Page 3 of Pack Apollo

"Do you need help carrying all of these?" I ask, slightly shifting my half of the books we recovered from the floor.

Shaking his head, he kindly tries to reject the offer. Unfortunately for him, he reaches to grab his coffee as he says, "Let me just grab my cup and you can stack them on top." Just as his stack wobbles like it's going to fall again.

"You've got your bag, coffee, and everything else," I counter. "We're heading in the same direction anyway so let me help you."

I don't think he means for me to hear his quiet sigh of relief, but I do and have to keep myself from grinning as we start walking in the direction of his classroom.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I don't want to cause you to be late to class," he slyly comments.

"I think my professor won't mind for me doing my good deed of the day," I tease. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that the unspoken rule is that I'm not tardy as long as I beat them there."

He lets out a short laugh that turns louder as I pick up my pace a bit.

"You don't happen to be a Scorpio, do you?" he asks randomly.

I cut my eyes over at him suspiciously, "And if I am? What's that got to do with anything?"

His laugh is loud this time, and it turns the head of a few people walking and standing around us. "It just so happens that I was reading the horoscopes in the paper a little while ago, and it said that they might experience delays throughout the day today causing them to be late to all their appointments."

"You're making that up," I say, surprised that he's able to come up with that on the fly. Not to even mention that he got my zodiac sign right on the dot first try.

"Truly," he responds, nodding at the paper tucked between the books I'm holding.

The shock still hasn't worn off in the next couple of steps to his door, so of course, my brain says,be courteous and let him enter first.As soon as he's passed, I realize I've made a huge error.

Stepping over the threshold, he spins to face me and mouths, "Beat you."

My eyes slowly widen as a smile creeps across my face at how I was just played. He's beaming as he turns back toward the room and carries on as though nothing just happened. Rolling my bottom lip between my teeth, I try to fight the urge that seems to have taken me over. As he passed, his sweet, fruity scent hit me like a ton of bricks. It was like getting to samplethe most savory bowl of Fruit Loops, only a hundred times more mouthwatering. I can smell my own sweet flowery scent calling to him. Almost like it's trying to intertwine with his. If I must admit, it's not a bad combination.

I step out of the doorway and place my back against the wall, closing my eyes. There's no way I'm walking in that room perfuming like a teenager. Especially when it's for the damn professor. It'll be completely obvious, and I'm not about that life today. I try to think of anything other than the alpha in the other room, looking and smelling better than should be legal.

"Everything okay out here?" that sinful voice asks.

Popping my eyes open, I glance to the side to see his head sticking out of the doorway. "Absolutely," I lie, knowing damn well that I won't be telling him the truth. "Just figured that if I was going to be late, I'd be fashionably so."

He chuckles as I squeeze between him and the door frame. The warmth from his body practically burns my skin, and that air seems to get lodged in his throat as he takes a deep breath and doesn't release it.

Quickly, I drop the books off on his desk. Of course, he is directly behind me, and I just can't help but to lock eyes with him out of defiance as I reach out and take the newspaper before making my way to my desk. I can swear that I hear him laugh again under his breath, but I get so distracted with the nasty looks being shot my way that I easily forget about it. I don't feel safe until I take my seat. There have been a lot, and I meana lot, of advances made toward Professor Carver in the past couple weeks. All ones that he's deterred or completely shot down. So, to say that it felt like walking through a war zone just now would be an understatement.

Chapter Two

I set up my phone at the edge of my bright-teal-colored mat. It's at the perfect angle to catch all of my movements when class starts. Until it does, I go ahead and hit record while doing my stretches. I never know which part of the video I could use for posts. Sometimes I'm able to break them down and use multiple parts for different days. I put in my earbuds that are already playing a soft beat, low key song. One of my favorites. It's easy to zone out while I start my stretches.

By the time that I'm done, the once empty room is full, all but a couple open spaces to my left. Trying to not be a nuisance to people, I always position myself in the back of the room when I'm recording. There are too many variables involved in getting people on camera.

Sitting in the cobbler's pose with my soles flush against each other, I watch as the last couple people walk through the door, including the instructor. My eyes stray over to the last man who'd come in as he strolls to the back corner. He seems to always be in at the same time as me. We must be keeping the same kind of schedule. Let's be honest, too, he's very easy on the eyes. Nothing I'd ever complain about having to look at three days a week. He can't be taller than five foot eleven or more. His jawline is sharp enough to cut glass and clean enough to appear that he just shaved mere minutes ago. There's an absence of lines on his face which means two things. One, he's probably less than thirty. Two, he likely doesn't smile very often. The air around him is pure alpha. I don't need to be close enough for his scent to figure it out.

I try not to make it obvious as I continue to watch him pull his hoodie over his head, revealing a snug, white under shirt and making his dark-brown hair wave with the motion. I have the strangest desire to run my fingers through it to check and seeif it's as soft as it looks.

As he begins stretching, his head starts to turn my direction, so I jerk my gaze back to the front, feeling my cheeks warm slightly. I'll definitely have to edit that part from my video later. Talk about the secondhand embarrassment I'd give my viewers. On second thought, I imagine tapping my chin with my finger. A good cringe video would be a perfect change of pace and give them something a little new.

As quick as the thought has come to me, I breathe it back out with the first pose the instructor puts us into. For an hour, I empty my mind of all things and relax into the feeling of my muscles pulling taut with each new pose.

By the time that we're finished, my body and mind both feel rejuvenated. Stopping my recording and my music, I pack all of my things away before rolling my mat up and strapping it to my bag. I take my time doing so, leaving me to be one of the last to leave. When I step out into the hall, a board across the room catches my eye. More so the flyer that's being hung by one of the employees.

"You're hiring a new instructor?" I ask the woman about my age as I make it over to where she has started to walk away.

She gives me a once over that makes me want to recoil. A corner of her mouth pulls up in, what I'm assuming, is supposed to be a polite smile, but is more a sneer. "We are, but we're only accepting applications from people with...certification or experience."

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