10

Chapter 81 Snake in the Grass

"

Ava liked the tree house so much, she let Jax seduce her once they were inside and in bed. It was hard to say no when he knew how to make her feel so good. She didn't share that with him because it would make him even more conceited and arrogant. She was saving his life because if his head got any bigger, it might explode.

Their time in the tree house had been so magical, Jax suggested they spend the night there again before their return to New Orleans. The hotel was eager to accommodate him after taking some selfies with him. They were going to put the pictures in their lobby. Jax was discovering it was not only good to be Jax Teller in Charming, but it was good to be Jax Teller everywhere.

Jax and Ava spent leisurely days exploring Louisiana including going to a couple of festivals. One featured a low country boil of shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn. The food was dumped out of a large stock pots onto newspapers spread on picnic tables. Ava hesitated about the cleanliness of eating food off newspapers, but Jax managed to charm her into trying the food. She liked the food, but wasn't sold on the idea of eating food off newspapers. She was prissy that way—she liked food served on plates. She wasn't a snob though; she would eat picnic or street food from paper plates.

Another festival featured crawfish. Ava liked crawfish, when they were all cleaned and deep fried. She didn't like them when they were boiled and served heads and all. A couple of locals showed Jax how to eat the crawfish by sucking the juices out of the head. Ava refused to try it. She had her limits and sucking on a crawfish head was one of those. She did like that Jax was willing to try all sorts of things. It might be a manifestation of toxic masculinity, but she liked it all the same.

That festival had live zydeco music and dancing in the streets. Ava and Jax joined in. It was a perfect night, dancing, taking breaks by finding delicious foods to try from all the food booths and then dancing again. They also discovered that shaved ice was popular in Louisiana. It wasn't just for Hawaii. It was the perfect way to cool down after dancing on hot humid summer nights.

They enjoyed their return to the tree house. It was smaller, cozier than the first one, but it overlooked the lake with a private deck. Jax was doing his part to make things work with Ava by diligently following the advice on the internet and kissing Ava occasionally without making a move to have sex with her.

Apparently this was a big deal for women; they liked to be kissed and didn't want it to always lead to sex. He didn't really understand why a kiss shouldn't always lead to sex, but if that's what it took to keep Ava happy, then he could do that. He didn't mind and it was better than fighting.

This time when they spent the night at the tree house, she'd ordered a case of Muscadine wine sent as a gift for her father. She didn't think he would like the wine and he would end up giving it to her. She also ordered two cases sent to her. She'd even sent a case to the clubhouse as a surprise. She could afford to be generous; she was using the credit card her father gave her.

It felt strange ordering wine for Jax and her to drink. She was planning for the future and it just felt strange to think about the future. Along with never being in a relationship that lasted more than two weeks, she'd never planned for a future with a guy. She just took things a day at a time. It suddenly struck her as odd that she would need to plan for a future with Jax—even if that future was only going to last for three years.

She must be losing her mind a little because, normally when she thought about splitting with Jax, it made her happy. Now the idea that they would part ways made her feel—sad. It was a big change from wanting to hire someone to kill him during those first turbulent days in Hawaii.

Once more, Ava wished they could just travel and have fun together until the three years was up; marriage wouldn't be so bad then. For his part, Jax seemed to actually be looking forward to returning to Charming. Ava didn't understand that. There was nothing to do and it was a boring small town.

Once they were back in New Orleans, they spent another day apart. Jax went on a boat that followed alligator hunters around. It was safe because they were in a separate boat and watched from a safe distance. The guide did have a handgun on his hip and a rifle just in case or to look cool for the women on the boat. It was just like the TV show Swamp People right down to the hunters' Cajun accents.

The hunters caught one fat alligator that was over twelve feet long. The ten tourists on the boat including Jax took turns getting pictures taken with the dead gator hoisted in the air with a winch at the boat dock to show a comparison between the size of a man compared to the gator. The hunters beamed with pride when it was weighed in at over 600 pounds. The hunters shared their belief that this had been the alpha alligator who had been eating up smaller gators. They had given it the nickname of "Big Bite".

Jax wandered around the streets of New Orleans when he got back until he found a small jewelry store. He'd gotten Ava a pearl ring when they were in Hawaii and he wanted to get her something from New Orleans. The woman at the jewelry counter suggested a pair of gold fleur-de-lis earrings with diamond cutting on them to give them sparkle. The fleur-de-lis was the symbol of New Orleans and gold was one of the three colors of Mardi-Gras, the other two being purple and green. Jax selected a small delicate pair of gold fleur-de-lis earrings that he was certain Ava would love. On the way back to the hotel, he found a street vendor who had a pair of fleur de lis earrings covered in green crystals. He thought they would like nice with Ava's reddish brown hair and she wore a lot of green. He got these earrings for her too.

Ava wandered around and found some street vendors selling leather wrist straps with a fleur-de-lis in nail heads. She thought Jax would like one in black. She got one in green leather for herself and another in black. She didn't think Jax would like one in green. She only had ever given presents to her father and Jeeves at Christmas and her father always returned the gift she gave him no matter how hard she tried to get him something she thought he would like.

There were also several tourist shops that had T-shirts with a large fleur de lis on them. She got Jax one in large in black for him and one in large for her because she liked the loose fit. She also got one in green that reached to her knees that would make a great sleep shirt. She added a couple of handfuls of pecan pralines they could enjoy as snacks on the plane ride back.

She didn't really know a lot about guys. Maybe that was why her longest relationship lasted less than two weeks. Her time with Jax on their honeymoon was longer than any relationship she'd ever been in.

She felt shy and uncertain when she gave him the wrist strap afraid that he would look disappointed—the look her father usually had on his face after a gift from her, but he'd smiled and been delighted. He kissed her and immediately wrapped it around his wrist. She put on her black wrist band so they would match. He even liked the black T-shirt she got for him. He tried it on and it fit perfectly. She'd been so worried he wouldn't like her presents.

They spent days wandering around the beautiful and historic city, spending most of their time in the French Quarter close to their hotel. Near the end of their stay, they had scheduled a midnight tour of New Orleans' above ground cemeteries including a visit to voodoo priestess Marie Laveau's grave. She would never have had the courage to go on a tour alone, but with Jax by her side, she felt safe. It was strange. No one had ever made her feel safe before.

He stayed close to her during the cemetery tour. They saw Marie Laveau's grave. The tombstone was marked with X's. The tour guide explained that some thought the X's were made by people asking for wishes to be granted. There were also flowers and other offerings on her grave.

Ava wandered off to look at a crypt while Jax took pictures with a few people. It was so strange to see a cemetery all above ground. The guide had cautioned them that it was better to tour the cemeteries with a tour group because tourists had been mugged by robbers hiding behind tombstones.

Just as Ava was about to take a step intent on trying to read the inscription outside a crypt, Jax caught up to her.

"Ava, don't move," Jax said, his voice low and urgent.

Normally, Ava would do the opposite of what she was told, but the tone of Jax's voice made her obey.

"Why?"

"There's a snake near you. Just stay still and it will go away in a few seconds."

During the trip to watch gator hunting, the captain of the boat had told them that recognizing venomous snakes in Louisiana was easy because their eyes had vertical pupils. Jax was pretty sure the snake near Ava had vertical pupils. She began to shake.

"Ava, you're going to be OK. It doesn't want to hurt you. Just stay still until it moves away."

"Where is it?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"It's a few feet away. Don't look down."

Jax was afraid that she was going to panic if she looked down and saw how close it really was to her. If she moved, the snake could feel threatened and bite her. And sometimes, snakes just bit people even if they didn't feel threatened. He knew that standing still was the best strategy.

Ava shut her eyes. She didn't want to see the snake. She'd watched a TV show that showed people getting bitten by venomous snakes and all the horrible things that could happen. They could lunge half the length of their bodies. She wished she didn't know that. She was never going to watch another TV show with snakes again.

"It's moved away into some bushes," Jax said. He walked up to her and wrapped her in his arms, holding her trembling body against him. "You're OK now. You're safe," he whispered softly against her hair.

"You saved me. If you hadn't warned me, it would have bitten me."

"Of course I saved you," Jax said. When he saw the snake within easy striking distance of Ava, he'd tried to figure out a way to put himself between Ava and the snake, but there wasn't one. He didn't want Ava to get hurt. He didn't care what happened to him; he just wanted to protect her. He didn't know why he felt like that, he just knew that he did.

"You're the best," Ava replied. She meant it and that was a shock to her. Jax was really proving himself to her.

"I'm never going to let anything bad happen to you," he told her.

They returned to the tour bus and visited another cemetery. This time Ava stuck close behind Jax who was on high alert for snakes.

The next night, they went on a haunted places tour. Ava was a little hesitant to go on the tour but Jax assured her that a ghost wouldn't attach itself to her. They did get to see a little ghost activity at home when one of the guys on the tour taunted the ghost to do something and a book flew off the shelf narrowly missing the man's head. The amused tour guide told the guy that if Max the ghost had wanted to hit him, he would have done so. Ava just gripped Jax's hand tighter, but he seemed unafraid.

The next evening before they were due to fly back to Charming, Jax gave Ava the gold fleur de lis earrings and the green crystal covered fleur de lis earrings. She'd liked the pearl ring, but she figured it was a ploy to get her to have sex with him. The earrings meant more to her because he wasn't giving them to get her to have sex with him.

She put the green crystal earring in her left ear and a gold earring in her right ear before running to the mirror to check them out. Both looked nice. The green were more casual and the gold were dressier. She loved the way both earrings caught the light. She gave him an enthusiastic kiss when she thanked him.

Jax quickly converted Ava's enthusiasm into an opportunity to seduce her into having sex with him. He hadn't gotten the earrings for her to get her to have sex with him, but while she was so happy one thing led to another.

The morning they were flying back to Cali, they once more ate beignets at Café du Monde. That had become part of their morning routine. It's famous for its beignets—pillowy deep fried squares of yeast dough served warm from the fryer and heavily dusted with powdered sugar. Jax ate his with black coffee while Ava preferred café au lait with hers.

At the airport they shared a Muffaletta sandwich. It's a large sandwich usually served on special Muffaletta rolls in New Orleans or ciabatta or focaccia outside the city, soppressata, mortadella, capicola, provolone cheese, olive salad and giardiniera. It's definitely not a healthy sandwich since it's stacked high with high fat cold cuts.

When they got on the plane, Ava didn't take her Xanax to calm her down for the return flight. Having Jax with her, kept her calm. He held her hand when the plane took off and she forgot about worrying that it would plummet to the ground and they would all die in a fiery explosion of jet fuel.

"I'm so worried that we aren't going to be happy when we get back to Charming," Ava confessed.

"What could go wrong?" Jax asked her with a smile. "You've got me by your side."

Ava couldn't shake the feeling they were flying into hell.

"

Author's Note: The information about snakes is correct as far as Louisiana's venomous snakes goes, the info about Marie Laveau and Mardi-Gras is also right.

Now that Jax and Ava have returned to Charming, the honeymoon is definitely over. Married life isn't a Hallmark Movie.

Over the last two weeks, I have been plotting the last third to quarter of the story. Lots of plot twists and surprises ahead and I'm going to be writing shorter chapters because that's right for the next section of the story and I'll write longer ones when it feels right to me.