Crushed

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses,
places, events and incidents are either the products of the
author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is
purely coincidental.

© 2015 Marie Cole. All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods,
without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in
the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and
certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright
law.

Cover design: Marie Cole

Chapter 1

Claire

My alarm clock sounded and with a
groan I rolled over. I was having an amazing dream that I was
locked in a jail cell with Zac Efron. It ended too soon. I rolled
out of bed, scrubbed the sleep off, got dressed and rushed to my
early morning class. Lots of people didn't like having early
morning classes but I found it to be a relief to have my afternoons
free to do other things, like hang out with my sorority sisters,
study, practice with the cheer squad and people watch. I have a
gift and part of making it work is people watching. I've been doing
it for as long as I remember. This might sound strange but I can
see auras. People are encapsulated in colors and upon first look
there is just one color but when you stare at someone for a long
time you see there are other colors that surround them.

As I stared at the professor
teaching my English class I could see that his aura is mostly
orange. He enjoyed teaching and when I stared to look closer I
noticed that his aura also has hues of red and chocolate. The red
means that the person is a perfectionist and brown radiates from
people who are comfortable in their own skin. There were not many
brown auras in high school but it was appearing much more in
college.

I shifted in my seat as the rest of
the class went by without much incident. As soon as the professor
dismissed the class I stood and went to the dining hall to get some
breakfast. I sat down with my coffee, bagel, and fruit and opened
my lit textbook to start on the reading assignment for the day
after tomorrow. My friend, Merit, came and sat down across from me,
still dressed in her black band T-shirt and gray sweatpants that
served as her pajamas, no doubt.

"Hey, chick, how was class?
Riveting?" She peeled a banana and took a hardy bite, her gorgeous
hazel eyes stared at me. I smiled softly and shrugged my shoulders,
eyes looking up from my textbook.

"As riveting as Early European
Literature can be at 8:30 in the morning. What are you doing up?
It's not noon yet."

"Har har." She stuck her tongue out
at me and I giggled. "The librarian called and said that the book
I've been waiting for has returned. So I rushed my ass over there
to grab it and then came here for breakfast. I'm going back to bed
as soon as I'm done stuffing this banana in my face." And to
emphasize her point she took another large bite.

"Are you going to..." My eyes
shifted around the room and my heart stuttered for a moment when I
saw him. He was tall, so very colossal. He looked like he could
break down one of those large thick castle doors with one broad
shoulder and not feel a thing. His shaggy blonde hair was begging
to be gripped in my fingers and I found myself licking my lips as I
stared at his. Suddenly there was a hand obstructing my view and I
blinked and lost visual contact. I looked at Merit who was glancing
around to see what I saw and then stared at me, a huge grin on her
lips.

"He made you speechless and didn't
even have to say anything to you. I never thought I'd see the day."
I stuttered and stammered as I tried to get words out to prove her
wrong but it wasn't working. He was so beautiful, the image of him
still burned on my mind even as I stared at Merit. There was a warm
feeling between my legs too which I couldn't identify but it felt
good and I wanted to feel it some more. I looked back to Merit and
felt my cheeks warm. She was grinning wider.

"Stop it, okay? He's probably
already got a girlfriend or fifty. I'm not into guys like that." I
ripped off a piece of bagel and chewed it slowly after popping it
into my mouth, trying hard to keep my eyes focused on
Merit.

"Well, that's not what your face
says." She reached across the table and pinched my cheeks, still
grinning. I swatted her hand away and smiled back.

"Fine...he's a delicious looking
guy, I can admit that. But there are lots of good looking guys here
who would most likely give me the time of day."

"You never know until you try, Ms.
Cupid. You're so busy setting everyone else up that you haven't
taken time to set yourself up." She looked over her shoulder and I
followed her gaze as it settled on the hottie who was now sitting
by himself eating a large serving of everything they offered in the
dining hall. He had two trays full of food and a notebook in front
of him. I found myself smiling as I watched him draw with a pencil,
his large hand moved so gracefully, it was riveting.

She looked back at me and I met her
gaze, pretending I hadn't been ogling him again, her eyebrows were
raised, waiting for me to say something, "If I run into him again
I'll consider it fate and I'll talk to him. But for right now I
have to go. I have class in ten minutes." I smiled as I stood and
walked away with my tray in hand.

Ten minutes into my history class
Neil Begley, a guy I'd known since middle school, came strolling
in. The professor made a smart remark about tardiness but, as
always, it rolled off Neil, he absorbed nothing that would crush
his self esteem in anyway. He was a winner through and through.
There was nothing that Neil Begley sucked at. That included getting
girls. Since I've met him I'd been trying to hook him up with a
girl, hoping he'd settle down and at least give love a go. But he'd
always been uninterested in anything outside of the
bedroom.

I hid a smile as he gave me his
panty-dropping wink accompanied by a grin as he passed by me and
sat down behind me. He always smelled great, I'd give the boy that.
I felt him tap me on the shoulder and then the hair on the back of
neck raised as his warm breath caressed my sensitive skin, "Claire,
got an extra pen?" I hid my shivers and leaned down, grabbing a
blue Bic. I sat back up and held it against the top of my shoulder
and a second later I felt it slowly sliding backwards as he pulled
it toward himself.

I smiled to myself. I'm glad that
I'm immune to the wiles of guys like Neil. Not that he'd ever tried
to get into my jeans. We'd been acquaintances for several years, we
hang in the same social circles. He's in the top male fraternity,
I'm in the top female fraternity. Last year we went together to a
few mixers but he always ended up going home with another, less
modest, girl. It never bothered me either. That was Neil, a
playboy. The girls were unable to resist his charming,
boy-next-door good looks.

As I stood up to leave Neil pressed
the Bic into my hand, "Thanks, Claire. See you tomorrow." I looked
over my shoulder at him and smiled.

"Sure will." I winked at him,
slipped my things into my large tote bag and walked out of class,
swaying my hips purposely. A few years ago I was in a fashion show
and afterwards he commented on my sway. To this day I always make
sure I show it off as I walk around him.

I was still smiling as I made my
way across the grass on my way back to my dorm. I slowed, my heart
started pounding and my smile dropped as I spotted the mystery
hottie under a tree directly in my line of sight. I whispered to
myself, "Okay, Fate..." I inhaled deeply to get my wits about me,
straightened my blouse and looked down to take a look. I unbuttoned
the top button and smiled to myself, my white lace bra peeking out
just a little.

I approached him as casually as I
could muster and I prayed to the Gods that he couldn't hear my
heart beating like a speeding train. As I stopped in front of him
he was still looking down at his book. "Hey, mind if I join
you?"

He didn't look up from his book as
he gruffly replied, "No, I don't mind." I cleared my throat softly
and sat down next to him. I was very thankful that I'd decided to
take a shower that morning, I probably smelled like a girl, at
least.

"So you're new? I haven't seen you
around before, unless you've been hiding." I smiled as I crossed my
legs Indian-style, putting my hands on my thighs.

He finally looked at me and my
heart skipped a few beats, his ice blue eyes were even more
incredible up close. "Not exactly hiding, but yeah I'm new. ...You
aren't scared of me?" His dark brows raised in surprise.

"No!" I laughed nervously, "Why
would I be scared of you?" I wondered if he knew in that moment how
hot I thought he was. Did he know I was so nervous that I could
feel dampness under my arms and hoped like hell that I hadn't
forgotten to put my deodorant on earlier?

"You are the first person to talk
to me since I got here." His beautiful azure eyes looked over my
face and, oh my god, did he just gaze at my lips? I licked them and
smiled sweetly.

"I'm sure I won't be the only one.
Are you finding your way around okay?" I took the opportunity to
check him out up close, my eyes dropped to his hands, they were
huge. I felt myself shiver and more of that wonderful warmness
traveled between my legs again.

"Yeah, the map they gave me is
pretty good." He leaned toward me, his shoulder grazed my left
breast and I felt my nipple harden. I gasped and held my breath as
he dug in his back jean pocket. He pulled out a well folded but
wrinkled map that had highlights on a quarter of the buildings on
campus and held it out to me. I took it, glanced at it briefly,
noting the buildings he'd colored bright yellow, and then handed it
back.

"Glad they've taken care of you."
He took the map back, refolded it and stuffed it back into his back
pocket. I was still smiling like an idiot. "I'm Claire." I held out
my hand awkwardly and he gently took it and gave it a couple of
shakes, his grip just a little too tight but it still managed to
electrify me.

"I'm Will. So who is your godly
parent?" He pulled his hand away as I laughed.

"Wow, blunt, aren't you? My father
is Eros." He narrowed his eyes and then his eyebrows lifted as
recognition kicked in.

"Cupid?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's
him."

"Cool...so are you really kick ass
at archery?" I chuckled again and tilted my head to the side
slightly as I gazed into his eyes. I could see his aura flickering
around him. Blues, orange and yellow.

"You know, I've never tried. I do
more traditional girl activities."

"How will you defend yourself?" He
drew his brows down, obviously very concerned about my safety, that
was a good thing, wasn't it?

I looked up as I briefly
contemplated, "Good question. I should work some self defense into
my electives. How will you defend yourself?" I threw his question
back at him with a grin.

"My body. I can hold my own." I
felt my cheeks blush as my eyes dropped and took in the body he had
mentioned. Even under his long sleeved shirt I could tell he was
ripped. His biceps bulged without effort. I cleared my throat
softly and nodded.

"I bet you can."

There was humor in his voice as he
spoke, his voice deep, shaking my nerves and sending more sparks
between my thighs, "Like what you see?"

I looked up to his face and felt my
own getting more heated by the second. "Sorry. I was trying to
envision who your ideal partner would be." His eyebrows perked up
at that and he leaned forward a little, forearm on his raised
knee.

"Who did you see?"

I shook my head gently and shrugged
my shoulders. "No one yet. The matchmaking thing is the trait I got
from my dear old dad. Are you interested in finding love?" It was a
stupid question I could see purple in his aura, he was definitely
interested in finding love, he was very receptive to the idea. It
warmed me some more.