Silver (28 page)

Stacia turned and looked Lindsay square in the eyes. Then, she slapped her hard across the face. “Get the fuck out of my life, bitch!”

Trihn and Maya raced to Stacia and dragged her away from Lindsay, who screamed melodramatically. She was holding her face where Stacia hoped and prayed she’d left a mark. The bitch deserved it and more. And she was so tired of everyone getting involved in her life. She just wanted to get the fuck out of all of it.

“What the hell was that?” Trihn asked, finally releasing Stacia.

“Awesome is what it was!” Maya said. “Girl had it coming.”

“Whatever,” Stacia said. “Let’s go straight to Posse.”

“In this?” Trihn asked. She looked down at her outfit and clearly found her tight dark-wash jeans and T-shirt lacking.

“Yes. Who gives a fuck what we wear? I just want to get wasted.”

Bryna appeared that minute. “Let’s get out of here. Stacia, you need to tell us what happened.”

“She slapped Lindsay across the face like a champ,” Maya said.

Bryna’s eyes rounded. “I missed it? Fuck!”

“Posse. Drinks. Now,” Stacia said.

The girls hurried after her, and through her stony silence, they agreed to drive to Posse.

When they showed up to the club, dressed in regular street clothes, the bouncer gave them all a once-over. Maya just smiled at the bouncer who had been here when she used to bartend. Normally, there was a dress code, and they weren’t exactly passing it. But they didn’t care at the present moment.

The girls passed by the bouncer, hurried into the crowded room, and then straight to the bar. Maya flagged down Tuck, who poured them shots before making them drinks. Stacia reached for hers and downed it before anyone could cheers anything. She had nothing to celebrate.

“Okay, okay. What happened?” Trihn asked with wide eyes. “You’re a wreck.”

“Pace bet that he could make me fall in love with him, and then he was going to humiliate me at the end of the last game,” Stacia said in a rush. Then, she reached for the drink Tuck had placed in front of her.

All the girls gasped.

“When did he make this bet?” Bryna asked.

“After I broke up with Marshall.”

“How did you hear about it?” Trihn asked.

“Madison. And, trust me, I didn’t want to believe her, but if you’d seen Pace’s face when I asked him, you’d know it was true, too.”

“How did she know?” Bryna asked with concern.

“She’s fucking a football player. Apparently, everyone knew. That’s the real reason all the guys were acting weird today. They were waiting for my abject humiliation,” she said. She raised her glass into the air and then took a long drink.

No one had anything to say to that. They’d warned her in the first place. And they were right. Of course, they were right. She was the only idiot who had thought it was a risk worth taking to give him another chance.

“Whatever. I don’t want to talk about it. Can we just pretend like this semester never happened? Let’s get drunk and dance with strangers and pretend I’m the old Stacia, who didn’t have a care in the world.”

They exchanged looks with each other, and it was clear they wanted to disagree. But Stacia finished her drink in record speed and then flagged down Tuck for another. She would do it with or without them.

But they all agreed to just let loose for the night. Stacia was sure it was because Bryna was texting Pace to try to figure out how to salvage what had happened. But there was no salvaging anything. It was over.

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

She was not going to make the same mistake a third time.

So, she drowned in liquor. Drink after drink and dance after dance, nurturing and coddling her broken heart. She just wanted to get drunk enough to forget and then crash at Bryna’s.

An hour passed and then another before Eric finally showed up at the bar. Stacia knew that couldn’t be good. It meant that the rest of the team would soon be arriving. It meant Pace would be here.

Stacia didn’t want to have to deal with him. Her addled mind figured it would be better to be dancing with someone else at that time. So, she found the first hot guy she could and started dancing like crazy. She knew she was hammered when she attempted to bend over at the waist and shake her ass, and she almost tumbled over. She started laughing hysterically, and the guy just held on to her harder. He clearly did not care about her level of inebriation at all. And, truly, she didn’t either.

Then, Pace’s presence fell over them both. “Get your hands off my girlfriend!” he said menacingly.

The guy’s eyes doubled in size, and he disappeared faster than Stacia had thought was possible. Without someone to hold her up, she floundered through the crowd and nearly tipped over. She started laughing maniacally again even though nothing was funny.

Pace reached out to steady her, but she edged backward, away from him. All she managed to do was run into another person who cussed her out.

“Go away. You’re ruining my good time,” Stacia accused.

“You think a good time is getting so wasted that you can’t even stand up straight?” he demanded.

Stacia blankly stared at him. “Um…yes.”

“Jesus Christ, Stacia, this is not what I wanted to get out of the game to see. We need to talk, and you’re in no condition.”

“Good, because I don’t want to talk to you,” she slurred.

“Fuck!” he groaned. He dug his hand in his hair and glanced away from her.

Stacia saw that Bryna and the rest of her friends were waiting anxiously to find out what was going on.

“Can I just take you home and sober you up? I’ll just take care of you.”

“No. You lost any right you had. I’m staying here and having another drink.”

“You’re at your limit,” Pace said, barring her way.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do! You don’t get to say anything. You don’t speak for me!” she shouted, shoving him backward.

Of course he didn’t move an inch. All six feet four of him was solid as a rock, and he hadn’t had anything to drink.

“Stacia, love, please,” he pleaded.

“Ugh!” she shrieked. “Leave me alone. I’m having a good time without you.” She stuck her finger in his chest. “I’m moving out in the morning, so…fuck off.”

Pace looked wounded, as if she had hit him. “You won’t even be coherent in the morning. With how drunk you are, you’ll still be drunk.”

“I’m done with this,” she said.

Then, she tried to get around him. Of course, he didn’t let her move.

“Stacia, please, just stop—”

Then, Boomer smacked his shoulder into Pace’s as he passed.

Pace went crazy. “Watch where you’re fucking going!”

Clearly, he had been trying to rein himself in when talking to Stacia, but considering Stacia knew that Boomer was his least favorite person on the team, he couldn’t hope to control his anger around him.

Boomer turned around and walked right up into Pace’s face. “What did you say to me?”

“You heard me. Watch where the fuck you’re walking.”

“You should be glad we have post-season games or else I’d beat your ass right here, right now.”

“Let’s give it a go. I don’t need to wait,” Pace told him.

“Fuck you, man. You think you so much better than me because your daddy has money, can bail you out of jail, and get the charges dropped? Well, you’re nothing but a spoiled bitch. Your dad might think he bought me out, but he’s wrong. You’re still a piece of shit.”

Pace looked stunned, but his anger didn’t dissipate. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. But, trust me, you’re the real piece of work here. Just be glad you stashed that fucking gun you showed me that night or else, no matter what Lawrence did, you’d never have left that jail.”

“What? This gun?” Boomer asked. He pulled back his football jacket and revealed a pistol in his jeans.

Stacia screamed and backed far away. Pace put his arm out to stop her from leaving.

“I’m walking,” Pace said with a sinister glare, “but this isn’t over.”

Boomer laughed. “You’re damn right, this ain’t over.”

Pace turned his back on Boomer but didn’t hesitate for a second before grabbing Stacia around the middle and hauling her over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” she screamed.

“Taking you home,” Pace said.

“Put me down!” she yelled.

“Pace!” Bryna cried. “Stop it!”

“Let me be, Bri, or so help me God,” he growled.

And, without any other interference, Pace walked right out of the bar, carrying Stacia like a sack of potatoes. Being upside down made her woozy, and even though she tried to squirm and kick to make him put her down, it didn’t help anything. He was not letting her go, no matter what she said or did.

Pace opened the side of his truck, holding on to her with one arm over the backs of her legs. Then, he plopped her down into the passenger seat. “Don’t move,” he said before slamming the door in her face.

Stacia yanked at the lock, but he just held the lock down on the key fob. She watched him walk around the truck and get into the driver’s seat.

“Are you out of your mind? This is not going to change anything!” she screamed. “It’s only pissing me off!”

“This isn’t healthy, Stacia. I’m just taking you back home. You can be pissed all you want, but we will talk about this when you’re sober.”

Stacia crossed her arms and glared out the window as he revved the engine.

He had another thing coming if he thought that she was just going to get past this, that it would all work out with a little chat later. The time for communication was over. He’d purposely deceived her, and that was a whole different story.

Pace pulled out of the parking lot, tires squealing. He raced past all the fans who were trying to celebrate the end of the season and rolled to a stop at the next stoplight. From the other side of the intersection, a low-riding car rumbled noisily and revved its engine a couple of times.

Stacia rolled her eyes.
How ridiculous.

Then, it was Pace’s turn to cross the intersection. He pressed heavily on the pedal, and just as he was almost through, the other car raced after him.

“What the fuck?” Pace cried.

He sped forward, narrowly missing the other car. But, instead of that being the end of it, the car wildly swung around, almost hitting two other cars, and then started following behind Pace’s truck.

Stacia whipped around to see the car picking up speed and heading toward them. “Oh my God,” she breathed. She reached to buckle her seat belt. “They’re chasing us.”

“Call the police, Stacia.”

He tossed his phone into her lap, and she shakily dialed the numbers.

“911. What is your emergency?”

“Someone’s chasing us down the street!” Stacia cried. “They sped through an intersection and are following us.”

“Where exactly are you located, ma’am?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. We just left the nightclub, Posse, and we’re headed toward my place,” Stacia said before explaining where she lived.

“Remain calm, and try to get to a secure location. We’ll have a police officer there shortly.”

That was when they reached another intersection. The light was red, but if they stopped, they didn’t know what would happen. The other car had tried to hit them, and now, it was on their bumper. If they stopped, then they might get rear-ended.

Pace made a split-second decision and took a controlled, sharp right turn at the intersection, but the car behind them was sloppy. It couldn’t make the turn. It kept going through traffic, skidding sideways, and rammed headfirst into a truck. However, this didn’t stop the car’s momentum and it continued through the intersection. It couldn’t recover from the turn or the hit, and the driver seemed to overcorrect. Then, the car went rolling, flipping over its side three times, before landing with a screeching halt, upside down.

Stacia screamed. Some of the alcohol had seemingly disappeared from her system as adrenaline and fear kicked in. “Oh my God! They crashed!” she said. “They crashed!” She was clutching her phone with the 911 call still connected. “Send an ambulance.”

Pace made a U-turn in the now deserted street and pulled over to park near the accident. They both hopped out of the truck, shaking. Whatever had happened was horrible, but why had it happened?

The woman the other car had hit stumbled out of her truck. “Is he okay?” she gasped, rushing toward the other car.

Pace and Stacia arrived right after the woman.

“Are you okay in there?” the woman asked, attempting to pry the door open.

A groan echoed from within the car.

“Let me help,” Pace said. He grabbed the handle and wrenched it open.

“I’ll call 911,” the woman said, fumbling for her phone.

“I already did,” Stacia told her.

“Oh, fuck,” Pace said. He froze in place in shock.

“What?” Stacia asked. “Is he okay?”

“Stacia…it’s Boomer.”

AMBULANCE AND POLICE LIGHTS FLASHED
in Stacia’s periphery.

Red and blue. Red and blue. Red and blue.

Stacia closed her eyes and tried to block out all the noise and confusion around her. But it wouldn’t go away. She couldn’t just wish this away or hope to open her eyes and find that all of this was some horrible dream.