She glanced at her phone. She could call him. She should call him. So she did. And got his voicemail. Which she hung up on, not knowing how to say what she wanted without sounding pathetic. She then toyed with how to word a message that didn’t sound too needy, but the phone rang again. Another unknown number.
“Hello, this is Bailey.”
“Bailey,” a male voice asked, “do you teach adult classes?”
“I do. What style of dance are you interested in?”
He described a style she definitely did not teach, thank you very much, and quickly ended the call, her fingers shaking.
“What is it?” Poppy asked.
She shook her head. “Just another nuisance call.”
Coco had said to expect a few of those, along with random people wanting to slide into her DMs, which was why she was wary with some of the unknown numbers pouring in. But she couldn’t afford to ignore all of them. Like, literally could not afford to ignore them, as some of the unknown numbers had proved to be endorsers and local businesses that had wanted to partner with her for greater exposure. Coco had advised that Bailey find herself a publicist, but even that felt ridiculous, like she was one of the celebrities she’d been paid to dance with. She wasn’t. She was just plain Bailey, even if others seemed to see her differently now.
“I can talk to Hannah about finding you an agent or someone to help with that if you like,” Poppy offered. “She knows way too much about the need to screen calls and deal with the weirdos out there.”
Bailey had learned a little more in recent weeks about Hannah’s situation, and some of the challenges associated with being a female sports reporter. How insane were people to throw food at a woman who was simply doing her job? “Maybe. I don’t know. My head is in a whirl, and we haven’t even sorted out our schedules going forward.”
“Then let’s do this. You’ve got time to do the other stuff later.”
She nodded, and they started compiling the enrollment forms that had come online from the basic website she’d created four years ago. Even the website needed updating, but she didn’t have the time or energy or skills to update it, let alone the money. Thank God—and she did, every day—that the debt outstanding at the bank had been paid, but she still needed to repay Poppy, and expanding like they were doing required more financial outlay. They could run back-to-back classes from eight to seven, six days a week and still not fit in all of the applicants. And while that was a good problem to have, Coco had once again advised that Bailey needed to get on top of things now in order to capitalize on this wave of show-induced recognition and enthusiasm, before people forgot her name. She probably should’ve been doing this while on the show, but had instead been caught up in all that was going on with the show and their routines. And with Luc.
Luc. Her heart tensed. She glanced at her phone again, picked it up to text him, when an image flashed across her screen. She gasped, then flung it away.
“Bails?” Poppy picked up her phone.
“Don’t look at it,” she pleaded.
“What is it?”
Something gratuitous. Something she’d certainly not seen before. Something she’d bet good Christian girl Poppy hadn’t either. “Maybe you should contact Hannah, after all.”
“Bails.” Poppy glanced at the screen, then her face stiffened. “Unbelievable.”
“Just delete it.”
“No.” Poppy held up Bailey’s phone. “You need to report this to the police.”
The police? She closed her eyes. Lord, help me.
“And yeah, it’s been crazy.”
Pastor Josiah Abrahams nodded. The Chicago-based pastor had started this online Bible study with Jai and a few of the others, like Mike, Dan and Brent, a number of years ago. Josiah didn’t join as much as he used to, but was always available to provide spiritual counsel along the way. His vacation with family in Florida had meant he’d not been privy to as much of what had been happening in Luc’s world as the others, not until he’d watched the finals, so it had been good to fill him in a little now.
“How were your coaches?” Mike asked.
“Mostly okay. The social media team was happy to see my improved numbers, anyway.”
“Not surprising, considering all you’ve been posting lately,” Ryan said, smirking.
The video group chat was kind of weird. He’d been in the room with most of these guys only a few days ago, but here he was again, talking about himself yet again. He’d never talked as much about himself as he had in the past forty-eight hours.
This celebrity stuff was exhausting, and almost enough to make him question whether he should’ve agreed to the captaincy. But the coaching staff had seemed pleased when he’d showed up, after rushing through three interviews with Bailey in the morning. Apart from the strength and conditioning coach, who’d been more than a little alarmed at the weight Luc had lost.
“This ain’t good,” he’d said, tapping Luc’s leaner frame. “You might’ve done okay with keeping up your cardio, but you need to get the muscle back, and you’ve only got four weeks until training camp.”
“I’ll do it.”
He was given strict protocols: weights sessions alternating with days including both speed and mobility, with only Sundays as his day of rest. Combined with the extra media and team and organizational stuff he had to do, he’d barely had a moment to think, let alone see how he could touch base with Bailey.
He glanced at his phone, itching to call her. He kind of felt like there was something he was supposed to say, but the past two days had been a blur, and it had slipped through the cracks of utmost importance. He’d barely seen her, or spoken to her since their dance on Sunday night. She’d slept most of the plane trip home, and knowing he’d see her this week he hadn’t thought he should wake her.
“So, what’s next with her?” Jai asked.
“With Bailey? I don’t know.”
“Is she going to do another season?” Mike asked. “Bree said she saw the producer talking with her on Sunday.”
She had? Man. Now he really needed to talk with her. “She hasn’t said anything to me yet.”
“Okay, well, I’m sure you’ll get the time soon.”
“Nothing to be sure of there. My trainer has got me working hard to make up for the past few weeks. That show was good for my cardio, but not so great for my strength, so I’ve got to build the muscle mass again.”
“Yeah, seeing you throw Bailey around doesn’t give that impression.”
