Breaking Bonds: An Alien Romance Adventure

Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE

Three hours. Maeve had paced the loading bay for three hours just hoping and wishing for Teak to come back. She thought that if she could just will him back, then he would appear right there on that platform, a smile on his face, telling her everything was going to be okay.

But no. It had been three of the longest hours of her life and she couldn't even imagine what the hell could take three hours. In and out right? She wouldn't know, having never actually had sex before, but it surely couldn't take this long. If it did, she wasn't sure she wanted any part of it. Who was she kidding? All Teak had to do was look at her and she would be on him in a second.

If she wasn't a coward of course.

"Any sign of him, Maevie?" Roth called over the coms. Keeli and Cookie had stayed with her for a while, Säiph had stayed a little longer and kept her company, but even he'd had enough of her incessant pacing and left an hour ago.

"Obviously not, or I wouldn't be down here pacing a rut in the floor."

Her rude comment was met with silence and she could only assume Roth was trying to check his attitude before coming back over the coms. He knew she'd tell him to fuck off if he had anything negative to say and was satisfied he kept it in check while she was going through this. Sure, Teak was a stranger, in a weird way that made him not a stranger to her at all. She didn't know anything about him, his life, his family, what his favorite color was. If he braided his hair out of habit or was there a reason? Maeve didn't remember any of the dignitaries that came to Ascena Pura over the years having braids specifically, so maybe it was just his thing.

Footsteps broke up her mental list of questions she wanted to ask Teak when he got back, and she stopped in her tracks. She hadn't heard the lift in her mental ramblings, but Roth was standing just inside the loading bay, staring at her.

"What?"

"What do you hope to gain by exhausting yourself waiting for him to come back? Maybe he won't come back. Maybe he wants to stay with her on this station, and you can finally be rid of him," Roth shrugged his shoulders while Maeve filled with rage with his every word, "Hell, I'd be rid of him. Maybe this was for the best, Maevie. This way Zeke won't kill him when we get home."

She'd had it. She'd had it with being treated like a child, being talked down to, and being told her choices were wrong. In two long steps, Roth was shoved up against the wall and Maeve's fist slammed against his face until she felt better, until all her frustration was gone, and she could think again. He never lifted a hand to her, but after her knuckles began to hurt from the impact, she shoved him and stepped back, not wanting to be anywhere near him.

"Don't you fucking call me that again. I'm not a child and I will no longer accept you talking down to me." She tried to catch her breath, "And what I hope to gain is that when Teak, my responsibility, comes back, he will see a friendly face. Whether you care or not, which I know you don't so fucking spare me, he saved our asses back there. He may not have had a choice, but his first instinct was to make sure we all made it back here," she gestured around to the ship, "safely. Even though he wasn't able to. I know that woman, Roth. She was at the auction on Sapili Prime. She wanted him, and I took him from her."

Tears began to wet her eyes and there was no way to bring them back now. They streamed down her face and she furiously wiped them away, "This is my fault! It's my own damn fault this is happening to him and I am powerless to stop it! I can't call Zeke because there is no telling what he'll do, and I am no one! All I can do is be here for him when he comes back."