Page 41 of Mind Maze

“I’m going to run to the ladies’ room. Want me to grab you anything on my way back?”

“More scones,” I say with a smile. “Put them in a box, though, so I don’t eat them all. I want Kaitlyn to try them.”

Eva leaves me and I polish off the rest of the plate of scones. I’m just cleaning off my sticky fingers when I feel a presence near me. I expect to see Eva, but a man stands far too close for my liking.

“Um, hi,” I rush out in a startled tone. “Can I help you?”

The man, probably late thirties or early forties, stares at me. No, he stares through me. As if I’m not even sitting here. To say he makes me uncomfortable is an understatement.

Maybe he’s looking for someone outside.

I note he has a tattoo peeking out above the collar of his coat. The muscle in the side of his neck flexes and relaxes over and over again.

“Sir?” I say a little louder this time. “Can I help you?”

His blue eyes lock on mine. Being snared in his gaze is unnerving. There’s just something…off…about this man. Like he’s on the cusp of snapping.

Then what?

I keep waiting for someone to intervene, but no one does. Eventually, Eva will exit the bathroom and will notice the strange man beside me.

The man fists his hands at his sides and his lip curls slightly up. That’s when I see it. Rage, fury, hate—it shines like the blazing sun in his stare. It’s terrifying. I try to avoid the news, but every day there’s some whacko who unleashes violence on women all over the world.

I should run.

His body tenses again, like he’s barely keeping from attacking me. Like the stupid prey I am, I sit frozen, too stunned to move.

And then he moves.

Well, someone moves him away from me with a hard check to his shoulder. Then a familiar cologne hits my nostrils. It’s a scent that minutes ago would have angered me, but right now, all I feel is overwhelming comfort.

Caius.

“Love,” Caius growls. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

He strokes a hand over the top of my head as though to physically check for any ailments, then drops a kiss to my lips.

I hate how much my body responds to the sweetness of it all.

The creep from before remains nearby. Caius checks me over once more, then grabs the man by the lapels of his coat. I watch with my mouth open in shock as Caius drags him out of the café and out of view.

What the hell just happened?

Whatever it was, Caius just saved you.

Caius

“Supernova.”

The man with the dead, soulless eyes continues to stare past me at the café but doesn’t respond to my command.

“Super. Nova,” I grit out, enunciating clearly. “Listen, dammit.”

Despite me having him shoved against the brick wall of the building, my forearm cutting into his air supply, he appears unaffected by his desperate need to look at her.

Romy.

Why?

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