Free Saphora: vol.1 Retention (The Athena Universe) by Jaz Johnson Page B

second time. She had been sitting there for nearly five hours since she had come in. And quite frankly, people, mainly the staff, were beginning to express their concern. Maverick, the man who was assigned to wait the booth, insisted that he would take care of the problem if there proved to be one. He approached slowly. Cautiously, as advised by his supervisor. They thought that maybe she was drunk. Or maybe on drugs, which wasn’t technically false. She was recovering from sedatives, but that, if anything, made her calmer than the average junkie. But the staff knew nothing of what had been going on with her, so they had to take precautions. Maverick, however slowly he may have been moving, did not seem at all put off by her appearance, as her behavior was nothing but polite.
    “Hi again ,” he greeted, standing beside the table of the booth. Saphora, who had been staring at her phone, jumped in her seat, and looked up at the somewhat familiar face. Being startled annoyed her, and her expression twisted into that of frustration. Maverick responded quickly.
    “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
    She knew he didn’t, and she dismissed it with a shake of her head, and the momentary closing of her eyes.
    “Right. Well … You’ve been sitting here for quite a while now, and-“
    “Do you want me to leave?” she asked, cutting him off as she placed her hands on the table, gesturing that she was about to get up. But Maverick’s hands shot out to distract her, waving a little frantically at her sudden motions.
    “No, no. You don’t have to leave. We were just wondering if you were all right …” he explained, relieved to see her body relaxing and her hands returning to her lap. Saphora shook her head.
    “No you’re not.”
    Maverick’s brows scrunched.
    “What?”
    “You’re wondering if I’m crazy, because I look crazy. You couldn’t care if I was “all right” or not. You all just want to know if you should be prepared to call the police,” she said. Her lips in a hard line.
    Maverick stood stunned, brows raised in response to what seemed like a sudden attack. Almost immediately after Saphora had seen the look on her face, she felt horrible. She was beginning to take her frustrations out on her surroundings. That included the people. Her stress and frustration was pent up, and she could do the things she normally did to get rid of it. So she was a little bit on edge, not knowing what to do. And doing the only thing she could do – be angry. Guilt could be read on her face as she sighed, looking away from the man.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. I’m just … I’m sorry ,” she said, sheepishly looking back up at him. She didn’t know what to expect as a reaction. The sudden change in emotions probably only verified that she wasn’t mentally well. He was silent as he stared at her. It was a lingering silence that made Saphora’s nerves stand on edge.  And then he walked away. Leaving Saphora to watch him in fearful suspense. What if they really did call the police? They were already looking for her. What if they thought she was running from the crime? It would only make her look guiltier. And the fact that she wanted to run away now didn’t make things any better. Her heart rate started to pick up and she thought about calling out to the man to apologize again. But she knew how it would turn out. He would be alarmed as she pleaded to him, making her look even more unstable. They would think that she was trying to hurt him. Or that maybe she was a crazy ex-girlfriend of his. She didn’t want to make herself look like she was in need of assistance.
    She looked back at her phone. Should she call Fran to come get her before things turned hectic? No. She still didn’t want to talk to Fran. Maybe she should just leave the café. But where would she go? The woods? Tebias may have still been there. The house? She was almost certain that Fran would be looking there repeatedly to see if