Page 46 of Grunt: A Marine Romance

“My result?” Selena shouted. Vika had gotten it all wrong. “What are you talking about my result? How can you think that’s why I was so mad at you about getting with Benny? I did yell at you back then, yes, but not because I thought it would hurt my result. I just didn’t want you to spend your life in a loveless marriage. Plus you didn’t need to marry Benny. You are a good enough dancer to make it without lying on the ballroom-casting couch. Dima and I were trying to find other ways for you to come to the country legally without committing immigration fraud.”

“Enough!” Nicole blurted. She shook her head at Selena.

Who needed Nicole and her I-have-the-perfect-ballroom-marriage aura? “I’m sorry, Nikki, but we all can’t be as perfect as you and Eric.” Selena paused, but then figured, what the hell? “Though maybe you should take a closer look at your own marriage before you get involved in my life.”

Nicole’s eyes narrowed, then she turned to Vika. “C’mon, luv, let’s go clean up. We still have to film this video.” She took Vika by the hand and led her out of the lobby, not looking at Selena again.

Selena watched them go, nearly panting with exhausted rage. That’s right—go. Who needs you, anyway?

Elizabeth leapt off the sofa with a crooked smile on her face, like she’d just come to some profound realization. “Don’t worry, Selena. Vika will be okay. You did what you had to do. Nothing works out perfectly in the ballroom world.” She smiled and pranced out of the room.

What the hell was she up to? She had been acting really distant lately. And she was awfully close to Dima. Maybe Dima told her about Selena’s miscarriage and she was the one who told the tabloids?

Jenny was the last one on the couch. She sat there in silence, eyeing Selena.

Selena’s rage drained away by the second, leaving just emptiness and guilt. “Bret found out about my miscarriage online. He dumped me this morning.”

“I’m sorry, Sel. But I told you to come clean with him when you guys got back together. You’re out of control right now—do you know that? I know you are upset, but you really need to pull yourself together.”

Man—Selena couldn’t get a break. She really wasn’t in the mood for a lecture from Jenny.

“Sure, Jen, You’re right. You’re always right. I screwed up. But I have to ask you—did you tell the tabloids about my miscarriage?”

“How could you even ask me that?” Jenny stood up, straightening her workout shorts, then leveled a stony face her way. “I’m the only one who has been on your side. I’ve even been lying to the tabloids for you. But you’ve gone way too far this time Sel. Nicole didn’t deserve that. You’re on your own.” Then she walked right past Selena, following the rest of the girls into the studio behind her.

A director inside the studio clapped her hands sharply twice then hollered, “Chop, chop, people. The dance waits for no woman.”

God what have I done?Vika shouldn’t have found out like this. Selena wanted to tell her but she had decided to wait awhile until they had some space. And she probably had just ruined Nicole’s marriage, if it wasn’t already destroyed. How would this affect their baby?

She walked over to the couch and dropped into it, more exhausted than she’d ever been in her whole life. Her ballroom career was over. She’d screwed herself politically, and now she’d probably be on the cover of Star magazine. For Bret? She loved him—she knew she did. But he’d left her and Selena was sure this time he wasn’t coming back.

Her life was over.

“Selena—now!” the director yelled. The beat of a techno tango ripped through the speakers. In a few minutes, she’d have to smile for the camera like life was just a peach. A happy, joy-joy, this-is-so-amazingly-fun peach.