Page 19 of Easy Rumba

Chapter 8

Leo

After Elise fainted the other night, I’ve been terrified of pushing her too hard in training. However, we’ve only got three days until the live performance, and she still can’t remember the steps. We’re getting absolutely nowhere with this dance. She’s barely talking to me, and although I know something is wrong, she won’t open up to me no matter how hard I try. I’ve even asked Angelique to talk to her as the two of them have become friends, but she’s also failed to get Elise to share anything.

It’s like she’s a different woman. Her confidence is virtually non-existent again, and I can’t work out why. She did amazingly on the show and was top of the leaderboard. Maybe it’s just that ballroom is more her thing than Latin. I really hope not, though, because I don’t know how I’d cope with that. I love Latin dancing—the beat, the rhythm.

I start the music once again and ‘Conga’, a Gloria Estefan track, begins to play. It’s a wonderful song for a salsa, and we begin our moves. Elise forgets the steps again, and when I go to lift her, she shifts her weight to the wrong position. Luckily, I’m able to catch her before she falls.

“What are you doing, Elise? Are you crazy? I’ve told you to make sure your weight is on the left. Do you want me to hurt you?” I erupt in a furious rage. “You need to get out of your head and pay attention to what you’re doing.”

Elise’s eyes go wide, and she shuffles backward into the corner of the room. She’s shaking.

“I’m sorry,” her voice cracks, and I feel awful.

She’s absolutely terrified of me.

I walk over to the other side of the room, as far away from her as possible, turning the music off as I go. Then breathing deeply several times, I get my anger under control. The vision of her fear quickly dispels it. No woman should look like that when I shout at them. This is a show, not life or death. What am I doing?

“I’m sorry,” Elise repeats. I can still hear the quiver of fear in her voice. “I’ll go.”

She starts picking up her belongings, and I race across the room to stop her. But when I grab her hand, she screams loudly. Her squeal is so deafening that a few seconds later Leah, the producer who works in the same building, comes running in with Angelique and her wife.

“What’s going on?” Leah sees me holding Elise’s hand and immediately moves in between us. “Leo, get out.”

“W-What have I done?” I stumble over my words, not entirely sure what’s happening.

“Get out,” Leah repeats, this time with more force.

Angelique and her wife place their hands on my shoulders and guide me from the room. I feel like I’m in some sort of daze.

“What’s happening?” my professional dance partner questions.

“I don’t know. I lost my temper because she messed up, and I nearly dropped her. You know how I get sometimes when I’m worried about harming my partner.”

“Asshole as I call it. Yeah.” Angelique rolls her eyes.

She knows what it’s like to be on the end of a tongue lashing from me when I’ve nearly accidentally hurt her in the past because she’s made a mistake.

“She was so scared of me.”

My back falls against the wall behind me. I feel lost. That is not a side of Elise I’ve ever seen before. She’s always been confident and happy, but it’s like Hollywood has sucked all the life out of her. I’ve caught glimpses of joy since we’ve been reintroduced, but she keeps it hidden away most of the time as though she’s scared of something.

Gabby’s words at the restaurant come back to me. She wasn’t going to tell me anything about Elise’s divorce. It wasn’t her secret to tell, but I have a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that it’s something bad. If I’m going to get anywhere with Elise, either romantically or on the show, I need to discover what happened to her.

Eventually, she emerges from the room with her bag on her shoulder. I can tell she’s been crying. Leah is at her side.

“I think we’ll call it a day for your training, Leo,” Leah informs me, but I stare straight past her to Elise.

“I’ll take her home. She’s in no fit state to drive,” I insist.

Leah opens her mouth to interrupt and no doubt disagree, but I fold my arms across my chest, showing I’ll not back down on this point.

“Is that all right, Elise?” Leah asks, and I wish Elise would look at me herself, but she’s doing everything possible to avoid eye contact with me now.

Her head is directly pointed at the floor when she mumbles, “Yes” to Leah’s question.

“Ok, call me when you’re home.”

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