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“That girl was so much hotter than Rachel.”
He shrugged his shoulder. “I wouldn’t know. Neither are my type.” His eyes flitted down as he looked at my clenched hands. “Like you said, I’m only here to provide you with the best tutor we’ve got. Nothing else.”
He was wheedling himself out of it, and I couldn’t blame him. I did ask him for the best tutor, and he provided her on a plate. Too bad she looked good enough to eat.
“How the hell have I never seen her before?”
Ralph mewled. “She’s not exactly social and spends more of her time in classes or labs. She spent a little time at the hockey rink last semester, but that’s a story I’m sure she won’t want me to get into.”
“What the hell am I supposed to do now?” Looking at the carpet tiled floor, I couldn’t comprehend how I was going to get myself out of it.
“Grovel like you’ve never grovelled before, but I’ll be honest with you. I think she’s a lost cause. She already hates athletes, and you’ve just made this a thousand times worse.”
“And there’s no one else?” He shook his head. “What about Kinsey?”
“The Teaching Assistant for Professor Murphy?” I nodded. She was the other person I’d heard good things about and maybe she’d take me on if she knew I was willing to pay her triple rates. “No. She’s taking on three more classes this year and stopped tutoring.” He slapped my shoulder and gave it a squeeze like we were friends. We weren’t. “There’s no one on campus as good as Aster. In all honesty, if you want to be on the team next year, Aster’s your meal ticket.”
I stared at the door again, regret filling my bones in a way I’d never felt before because how the hell was I supposed to come back from that? There was no way she was going to talk to me again, let alone tutor me.
Fuck. I really did screw myself over.
Chapter 4
“I hate you! You’re the worst thing I’ve ever laid eyes on!” Funny, that was exactly how I felt about Tanner Joyce, and I couldn’t help but feel at one with the angry growls coming from the girl in my dorm hallway.
A jersey chaser desperate for a meal ticket.
The words echoed in my brain as I tried to make sense of them. Thatguyreally thought I wantedhim?I inwardly groaned because it sounded so much like the words Connor used to ‘break up’ with me. It was all a bunch of bullshit, but I couldn’t help thinking that Tanner must have known about it. Connor told people. Worse, he made people think that was all I was looking for, and I shouldn’t be surprised that another athlete was willing to do his dirty work. They were all the same. Insufferable.
“Why did I ever think you’d be useful?” I kept my head focused on the floor because I was still so enraged with Tanner, I was worried that I might take it out on the girl who was clearly having more problems than me today. It was only when I heard desperate and strained banging that I whipped my head up to see she was in a losing battle with her suitcase.
Granted, it wouldn’t have been hard since the suitcase was double her size. But even as she kicked it methodically, she was grunting like it was hurting her more than the bag. I couldn’t help but watch in fascination. With each blow she landed, her hair bounced elegantly across her shoulders, making her look like she styled it just for this moment. Either that, or she put so much spray in her hair that a fight with her bag wasn’t going to stop her from looking good.
Frustrated to the point of tears, she dropped onto the bottom concrete step, and kicked her bag with one final painful mewl before giving in. “Why couldn’t things just work for me for once?”
She dropped her head into her hands and breathed so heavily, I thought she might be having a heart attack.
I cleared my throat, announcing my presence. “You might have better luck with the elevator,” I pointed out, only letting her know because she was taking up so much room on the stairs, she was making it impossible for me to use them. Even with Tanner embarrassing me, I refused to let him get in the way of getting my ten thousand steps in.
Whipping her head up, she gasped loudly, her big, green eyes widening in shock as she looked at me. Her eyes glistened like pretty jewels, and something about them felt familiar, but I wasn’t sure what.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.” Her shoulders relaxed, and she quickly wiped her cheeks, hiding any obvious discontent. “I would say I’m sorry for berating my bag, but he deserved it.”
She gave her bag another little kick, and it rolled forward, stopping a few feet in front of me.
“The elevator is usually broken, but I think you’re in luck. Todd, the maintenance man, got annoyed that I kept offering to fix the elevator myself and actually did his job for once,” I grumbled, adjusting my bag strap.
Todd was yet another man that was doubtful of my abilities, and I’d had enough of those in my life.
Her full lips thinned as she smiled and looked down the hallway and then back at me. “Great. Thanks for that.”
Clasping the handle of her bag, she was about to walk past, but I made a noise, which made her stop. “I’m sorry. Did you say something?”
Dammit.
I had hoped to walk away from this encounter with nothing more than being a good Samaritan as I completed my steps, but it seemed my mom’s words had gotten to me. I was trying to bepleasantto her.Something I wasn’t used to doing, but after the encounter with Tanner, I felt like I needed to prove my mom and everyone else around me wrong.
“Have we met?” I asked, not sure what it was about her that was bugging me. She just seemed so familiar.
