Silver (5 page)

Being a cheerleader hadn’t stopped the mean girls in middle school from picking on the geeky girl with braces and glasses. Things had only gotten worse when she grew out of those things. Suddenly becoming the hot girl hadn’t helped anything, especially when those girls’ boyfriends had started hitting on her. Her overprotective father forbidding her to date hadn’t been good for her social life either.

Stacia sighed and pulled out her cell phone. She was scrolling through everyone’s epic Snapchat highlight reel when she felt a presence at her shoulder. She recognized his cologne before she even looked up. It smelled like desire and late-night sex marathons.

Pace.

“What do you want?” Stacia asked, not looking up.

“Just coming to check on you,” Pace said in a sexy low tone that sent a shot of need straight between her legs.

Damn him for being able to do that to me!

She jerked her head up. “Why?”

“Because you look miserable, even from across the room.”

“I do not!”

He raised an eyebrow, and she had to keep from sighing.
That face. God, if he wasn’t such an asshole…

“The hair flip earlier, Pink? Really? Sure sign of distress. You practically called me over here.”

“
Don’t
call me that,” she said through gritted teeth.

He smirked at her response.

“And I didn’t call you over here. I don’t even want to see you.”

“You can talk to me, you know.” He leaned his hip against the bar. He was almost touching her but not quite. She could feel the heat of his skin. “Come on, let’s go outside. Away from all this noise.”

“If you think for one second that I’m going to go anywhere with you, you’re insane,” she said, straightening.

He brushed her hair off one shoulder and just barely skimmed his finger across her exposed collarbone. She stiffened. Her entire body throbbed. No one else elicited these primal emotions from her. Not even the guy she’d given her virginity to. The guy no one knew about.

“I promise I won’t touch you,” he growled out. “Unless you beg me to.”

Stacia smacked him in the chest and stormed away.
What an arrogant jackass! How dare he say those things to her!
For all he knew, she was still dating Marshall. Pace was so testy over the fact that he
thought
she’d slept with Marshall when they were together, yet here he was, seducing her, while he still believed she was with Marshall.
Ass!

Pace chuckled behind her. “Come on, Stacia. I’m just messing with you.”

He followed her across the crowded room until she reached the restroom. Then, he did exactly what he’d said he wouldn’t. He grabbed her arm and kept her from entering a place he wouldn’t follow.

“Seriously, what’s up?” he asked.

“Do you really want to know?” Fury and also desperation coated her features. She really wanted to tell someone. She wanted it off her chest.

“Yeah. Though this fire is pretty hot.” He raised an eyebrow.

“God, is everything just a joke to you?” she asked.

His eyes shot straight through her. “Not everything.”

“Feels like it. I feel like a joke to you.”

“Most things, Pink,” he said, stepping closer, “but not you. Never you.”

Stacia tensed as she forgot the world around her. Pace had a way of doing that—making her lose herself. But all she did by losing herself was open herself up for
him
to hurt her. Time and time again.

“Pace,” she said through a shuddering breath.

“I know you’re with him, S,” he growled low. “I won’t take what isn’t mine.”

“G-good.”

“I just still consider you mine.”

She swallowed hard, trying to figure out what the hell to say to that. Then, she heard something, as if from far away. A distant chorus that seemed to break through the sea of people and over the music blasting through the speakers.

“Marshall!”

“Oh no,” Stacia breathed.

As reality descended on them, Pace staggered back a step.

Stacia didn’t stop to hear what Pace had to say. She needed to salvage whatever was about to happen. As she rounded the corner of the restroom and out onto the dance floor with Pace on her heels, the sight before her made her stomach hit the floor.

Marshall stood in a pocket of space with a vacant brunette attached to his hip, his arm slung casually over her bare shoulders.

Bryna was up in his face, and even from a distance, Stacia could hear the words “cheater” and “douche bag” flying from her mouth.

“Fuck.”

PACE BURST OUT LAUGHING
at her shoulder. “Oh, this is good.”

“Shut up, you!” Stacia cried.

She smacked him again, harder than she had before. Not that it kept him from laughing at her predicament. She didn’t even want to know what he was thinking. She was sure that he saw what everyone else saw; Marshall had been drafted and replaced Stacia for an upgrade.

Fuck.

Fuck.

FUCK!

She didn’t waste any time. She rushed into the middle of the confrontation and grabbed Bryna. “Bri, no!”

“Stacia, let me at him! No wonder you’ve been walking in a daze for the past week. And then he has the audacity to show up here with another girl!” Bryna cried. Her blue eyes were on fire, and if looks could kill, Marshall would be laid out on the floor already.

All eyes had turned to Stacia, and she felt utterly humiliated. Her cheeks burned, and she was sure they were cherry red. Her stomach roiled. This was
not
how she wanted everyone to find out about her and Marshall.

“The audacity?” Marshall asked in confusion. He met Stacia’s gaze in shock. “You didn’t tell them?”

She saw the hurt in his eyes. Clearly, the reason he’d shown up with the brunette chick was to make a statement. He was over her. She couldn’t hurt him. She couldn’t touch him. He had a million-dollar contract. What did one girl matter? But that look showed it for the fallacy it was.

“No, I didn’t tell them,” she whispered, painfully aware of the hot gazes on her.

“Maybe you should do that and call your bitch off me,” he spat.

“Watch who you’re calling a bitch,” Bryna snarled. Then, she whirled on Stacia just as Trihn appeared breathlessly at Stacia’s shoulder. “What do you need to tell me?”

“What’s going on?” Trihn asked. “Why the fuck is he here with someone else?”

Stacia threw her hands up. There was no deflecting now. No hair toss or quirky comment would get her away from being the center of attention.

“I broke up with Marshall,” she said.

“You…what?” Trihn asked.

“But why?” Bryna asked.

“If you girls figure it all out, I’d love the answer to that, too,” Marshall said tauntingly. “In the meantime, I’m going to go enjoy my friend here.”

Then, he strode away with the girl at his side, who hadn’t uttered a single word through the whole confrontation. Either she was too far out of it to care, or it didn’t matter what Marshall said or did; she’d be at his side regardless. Stacia had been like her before. Seeing the empty look in the girl’s eyes made her shudder.

Was I really that empty-headed?

Bryna and Trihn just stared at Stacia. She grabbed them both by the arms and hauled them out of the center of the dance floor where everything had just gone down. It had been a long time since she felt so embarrassed, and she didn’t want the rest of the conversation to be for public consumption. Maya hurried off with them, and they exited the club to the outside pool area.

Bryna yanked her arm out of Stacia’s grip. “When were you going to tell us about Marshall? We
knew
something was wrong, S.”

“What she means is,” Trihn began, shooting a glare at Bryna, “are you okay?”

Stacia sighed heavily and tilted her head back to stare up at the spattering of stars high above them. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Bryna said. “And, anyway, why didn’t you tell us?”

“I don’t know,” Stacia said softly before looking back at her friends. “I don’t know, okay? I really don’t have answers to any of this stuff. I broke up with Marshall because I wasn’t happy. I didn’t tell you guys because I wanted you to be happy.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Trihn asked.

“I didn’t want to stop either of you from moving in with your boyfriends,” Stacia finally admitted.

“That’s ridiculous,” Bryna cried.

“Yeah. You shouldn’t have tried to shield us when you’re hurting,” Trihn said.

“And we would never have left you all alone. I’ll call the movers in the morning,” Bryna said. “I’ll be back in the apartment by tomorrow afternoon.”

“No!” Stacia cried.

“It’s a done deal. You aren’t going to live alone,” Bryna told her. “So, I’m taking care of it.”

“Bri,” Trihn muttered, fingering her hair and looking between her friends, “she’s seriously distressed about this. Let’s not make any rash decisions.”

“I’m not living with you next year,” Stacia told them. “You’ve already moved out.”

“Well, where are you going to live?” Maya asked. “I think it’s nice that you’re thinking of your friends when you’re distraught, but are you sure this is best for you?”

Stacia chewed on her bottom lip and then nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. You should all just…continue with your lives.”

“You make it seem like you’re not a part of our lives,” Trihn pointed out.

“It’s not that. I just…have to figure out my own life. You all have everything figured out. I guess it’s my turn,” Stacia whispered.

“Look, I’m not convinced that we should have moved out,” Bryna said. “What’s another year with all of us girls together? Eric will understand when I explain…and probably bash Marshall’s brain in.”

“Marshall really didn’t do anything,” Stacia muttered.

“By showing up here with that slut?” Bryna snapped. “Oh, he definitely did. He wanted to hurt you, and he wanted it to be public. Even if you were the one doing the breaking up, I don’t forgive him.”

“And we all know you’re prone to grudges,” Trihn said.

“Damn right. Some people should never be forgiven for past transgressions.”

“Just you?” Maya asked, raising an eyebrow.

Bryna shrugged a shoulder. “Not always. Good thing you love me.”

Stacia straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath. Time to confront her friends. This was definitely way out of her territory, and she tried not to show fear. “You’re not moving back in. You’ve already moved in with your boyfriends. I’ll find another place. It’s not a big deal. We’ll still see each other just as much as before since you were both practically living at their houses anyway. So, stop talking about it like the idea is on the table. I’ll figure my own shit out.”

All three girls stared at Stacia for a second, as if they’d never seen her before. The only time she was this forceful was at cheer, and that was because nothing would get done otherwise. After spending years trying to blend into the shadows, it was hard to find the will to stand up to people. Perhaps things really were changing.

“All right then,” Trihn said. “Sounds settled.”

Bryna frowned and then checked her manicure. “Fine.”

Maya shrugged. “I guess that means drinks to our newly single cheer slut,” she said with levity. “God help all those poor boys.”

Stacia was relieved when the girls gave up on trying to convince her to change her mind. She wasn’t about to do that. She would figure something else out for next year.

They wandered back inside, and Maya ushered them to the bar where she motioned over Tuck and ordered shots for the group. Stacia’s eyes roamed the bar. It seemed that most everyone had gone back to what they were doing, but she noticed a few of the other cheerleaders were eyeing her closely. Stacia quickly moved over them and then spotted the other person still staring at her.

She groaned and looked away from Pace. She had no clue what he was thinking right about now, but it couldn’t be good. That hadn’t been how she wanted Pace to find out that she and Marshall weren’t together. Not right after he’d cornered her and claimed she still belonged to him. Well, she had
no
plans to get back together with him just because she was single. He might make her panties wet, but he was still a total asshole. Her relationship status didn’t change that fact.

“To the cheer slut’s new life,” Maya said, raising her shot glass.

Stacia rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, Maya, it’s not that serious.”

“Nothing ever is with you, honey.”

“Right.”

That was how everyone saw her because that was how she’d wanted to be seen. Even her friends only knew her as the dumb cheer slut. Play a part long enough, and one day, you might not have another identity.

Trihn nudged her, and Stacia remembered to raise her shot glass. The alcohol burned all the way down, and Stacia welcomed it. Soon, the burn would fade and leave her numb…like the rest of her life.

“Woo! I’m going to need another one of those,” she cried, tossing her head back and letting her platinum-blonde hair brush down past her shoulders.

“Tuck will hook you up all night,” Maya told her.

“But go easy,” Trihn warned.

“Oh, lay off her,” Bryna said, grabbing Stacia’s hand. “She just went through a breakup. The last thing she needs is to go easy and mope. She needs to get out there and dance and have a good time.”