Page 19 of Players Break Hearts (Campus Kings #3)

Tucker

I feel Sam’s icy gaze, the tension in the air thick.

Everyone on campus has stared at me with judgmental eyes for the last week.

Sam is no exception. We’ve spoken very little since the latest edition of Dethroned .

Every time I attempt to explain, Sam cuts me off. She doesn’t care what I have to say.

After I finish with the practice test, I slide it across the table in front of Sam. Her eyes shift to the paper and then meet mine for a second before she steals them away. One look into Sam’s eyes causes my skin to prick with tiny bumps.

She lifts the paper and scans my answers, smirking as she reads.

“Can we talk, Sam?” I reach across the table, hoping she’ll meet me halfway.

She stares down at my hand like I have a disease. “Sure. We can talk about how you didn’t bother to read the material. Even with my help, you’re hopeless, Tucker.” Her tone sends a chill down my spine. “Take the time to study on your own.”

“I studied,” I admit. It’s the truth.

“Not hard enough.” She marks the paper with a ton of red ink and shoves it back at me. “You failed, which means you will fail the exam.”

I grab her wrist before she can pull her hand back, and she doesn’t fight me this time. When our eyes meet, she blows out a breath. “You’re mad at me for the wrong reason, and you know it.”

Her eyebrows rise in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m assuming you’ve read Dethroned.” Her expression remains stoic, which tells me she did. “Trent is the father, not me.”

“How do you know for sure? You were with her, weren’t you?” Sam pulls away and folds her hands on her lap. “The kid could be yours.”

“I know for a fact it’s not,” I assure her. “I only kissed her.”

She shakes her head in disapproval. “I’m not sure what to think. You have a terrible track record with women.”

“I love women,” I shoot back.

She chuckles. “All womanizers say the same thing.”

“I’m not a womanizer,” I growl.

She leans forward, her voice a whisper in the quiet library. “Is that so? Then how come you did the same thing to me that you’ve done to every woman you’ve ever been with? How come you can’t commit to anyone?”

“I’m committed to you,” I challenge.

She snorts. “You’re here to save your ass. This has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you because everything is always about you, Tucker. Men like you think the world revolves around them. Do you even know anything about me?”

Her words paralyze me. I’ve never had a woman speak to me this way. The reality of her confession hits me hard, leaving a deep pain in my chest.

“I like you, Samantha, but you’re making it hard for me to get to know you.”

“Because you haven’t tried to know me,” she counters.

“I took you to see the Harry Potter movies.”

“Under false pretenses,” she says. “You lied about being a fan.”

I tug at the ends of my hair in frustration and sigh. “I’m trying, Sam. You’re not wrong about me. I don’t do commitments with women. I never wanted more than one night with a woman… until you.”

“You had the chance three years ago, Tucker.” She balls her hands into fists on the table and leans forward. “The only reason you feel differently toward me now is because you need my help.”

“That’s not true.” I dig my elbows into the table, meeting her halfway.

Our mouths are so close I can feel her breath on my lips.

“After you stood me up for tutoring, and I had to find out who you are the hard way, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.

I still can’t. Maybe I would’ve passed the practice test if you’d stop taking up so much space in my head. ”

I brush my lips against hers, and her mouth opens for me, permitting me access. We stay this way for a few seconds, our breathing erratic, the anticipation of the kiss too much to bear.

“I want to believe you,” she whispers. “Words mean nothing without actions. So show me.”

Before she can utter another word, my lips crash against hers, my tongue sweeping into her mouth, colliding with hers.

Her kisses are tentative as if she’s fighting an internal struggle with herself to be with me.

Part of her hates me for the past. But not at this moment.

She wants me to show her I have changed or can change for her.

I thread my fingers through her hair to deepen the kiss. She moans in my mouth as she rakes her nails down my neck. And then our moment passes with someone clearing their throat loudly next to our table.

“Break it up,” a woman says, annoyed. “No funny business in the library.”

After I grab a chicken wrap from the buffet line in the cafeteria, I head over to the table by the window where my teammates are waiting for me.

“About time you showed up,” Drake says with a smirk. “Were you trading sexual favors for grades again?”

My friends and their girlfriends laugh at my expense.

“Laugh it up, assholes.” I sit next to Jamie, knowing he won’t give me a hard time.

His girlfriend bailed after The Queen ousted him for talking to other girls. It was all a misunderstanding, but Jamie suffered from the news like me.

“Don’t pay any attention to him,” Taylor tells me, smacking Drake on the arm. “He’s an idiot.”

I nod, unwrapping my sandwich from the paper. “I’ll get him back later when he’s least expecting it.”

Drake laughs. “I’d like to see you try.”

“How’s it going with the tutor?” Preston asks with a mouth full of food. “Are you passing?”

I take a few bites of my wrap. “I think so.”

“Don’t think,” Preston says. “You need to know.”

“I got it under control,” I assure him, nudging Jamie to get his attention. “Any new leads on The Queen?”

He shakes his head. “She’s always one step ahead of me.” Jamie scratches the stubble along his jaw, deep in thought. “There’s something familiar about her code. I know it from somewhere, but I can’t remember why.”

“Dude, I don’t even know what that means. Way over my head,” I say.

“Whenever I break through one of her firewalls, I get shut out again. The bitch even wrote a virus into the patch.”

“So, what does that mean?”

Jamie is a whiz with computers. He gets that from his dad.

“It means that she knows I’m on to her. Her code is like poetry. It’s like art,” he says, sounding somewhat impressed.

“I still don’t understand,” I confess.

Preston laughs. “Jamie has a crush on The Queen.”

“No, I don’t,” Jamie shoots back, annoyed. “It’s just…”

“Jamie’s in love,” Drake booms.

“Fuck off,” Jamie growls. “You guys don’t get what I’m saying anyway, so there’s no point explaining myself.” He slides his legs off the bench, turning away from us to leave before he adds, “Incoming.”

I turn around to see what he’s talking about and find Sam walking down the long aisle between the tables, heading toward us.

I expect her to stop when our eyes meet, but she keeps going until I shout her name.

She glances at me with a tray of food in her hand and a messenger bag draped over her shoulder.

“Is that her?” Drake asks, and I nod. “She’s hot.”

Taylor smacks him again, hard enough for us to hear the skin-to-skin contact.

I beckon Sam with my index finger.

She rolls her eyes, debating whether she wants to approach our table. With some hesitation, she strolls over to my side, her eyes pointed down at me. “What do you want, Tucker?”

Preston laughs, shoving more food in his mouth. Jamie stares at Sam in awe, as if he’s shocked a girl would ever be so rude to me. Taylor whispers into Drake’s ear.

“Sit with us.” I pat the open bench next to me, and her eyes follow my hand. When she doesn’t budge, I add, “Please.”

She bites her cheek, mulling over my offer. “I guess I can stay for a few minutes.”

Why does she have to play so hard to get with me? She drives me fucking crazy. Sam takes her place next to me and scans the faces at the table before looking at me to make an introduction.

“This is Sam,” I tell my friends. “She’s my tutor.”

“And your TA,” she adds.

Until now, only Jamie knew Sam was my teacher.

“Hey, I know you,” Taylor says to Sam. “You work for the newspaper, right?”

“I’m an associate editor at The Strickland Gazette ,” Sam says with a smile.

Even I didn’t know this about her. She’s right about me not taking the time to learn a damn thing about her. I have to step up my game if I will ever impress this girl. The old Kane tricks won’t work on her.

“I thought so,” Taylor says. “You look the same as your picture online. I read your last article about the ‘Top Ten Ways to Stay Ahead of Your Assignments.’ It was brilliant. I started using all of your tips, and they work.”

Sam smiles. “Thank you. I didn’t think anyone read The Gazette .”

“I read it, too,” Jamie says. “You’re a very talented writer. Tuck lucked out getting you as his tutor.”

I love that my friends are taking a liking to Sam, but they are making it apparent that Sam was right about me.

I should have known, at the very least, that she works at the school newspaper.

Have I ever asked her a single question about herself?

We discussed the past and how she could help me graduate, but the focus has never been on her.

I brush my fingers along her arm and whisper against the shell of her ear, “I should have known that about you.”

She glances at me. “There’s a lot you don’t know.”

Her tone doesn’t carry its usual irritation or condescension. Instead, it’s level and soft.

“I plan to fix that,” I promise. “Starting this weekend.”

A smile touches her lips. “How do you intend to do that?”

I don’t know, but I will figure something out before Saturday. “It’s a surprise.”

“I’m not a fan of surprises.”

She’s so damn stubborn, but that’s also what I like about her.

“I’ll make it worth your while.”

She drags her teeth along her bottom lip, and I fight the urge to kiss her.

“Okay,” Sam whispers, holding up her index finger. “You have one shot. Don’t blow it.”

I flash one of my boyish smirks.

Challenge accepted .