Page 71 of The Dance

My stomach sank. How many women could there have been? Stacey said she was attacked about a year ago. Could there be one a month? Two a month? More? All while he had a wife and kids at home.

What the fuck was I going to do?

22

Stacey

Every timeI went to an audition, I was nervous. It was usually a long day with at least eight hours of dancing, and each time I’d auditioned before, I hadn’t made the cut because I never made it past the choreographed routine. When I would go home, I would cry and be pissed because dancing was my passion, and I thought I was good.

I wasn’t that good, apparently.

But going to the tryout for Maze, I felt different. Maybe it was because Eddie got me the audition, and I didn’t want to let him down. I didn’t know how he got me in. For all I knew, he was friends with Maze herself.

Eddie: Good luck today.

I smiled and texted back:

Thank you. How are things at Sweethearts?

Eddie: Still working on it.

Since New Year’s Eve a week ago, I hadn’t seen Eddie. We’d talked a few times on the phone and texted, and I knew he was dealing with his business partner, but I didn’t know how or what because every time I asked, he just said he was working on it.

I kept busy, trying not to worry if Brody knew who I was or if he knew Eddie knew he was a rapist. Instead, I’d been practicing dancing, coming up with a routine to Maze’s hit song “You’ll Miss Me”in case I needed one on the ready. The song was about a woman leaving her boyfriend who didn’t treat her well. Even though it was about a breakup, it was upbeat. Similar to “Toxic” by Britney, and with Molly’s approval, I thought I’d created a pretty decent dance routine.

Pulling up to the venue in downtown Houston, I parked my car, grabbed my duffle bag, and made my way inside the warehouse listed on the email Eddie had sent me. When I walked through the door, the place was packed. Even though I had a connection, it didn’t mean I was going to make the cut, and I realized it was going to be like the two tryouts I had before.

Stepping up to the table, I gave my name to the woman, and she rolled her eyes. “Right. Eddie Bryant sent you.”

“I … Uh, yeah?”

“Good luck,” she sneered. “First dance will be a freestyle. If, and I really meanif, Maze likes what she sees, you’ll have two hours to learn a five-minute routine. After that, you might get a callback, but you know, good luck.”

I stared at her for a beat and then turned, unsure why she was being a bitch. Looking around the room, I knew I had to bring my best game, and for the next nine hours, I danced my ass off, not once sitting down, and proving to the woman who checked me in that I wasn’t just someone Eddie Bryant sent.

23

Eddie

“Hey!”A knock sounded on my open office door.

I turned from the window where I was looking out at the Dallas skyline to see Brody walking in. “What’s up?” Before he could answer, my office phone rang. I looked at the screen to see it was the IT department. “I have to get this.”

“Yeah, sure. Just coming to see if you wanted to grab lunch.”

“Going to the gym,” I replied. It was the truth. I had to work out my frustration somehow. Usually, I would go to him for advice on what to do, but I couldn’t because he was at the root of my current problem. Until I had proof, I had to bite my tongue. There were other ways of releasing my frustration, but there was only one person I wanted to have sex with, and she was in Houston.

I wasn’t sure if she was going on dates with daddies because when we left each other at the hotel, we hadn’t discussed where our relationship was going or if there even was one. But I had no desire to hook up with a stranger, nor go on a date with a baby unless it was Stacey.

Brody nodded. “Happy hour, then?”

“Sure.” I picked up the ringing phone. “This is Eddie.”

“Hey, boss,” Brian said. “I have an update.”

“I’ll be right there.”

When I returned to work after the brief holiday, I went to the IT department with an NDA in hand, asked Brian to sign it, and then told him what I needed to figure out. I could probably find out on my own, given I had a degree in computer science and helped create the app, but I didn’t want to have to explain why I was doing anything on the IT side when my main focus was financial.