Silver (20 page)

“So, is that the kind of guy you’re after then? A nice, normal guy?” Pace demanded. He walked up to her and crossed his arms.

“Don’t even start with me. This has nothing to do with Simon and everything to do with your insecurities about me having other friends! About you not being able to control me!” Stacia glared at him. “You can’t do this.”

“You think it’s about control, Stacia?” Pace rolled his eyes. “Are you blind? Did you see the way he looked at you? The way he stuttered through everything when he realized who I was?”

“He’s not into me,” Stacia said. At least, she really hoped that was true. “You’re insane. I’m trying to hook him up with Whitney, who was here a half hour before you showed up.”

Pace moved into her personal space and stared down at her. “What guy wouldn’t be into you? Between you and Whitney, it’s not even a contest. He would jump at the first chance to get with you.”

Stacia took a step back and evaluated Pace’s growing temper. She shook her head in disbelief. “You’re threatened by my tutor? Really, Pace? That’s ridiculous, coming from you.”

She tucked her paper under her arm, grabbed her water bottle and the pizza she had been eating, and then turned and walked away from him.

As soon as the door shut behind her, she heard something crash against one of the walls outside. Stacia winced, knowing she had set off his anger. But he needed to cool down before talking to her again. Because, really…Simon?

She almost laughed, except that the look on Pace’s face hadn’t been funny. He had actually been upset that she had someone else in the house even though he had claimed that it was okay. But she knew it wasn’t. She had known, which was why she had wanted everyone out before he got back. And he had reacted exactly how she had suspected and worse.

Stacia dumped her dinner on her desk since she no longer had an appetite and plopped down on her bed. She couldn’t believe
what had just happened. She never would have guessed that Pace would get jealous of Simon. If it were another football player or something, she would have understood that. But how could Pace be threatened by
Simon
? He was so…normal.

She sighed and tried to digest everything that had just gone on.
Hadn’t Pace asked me if that was the kind of guy I was into now?
Maybe he wasn’t threatened by other football players. No one else would dare cross him at this point. But someone completely out of her wheelhouse…that frightened him.

She reached for the paper and decided to give it another read-through since she was having no luck in deciphering her giant football player in the other room. But, the more she read it, the more she knew Simon was right. This paper was a lot better. And she had read it too many times. She didn’t even know where to start to change anything.

Just as she hopped up and tossed her paper onto her desk, a knock sounded on her door.

“Stacia?” Pace said through the barrier. “Can I come in?”

She dropped her chin to her chest for a second before turning around, leaning back against her desk, and saying, “Sure.”

Pace cracked open the door and ran a hand back through his hair. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re…what?” Stacia straightened and looked at him very closely.
Since when did Pace apologize for anything?

“I said, I’m sorry.”

“Care to elaborate?”

He took another step into her room. He hadn’t been in here since the morning after Boomer had hit her. Stacia had had to vacuum and scrub everything to get the cocaine out of the room so that, when Pace had the cleaning crew come in, questions wouldn’t be asked. Now, here he was, entering her space again.

“I overreacted,” he told her, palms face up.

“You think?” she said, unable to keep the edge out of her voice.

He cleared his throat and then clenched and unclenched his fists. “I’m trying here, Pink. Let me finish?”

“By all means.” She gestured with her hand to let him continue.

“I overreacted about your tutor guy. All I saw was another man in my condo, where we live together—”

“As roommates,” she clarified.

“We still live together.”

“It’s different.”

“If you say so,” he said with a not-so-innocent smile. “When I saw him, I went from zero to sixty in two-point-five seconds. I know that I said it was okay for you to have other people here, but I didn’t mean it. I’ve told you from the start that I want to be with you and that I don’t want anyone else with you. So, when I saw you with him, I freaked. The thought of you with someone else drives me crazy. Always has.”

Stacia swallowed and nodded. “All right. Just don’t do that again.”

“Look, you told me that you were going to be sleeping with other people. How was I supposed to know it wasn’t that guy?”

“Even if it were, Pace,” she said with a sigh, “you can’t react like that.”

He clenched his jaw and then said, “I’ll work on it.”

Stacia started laughing at him. Once she started, she couldn’t seem to stop. His response was just such…bullshit. There was no way that Pace was going to actually act like an adult about her being with someone else. Especially not after they had fooled around again. She couldn’t even fathom how she had ended up here.

“What is so funny?” he asked.

“You.”

“Oh, that’s real helpful.”

“Just your whole commanding alpha behavior, followed by an apology. It’s just…hilarious.”

Pace shrugged. “Not going to argue with you when you’re showing that pretty smile around again. I’ve missed it too much lately.”

“Oh, yeah?” she asked, catching her breath.

“Yeah. I’m tired of always arguing with you.”

“Me, too,” she admitted.

“I know you have that paper to work on, but do you want to just…go do something?”

Stacia narrowed her eyes. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. Get dinner? Soak in the hot tub?” he suggested.

“That sounds like a date,” she said softly.

“And what’s wrong with that?”

Stacia couldn’t even justify that with an answer. Part of her said nothing, and the other part of her kept reminding her of his betrayal. “How about just the hot tub?”

Pace grinned. “I’ll take what I can get.”

He strode forward and stopped in front of her. She gazed up into his hopeful face and melted all over.

He bent down and softly kissed her on the lips. “See you there in five.”

PACE SHUT THE DOOR BEHIND HIM
, and Stacia was left wondering what the hell she was getting herself into. She quickly stripped out of her clothes and snagged a pink string bikini from a drawer. She had been living here for months and hadn’t once taken a dip in the pool. They used to hang out in the hot tub together all the time, back when they had been more normal…if she could ever consider their relationship that.

At the last minute, she tugged her hair out of its ponytail, applied an extra coat of mascara, and tied a sarong around her hips. She hadn’t been hitting the gym as hard as she had when she was in cheer, but she still thought she looked good.

With a deep breath, she left her bedroom and tiptoed out the back door. Pace was already in the hot tub, facing the door. And he looked sexy as fuck without his shirt on. His muscles were off the charts from all the football practices and workouts. His arms were on either side of the hot tub, and his biceps were bulging. Her stomach dipped at the sight.

When his eyes locked on her, his expression changed to wonder and surprise. It was as if he had thought she wouldn’t actually show.

“Fuck,” he said when she reached the edge of the hot tub.

“Yes?”

“You look incredible.”

“Thank you,” she said as she let her sarong drop.

His eyes practically doubled in size as they took in her nearly naked body. In that look, she could see all the things he was imagining doing to her.

She set her hand on the rail and then eased down into the water. As every drop of water touched her skin, Pace devoured her with his eyes. It made her really fucking hot and wet…and not just because of the hot tub.

“This is nice,” she murmured when she finally got into a sitting position across from him.

“Just like old times.”

She frowned. “Well, not exactly.”

“Can’t you agree with me just once?” he asked.

“I could.” She shrugged her shoulders and splashed a little water at him. “You’re just always wrong.”

“I thought we weren’t going to argue anymore tonight,” he reminded her. He moved his arms off the back of the hot tub and inched closer to her.

“I know. I just can’t seem to stop.” She spread her fingers out through the water.

“Well, let’s give it a rest for the night.”

Stacia shrugged. “I’d like that.”

Pace closed in on her, and she glanced up to meet his gaze. His body boxed her in against the side of the hot tub. She had known, on some level, that he was going to make a move on her if she came out here. And she wanted this. God, did she want it. As angry as she was about how he had treated Simon, it had been so hot to see Pace riled up. Now, here he was, in nothing but a thin pair of board shorts.

Everything was getting muddled. For so long, she had been so defiant about what had happened. Now that she was living with him, she couldn’t ignore all the little things that he did for her. All the times he’d defended her and her friends and gone out of his way for her. Sure, he was a blustering ass a large part of the time, but it was hard to focus on that when he was acting like
this
the rest of the time.

His hands ran down her wet skin as his lips dropped down onto hers. He hoisted her legs up and around his body and pushed her back against the wall. Her hands snaked up his arms and wrapped around his neck, as she was dying to get closer to him. Yet buried down in her was this horrible thought, and it rose to the surface—his hands on someone else, his mouth on someone else, his body pressed against someone else.

“No,” she gasped. “Stop!” She dropped her legs from around his waist and tried to shove against him.

“Christ! What, Stacia?” he cried. “What the hell is stopping you this time?”

She pushed further back, stepped up once, and then sat on the edge of the hot tub. Her heart was in her throat as that horrible image kept playing on repeat. Wondering if it had been that way with Madison…

“I can’t forget about Madison,” she told him. “I can’t…no matter what I feel for you.”

“What do you feel for me?” he demanded. “Seems to be news to me.”

“I don’t know, okay? All I know is that you fucked my best friend and ruined our relationship!” she yelled at him.

Pace released a short laugh of disbelief. “You want to talk about Madison? Fine!” he spat. “Let’s fucking talk about Madison.”

“Oh, you’re finally ready to not just put it behind us and forget it ever happened?” She nearly choked up. “How could you do it, Pace?”

“I really don’t even understand that question. Your take on this has always been ridiculous.”

“My take?” she asked in disbelief. “There isn’t a take. There’s reality. You slept with Madison!”

“Yes! I slept with her. But only because of you!”

Stacia jerked back in shock. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Marshall got the starting position last year. You chose him, and you’d been fucking him anyway, Stacia,” Pace accused her. “So, we were done. I got fucked up. Madison’s boyfriend had just broken up her, and we consoled one another. Blame me all you want for what happened, but you are as much at fault in this as I am.”

“Wait, wait, wait…that’s not what happened,” Stacia told him. Her mind was racing.
Was that what Pace thought had happened all this time? He thought I had chosen Marshall over him?
“I never slept with Marshall before we got together.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not!” she cried. “Who told you Marshall and I slept together?”

“Besides the entire school knowing?”

“Who told you?”

He shrugged. “Marshall.”

“Fuck,” Stacia whispered. “How could you believe him? How could you not come to me?”

“Believe him?” Pace asked, throwing his hands up. “Really, Stacia? Everyone already knew it was happening. I was the only fool who thought you weren’t doing it.”

“You were the only one who was right,” she barely whispered. “I didn’t sleep with him.”

“You let me think that you did!” Pace cried.

“I didn’t think it mattered if I corrected you.” She sighed and tilted her head back. “This is what happened. You and I were together. Marshall wanted to be with me, but I cared too much for you, even when people thought I was flip-flopping.” She met his cold eyes as they started to soften. “So, you disappeared that night, and the next morning, Madison showed up on my doorstep, sobbing. She told me everything that happened and begged for my forgiveness.”

Pace cringed. Yeah, he couldn’t even imagine what it felt like when Madison had shown up.

“I went to campus, looking for you, because I knew you had practice. When I got there, Marshall told me that he got the starting spot, and I just said,
Fuck it
. You’d already ruined us, so why should I care?”

A tear leaked out of her eye, and she hastily swatted it away. She had cried too much over Pace and what had happened. Cried and cried and cried. Tears and energy and pain that she could not get back. Things she still had not recovered from.