Page 39 of Catching Coy
Coy gave a mock huff. “You’re hurting my feelings.”
“Doubt it,” she said, her voice broken with laughter.
“How was that?” he called out.
“You’re giving me heart palpitations, Coy Jones,” Agnes called back. That sent Charlotte and Coy into another round of laughter. At least it would look like they were having fun. “Just for that you have to give me another one,” she shouted.
Coy made a show of sighing. “If Ihaveto…”
“Now you’re hurting my feelings.” Charlotte wagged a finger at him then leaned forward and surprised him by starting a kiss of her own, although he could feel the smile she tried to hold back.
“Hope I’m not interrupting.”
The voice made Charlotte and Coy pull apart automatically. Charlotte gasped as she turned. Coy stood, narrowing his gaze at Lucy.
Chapter Twenty
Lucy, 23
Phoenix, Arizona
Model
“If Coy thought I was just going to walk away from what we had, then he doesn’t know me at all. That’s something I intend to fix. Love doesn’t obey rules.”
* * *
Coy gave Agnesa glare as he stalked out of the theater with Lucy and the camera operators close on his heels. The producer watched, expressionless, before following the group to the lobby.
“What’s going on?” Coy spun on Lucy when they reached the high-ceilinged room with the concessions and the ticket counter.
“I couldn’t just walk away. Not when I know this was real between us.” She came forward, reaching for him, but he backed away. She pinched her lips together. “When I got my phone back, I found out a few things about your precious Bellamy that I thought you’d want to know.” She folded her arms.
Coy clenched his jaw, ignoring the surge of panic that went through his stomach. He couldn’t trust Lucy. Couldn’t trust that this wasn’t some setup for more drama because him falling for the woman not in on the competition had already played out and was getting stale.
“Is that really the way you want me and the viewers to remember you? The woman who stooped this low towin?” He made sure to let derision drip off of the word. Lucy was competitive. He wouldn’t put it past her having a bruised ego she was eager to assuage.
“I’ll stoop this low to protect you,” she shot back.
There was a fierceness about Lucy that Coy had always been attracted to. Before he let her go, he’d struggled with how to see her machinations to win him over. She’d said more than once that she didn’t plan on playing by the rules ever, that the show was more than a game, more than a competition to her. That truth shone in her expression right now, all full of righteous indignation.
So did he listen to whatever accusation she had or trust that things were right with Bellamy and that if there was something serious, she’d tell him?
He held up his hands, backing away further. “I don’t want to hear it. I trust Bellamy.”
“Too bad.” Lucy held up her phone, pushing play on a video, then put her hand on her hips and eyed him. “Gonna walk away from this?”
It was of Bellamy. One of the behind-the-scenes confessionals. “Nothing is more important than the reputation of the Ranch House. I came on this show to make sure nothing could happen to make our clients lose trust in us.”
Lucy raised her eyebrows and pocketed the phone. “You didn’t like hearing that I thought Gillian was only here for her company. I’m sure it sucks hearing that’s the only reason your precious Bellamy agreed to join the competition.”
This could not be real. Gunner had told Coy to trust his instincts, and all of Coy’s instincts had screamedBellamyfrom pretty much day one. But that was Bellamy’s voice and that was Bellamy and that was a confessional just like he’d seen every single woman on this show record.
He stalked to Agnes. “What’s going on?” he snapped under his breath.
“I thought you’d want to hear what she had to say.” Agnes gave a shrug.
Coy scoffed. “You have this video. You couldn’t just show me?”
