Carnelian (6 page)

“Go to their store sites,” Sim said,
focusing on the file in front of her to the point that she didn’t
even look up while she talked. “They always have a link to their
family webpage.”

“Family webpage?” I asked. That sounded a
bit odd. What family had their own webpage?

“Yeah, something about all the Sangres being
related. They have a family page to keep track of it.” Sim
continued to eat and read the guys’ files.

“Do you think Dee likes brunettes?” Sim
asked, paging through the file.

“It’s not that kind of file.” I took them
back from her, and she opened a book instead.

“Too bad,” she muttered.

I went to the webpage she mentioned and
found the link to their family page. I stared at the old,
gray-haired man in the picture. He was familiar. I had met him
before. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Grandfather knew the man
personally. With all the antiques in the background, the man was
clearly a collector. I clicked through to more pages, but the only
person in any of the pictures was the older man. There were no
pictures of his wife, kids, or even pets. Finally, I found a
biography page and skimmed through it. It mentioned children and a
wife, and yet still no pictures. Seth Sangre and his brothers just
went from confusing to mysterious. I didn’t want to get involved,
but now I wanted to know more. Who were these three guys who had no
past beyond the last four years?

Sim finished her food and her reading before
she had to head off to her next class. I still had thirty minutes
before mine.

“I’ve decided you can have the cute one. I
want the tall one,” Sim added, pointing to Dee’s file on the pile.
I smiled and waved to her. I wasn’t planning to have any of them,
even if he did have the cutest brown eyes.

I watched Sim walk away before shutting down
my computer and packing up my bag. Why couldn’t college life be
less complicated? If I wanted answers to who Seth Sangre really
was, I would actually have to be around him, and I knew his
intentions. I didn’t plan to be anyone’s number twenty-four on
their list of conquests. I was done with that type of guy. I wanted
one that was nice and devoted, not one you had to worry about
running around behind your back and cheating.

My final class of the day went by quickly;
probably because I spent most of the class daydreaming a bit.
Luckily enough I was a great multi-tasker and I was able to write
down notes, even if I wasn’t completely listening. I would have to
catch up later, but for now I was still trying to piece together
everything I knew thus far about the Sangre boys.

After classes, I made my way across the
river to east campus and the sports side of Morton College. The
training center, multiple gyms, the football field, the basketball
arena, and everything else sport related were over on the east
side. I had never actually toured east campus when I came up to
visit Morton. I had no plans to ever need to be over there and
wasn’t really the sport joining type. I wove my way down the
sidewalks to my destination, hoping I was going in the right
direction. When I found the massive grey building with Mitchell
Center plastered across the top of the building in letters that had
to be bigger than me, I realized that, thankfully, I was in the
right place. Outside the front door of the center there were metal
picnic tables scattered all over the lawn. The girls waited at the
tables, talking to each other. I made my way to the other side
where there were just benches. The team should have been done by
now, but I got the feeling from the girls around me that it was
normal for things to be late.

I pulled out my book to ignore all the girls
who were made out to the max with heavy makeup, perfect tans, and
shorts that showed off more than just their legs. I couldn’t tell
if the goal was to show more boob or more butt in what the girls
were wearing. In the middle of the twenty or more girls was the
brunette from my first day of checking into the dorms. She looked
even more made up than when I first met her. The poor guy she was
after was in the sports complex. I pulled out my book to ignore her
when she pointed my direction, saying something to make all the
girls around her laugh. I continued to read even after I heard the
clang of the glass double doors opening, and the girls giggling and
cheering as they flocked to each find their designated man. My book
was way better than watching the public display of affection
surrounding me.

Soon enough a shadow fell across my book. I
didn’t look up until I heard my name.

“Hey Mari,” Ty said for a second time. He
stood before me, freshly showered and smiling from ear to ear. “I
pegged you for the quiet type, but not the overachiever.” I smiled
and stood with my bag on my shoulder.

“I’m actually not an overachiever,” I
teased. “Just don’t tell anyone that. I might lose my job.”

“Yeah, sure,” Ty replied with a laugh. Ty
was right. I had always been an overachiever, but it was easier to
play quiet and mysterious than let anyone know.

“We were hoping that we could get food
first,” Ty replied, shrugging to his non-existent brothers. Both
guys weren’t too far behind, but they caught up numbers of girls,
greeting them with kisses.

“Do they come with the scholarships?” I
asked Ty, pointing to the girls. “Where’s yours?”

Ty laughed and began to lead the way, not
even waiting for his brothers. They seemed too preoccupied to care
anyway. In reality, I didn’t need to meet with all three today as I
just needed to go over their schedules, and I was sure Ty knew what
his brothers were up to as well. Ty led me down the pathway, past a
few buildings before turning into one. I didn’t know there was a
food court on this side of the river until we stepped into a new
building. I could smell the food as we opened the doors.

“How was your first day?” Ty asked, holding
the door for me.

“Not bad,” I replied. It wasn’t as bad as my
first day at Morton.

“Lucky you. I got twenty pages of reading
assigned in my first class,” Ty complained. I had read his file and
Ty was the only one that really needed a tutor of the three. He was
held back a grade from his brothers to catch up on his reading.
That had to be hard for him as his first assignment. Ty led the way
into the building and down the hallway to the line forming.

I was surprised by how full the place was. I
could now see that the majority of the football team ate here after
practice. Luckily I could follow the hulking form of Ty. Even
amongst guys all close to his size, he still parted masses of
people easily. As we got in line, Ty began to pat down his
pockets.

“Sorry Mari, I have to run back to the
locker room. I left my ID there and I need it before they lock it
for the night. Just go ahead through the line and get a table for
the four of us,” Ty replied before parting the masses behind us and
making his way back to the doors we had just entered.

Immediately I was surrounded by large,
hungry college guys. At five foot seven, I was average height for a
woman, but around these athletes I was tiny. Soon enough, I was
swallowed by the masses making their way to the food. You never
stand between a college guy and his food. I was bumped into by some
guy that didn’t even notice. As I began to tip right from being
bumped on the left, someone behind me placed a hand on my hip to
steady me. I turned to thank whoever it was, but stopped as a hum
went through my body. The hand lingered a few more seconds before
pulling away. I turned and found Seth behind me now. I had no idea
where he came from, as he didn’t come in with us, but also couldn’t
help but be a little grateful as he blocked the sea of guys around
us from bumping into me. I turned to walk forward and felt him move
closer. I could feel the heat off of him as his chest was just
inches behind me. He didn’t speak. He didn’t smile. He didn’t say
anything. He just stood behind me, protecting me like a soldier.
Why’d he have to go all chivalrous on me? It was easier to hate a
player and keep away than to hate a player that protects girls. I
didn’t want Seth to have any redeeming qualities.

As I made my way to the front of the line,
Ty caught up to us. He handed his card to the lady at the front
first and I followed.

“We have three meal lines here,” Ty
explained how it was different than the dorm cafeteria. “The line
on the left is vegetarian, the middle is low calorie, and the right
line is normal food.” Ty began walking to the right and I was not
surprised. I didn’t picture Ty as low calorie or vegetarian. I
looked between the lines and decided to follow Ty. The few
girlfriends that came with the football players were all heading to
the middle, but still I didn’t care. Low-calorie food always tasted
like cardboard to me.

After making it through the line, Ty found a
table far in the back that would be a bit quieter. Somehow Dee was
right behind us. It was like they all had some sort of brotherly
mind-link and knew exactly where the other ones were. I sat down
next to Ty and across from Seth. It was a little uncomfortable to
sit and stare at Seth as I ate. The boys surprised me when they
were silent at the table, but they didn’t surprise me when all
three of them wolfed down their food in minutes. All guys are the
same: human vacuum cleaners when it comes to food.

“Guys, I forgot to introduce you to Mari.
Mari is a freshman like me, and is our tutor for biology,” Ty said
as he took the last drink of his soda. How we made it through an
entire meal without them knowing seemed odd to me. “Mari, this is
Seth and Dee.” He introduced them, though it wasn’t necessary. I
nodded my head in thanks anyway.

“Prof. Edwards said we needed to get
together briefly today decide when we will meet,” I said, going
right into what I was assigned to do. The less time I could sit
having Seth stare at me like I was the world’s greatest puzzle, the
better.

The guys all pulled out their schedules for
me to look at. I put them all together as I finished eating. Girls
just cannot compete when eating with hungry guys. I looked down and
was shocked how full their time was. No wonder the girlfriends were
all waiting outside practice. These football guys barely had a
moment free during the semester.

“We are supposed to meet at least three
times a week and one time has to be the day of or after your lab,”
I replied, finally looking up and catching Seth’s eyes. They were a
gorgeous deep brown color and very distracting. With difficulty, I
turned to Ty as I talked; he was not distracting. “We could meet
Monday afternoon, Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon after your
practice,” I suggested, handing their schedules back. The guys all
nodded in agreement, and I wrote it down in my notebook.

“Did you have lab today?” I asked, though I
doubted they did on the first day.

“No,” Ty replied. “It starts next week with
the first full week of classes.”

“Okay, then we don’t need to meet tomorrow.
We can start on Monday,” I added. I really needed to get away from
Seth’s stares. He hadn’t said a word, but he was thinking
something. I packed up my bag and began to stand. “You guys have my
e-mail and cell number in the message from Prof. Edwards. If we
need to cancel or reschedule either way works fine.” The guys all
nodded as I took my tray and left.

I took a deep breath of air as I exited the
building. Something about Seth made things more intense. He hadn’t
stopped staring the whole time and when he stopped my fall when in
line, I swore that I felt a slight hum where he touched me. Maybe
they were in the witness protection program because they were
aliens. Yep, I had read one too many fantasy books lately.

I got only two feet out of the building
before someone was right behind me. I didn’t need to turn around to
know it was Seth. I felt that same hum as he grabbed my arm to turn
me around.

“Wait,” Seth said quietly, like he was used
to being obeyed and didn’t need to use a louder voice. I pulled my
hand free and turned to face him. I couldn’t just walk away like I
wanted to since I was his tutor. He could have a question about the
schedule or something. I waited as he didn’t immediately talk.

“Seth, I need to get going,” I replied. “I
already told my roommate I’d meet her to go to the bookstore.”

Seth looked up and me and paused a minute
more. “Would you go out with me?” he asked. He actually looked
nervous. You’d think after twenty-three girls, he would have this
down by now.

“I don’t think your girlfriend would like
that much,” I answered. What did he think? I saw him kissing that
girl less than an hour ago.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Seth replied.
It was hard to look at him. Either he was lying to me, or lying to
her. I had enough of guys like that in my life. I was going to find
myself a nice, honest guy, not a lying, cheating bastard.

“Could have fooled me,” I answered.
“Besides, it’s against the rules to date someone you’re tutoring,”
I said, knowing it wasn’t exactly true. It wasn’t against the
rules, just frowned upon. Seth nodded and turned away. He didn’t
look deterred by my response. That was a bit confusing, considering
that I had just turned him down. I didn’t think a player would give
up as easily.

As Seth made it to the building, he turned
to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” he replied before going
through the doors and leaving me standing there, confused. We
weren’t meeting tomorrow, and I was sure he knew that.

Chapter 4

Hot Pursuit

Second day of
college was like the first. Sim was late, I was
early, and no one seemed to care that it was the first class. By
lunchtime my load of homework for the weekend had already doubled,
and I was struggling to get ahead of it to have my weekend free. I
had homework in high school but nothing like this. I always got it
done each night, if I had to do anything at all, and never did
homework on the weekend. My weekends were always free. Goodbye to
high school life and welcome to college, where the professors think
you have nothing better to do than read five chapters of boring
material each night. At least it was Friday and no classes for two
days, which meant no additional assignments.