Page 41 of Catching Coy
“The biggest twist ever on this season of The Catch,” Portia Hampton was saying in the voice-over. But it didn’t actually show Bellamy. It was flicking through scenes of Coy with the women. Roxy had to go backward and pause on the scene they knew was her and Coy walking hand in hand down the main street of Little River, showing them from behind. It moved on to glimpses of Coy kissing Lucy some more—ew—and a few seconds of the argument between Gillian and Lucy. Then came Coy kissing Charlotte in the Little River theater, an old rom-com playing in the background as they grinned at each other when they pulled away.
Wait.
Coy’s first alone date with Charlotte had been two days ago. “He’s kissing her,” she whispered.
“What?” Roxy furrowed her brows at Bellamy. “At least it’s not Lucy again…”
“No,” Bellamy said, her throat closing. “No. That’s—that’s two days ago. After he kissed me. He promised me that he wouldn’t kiss me until I was the only one he wanted to kiss.” Her voice trembled. They’d only been apart four days. What had happened? What had been happening with Charlotte that Bellamy had missed? “No, no, no,” she moaned, standing up and pacing in front of the couch. He had turned to Charlotte for comfort the night of the big drama as much as he had to Bellamy. Charlotte had taken him aside at the last draft ceremony, prepared to go home. She’d told Bellamy about it. But Coy had kept her anyway.
“Bell, stop overreacting. You don’t know what that was about.” Roxy stood up with her, blocking her path from another round of pacing.
“Who’s the top three, Rox?” Bellamy asked. They did this every time after a first episode. “If you don’t know about me, who’s the top three?”
“Bell…”
Ugh, she just wanted to hear Coy whispering her nickname.All real, Bells.“Who’s your top three?” she insisted.
“Lucy,” Roxy said defiantly. Bellamy raised her eyebrows in expectation. “Gillian.”
“And?” Bellamy twisted her fingers together. Coy kissing Charlotte. The sweet one.
Roxy nodded. “Charlotte.”
Bellamy collapsed on the couch, buried her face in the cushion, and swore. Loudly, and none of it about food.
Roxy came and sat next to her, holding out her phone even though Agnes had threatened them with some pretty serious consequences if there was unauthorized contact between her and Coy. “Call him.”
“He doesn’t have his phone.”
Roxy still held it up. “Call him.”
“Agnes will ruin us.”
Roxy pushed the phone right up in Bellamy’s face. “This is payback, Bell. You made me face my fears, now face yours.”
“No. He promised. This is different.” Bellamy got up and walked away from her friend, gathering the dishes they’d used while watching the episode and heading into the kitchen. Roxy let her go, sighing in annoyance.
Bellamy was headed up to the ranch house to wallow in her room when Roxy came running out of the house, waving her phone. “Bell! Bell, it’s Coy!” She caught up with Bellamy and shoved the phone at her. “He sounds really upset. He must know. Let him explain before you throw this all away.”
“Did you call him?” Bellamy snapped. She might deserve it after how she’d taken Tag’s side when he’d come to the Ranch House the summer before trying to woo Roxy, but that didn’t make Bellamy like it.
“Cross my heart. He called.”
Bellamy took the phone, following Roxy back down the road and toward the house, in case Agnes had left spies or something. “Hello?” she answered after Roxy had hurried on ahead.
“I need to make this quick. I don’t trust that Agnes doesn’t have like a bug on Zane’s phone or something,” Coy said.
Bellamy’s stomach clenched. Roxy had it wrong. Coy sounded distant, not upset. “How did you even know that I’d seen the promos?” Bellamy still couldn’t quite trust that Roxy hadn’t had a hand in this. Maybe she hadn’t called, but she might have texted Zane.
“What promos?” His voice dropped. Out of guilt? She couldn’t tell.
“Of you kissing Charlotte on your date last week.”
Coy huffed and let out a long sigh that sounded weary. It made Bellamy stiffen and wonder what was coming next.I’m sorry. This isn’t how I planned it, but I realized—
“Agnes made me,” he said. “TheCatchhas a story to tell and apparently my devotion to you wasn’t enough to bring in the big bucks. I thought I’d be able to tell you before you saw it.”
She flinched at the way he said devotion. There was something off, something hard in it. “That’s not why you called?” The turmoil in her stomach should be easing, knowing that it had all been a part of a script, that Coy had been following orders he was obligated to follow thanks to his contract. But there was more.
