“I’m Apple,” I say without hesitation. “And you are?”

“Teddy.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the two girls that were talking to Jensen walking away. I hold my finger to Teddy. “Hold that thought.”

He might be the sexiest freshman on campus, but #priorities. I rush over to Jensen when he has his back turned and he’s walking away. Just like I had done with Teddy, the brown-eyed stud, I tap Jensen on the shoulder.

He turns around to see me and lets out a frustrated sigh.

“Damn,” I say out loud, taken aback by his lack of enthusiasm at seeing me.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well… I’m not here for the free food.” I laugh, desperate to dissipate the tension in the air. If he’s going to become annoyed with me for no apparent reason, this is going to be a lot harder than I thought. Unfortunately, he’s not having it and crosses his arms and pushes his tongue against his cheek. I switch tactics, from comedy to soul-searching. “I don’t want to sound like a loser, but it’s been hard to find people to connect to on a spiritual level.” Yeah, I did that. I stole Cece’s mantra.

He leans in close. “I don’t know how to say this with any tact, so I’m just going to spit it out.” He gets closer still, so nobody around can hear him. “I know you. You have a bad reputation and I cannot figure out why you’re here.”

“I think you have me confused with someone else.”

“It’s not hard to forget the girl who would always sit in the back row when she actually had the courtesy to show up to class. It is hard, however, to forget the girl who was giving oral to a fellow student during a mid-term exam.”

My eyes bulge and I just know that the look on my face isn’t too different from the look that’ll be on Cece’s face when she learns what the word cunninlingus means. Shock. “You saw that?”

“And I didn’t report it. So, let’s be honest. I deserve that much. Why are you here?”

“You have pretty eyes,” I say, taking notice of them for the first time. They’re the perfect shade of Blue, fit for an oceanic backdrop. They’re powerful and deep, swirling with hints of a past unknown. “They’re beautiful,” I continue, being honest but also working my magic.

“Why are you here?” His face is stern, his lips clenched tight together.

“Inner peace is so hard to find…” I run out of steam long before the bullshit train can even depart the station. “Uhm…”

“You’re wasting my time.” He gives a slight nod of his head, before turning to hightail his ass away from me.

“Fine,” I shout and I wait for him to turn around. He doesn’t. He’s too smart and I’m going to have to rethink my entire strategy. This whole I wanna be a saint act isn’t going to get me in his pants, let alone get him to the point where I’m able to break his heart. The only thing that’s currently at risk of being broken is my ego. I rush to him until I’m in perfect stride with him.

He shakes his head in annoyance. “Oh Good. You’re back.”

“I’m going to come out and say it,” I say through ragged breaths. I’m flustered and it’s taking my breath away. “I’m full of shit.” That stops him in his tracks. His interest is officially piqued. “I don’t give a damn about purity or Jesus or two out of the three Jonas Brothers.”

“Jonas—“

“Nick managed to escape the occult.”

“I have places to be, Apple.”

“I need your class to graduate and I know it’s unsavory to ask—“

“I’m not going to sleep with you for a retroactive A.”

That hadn’t even crossed my mind, but I’m going to add it to the to-do list. If I can get a boost to my GPA from this endeavor then fuck yeah. “That’s not even close to the direction I was heading. You’re going straight to Texas there, and I’m standing up here in freezing-cold Canada.” I shove my hand into my pocket and swivel on my feet. “Like I said, I need your class to graduate. And I want to graduate on time, so please don’t tell me I have to take it in the summer.”

“You’ll have to take it in the summer.” He nods as if we’ve reached the conclusion of our conversation and prepares to leave me standing in the middle of the quad.

“I’ll do whatever it takes.”

He looks over his shoulder and smiles. “We’re back to that again, huh?”

“Not that.” I rush around to the front of him and pace backward. I have no intention of not getting what I came here for. “I know it’s past the deadline to take an incomplete and finish the coursework.”

“That’s an astute observation.” His brow furrows in the most patronizing way possible. “Color me shocked that you’ve read the student handbook.”

“I’ve never opened the damn thing.” I smile, because I’m too cute. Way too cute. I straighten my expression into one more in line with seriousness. “My advisor informed me of the rules and all the blah, blah, blah. She also said that deadlines are like Jello.”

“They only taste good with alcohol?” Bless his sarcastic soul. If he wasn’t standing in my path to victory over Brick, he could have been a keeper.

“You’re full of surprises, sarcasm and wit and I can’t tell the difference when you speak.”

“Get to the point.”

“Right,” I say and throw my hand to my chest. “Walking in reverse is quite the workout. That’s code for you should stop walking.”

He comes to a stop and shakes his wrist, showing off that beautiful watch. “You have a minute.”

“I’m asking you to consider playing loose with this whole deadline issue. It would mean the world to me and I’ll do anything.”

“I can’t help you.”

“Please.” I throw my hand to his chest, getting a handful of muscle in the process. Wow, I say to myself. This is going to be so much better than I had dreamed. I’d prefer to skip over this tirade of menial banter and skip to the undressing portion of the event. But, the setup is a part of the game. “Look, I know you think I’m a spoiled, entitled, occasionally racy brat, but the truth is that I can’t afford another semester. Not even one more class. My parents are broke and my scholarships have dried up after getting an ‘F’ last semester of which you had nothing to do with.”

“I’ll think about it,” he huffs and crosses his arms.

“That would mean the world to me.”

“I have conditions.” He looks away and shakes his head, as if he can’t believe he’s even considering this. “My assistant, Eve, left school last month with no explanation—“

Oh, shit. Eve was Brick’s last conquest. The girl he seduced and destroyed before he ever set his sights on Tyra Young. This is the very fucking definition of coming full-circle.

“You’re not qualified to be a teacher’s assistant, but you could help me grade papers and report attendance. Stuff like that. We’ll work around your schedule.” He exhales and cracks a wide smile, showcasing sparkling white teeth that would give Brick a run for his money. “A blowjob or two wouldn’t hurt either.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “So much easier—“

“I’m kidding,” he snarls and shakes his head again. “Something tells me I’m going to regret this.”

That’s for fucking certain.

4

FOUR YEARS AGO

Freshman year seems like yesterday. I was still a girl afraid of my own shadow, terrified to let anyone in. Who could blame me? I tried to put prom night—and Mason—behind me, but that wasn’t as easy as it should have been.

Mason was wrong. Our lives weren’t heading in such different directions. Imagine my shock and horror to discover he was in my Intro to Psych class. Thankfully, that was a class in a lecture hall with a few hundred other students. I hid away from him in that gargantuan room, preferring to hug the back wall.