Good Guy

Part One

Cleo liked to believe that she was a good student.

She'd graduated high school with passing grades. She'd placed above average on all her college entrance exams. None of her teachers or schoolmates had ever filed complaints against her. She was even on good speaking terms with the principal. Basically, she had a clean academic record.

But it was going to be tainted if she came late to her first day of university.

"Oh my fluttering god!" Cleo exclaimed as she made a mad dash towards the next set of stairs. Brown locks of hair streamed behind her as she rounded the next corner, eager to get to class before the bell rang. She glanced at her phone as she ran, urging her legs to pump faster, because there were only ten minutes left and she didn't even know which way her room was. "I'm going to be so frigging late!"

The white columns and bulletin boards of the building blurred past as she shoved her phone into her pocket and booked it towards the next corner. As she turned, her hair whipped out and around, slapping over her eyes. It impaired her vision, so much so that she didn't realize the grip carpet she'd been running on shifted into slippery floor tiles. "Woah!"

Cleo's sneaker squeaked as she lost her footing, and her momentum threw her upper body ahead of her feet. Her textbook flew from her hands as she toppled forward. She gasped as she crossed her arms, sure that her nose was going to slam into the ground if she didn't.

In the small moment where she tried to brace herself, two arms came around her and broke her fall.

"Careful there," a male voice spoke from above her, half-amused and half-horrified in tone because of what had almost happened. "You were about to hit the floor."

Cleo gulped and thanked all her lucky stars that someone had actually been close enough to catch her. She didn't even notice that she'd run past somebody, another person she could've hit as she sprinted through the halls. Cleo knew she had to apologize to this person, as well as thank him for saving her. "T-thanks."

"Are you all right?" the voice asked as Cleo righted herself. "Why were you running?"

Her cheeks turned hot as embarrassment seeped in. She normally didn't trip over her own feet in front of other people. It was thus a somewhat big blow—the first person she met in her new school would get the impression that she was a klutz. Despite the color rising up her neck, she knew that she had to meet the guy's face. But as soon as she did, her embarrassment doubled in intensity.

The student was perhaps a year or two older than her, and about a head taller. His jaw was chiseled, with a sexy, rough shadow and cleft chin. His nose was straight from the front, but there was just a hint of a notch beneath the bridge. His cheeks were high and sharp, and went perfectly with the crew cut he sported. And his eyes...

He had the deepest, darkest, richest piercing eyes Cleo had ever seen.

Cleo took a step back, surprised by his gorgeous features.

And that's when she noticed what the rest of him looked like.

He was certainly tall, buff and beautiful. Wide shoulders, corded neck, flat stomach, narrow hips—they were all there, and gloriously encased in a fitted black shirt. This he matched with a pair of high-end jeans, as well as black sneakers with white laces. A silhouette tattoo of what looked like thorns and vines twined around his right arm. And was that a silver earring on his left ear?

"Um—yeah." Cleo gulped, not sure if it was a good idea to stay around him for much longer. "I was trying to get to class."

One of his brows lifted, and he too took in her somewhat plainer fashion sense. There was nothing exciting about her, really. Just a green shirt with frilled sleeves, tucked into white jeggings and a pair of white sneakers. "You're a freshman?"