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Boomer showed up about halfway through the party with some shady-looking guys. Everyone seemed torn between hailing him as their potential hero or being wary of his antics. He was known for trouble. If something went down tonight, it would be bad for the team. But all Stacia saw was him drink a shit-ton of beer and generally harass a bunch of unsuspecting cheerleaders. Not the best behavior but certainly not worthy of his reputation.

Stacia abandoned Whitney with her friends long enough to head back to her bedroom for another drink. She stumbled into the room to find a couple making out on her bed. “Get the fuck out.”

The couple glanced at her and then scurried out, embarrassed. She hadn’t even seen who they were. She shut the door behind them and then moved over to her stash. As she was pouring herself a drink, the door opened.

“Get out,” she called again.

“Hey, baby. I got something stronger than that if you in,” Boomer said, sidling up behind her.

“What are you talking about?” Stacia asked. She added some cranberry to the large pour of vodka, and when she turned to look at him, she found cocaine held out in front of her face. “Holy shit!” Stacia stumbled back and poured half of her drink onto the white carpeted floor. “What are you doing with cocaine?”

“It’s the good stuff. Come on. I know you down for a line.”

Then, without further ado, he started cutting a line on her nightstand.

“You cannot do cocaine!” she yelled at him. “You have to play next weekend. If you get drug-tested and you fail with cocaine in your system, forget missing a few games; you’re out! Don’t be an idiot.”

Before he could put his head down toward the substance, she swept her hand over the cocaine. The powder spread everywhere, landing in the carpet, on the bed, and on their clothes. Boomer sprang up and threw Stacia back against her bookshelf. Her head and body slammed back against the wood, and she yelled out.

“What the fuck you think you’re doing, bitch? Do you know how much that cost?” Boomer yelled in her face.

“Your fucking career!” she shot back. “You’re welcome!”

Then, he backhanded her. She hadn’t seen it coming. His hand cracked against her cheek, and she saw stars. Her hand flew to her cheek to protect herself, but it was too late. Her entire face stung. Her eyes watered. Her mouth was open wide.

“Don’t fucking touch my shit when I’m offering you the goods,” Boomer spat in her face before striding out of the room, as if nothing had happened.

And, to everyone else at the party in that moment…nothing else had happened.

STACIA STUMBLED OUT OF HER ROOM
in a dizzy haze. Her drink was forgotten on the floor where she had dropped it. Her room was a disaster. Her heart was hammering. She couldn’t even process what had just happened.

No man had ever laid a finger on her in violence in her life. Not once. This was…unthinkable.

Boomer was missing by the time she made it out to the backyard. His shady friends were gone, too. Bryna and the girls were hanging out in their own circle and hadn’t yet noticed her shaken return. A part of her didn’t want them to see her like this, but she couldn’t keep it from them. Boomer deserved to pay for what he’d done.

She signaled Bryna, who’d finally looked up and noticed her.

Bryna wandered over. “Finally time to go to Posse? This party blows,” Bryna said. Then, she stopped and got a good look at Stacia. “What happened? Why is your face red?”

The fresh tears welled up in her eyes. “Can we go?”

Bryna’s eyes widened, and she nodded. “Is everything all right?”

“Not really,” she admitted. “I’m going to go find Pace.”

“Wait…Stacia?” Bryna called, reaching for her arm. “What’s wrong?”

“Just…can I stay with you tonight?”

Bryna nodded. “Of course. I’ll get the girls. We’ll go.” She left Stacia’s side to round up their friends.

Stacia walked back inside. She grabbed the first person she knew. “Hey, have you seen Pace?”

The guy shook his head and kept walking.

She asked a couple of more people without getting a good answer. Just as she was about to give up and leave with the girls, Pace and Lindsay staggered out of his bedroom. Lindsay was giggling like a schoolgirl and wiping at her mouth. Pace was smiling contentedly, as if he’d just had the best blow job of his life…if not more.

Stacia froze at the sight. It was like a second slap in the face. They might have agreed that they could date other people and bring them home, but Stacia had never actually envisioned this moment. She’d never thought that he’d be so callous, especially with someone like Lindsay, who was only using him.

She closed her eyes and tried not to cry. With a deep breath, she finally met Pace’s eyes and heard Lindsay giggle once more.

“Whoops,” she whispered, as if Stacia wasn’t supposed to hear or see them together. A fact both of them knew was blatantly false.

Stacia didn’t say anything. She had no words after what she’d just endured in addition to walking in on something like this. She just turned and left the apartment.

Eric had pulled his Jeep around, and Stacia piled in without another word. Her heart was in her throat. Her stomach was doing somersaults. And she couldn’t decide which hurt more—her face or her heart.

The next morning, one side of Stacia’s face had swollen up to the approximate size of a hot-air balloon. And no matter how much ibuprofen she had taken or ice she’d put on it, the swelling didn’t really go down, and her head hurt like a bitch.

“You look fine,” Bryna insisted for the umpteenth time that morning. “You can cover it with makeup.”

“Do you think the bastard will get kicked off the team?” Stacia asked as she assessed the damage.

“Eric is handling it. Just let him deal with it.”

“So…no.”

Bryna sighed. “I don’t know what will happen. If they found cocaine on him, if there were some proof that he was the one who’d hit you, then absolutely. But you two were alone in your bedroom. There were no eyewitnesses. I don’t know what will happen.”

“This is bullshit.”

“I agree.”

“I bet the NCAA would look into it if charges were leveled against him,” Bryna said slowly, “but then they’d drag your name through the mud, and I don’t know that you’d win.”

“In a football town, that’s life or death,” Stacia said.

Her entire life, she had grown up with an overprotective dad who insisted on keeping her name out of the newspapers. Anything done to her would come back on him and the team. It always did. Going public with this would go against everything she’d been taught while growing up.

“Just think about it.”

“I just want to go home and sleep off the pain,” Stacia said.

Bryna nodded. “Let me grab my keys.”

Going forward, Stacia had a lot to think about with regard to Boomer. On one level, she didn’t want to get her name in the news. On the other hand, the guy was a lunatic and needed to be brought to justice. But it was a sobering thought that, even if she came forward, he might get no punishment.

Bryna dropped Stacia back off at Pace’s condo. “Call me if you need me.”

“I will. Thanks, Bri.”

Stacia left the car and then walked inside. The place was a disaster. Solo cups and trash were everywhere. A ton of Pace’s possessions were on the floor. A few things were broken. More than one drink had been spilled last night. But at least everyone was gone.

She glanced at Pace’s shut bedroom door with disdain. She didn’t even want to think about what had happened in that room last night. Let alone wonder if someone else was in there this morning. She was starting to think that she should have listened to Pace when he had said that he didn’t want her seeing anyone else because she could hardly stomach the thought of him hooking up with someone else.

Their history was too long for nonchalance. She hated to admit that she still cared about him, even when she hated him for the bullshit he continued to put her through.

She cracked open the door to her room right when Pace’s door opened behind her.

“You’re back,” he said.

Don’t turn around
, she kept chanting to herself, wanting nothing more than to save her own dignity. “Yep.”

“Who’d you go home with that got you to do the walk of shame back here?” Pace asked so casually that she would have thought he didn’t care at all.

But he got the reaction he’d wanted.

She whipped around and glared at him. “Does
this
look like I went home with someone?” Stacia pointed at her swollen face.

“Fuck, Stacia,” he said, dropping all pretenses and sprinting toward her. He was gentle when he cupped her cheek and tilted her face to get a better look. “What the fuck happened to you? Who do I need to murder?”

“Don’t worry about it,” she spat. “You had your hands full, and it’s not your concern.”

His eyes softened as he critically assessed her. “Of course you’re my concern.” His thumb stroked the point of impact, and she winced. “I never want to see you hurt like this.”

“No, just emotionally,” she said under her breath.

“Stacia, who did this?” he demanded. “I’m going to find them, and then I’m going to murder them for thinking that they could ever lay a hand on you.”

“It would do no good for you to find out who did this,” she told him.

“So, he’s on the team,” Pace reasoned.

As much as she had been ready to tell Pace about it last night, she felt totally different in the light of day. She had rushed to him, willing to throw her pain his way, thinking he would accept her for it. Instead, he’d been with Lindsay.

“Just drop it.” She removed her face from his careful hands.

“No. I
will
find out.”

“How was Lindsay?” she asked to change the subject.

“She’s the same bitch as always. Don’t try to dodge me.”

“What? Like you’re dodging me?” she spat.

“Just ask me, Pink. Ask me about Lindsay. I can see you’re dying to know.”

Stacia bit her lip, not sure she was ready for the answer.
Did I really want to know? Was it worth it to put myself out there for it?

He was just antagonizing her. She had seen with her own eyes what had happened with Lindsay. She didn’t need him to confirm it.

“I don’t care,” she said, backing away. “I don’t even want to know.”

He followed her to the threshold of her bedroom. “Yes, you do.”

“You’re wrong. The only one here who wants something is you. You have no leverage. And I’m not going to tell you what happened and jeopardize the team.”

“The team is not more important than you, Stacia,” he said in a soft, seductive voice.

“To who?” Stacia asked. She cocked her head to the side. “Not to you. Certainly not to the guy who was too busy with the new cheer captain to care that I was getting thrown around in the next room.”

Pace winced. He actually winced. She never would have guessed she could actually wound him. But if he wasn’t hurting, then he was a phenomenal actor.

Then, he stepped into her bedroom. His hand rested on her swollen cheek again, and he placed featherlight kisses on the spot. Stacia closed her eyes and tried to keep her breathing normal. She tried not to be affected by him. But it was impossible. Even in her anger, she couldn’t deny her attraction to him.

When he pulled back, he looked her straight in the eyes. “I will find out who did this to you, and I don’t care who he is; the next time I see him, he won’t be able to play football anymore.”

As he turned to leave, she called out, “Pace?”

He stilled in the doorway.

“What happened with Lindsay?” she asked in a tiny voice. She hated to ask it, but it was killing her to know.

“Ask what you really want to know,” he said, turning to face her again.

“Did you fuck her?”

A half-smile crossed his face. “What do you think?”

“I think I want the truth.”

A dimple showed in his cheek. “I’m sure you do.”

Then, he walked out without giving her the peace of mind she so wanted.