Silver by K.A. Linde Page B

he’s on the team. If he puts one finger on you, I’ll break every bone in his body,” he told her with total confidence.
    His face was so serious and stern that there was nothing she could do but nod. “I believe you would. It’s not the first time you’ve beaten someone up for doing one of us girls wrong.”
    Pace shrugged. “No one fucks with the people I care about.”
    Stacia assessed him for any sign of laughter or joking, but there was none. For a moment, she could almost remember why she had chosen Pace to begin with. And why she had gone back to him after he had lied to her about trying to ruin Bryna’s life. Because, even if he’d wanted to fuck up Bryna, he’d still beaten the shit out of Cam, the guy she had been dating who had used her to try to get sex.
    Underneath the jerk exterior, Pace had a heart.
    He just only showed it to her.

STACIA STUMBLED FORWARD A STEP , nearly falling into Pace, and when he reached out to steady her, she jumped backward. “Don’t fucking touch me.”
    After the interruption from Boomer, the rest of the night had gone pretty smoothly, even with Pace hanging out with them. They’d danced and did shots and had fun getting to know Jordan. By the end of the night, Stacia was beyond drunk and she knew that it was time to go home, but she was having more fun than she’d had all summer and wasn’t ready to leave yet.
    “Stacia, you are hammered drunk. I am just offering you a ride home,” Pace said.
    “No. No way in fucking hell!” Stacia slurred.
    Pace sighed. “You don’t need to take a cab when I have my truck waiting here.”
    “You don’t have a truck,” she spat.
    He leveled his gaze on her as she wobbled to stay upright. “It’s new.”
    “I don’t fucking need your help. I can take care of myself. Derek and Jordan and I can get back just fine!”
    Pace rested both of his hands on her shoulders.
    She met his eyes while her head swam. “You’re fucking touching me again.”
    “There are a million things I want to do to your body, but you aren’t coherent or in any place to consent to those things,” he growled low. “Just let me take you home.”
    “Why would I do that?” she asked. “You’ve been drinking all night, too.”
    He shook his head. “I haven’t had a drink in hours. I drove here and knew I’d have to drive back. It’ll be an easy trip.”
    Stacia tugged away from him in frustration. This was not what she needed right now. All she needed was to get home and crash on her couch. None of these sexy-eyed, lust-induced pep talks about wanting to do a million things he had already done to her body. Just bed and probably water and Tylenol.
    “Christ, why do you have to do this, Pace? Why do you insist on forcing yourself into my life?”
    “I already told you why. You can’t escape me.” He made her face him and looked sincerely down into her hazy eyes. “You can keep trying to run, but we’ll end up back together.”
    “No chance in hell. You slept with Madison!” Even in her addled state, she knew that she wouldn’t have said that sober, and she wished she could take it back. Luckily, she was drunk enough not to be entirely ashamed and waited for his reply.
    “I was waiting for you to bring that up. And, now that it’s out in the open, we can move on.”
    “Move on?” she nearly screamed. “You don’t just get over that.”
    “Well, actually, I did.”
    Stacia slapped him across the face. It wasn’t very hard, but his head snapped to the side anyway. He fumed with anger at her attitude. She could see him warring with what to do and how to react.
    Slowly, he turned back to her. “Let’s do this another time, so I can fuck you after that slap, okay?”
    Stacia glared at him, even as her body betrayed her. Weeks of going cold turkey made her ache all over, and he knew every one of her tells. He was the one who had coaxed passion out of her in the first place, and he wouldn’t soon forget what got her riled up. She