She could not move.
Even though she had envisioned all kind of instances where she would et her forr family and fiancè, she had never imagined it to be at a ti when she was completely unprepared and recovering from a panic attack. Not this soon!
"Lake and Thorne never bit the way you just did, do you know that?"
Confused, she looked up to see Archie staring straight ahead with a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. Didn’t he hear the voice just now? She could not be hearing thi—
"Is that you, Avery?" the voice ca again.
Before she could turn, Archie’s hand slipped around her waist, holding her in place.
"You are Ava now. No need to answer to a dead person’s na," he whispered.
"But he will recognize anyway."
"He won’t," Archie disagreed. "That man is not Brian Walker."
"Then who is he?"
Lowering his eyes to her face, he had a look of disbelief in them when he replied, "How am I to know who he is? I only know the other motherfucker cause you liked him."
"Then why does he sound like Brian?" she asked.
"Prolly cause he looks like him," Archie deadpanned. "You can relax. Excluding that man, no one else is openly staring at you."
"Really?" Avery asked, raising her brows in doubt. Gradually, she felt her tense heart relax and the orchestral music heighten, her ears picking up the resud whisperings and clinking of glasses that echoed around the room. It seed everyone had really diverted their attentions from her.
She looked down at the bite mark on his chest, guilt seeping into her chest when she noticed she had drawn blood with how hard she bit him. Leaning towards him, she placed a kiss on the bruise and allowed the red of her lipstick cover it.
"I’m sorry...Master," she added the last word, barely able to keep her eyes from rolling. But weren’t masters the one who branded their slaves and not the other way round?
"Sorry doesn’t repair shit. If we don’t leave this spot, the attention we will be getting will require you to bite off my arm before you recover." He removed the arm around her waist and reminded, "The man still has his eyes on you. Rember, do not answer to a dead person’s na."
Archie waited until she gave a nod of approval, before helping her turn around completely. The man who had been calling her earlier hadn’t moved yet, but was probably wondering why they were ignoring him.
"Your eyes on Orion. Do not take them off him," Archie ordered.
Avery obeyed, searching the hall for the white haired man that was at the penthouse earlier that day with the CEO and COO of A² Corp. She found him on the slightly raised podium at one end of the room and kept her eyes fixed on him until they got to where he was standing, speaking with a few other n.
"Ava! Been waiting for you for a while now."
She smiled, opening her arms to accept the cheerful embrace of the blonde rushing towards her. Even though they had only separated just a few hours ago, Jodi made it look like they were lost friends that were seeing each other for the first ti in years.
"I will join you in a minute, Jodi. I and Arch have to..."
"Nah, I don’t wanna hear." Placing her hands over her ears, Jodi had a mischievous glint in her eyes when she whispered, "Everyone saw you laying claim on him, in the strangest way I must say. You two might want to take a room upstairs, no?"
"Of course not!" Avery blushed crimson, in spite of herself. She tried to defend herself but could find nothing to say. How was she to explain biting Archie like a dog? She cleared her throat, "I will just speak to him for a few seconds."
She turned to see him standing aside from Orion, his sharp eyes surveying the room like he was looking for sothing...or soone, and she hurriedly approached him.
"You don’t think I should see who the man is that looks and talks like Brian? What if he knows I am not Ava Donovan?" she whispered, before Orion got wind of their presence.
Archie sighed. "Trust , Ava. No one, except those working with , knows who you really are. Last warning, keep your eyes down and refrain from searching through the crowd to see the man’s face."
"What if he cos to and calls—"
He interjected, "Not just anyone can approach a table I am on. Keep calm for the next thirty minutes, then we can leave."
From that mont on, Avery began counting the seconds in her mind until the ti was up for them to leave. Even after she went back to the Jodi and the latter tried to cheer her up in her usual manner, she could only bring herself to force a smile once or twice. Archie was engrossed in a whispered conversation with Orion, while Neil and the rest weren’t present, or so she thought. Since Archie had warned her not to scan the room, she could not check if they were at a different corner of the room or just absent.
"So sorry, Jodi, but what’s the ti now?"
"12 minutes past 8. You sure you are okay? This is the fifth ti you ask for the ti," Jodi replied, worry etched on her brows.
Before Avery could reply that she was alright, Archie chid in, "We have other engagents to attend to so we have to leave now. Can I trust you to spread the news about Ava Donovan’s return?"
Jodi nodded eagerly, "You can. Even though I won’t be doing much as Ava already announced her presence and marked her territory all by herself."
"Great," he approved. Turning to Avery, he offered his hand to her and together, they walked out of the hall, followed by nurous gazes.
Imdiately they were out and under the dark sky, Avery pulled her hand out of his and stopped.
"The man in there, was that Brian?" she asked.
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