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  “Good. That’s what I like to hear.” Curt smiled down at his only daughter. “Once the season is over, you should come over for dinner sometime. It would be good to get to know you.”

  “I’d like that, sir.”

  Her dad smiled. “Call me Curt.”

  Pace grinned. “Yes, sir.”

  “Now, get on out of here. I’m sure you both have some…disappointment to deal with.” Curt grinned broadly.

  Stacia groaned. “I thought we’d make it all the way through without you making some bad comment,” she said.

  “What?” he asked with a smile. “I had to make one comment about the game. I wouldn’t be me otherwise, Stacy.”

  Stacia gave her dad a hug. “I love you. I’ll see you soon for Thanksgiving.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “See you later, honey.”

  Stacia and Pace backed out of her dad’s office and then out of the stadium. They made it all the way back to Pace’s hotel room before he seemed to relax.

  “That wasn’t so bad,” he said.

  Stacia laughed. “You were worried?”

  He sank back onto the bed and dragged her toward him. “I’d feel a lot better about everything if you told me what the fuck you heard.”

  “It’s not a big deal,” she mumbled.

  “Stop trying to dodge it and talk to me. I need to know what you heard. You can always come to me with everything. Now, what is it?”

  Stacia blew out a breath and tilted her head back. “Did you sleep with Madison more than once?”

  Pace looked relieved and confused, all at the same time. “What? Where did this come from?”

  “Did you, or didn’t you?” she asked. “I know you said you slept with her that night before she told me, but did it happen before then?”

  “No,” he said without hesitation.

  “Okay. Well, it didn’t happen after, did it?”

  “No,” he said again. “It was only that one time.”

  Stacia felt all the tension in her shoulders evaporate. This was exactly what she’d needed to hear. She hadn’t truly believed it, but she also hadn’t been completely sure. But he hadn’t sounded at all like he was lying to her, and she had no reason to doubt him.

  “Okay.”

  “Okay?” he asked. “That’s it?”

  “Well, Woods, who is Madison’s ex, told me that he broke up with Madison because she’d cheated on him. Then, she ran straight to you. So, he was worried—”

  “That I was the one she cheated with,” Pace finished for her.

  Stacia nodded. “Yeah.”

  “I might be a jackass, but I’m not that dumb.”

  “Debatable,” she said with a laugh.

  “Come here,” he said. He pulled her across his lap, so her ass was in the air. “We’ll see about that back talk from you.”

  He yanked up her skirt and then slapped her ass. She screamed for dramatic effect until it turned into a giggle.

  “You think that’s funny?” he asked.

  He smacked the other cheek once, twice, and then a third time until her ass was sensitive. She squirmed on his lap, and he slapped the other cheek.

  “Funny isn’t the word I’d use,” she got out breathlessly.

  “Oh, so you like it,” he said, adding another smack to her bare bottom.

  At this point, what had started as humor turned purely erotic. She could feel the hard length of him through his pants, and she was pretty sure she was soaking her own underwear.

  “Pace,” she groaned as another slap hit her ass.

  “Yes, Pink?”

  He started rubbing her cheeks with his open palm, and she groaned as the sensation lessened some of the pain.

  He chuckled. “Pink, I think I like the color on your ass as much as what you’re wearing.”

  He slipped his hand down between her ass cheeks and rubbed across her wet opening. A groan escaped her lips, and she felt his dick twitch.

  “Fuck, you’re wet,” he muttered.

  “Take me,” she pleaded. “Right now.”

  He didn’t have to be told twice.

  He removed her underwear and then moved her onto her hands and knees. He released his dick from his pants and then thrust forward into her. Whatever anger and frustration and anxiety he had felt on that football field, it all disappeared in the bedroom. And, while he was rough with her, she loved every second of it. Then, they both came harder than ever before and promptly passed out from ecstasy and exhaustion.

  STACIA THOUGHT THE AFTER-PARTY would be somber. After all, LV State had suffered a devastating loss to their rival school. It ended their hope for a perfect season. But she should have known better.

  The party was alive and kicking. By the time she and Pace showed up, most people were past intoxicated. Girls were dancing on tables. Couples were making out in corners. Beer pong and flip cup were happening outside. Idiots were jumping into the pool after doing funnels. Stacia even saw a keg stand or two. No one acted at all as if LV State had lost a huge game.

  Except that they all stared when she and Pace walked into the room. It felt as if they—or at least she—were tainted. Instead of raising up Pace as their hero, as they had every other game, they talked behind their hands and whispered in corners. One bad game had turned the tide of an adoring crowd; that was for damn sure.

  Stacia finally found Bryna, Trihn, and Maya dancing on top of a table at the center of the room.

  “S!” Trihn cried. “Come dance with us.”

  “I need a drink,” Stacia said with a laugh at her drunk friends.

  They didn’t have a care in the world.

  “It took you forever,” Bryna said, crouching down and wobbling on her five-inch Louboutins. “Come…come on.” Bryna grabbed at Stacia’s hands, trying to drag her up to the table.

  “Whoa there, sis,” Pace said.

  “Ew. Don’t say that.”

  He just laughed. Getting under Bryna’s skin was Pace’s specialty.

  “Here,” he said to Stacia. “Let me help you up. I’ll go get you a drink.”

  He dropped a hasty kiss on her lips and then lifted her onto the table, as if she were as light as a feather. Her heels clicked on the table, and she winked down at him.

  “So, I’m guessing he didn’t help Madison cheat on Woods,” Bryna said.

  Stacia shook her head as she sashayed her body to the music. “Nope. I don’t know who Madison slept with, but it wasn’t Pace.”

  “Good,” Trihn said with a sigh. “That would have sucked.”

  “Where’s E?” Stacia asked.

  Bryna fluttered her fingers. “Around. I think he’s trying to keep an eye on Boomer.”

  “Our knight in shining armor,” Maya said with a giggle. “Dray went with him.”

  “And, yet again, Damon is in another city,” Trihn said with a hard sigh.

  “Must be so hard to have a rock-star boyfriend,” Bryna said sarcastically. “Just the worst.”

  “Hey, bitch, watch it. He’s busy, and half of the world wants him and his sexy British accent. Don’t make me bring up the Chloe incident!” Trihn said, reminding them all of the pop star who had helped start Damon’s career.

  Chloe Avana had kissed him onstage in the middle of a mental breakdown and allowed the press to believe that she and Damon were together. Trihn and Chloe were on good terms now…especially because Chloe had gone back into film instead of recording another album.

  “Ugh. I just wish that Chloe wouldn’t snag all my time with Gates,” Bryna said. She stuck her bottom lip out.

  Gates Hartman was the hottest rising movie star and Bryna’s ex-boyfriend, who she was still on good terms with. He was currently working on another movie with Chloe, and if you could believe the rumors, they were hitting it off romantically again.

  “At least they seem happy,” Stacia reasoned.

  Bryna shrugged. “I don’t want him to be happy with her. Nothing against her, but considering Gates slept with her after we broke
up, the thought of them together is not super appealing. But you win some, you lose some.” She stared down at her hand where the engagement ring rested.

  Stacia was pretty sure she was still getting used to it.

  “Oh, look, the entire posse is here,” Lindsay said, materializing below them with her own entourage, including Madison, behind her.

  Bryna rolled her eyes. “Can’t you all go party elsewhere?”

  “We would, but I just wanted Stacy’s opinion on how she feels about being responsible for ruining the game.”

  “Her name is Stacia,” Bryna snapped. “Stay-sha.”

  Lindsay laughed. “Oh, you didn’t know her real name is Stacy? Cute.”

  Bryna glanced at Stacia with raised eyebrows. Stacia wanted to crawl into a hole. What else had Madison told her, if calling me Stacy was something that Lindsay was throwing my way?

  Stacia put on a brave face and gave Lindsay her best bored look. “I had it legally changed at eighteen. I don’t see why it’s so shocking, Lindsay.”

  “Okay, that’s it,” Bryna said. She stepped down off the table, and the other girls followed her. “You want to do this? Let’s do this. Why do you have to be such a fucking bitch, Lindsay? Why can’t you just enjoy the party? Are you so desperate for attention that the only way you can get your kicks is by bringing other people down? I knew from day one that I could never be friends with you because you make most people’s cold and calculating looks seem like a summer breeze.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bri,” Lindsay said with a fake smile. “I thought we were all friends.”

  “You thought wrong.”

  “Guys, let’s just not,” Stacia piped up.

  “Yeah, Bri. She’s really not worth it,” Trihn said. “Just let it go.”

  “I think the argument is way past due, personally,” Maya said with a grin. The other two girls glared at her, and she raised her hands. “Or not.”

  “I’m just trying to make sure everyone knows the truth,” Lindsay said. “The truth is important between friends.”

  “Yet I don’t consider us friends,” Bryna said, crossing her arms.

  “Well, when you didn’t know Stacia and didn’t consider her a friend, she chose you because she was a loser in high school. She only wanted to get close to you because she thought you were the biggest bitch and would protect her.”

  Stacia’s mouth flew open, and her head snapped to Madison, who wouldn’t meet her eyes. First, her real name, and then the stuff about Bryna. Honestly?

  Bryna laughed. “What? Like that’s an insult?”

  Lindsay opened her mouth in surprise and then hastily recovered when Pace appeared with Stacia’s drink.

  “What the fuck is going on here?” Pace asked.

  “Lindsay is just starting shit again,” Bryna said. “She thinks, by bringing up Stacia’s past and manipulating her history—info she clearly got from Madison, who none of us trust in the first place—that we’re going to ditch Stacia, that she’ll be all isolated and defenseless. Try again.”

  “Go bother someone else,” Pace said dismissively. He turned his back on Lindsay and then handed Stacia her drink. “Just ignore her.”

  Stacia nodded and then took a reassuring long drink of whatever Pace had gotten her. It was some kind of vodka mixture that went straight to her head. And she was happy for the reprieve.

  But Lindsay did not look so happy to be dismissed by Pace. Stacia could see then that she wasn’t going to stop. She would do whatever it took to bring Stacia down. All because Stacia had ended up with Pace when Lindsay thought it was her right as the captain of the cheerleading squad. She was taking desperation and manipulation to a whole new level.

  “Well, I’d just be careful if I were you, Pace,” Lindsay said, as if it were an offhand comment and not one carefully calculated ahead of time.

  Pace rolled his eyes and glanced back at her. “And why is that?”

  “Stacia is a gold-digging jersey-chaser and always has been. You’d be an idiot not to see that.”

  “Are you done?” he asked threateningly.

  His grip on his beer tightened, and Stacia tensed. He couldn’t believe that was really why she was with him. She’d given up that life. She would hate to think that, in the back of his mind, he still thought of her like that.

  “And what’s worse is, she’s more like a curse than a good-luck charm,” Lindsay continued. “She throws every quarterback off his game. Marshall, of course, choked at every big game. The one game she hooked up with Blaine”—the quarterback at LV State during Stacia’s freshman year—“was the worst game of his career.”

  “She didn’t hook up with Blaine,” Trihn said.

  “Yeah. He didn’t even know her name,” Bryna said. “I remember. He used to call her Stacy.”

  Stacia shrugged. “Well, that was my name,” she murmured.

  “See? She won’t even admit it. She’s slept with all three of the quarterbacks at LV State since she’s been here.”

  “I didn’t sleep with him,” Stacia squeaked. “We just…fooled around.”

  Pace’s eyebrows rose. “I didn’t know that.”

  “Well, we didn’t exactly go through a list of all our old hook-ups before getting together,” she said, knowing her cheeks were turning red.

  “And, not to mention, Kent Baxter,” Lindsay threw out. Her smile turned megawatt, as if she had been waiting the whole conversation for that moment.

  There was silence from all the people as eyes turned to Stacia. All she wanted to do was bury her head and never hear that name again.

  But, instead, she just turned to Madison in dismay. “You didn’t?” she gasped out.

  Madison’s cheeks were just as red. “She wasn’t going to say anything. She promised.” Madison turned to Lindsay. “You promised you wouldn’t say anything about that.”

  “Oh, shut up,” Lindsay said, bored and irritated with her minion.

  “Um…who is Kent Baxter?” Trihn asked.

  Stacia swallowed hard. She hated that she had to disclose this to a roomful of people, especially in front of Pace. The only person who had known this was Madison, and now, Stacia’s deepest secret was going to be revealed.

  “The starting quarterback at USC my senior year of high school,” she muttered. “He’s a backup quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons now.”

  Pace stared down at her in horror and confusion. “You hooked up with one of your dad’s quarterbacks?”

  “It was after I graduated. It was stupid,” she whispered.

  “So, you see,” Lindsay said, dropping her hand on Pace’s arm, “you’re just a part of a long line of quarterbacks she uses to try to forget the one who got away. You can do better.”

  Pace shoved her hand off of him. “What? You think doing better is you, Lindsay? It’s not. So, just leave me and my girlfriend alone.”

  “But—”

  “What? Do you think I care who she was with before I even knew her? Who cares if she fucked half of her daddy’s team? She’s mine now. And, anytime you say a word against her, you’re saying it against me. Just back. The fuck. Off,” he spat. He wrapped an arm around Stacia. “Come on. Let’s go enjoy the party.”

  Bryna, Trihn, and Maya followed behind her and Pace, leaving Lindsay and her minions in the dust. They found Eric and Drayton trying to subdue an apparently riled up Boomer outside. He was screaming something at a poor girl who Stacia didn’t recognize.

  “What the fuck?” Pace cried. Then, he ran over to help the other two guys. “What is going on?”

  “That bitch fucking deserved it.”

  Stacia got a good look at the girl and saw she was holding the side of her face. Stacia rushed over to her, but the girl scurried back.

  “Hey, I’m just trying to help. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” the girl said. “Just…leave me alone. My sister is on her way to pick me up.”

  Stacia nodded. “Okay, that’s good. What’s your nam
e? Did he hit you? Let me see.”

  “I said, leave me alone,” she said again. “He didn’t hit me. I just…fell.”

  Stacia’s eyes rounded. “You fell and somehow got punched in the face?”

  “Leave me alone!” the girl screamed. “I just want to go home.” Then, the girl darted away from all of them and into the crowd.

  Stacia’s head was spinning. Boomer had obviously hit her and in front of people. Did she think she could cover his tracks by denying he had ever done it? Stacia was feeling worse that she hadn’t come forward. How many other girls would get hurt for my silence?

  God, how had her perfect weekend away turned into this madness? She’d thought that she would just have some fun while hanging out with her friends, seeing Bryna try on wedding dresses, and watching LV State win a football game. She hadn’t anticipated all this other bullshit.

  “What did you do to that girl?” Pace yelled at him.

  Boomer had stopped fighting them as soon as the other girl had disappeared in the crowd. Apparently, she had just needed the opening to get away.

  “I didn’t do shit to my girlfriend,” Boomer said.

  Stacia felt sick. Girlfriend?

  “You hit your girlfriend?” Eric asked. “That’s disgusting.”

  “Yeah, man. That’s no way to treat your woman,” Drayton agreed.

  “No way to treat my woman either,” Pace said angrily. His hands were in fists at his sides.

  “Fuck your piece-of-shit woman,” Boomer cried, wildly throwing his hands. It was clear he was wasted drunk. “She’s the one who knocked your head off its axis before the game tonight and fucked us all up. And, you know, she did that shit on purpose, so we’d just fucking hand that game to her dad and brother.”

  Pace didn’t hesitate. He swung his fist into Boomer’s face. The girls screamed, and Stacia stood, frozen, watching him unleash all his anger and aggression that had been brewing under the surface. She knew that Pace had just been biding his time and looking for an excuse to beat Boomer’s face in. Ever since that day when he had seen her bruised face. Boomer had just given him the opportunity he’d wanted for months to hurt the person responsible.

  As soon as the fight started, it seemed to explode.

  Bryna grabbed Stacia and pulled her away from the guys.