Blinded By Destiny

Chapter 5

Emery's POV

Which selfish prick thought it was a good idea to make a floor to ceiling bookshelf, I thought angrily as I stood on my tiptoes in the library on campus. And of course, the book I needed was on the top shelf because karma wanted to make an example out of me.

Damn, I really needed it too. I stretched a little further, wiggling my fingertips. I could feel the spine of the book brush against my nail. It was right there, so close, taunting me for my shortness.

Thursday had finally rolled around and I was exhausted. I was on my lunch break and currently using it as a way to catch up on my studies that I hadn't completed last night.

There weren't enough hours in the day and my mind had been preoccupied as of late.

Startling blue eyes flashed behind my closed lids. Colton. I sighed. He had been the only constant thing that plagued me all week.

He wasn't at all what I was expecting. And I wasn't sure that was a good thing. He didn't behave or react how I anticipated. It made me uneasy to be around him because I wasn't sure what he would do next.

I had him pegged as a slacker and someone who just coasted through life like a ship at sail. Instead he was family-driven and loyal to his parents. Colton wanted to please them so much that he was willing to sacrifice doing what he truly loved: soccer.

And he looked as if it was killing him inside, being pulled in two different directions. I knew that look well because I saw it every time I glanced in the mirror.

It was thoughts like these that had kept me up at night because Colton's expression at the lunch table bothered me, when he mentioned his parent's insistence on getting a worthwhile degree.

I hadn't expected to feel sorry for him. But I did, incredibly so.

I felt a brush against my butt. "Need a hand?"

I stumbled off my tiptoes, jolted.

Heavy-lidded, cobalt eyes were staring at me when I whirled around. A tall, dark haired stranger leered down at me with a lazy smirk gracing his lips.

My stomach soured.

"No thanks," I sneered. "I got it."

His lip curled up. "Didn't look that way to me." With each word his body seemed to lean in closer.

I put my hand out in reflex to stop his body from colliding with mine. I was growing both flustered and uncomfortable by his close proximity and the feel of his hand on my ass moments ago.

"Looks can be deceiving," I muttered. I could feel my chest rising and falling faster at his nearness. "I was just fixing to grab it before you appeared." So leave.

His mouth parted on an intake of air and I could feel my face twist up in revulsion.

I refuse to believe guys were oblivious to women's reaction to them. They had to know when they were making someone nervous and continued to do it on purpose as some kind of controlling, power-tripping mission they were on.

Let's face it, if mister grabby hands here wanted to actually help me, he could have grabbed the book and given it to me already.

All I wanted was for him to go far away from me and not return.

"I'm Caden." He smirked.

"I don't remember asking," I replied. My hand pushed against his chest to maneuver around him when he leaned over further, blocking my way as he braced his arm on the bookshelf.