by K. A. Linde
“What?” Coach Galloway cried.
Bryna was still laughing, and Stacia was all smiles. Pace wasn’t just saying no. He was laying out all of Jude’s dirt. He was blacklisting Jude from ever working with an LV State player ever again. And, with the current drafting stock of the team’s players, that was a lot of lost money.
“You planned this all along,” Jude said softly.
“I always wondered, if you were the best, how you didn’t realize that I never even gave a verbal agreement to sign with you. You drew up the contracts and flew out here on a whim. I never promised you anything.”
“If these allegations are true, then you could be in a lot of trouble with the Sports Lawyers Association,” Coach Galloway said. “Contacting a representative of the player is illegal, however it happens.”
“I assure you that his allegations are false,” Jude said. “He brought me here, only to refuse to sign. These are bad circumstances, but it is his loss.”
Bryna seemed to have had enough. “No, it’s your loss. You’re losing millions on Pace. You know he’s going to be drafted in the first round, if not the first pick. Once again…it’s your loss, Jude. Go home to your sad little wife and your sad little life. You might think you can get away with everything, but you can’t win this time.”
Jude looked away from Bryna and back to Pace. “You’re sure?”
“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”
Jude nodded, closed his briefcase, and then walked out of the room. He glanced once more at Bryna before leaving their lives forever.
“You’re going to tell me more about all of this, but first, I need to have a conversation with him,” Coach Galloway said before departing after Jude.
Pace sighed with relief as soon as they were both gone and sank back into his chair. “Well, I’m glad that’s over.”
“Are you insane?” Bryna spat, smacking him on the back of the head. “Maybe warn us next time?”
“If I’d warned you, then your reactions wouldn’t have been genuine,” Pace said.
Stacia crossed her arms. “Still a pretty dick thing to do, making Bryna face him down!”
Pace jumped out of his chair and threw his hand toward the door. “I just humiliated him on camera. I made Coach see it, and there’s no way he’ll work with Jude ever again after this. I did it for you two, so don’t come at me, saying it was a wrong decision. This was right for me and for both of you.”
“Well, I appreciate it,” Bryna said. “It was a long time coming. He never loses at anything. It was good to see him fail.” Her eyes darted between Stacia and Pace. “And, now, I’m going to go see if I can watch him fail more with Coach Galloway. I’ll be waiting outside, S.”
“Okay,” Stacia said with a nod.
Bryna left the room and shut the door behind her, leaving Stacia and Pace alone.
“I’ve missed you,” Pace said. “The house feels empty without you.”
“I know. None of this has been easy.”
He slowly walked around the room until he had her pinned against the desk. “Tell me everything I’ve missed.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“The new place, classes, everything.”
“I love my new place. Whitney is easy to live with. I’ve been assigned to the gymnastics team for broadcast. My classes are insanely difficult, and I need more time apart,” she said before he could swoop down and kiss her.
He stopped mid bend and then straightened. “You do?”
“Look, Pace, I love you,” she said up into his blue eyes. “I have for a long time, but I need time to work out my own problems. And I need time to figure out where you fit into my life again. I know this drill. You’re going to be off at training camps. You’ll call when you can. I’ll see you practically never. Then, the draft. Then, you move.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way. I’m not Marshall,” Pace said.
“I know you’re not. But…this is the most important time of your life. I don’t want to be a distraction. And I’m not ready to jump in with both feet.”
“When will you be ready?”
“How about this?” she said with a sigh, giving herself a timeline. “You focus on football. Impress all of those recruits, and kick ass in the forty. Then, after the draft, if you still want to try, we’ll talk.”
“That’s three months, Stacia,” he said.
“I mean, if you don’t think we can make it three months apart…”
Pace bent down and kissed the top of her head. She breathed in his familiar scent and nearly groaned.
“I’ve waited longer for you. I’ll be back for you after the draft. Be ready for me, Pink.”
Three Months Later
STACIA SAT DOWN ON THE BED with her stomach knotted with anxiety. Today was draft day. Three months had disappeared in the blink of an eye. And, as promised…she hadn’t heard from Pace since she had walked out of the conference room.
But she had kept up with him. She knew he had signed with a different agent, Lance Brown. Someone that Bryna definitely would never have slept with. Pace had done more than impress the recruits at the training camps. He’d broken his own best forty run.
And, while Pace had been off making his career, Stacia had been busy enjoying her last semester with Bryna and Trihn. They’d partied like old times and acted like fools. In the meantime, she was killing it in her sports broadcast class. She had the highest grade in the class, and the professor thought she was a natural. While she still wasn’t doing as well in her other journalism classes, it was refreshing to know that she had found her own thing. For once.
All the girls, even Whitney, had offered to watch the draft with Stacia, to help her through it.
She’d refused them all.
They didn’t really know how important this day was. That it could signify a new beginning for her and Pace, or it could mean the end. That it held so much meaning because of what had happened exactly a year ago.
She’d felt like dirt. And it felt like so long ago when she had broken up with Marshall in a hotel room after sitting through the best day of his life…and one of the worst of hers.
So, she was all alone.
She was watching it on TV when, last year, she had been in that room, waiting for the results. As the commentators were discussing the possible first-round picks, Pace’s face kept popping up. He was dressed sharply in a charcoal-gray Tom Ford suit with a pink tie. He looked like he’d gained some muscle at camps. His hair was styled, and his eyes were bright blue through the HD lens.
Lance was standing to his right. He was a middle-aged man with black-rimmed glasses and a power suit. Stacia was sure that he had several clients there that day, but he was standing with Pace because he must have anticipated him going first. Like everyone else.
Then, surrounding Pace was his family—Celia and Lawrence; the twins, Lacey and Kacey; and even Bryna. Only Zoe was missing, but it was too late for her to be out. If someone had told Bryna that she would be standing at Pace’s side as a supportive sister after what had happened between them in the past, Stacia was sure Bryna would have laughed.
The NFL Commissioner walked out onto the stadium to applause. And so the games began. After a lengthy introduction and a lot of boring talk, it was finally that time.
“With the first pick in the NFL draft, the Oklahoma Tornadoes select…”
Stacia tensed and glanced down at her phone. This was it. This was everything Pace had worked for. His life was being laid out in that very moment.
“Pace Larson, quarterback, Las Vegas State.”
Stacia jumped up off the bed and screamed with excitement. First! He had gone first! He had always said that he would, but she’d always thought it was bravado. It was almost unbelievable that they were at this moment right now.
Well…he was at this moment.
Stacia was holding her phone and hoping to hear from him. She had taken the time that she needed, that she had asked for. And she had been
right in saying that she needed it. Now, she felt more like a human. She was more focused on her classes. She and Whitney were closer. She had gotten to spend the semester with her friends. She had a stronger relationship with her family. Between therapy and helping out at the charity organization for underprivileged youth in Las Vegas, she was also more centered.
There was only one thing missing.
A hole that still remained, despite all she had accomplished.
Maybe she wasn’t ready for a full-fledged relationship again, but she wanted Pace back in her life. That was a fact.
Pace walked across the stage, collected a Tornadoes hat and jersey with a huge smile on his face, and then the press snapped a few pictures. As another team got the chance to deliberate on who they would select, the screen switched over to Pace with an ESPN reporter.
“The number one draft pick. Did you ever think you would make it to this moment?” the reporter asked.
Pace laughed charmingly. “I always said that I would be standing here, but it didn’t feel real until it happened. It was always the dream though.”
“You have had one incredible year. Your stats are off the charts, especially after taking your team to the national championship and winning. But it has also been met with challenges, including the death of your teammate, TJ Boomer. How did you come out on top, despite those trials?”
“I just made sure to always remember what was important. It was getting to draft day. It was making it to the NFL. It was claiming what was mine,” he said, looking carefully into the camera.
Stacia tilted her head as she stared at the TV. Was that just egotistical excitement coming from him? Or was that in relation to me? Am I overthinking everything?
They talked for a few more seconds, and then the second camera switched to the next team’s potential draft pick.
Stacia lay back on the bed again with a sigh. Pace had gotten everything that he’d wanted. She couldn’t imagine how he must feel right now. She knew he would be busy for the next couple of hours, and even though she knew she wouldn’t hear from him, she clutched her phone in her hand anyway.
So, she was shocked when her phone dinged a few short minutes later. Pace’s name lit up the screen.
I wish you were here.
Stacia’s heart fluttered.
Me, too.
You were watching?
Yeah.
Did you like my tie, Pink?
Stacia laughed as she realized that the pink tie had been for her after all.
It’s your color.
I’ll be on the first plane back to Las Vegas after all of this. I’ll text you when I get back to campus. We need to talk.
Stacia didn’t particularly like that word.
Talk.
That could be a bad thing.
After all, he was presently signing a contract for over twenty-five million dollars with probably another eighteen to twenty million for a signing bonus. He could have anyone he wanted. He was the first-round draft pick. Even if Oklahoma wasn’t ideal, he’d have the money to do whatever he wanted when he wasn’t there.
A wave of exhaustion seemed to hit her all at once. The draft was over, and all the excitement that had led up to it was gone. She was just tired. She hadn’t realized that she would have so much anxiety by naming draft day as the day they would talk about whether or not they would have a relationship in the future.
A few hours later, the door opened. Stacia jumped up off the bed where she had been waiting and turned to face the door.
Pace stepped into the hotel room and stopped dead in his tracks. “Stacia?”
“Hey,” she whispered. “Surprise.”
“What are you doing here? How did you get in?”
Stacia bit her lip and shrugged. “Bryna.”
“You’re in my hotel room,” he said, closing the door behind himself.
Stacia nodded. She had decided at the last minute to fly into Chicago for the draft. Bryna had snuck her into the hotel room after everyone else had left for the drafting room. And Stacia had waited out his return.
“Why are you in my hotel room?”
“Because I wanted to see you.”
“I was texting you,” he said. He loosened his tie and undid the top button of his dress shirt. “I told you I was coming to Vegas right away.”
“I was already here. I got in this morning.”
“But…why?” he asked.
“We said draft day, right?”
“Fuck, Stacia, if I’d known, I would have had you there with me. You could have been standing with Bryna and my family instead of staying in a hotel room.”
“Pace,” she said with a shake of her head, “it was better this way. You had your moment. I still got to experience it. And, now, I’m here.”
“And what does that mean?” he asked carefully.
“Mostly, I wanted to congratulate you. We can hold off on our talk until you get back to Vegas, if that’s easier for you,” Stacia added quickly. “If you still want to talk.”
“Oh, I still want to talk. I wasn’t even sure that you would want to.” Pace carefully stepped toward her. “It’s been a long three months.”
“Yeah.”
“But you’ve been happy.”
She frowned. “Keeping tabs on me?”
He laughed. “What? You think I was just going to let you walk out of my life without some reassurances that you were doing all right?”
“I guess. Yeah.”
“No, I didn’t do that. I wasn’t around, but other people were.”
“You had spies? You were spying on me?”
“That makes it sound bad, Stacia. I was just checking to make sure you were doing all right. Everyone said you had a great life. That you were happy. That you hung out with your friends, bonded with your roommate, aced your classes.”
“That’s all true.”
Pace nodded. “Basically, without me, your life is perfect.”
Stacia’s jaw dropped at that statement. “What?”
“Isn’t it? I mean, I finally got that you needed your own space. You needed to be free of me to see what your life could be like.”
“That’s not exactly the case, Pace.”
“Well, I gave you the time and the space. I let you be. But I didn’t want to.”
“Pace,” she whispered, “you sound heartbroken.”
“Without you, I am heartbroken,” he admitted. He stepped closer and frowned down at her. “I just…I’m not sure that you were without me.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” she asked.
“If we hadn’t had this day set, would you be here?” he pushed. “Or was it just the high draft prospect?”
Stacia pushed him backward in frustration. “Don’t be an ass. I almost didn’t show because I was worried that you would say something dumb like that.”
“Then, tell me why you’re here.”
“I don’t know who your informants are, but they’re wrong. My life is not perfect without you. I love my friends and I love my roommate and I love my classes. But, without you…it’s just missing something.”
“Everything was missing in my life without you.”
“Pace,” she whispered. Her voice was full of sadness, and she wished that, somehow, they could just erase the pain and suffering they had both gone through to get to this point.
He brushed her hair back from her face. “Yes?”
“I don’t know what we do from here,” she said, lost in his eyes. “Do we just take it one day at a time?”
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about us,” Pace said. “I would love nothing more than to start over from scratch and see where the road takes us, but we have so much baggage, Stacia.”
“So, what?” she asked. Her voice trembled. “You want to end it?”
“No. I want to make sure we’re on the right page. The same page. That we’re not starting out with a fresh slate, because I don’t want to forget what we had. But I want us to be more of an open
book,” he told her. He paced the room and slid a hand back through his hair. He seemed frustrated and skeptical of his own course of action.
“Okay,” Stacia said softly.
“We should talk about all the stuff that happened before the funeral. Do you still think I was planning to hurt you?”
Stacia winced slightly. The thought of how hurt she had been when Madison told her about the stupid bet still stung. She knew she wasn’t completely over it, but she had put it all in perspective during their time apart.
“I think you were upset that night you made the bet and said shit you now regret.”
Pace breathed out heavily. “Well, you’ve got that right.”
“Do I think what you said was smart? No. But, I swore, at the start of the year, we’d never get back together, and obviously, that wasn’t true. We’re standing here now after all. It doesn’t compare in the same way, but I want to believe that you were telling the truth. I want to believe that you would never hurt me. And that’s really all I have to go on, right? I just have to have faith in you…in us.”
“Yes.” Pace nodded. “I have faith in us. Though…I think you saying that you and I were never getting back together was not your brightest moment.”
Stacia glared at him. “Jerk.”
“Come on, I was never going to let you go. I’m still not letting you go. I know that you have every right to be upset with me. I screwed up. I pushed you away. I was an idiot.” Pace strode across the room and grasped Stacia’s hands in his own. “But I fucking love you, and I’ve been going crazy without you.”
“You have?”
He nodded. “Worst three months of my life, knowing that I single-handedly ruined the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
Stacia sighed at those words. She couldn’t deny that she had missed Pace. From the moment she had found out about the stupid bet and realized what it all meant, she had been heartbroken. But moving on wasn’t an option. She could only take the time to come to the understanding that he had been just as hurt and heartbroken when he was idiotic enough to say it. Though she only had his word to go on to believe that he wasn’t going to actually hurt her…she wanted to trust him.