough for
him; maybe I wasn’t spontaneous enough for him. He always told me that I was
incredibly predictable and that he could set his watch by me," she
frowned. "Even though he was the one who had to plan ahead and write
everything down, I think he wanted me to be the opposite of that. And I thought
I was but I guess just not enough."

"Ava,
look at me. You are one of the sexiest women that I have ever met. You emulate
sex; it’s clearly a part of you. Oh you might like to hide it but I can see it
in your eyes, a person would have to be blind not to see it. But it’s not only
that which makes you sexy, it’s everything about you. You’re far from conceited
and you are the easiest person in the world to talk to. You clearly don’t scare
easy and you’re more than able to take care of yourself so please don’t ever
let me hear you talk about yourself in a negative way."

 
He cupped her face with his hands and leaned in close.
"Ava Montgomery, any man would be lucky to have you and don’t you forget
it," he said and kissed her. 

"
Magnus, are you trying to tell me something?" She
teased him with her lips while she spoke.

A deep
moan escaped his lips.
"Yes I am," he
said right before he immersed his tongue deep inside her mouth.

They had
spent hours on the park bench kissing, and before they knew it, the time was
almost four a.m. "Magnus thank you for a wonderful evening." Ava
stood in the doorway of her suite. She wanted so badly to invite him in but she
knew that it wasn’t the right time, they had both been drinking way too much
and she wanted the both of them to be sober the first time that they made
love.  "Many a bad choices have been made when two people embark on a
drunken night of sex," her mother always told her anytime that Ava would
go out with friends for the night.

 
Sometimes she had heeded her mother’s advice and
sometimes she hadn’t, but this time something told her that it was a bad idea.
They’ll be plenty of time for hot, passionate sex
, she told herself as she bid him goodnight. If Magnus
was disappointed or feeling let down he certainly didn’t show it, in fact he
was glad that she hadn’t invited him in. He still wanted to get to know her.
And although they’d had their share of intimate moments, some where he was
fully aware and some not, he knew that Ava was a woman with whom he would want
to take his time.  As he got ready for bed, he thought about her. His
fingers ached when he thought about how badly he wanted to trace the outline of
her body; how he’d take his time and go over each and every curve.

 
He smiled devilishly when he imagined the look of
utter pleasure that would appear on her face the moment that he touched her.
Magnus knew that he and Ava would make love, but this night was not about that,
it was about seduction and intimacy. It had been a long time since he shared
that with a woman and he thoroughly enjoyed sharing it all with Ava. And from
the looks and response of her mind and body tonight, he knew that she felt the
same.

Not
wanting to feel the displeasure of being hung over in the morning, Ava dug
through her luggage and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. She stood in front of
the bathroom sink and squinted at the harsh light that was bearing down on her.
As she swallowed the pills and drank down the rest of the water she choked, the
image before her was not her own and she covered her mouth to stifle the scream
that escaped her.  Looking back at her was a young woman with the same
green eyes as she, but the woman’s hair and attire was completely different.

The image
had also placed her hands over her mouth and the two stood there a moment and
stared at one another. Each one was examining the other and uncovered their
mouths at the same time, neither one was afraid.

"
Celeste?" Ava asked even though she knew the
answer.

"
Yes," was the reply from the reflection.

Ava
reached out and brought her hand to the mirror and when she did, the mirror
rippled like still water when it is disturbed.

 
"Help me," the image in the mirror said and
Ava watched and felt to see if her lips moved just then and they did. Celeste
was saying the words, but Ava was feeling them.

"
He’s coming." She could feel the tremble in her
own voice and watched as tears fell down her face, a sense of dread came over
her and tightness began to envelope her chest. She felt as if she was
suffocating or drowning. Her legs felt like jelly as she made her way over to
the nightstand and dialed the number to Magnus’s room.

Magnus
had fallen into a deep sleep, and was in the midst of a dream when a voice
called out to him. He awoke a moment before the phone rang. He knew that it was
Ava and without asking her what was wrong, he jumped out of bed and was at her
door within seconds. Ava had managed to open the door and when he arrived he
saw her on the floor leaning against the bed, trying to catch her breath.

"
Ava? What happened? Are you alright?" Magnus felt
helpless, he knew that it was another supernatural attack.

He helped
her onto the bed and listened as she told him in between heavy breaths what had
happened. "She’s inside of me Magnus," Ava cried. "She’s inside
of me and we have to free her, that animal is still after her, we have to help
her!" She said in a panicked voice.

"
Ava we are going to help her I promise you that. But there’s
nothing we can do from here. Listen, maybe we ought to go back home, I’ll tell
them that something came up and we have to leave."

"
Magnus, no. I can’t let you do that, you were invited
here as a distinguished guest. It means a lot that you would even consider it
but I won’t let you."

 
He looked at her with deep concern, her eyes held such
sorrow that he felt it deep inside too. He would do anything to make that
sorrow go away.

"
Ava, I wanted this to be a special weekend"… his
voice trailed off.

"
And it is Magnus, you have made me feel unbelievably
desirable and you were right, I do feel like Cinderella. I don’t want this
weekend to end so I am going to try and put what just happened behind me and
concentrate on enjoying the rest of the weekend.

We’ll get
it all sorted out when we go home but for now,
let’s try and salvage what’s left of the weekend. We still have the awards
ceremony to look forward to tonight but I'm afraid that we’ll spend most of the
day in bed," she grinned and pointed to the window. "The sun’s almost
up and neither of us have had any sleep."

Magnus
gazed out the window before asking if she would mind if he stayed in her room.
"Ava I’ll sleep out on the sofa in the living room, I’d feel a hell of a
lot better if I was nearby, just in case," he said rather emphatically.

Now that is the worst idea eve
r
! Her
mind shouted out to her.
If that man stays in your room, you and I know good
and well that he will end up in your bed. And you don’t want that, not right
now.

Ava
looked away for a moment as she silently cursed.
She mouthed the word
Shit!
Before turning around
.

"
Magnus thank you for being so concerned, but I don’t
think that’s such a good idea. And I think you know why, so how about you head
on back to your room," she said while gently pushing him towards the door.
"And if I need you, I’ll call you."

"
But Ava…" He began to protest.

"
No, really I’ll be fine. Pick me up at seven,"
she said and shut the door behind him. She wanted him out of her room fast,
before she had a chance to change her mind. Besides, she had to run out and
pick up the gift she had ordered for him. The sterling silver cuff
bracelet  was being inscribed with the words,
We are such stuff as dreams are made of
 and it was ready to be picked up. She wanted to
give it to him before the ceremony.

 Once
she returned from picking up the gift, Ava lay down for a much needed nap.
After waking up, she was glad that she had turned down his suggestion of
sleeping in her room. Not only had she slept like a log but no nightmares found
her and she was grateful for that. She awoke refreshed and soaked in a hot bath
before it was time to start getting ready for the awards dinner. While she
relaxed in the tub she wondered what Magnus was doing. Was he still sleeping?
Or was he awake as well? Perhaps he was lounging around watching television.
She figured she'd see him soon enough and thought the few hours that they would
be apart, good for the both of them

The
moment she slipped into the silky gown she knew that she had made the right
choice. It hugged her body voluptuously and showed off her hourglass figure. A
smile crept across her face when she looked in the mirror. She wanted to go for
a glamorous look and used black liquid eyeliner on her top lid only. She
had spent hours touching up the curls in her hair and when she was finished,
was quite happy with the results. A touch of shimmering gloss on her lips, a
pair of simple diamond earrings, and the Kate Spade evening sandals in matching
blue satin with specks of emerald green made her outfit complete. By the time
Magnus knocked on her door she was ready.

She took
his breat
h away when she opened the door and he
gazed upon her. The blue of the gown that she was wearing had caused her green
eyes to sparkle even more and he couldn’t stop staring at her. "You look
absolutely amazing Ava," Magnus grinned.

"You
look like a Hollywood starlet, soft, sex
y, and
seductive. You know we don’t really have to go to this dinner, we could…"

 
Ava laughed, she was hoping to get a positive reaction
out of him and it looked as if she had accomplished that.

"We
will do no such thing," she grinned and playfully punched his arm. "N
ow let's go handsome, you don’t want to be late and
miss out on your award."

"Magnus
wai
t I almost forgot," she said and rushed
back into the room. When she grabbed the small box and handed it to him, he
didn’t know what to think. The last time someone gave him anything was during
the holidays and here was this woman who he barely knew, handing him something
which he had no doubt was special.

 
"I know what you're going to say." Ava had
already played the scenario in her head. "You're going to say that I
didn’t have to get you anything and that it means a lot."

Magnus
opened up the small box and took out the cuff bracelet
.

"I
hope that you like it," she said and watched as he slide it on his wrist.
"I saw it in the store and I thought it suited yo
u."

"Av
a it's divine, thank you so very much" he said
and kissed her before taking her in a warm embrace. She was tugging at his
heart strings, making him feel like he's never felt before. Not even when he
was with Jeanette did he ever have such feelings.
Sinta was right again
, he thought to himself and he held Ava tighter.
The curse has
got to be lifting, because I have never felt this way about anyone in my life.

The room
where the awards ceremony was being held was elegantly decorated and as the two
took their seats, Magnus didn’t notice that Jeanette had walked in and she was
alone. The blond turned several heads as she headed towards her table.

"Ava,
thank you
again for this," he said touching
his bracelet. "You have no idea of how much this means to me."

"Well
you're making too big a deal out of it," she grinned. "But you're
welcome, I just wanted to get you a little something to thank you for inviting
me and to
congratulate you on your award."

"Yes
congratulations on your award Darling," Jeanette interrupted their
conversation and boldly gave Magnus a kiss on the cheek
.

Ava
abruptly turned away.
"This cannot be happening
," she silently mouthed the words.
What the hell
is wrong with me?
She cursed to
herself.

 
Magnus stood up and with no expression asked,
"Jeanette what are you doing here?"

"Well
hello to you too Magnus, you look as dashing as ever. And why wouldn’t I be
here?" She aske
d, barely looking at Ava.
I've come to this how many years now darling? It's actually funny that you
should ask because I wasn’t planning on attending this year but when I heard
that you were getting an award, well I just had to come and support you."

Magnus
couldn’t take h
is eyes off of Ava; the situation
was now very uncomfortable. Especially since he had told her so little about
Jeanette.

 
"Jeanette I'd like you to meet my date, Ava. Ava
this is Jeanette."

Always
the lady, Ava reached for her hand.
Jeanette,
who was still standing, looked down at Ava and nodded her head. Ava withdrew
her hand and turned her back on them.

"Jeanette
things are about to start, maybe you should find your table," he said. He
hoped that her table would be located on the other si
de of the large ballroom, or on the other side of town.

"Why
sugar, I've already arrived at my table," she said with a smirk and took
the seat next to him.

Although the ceremony was about to start the table
that seated six only consisted of Ava, Magnus and now Jeanette. "I'm so
sorry Ava," he whispered to her.

Ava put
on the best game face that she could. "There's nothing to be sorry about
Magnus, it's your night and she's here to support you right?" She said
coldly and turned her attention t
owards the MC.

After dinner, and during a short intermission,
Magnus asked Ava if she'd like to go for a walk and they excused themselves
from the table. Once they were outside and breathing in the night air, Magnus
once again apologized. "Ava, I want you to know that I had no idea that
she was going to show up. I don’t know what she's got planned but whatever it
is it isn’t going to work."

"Magnus
you
don’t need to explain anything to me, I mean it's not as if we are a couple
right?" She stared him boldly in the face.

"Ava, please don’t be angry I will fix this, I
promise. I want this evening to be about me and you. And yes, we arrived as
friends, but I was hoping that we’d go back home as a couple."

"Fat
chance of that happ
ening," Ava said.
Jeanette was making her way towards them.

"Sorry
to interrupt Magnus darling, but their looking for you, it's time to accept
your award and make your speech sugar, come on." Jeanette waited for no
reply, she grabbed Magnus by the arm and almost tugged
him back inside the hotel. All the while he kept resisting and  turning
back to look at Ava, was she going to follow?
Surely she wouldn’t want to miss him accepting his award and listening
to his speech.

Ava stood
outside for a moment longer, she needed to catch her breath and calm down.
She'd let another woman steal away a man she loved.
Okay,
she told herself.
Love? I'm not in love with Magnus but I was in love
with Gavin, or so I thought I was
.
The more she thought about it the more she realized that it was more like lust,
she was in lust with Gavin. But what she felt for Magnus was different, last
night when they were dancing it was so erotic, sexual and natural all at the
same time. 
And the way he kissed me, what about that
?
She questioned herself.

 
"So much for going with the flow," she
whispered as she headed towards the elevators.

She was
determined to pack her bags and head back to the
plantation. She obviously wasn’t wanted, both Jeanette and Magnus made that
clear. She was talking to herself out loud, trying to unleash some of the
anxiety about being so naive and too quick to believe what Magnus had said
earlier about them returning home a couple.

"Jeanette
showing up here may have been a fluke, but the way he allowed her to drag him
back inside was not," she said and took one more glance around the room
before shutting the door.

Magnus
was in the midst of finishing up his speech when he glanced at the table. Ava
had still not returned and he wa
s starting to
get worried. Once the applause had subsided and he made his way back, he saw
her. She was coming out of the elevators luggage in tow.

Ignoring the congratulations from
fans and colleagues, he made a bee line towards her.

By the
time he caught up to her, she was already at the desk handing the desk clerk
her room key. Magnus grabbed hold of her arm.

"Ava,
what are you doing?
"

"
What's it look like? I'm leaving," she said and
politely asked the clerk to call a taxi.

"Ava
please thi
s is ridiculous, look I told you that
I had no idea that she was going to show up here. Don’t you remember what I
told you just a few moments ago?" He said and pulled her to a quiet corner.

"Ava,
I meant what I said, I want us to be together. Jeanette means nothing to me,
you have to know this."  Panic set in and he knew that there would be
no changing her mind, at least not tonight anyway.