Page 86 of The Dance Deception
‘Merle,’ I reply warily.
‘We might as well keep each other entertained,n’est-ce pas? While no one else is around.’
‘I guess so.’ Although I’m not at all sure it’s a good idea.
‘There’s something I wanted to show you, anyway.’ He unlocks his phone and hands it to me. ‘Remember this?’
I watch in horror as the video of us dancing the kizomba starts playing, with my blindfolded, naked body pressedup against his fully clothed one. What once seemed so erotic now just looks tacky and embarrassing – and feels so violating. My cheeks flush red with humiliation and anger. ‘You promised to delete that, Merle.’
He snatches his phone back off me before it occurs to me to try and delete it myself.
‘I thought it might come in useful. And as it turns out, I was right. I was pretty much guaranteed to win this competition until last week, but now you and Aleksis have got yourselves all over the internet and he’s managed to drag a half decent dance out of you, it’s not so certain. I need to tip things back in my favour.’
I swallow back a creeping sense of dread.
‘So here’s the deal,’ he continues. ‘If you throw your chances of winning tonight, I won’t upload this video online. And then everything will be back as it should be.’
‘And how exactly would you propose I do that?’ I snap.
‘However you see fit. Mess up your dance, come clean about your showmance with Aleksis—’
‘It’s not a showmance.’
‘All the more reason to keep this private, then,’ he counters.
I stare at him, my mind racing. Would he really stoop this low just to get a place on next year’s show?
‘You don’t have to agree right away,’ he says, standing up to leave. ‘You’ve still got two hours to think about it. But I know what I’d do if I were in your shoes.’
Then he walks away, leaving me reeling.
I slump back in my chair, chilled to my core. I’ve worked so hard to get this far in the competition, I don’t want to throw it all away now. I don’t want to let Aleksis down,either. But when I think back to the night when the pictures of me and Merle went viral, it makes me shudder. Could I bear the humiliation of more naked images of me circulating online for all eternity? Images which my parents, friends, future work colleagues, and one day even my children might see? And not just photos this time, but a full bloody video.
Panic rising, I dig my phone out of my bag and dial Lucy’s number.
‘Everything okay?’ she asks, instinctively worried. ‘I didn’t expect to hear from you this close to the show.’
‘Something’s happened and I don’t know what to do,’ I admit. Then I take a deep breath and tell her everything – how Merle filmed me without telling me, lied about deleting it, and how he’s now using it to blackmail me.
Her outrage is instant. ‘How dare he? And now he’s trying to intimidate you with it as well? This is not right, Kate. You’ve got to put a stop to it.’
‘But how?’ I wail.
‘Isn’t revenge porn illegal? Tell the producers what’s he’s done. Telleveryonewhat he’s done. He should be thrown off the show for this. It’s disgusting.’
‘But how can I prove it? He’d probably just say I was making it up to get rid of him.’
‘Then there must be another way.’ She thinks for a moment. ‘What does Aleksis have to say about it? He’s known Merle for long enough – he must have an idea of how to pull him back in line.’
‘I haven’t told him,’ I say, miserably. ‘I don’t want him to know about the video.’
‘He’ll find out anyway if Merle posts it.’
But the thought of telling Aleksis makes me feel nauseous. And what will he be able to do anyway? Merle isn’t going to back down just because Aleksis tells him to.
‘The stupid thing is, there’s every chance I won’t win tonight anyway,’ I sigh. ‘I know I’ve managed to get pretty decent at dancing, but I’ve still got to get through the Argentine tango.’
‘Maybe, but please don’t let it be Merle who decides it for you. I want to see you give the performance of a lifetime tonight. And afterwards I want us to celebrate it, win or lose, and for you to be proud of all the amazing things you’ve achieved in the last two months. And you won’t be able to do that if you just give in to him, will you?’
