Page 5 of Catching Coy
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Bellamy planned ongoing back to the ranch once the introductions were over, but being caught up inThe Catch,watching everything she’d been obsessed with for years live, had her approaching Agnes and asking if she could stick around to watch Coy get to know the women that afternoon before he sent two home. Since the crew and cast would eat dinner here at the gym tonight, she didn’t even have responsibilities back at the ranch. With all the dates and get-togethers the show entailed, the meals would be light, one of the reasons they’d decided to send Bellamy’s mom off on vacation rather than keeping her around to help.
Agnes had cast her a smile. “It’s fun, right?”
“Better than I even imagined.”
“Just wait. We get to see the best stuff. Sometimes it’s far more boring than after we edit it, but sometimes it’s way better than we can make it.”
The women and Coy had all been shuffled off to respective locker rooms while they transformed the gym into a party with a pep rally theme. Bellamy stuck around some of the crew who sat in the bleachers, waiting for them to bring Coy and the women back in. She checked her phone, noticing a message from Nash Roberts. She’d stayed friends with him after his and Roxy’s breakup, made easier by the fact that Roxy had spent a lot of time on the road with Tag.
We gotta catch up on “He Spies, She Spies” before the new season starts next month. Tonight?
The detective show had become their thing when Roxy had first gone on tour with Tag after they’d started dating. It made Bellamy cringe inside as she realized how much of her life lately was taken up by her favorite shows. She sighed as she sent off a text.It’s Catch season. You know what that means.
Nash’s answer was a GIF of a man gagging.You guys have so many secret guests lately I might as well just watch Spies myself.
This was the third time this year that Bellamy had to be under radio silence for an exclusive guest.We’ll catch up soon.She made sure to tag this with plenty of pleading emojis.
The women came out before she got Nash’s answer, each of them taking up various positions around the room. Gillian and Bristol grabbed a ball, both shedding their heels to dribble around while they waited. It didn’t surprise Bellamy that sweet Charlotte had gravitated toward Lyra, still decked out in her mascot suit. Lyra was the clear oddball for the season, and Charlotte was the sweet one.
Agnes was sitting a couple of rows below Bellamy, tapping on her iPad, so Bellamy leaned over. “You’re gonna make him keep Lyra or Lucy, right?” she said, voicing a theory she and Roxy were diehard believers in. “For the drama.”
Agnes’ thin lips stretched into a cat-like smile and she gave a short laugh before turning back to her iPad and not answering. Yeah, they were definitely going to make sure one of them stayed.
Willa, Lucy, and Stella had all gone for food. Bellamy couldn’t help the grin of pleasure when she noticed the guitar case that one of the crew members set next to a sofa. Bellamy had pegged Willa for the one here for a platform so she would bet that guitar was for her.
A crew member brought Coy out, and Bellamy forced herself not to grin like a besotted girl—the same expression on the faces of the eight women on the court who had stopped their activities and turned toward him. Coy Jones was so off-limits, even if he had turned to her for her opinion after meeting every woman.
But … his hazel eyes sort of made Bellamy’s heart spin, especially when they stopped on her as he walked on, even for a brief moment before he turned his attention to the women hurrying toward him. Lucy beat them all, rushing up to him and hugging him again.
Bellamy leaned forward and watched him mingle with them all. She couldn’t hear all of their conversations, which was a bummer, but she’d catch up when they aired the season. It would be fun to have seen all the interactions and not just the ones they edited in.
When Willa pulled Coy over to the sofa and the guitar for a private conversation, Bellamy blessed the heavens that it was situated close to the bleachers where she sat. She got to lap up the whole thing.
“I’m so glad we get to chat for a minute,” Willa said, laying her hand on Coy’s knee. Bellamy expected what came next, that Coy would lace his fingers through hers. Their connection hadn’t been like the way he’d stared after Gillian, or the curiosity with a hint of let’s-keep-that-up after Lucy’s kiss. Really, it hadn’t even come close to the electricity bouncing during Bellamy’s pre-introduction conversation with Coy, if she was being objective about her analysis.
But Willa’s wavy blond hair curled around her shoulders like an old-time movie star, and her green eyes were wide with long (coughobviously fakecough) lashes. In short, she was gorgeous and Coy kept leaning closer and closer.
“Tell me about yourself.” He put an arm up on the back of the couch. A glance at the other women showed covert glances shooting that way every few seconds as they all waited a “respectable” amount of time before they jumped in and stole Coy for themselves.
“Would you mind if I did something a little different?” She reached for the guitar, already taken out of the case and resting in a stand next to the couch. “I think this is the best way to show you the real me.”
“I’d love to hear you play.” Coy adjusted his sitting position so that he could face Willa, who rested the guitar in her lap.
“So, given where we are, I think it’s only fitting that I sing this song…” Willa strummed a few chords that sounded familiar to Bellamy, and she guessed right away that Willa was using one of Tag’s songs. Had that been her choice or the producers? This was classic.
“There’s a place, where everyone’s at Coy’s game on Friday night…”
Oh. My. This was better than anything on any season ofThe Catchthat Bellamy had ever seen. Willa was singing “Roxy’s Song!” Bellamy snatched her phone out of her pocket, careful that Agnes didn’t see her videoing. Roxy and Tag had both signed the non-disclosure agreements the show required, so Bellamy didn’t feel too guilty for recording this to show Roxy later. It was literallyhersong.
“And there’s a boy I know, who’s part of my whole soul,” Willa continued, and Bellamy had to put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. On the other side of the gym, Bellamy caught Bristol smirking at the couple, the same you’ve-got-to-be-kidding me expression that Bellamy likely wore now. Charlotte had her head tilted to one side, the only person in the room other than, maybe Coy, who thought this was oh-so-sweet. Coy clapped at the end of Willa’s serenade, and Charlotte did as well.
Bellamy watched over the course of the next couple of hours, enthralled as each girl got their time. She would have given pretty much anything to follow the crew members who took the girls aside for their confessionals and especially when Coy went to do one of his, but she didn’t think she could swing that. At least she got to be there when Lucy confessed to Coy that her heart had stopped the moment she saw him and asked if he believed in love at first sight, because she did.
But then she’d had to watch Coy make out with Lucy, so that made it a toss-up about whether it was worth it. She pictured how she would have turned to Roxy if they were watching together.Purely physical.They both would have rolled their eyes and pretended to gag, even if Coy had some pretty sexy moves going on, the way he slipped his arm around Lucy’s waist and gently tugged her closer.
Bellamy thought she was enjoying the whole thing until the moment the women were ushered back to the locker room and Coy stepped up the bleachers and sat next to Bellamy. That’s when she realized how tight she’d been holding her shoulders as they finally relaxed, and the fact that the calming feeling winding through her was relief.
