Page 92 of Culinary Chaos

“Or is it that all you care about is money?” Angelica was ready to fight fire with fire. “Because you accused me of that.” She pointed at Josef. “And you.” Now Kyle. “So which is it? How is it that I’m the one you call the Ice Fairy, and yet I’m the only one who actually gives a damn about Hope right now?”

She was met with silence.

“Well?” she pushed.

“I didn’t think she was that stressed,” Kyle said.

“Then pay closer fucking attention!” Angelica threw her hand out. “What you did earlier was unprofessional. You want us to argue. Fine. But we talk about it ahead of time. You don’t throw us into the wasp’s nest and expect us to come out the other side without being stung. We’re human, too, and you need to remember that.”

“You’re right,” Kyle said. “You’re absolutely right.”

“No, you’re not,” Josef shook his head. “We’re all in this to make money, including Hope. She knew what she was signing up for when she signed the contract.”

Angelica paused. When had this changed from being a way to make money to actually caring about the work she was doing? No, that wasn’t right either. She’d always cared about the work. When had it changed to caring about the people? About Tatum and Baxter and Miriam? About Hope? She’d told Hope that she wasn’t there to make friends, and she wasn’t.

Yet she’d let herself fall into that same fucking trap.

Josef stepped closer to her, dark bushy eyebrows raised. “Unless there’s something else going on?”

“Nothing’s going on,” Angelica hissed, staring directly at him. He wouldn’t expose her in front of Rex and Kyle, would he?

As much as she would like to believe that he trusted and liked her enough not to do that, she wasn’t sure anymore. For so long they’d worked side by side on things like this, but ever since she’d taken on a new and different role, everything had changed.

“Will you give us the room?” Josef asked, glancing over his shoulder at Rex and Kyle. “I need to talk to Ange about some private matters.”

Angelica clenched her jaw tightly, but she managed to keep her hands from tightening into fists. She hated watching Rex and Kyle leave, the fact that they left a wake of unresolved tension pissed her off even more. And the fact that she knew exactly where Josef was going to go next.

“I told you…”

“There’s nothing going on between me and Chef Lawrence.”

Josef snorted loudly. “I was there tonight, if you don’t remember.”

Oh, Angelica had been keenly aware of the fact that he’d been there, and of the fact that he’d wanted her to poke at Hope until she broke, and she’d flat out refused to do it. She’d seen himwatching the monitors, she’d seen him standing behind Rex and Kyle, and she’d seen him encouraging both her and Hope to keep it going.

“The looks you two were giving each other…” He lowered his voice to nearly a whisper, canting his head to the side as he stared at her. “You better not have started something with her.”

Angelica huffed. “I haven’t.”

But Hope had. Not that Angelica was ever going to tell him that.

“I know you, Ange. And that look on your face says something is going on.”

“Nothing,” she repeated. “Absolutely nothing is going on. And it’s ridiculous of you to even accuse me of that. Rex was right here. She’s happily married, and her entire family is here. What else could she hope for on a show? Honestly.”

Angelica tensed, trying to keep herself under control. She wasn’t used to being so outwardly attacked like this. She’d expected it, but she still didn’t like it.

“Ange… don’t fool yourself.”

“I’m fooling no one.” And that much was true. She was entirely too aware of the situation. “But if you don’t start caring about the people who work for you, then what’s going to happen? Because you won’t have a show left to make you any damn money.”

Josef narrowed his eyes at her. “Ange.”

“What!?” She raged, her voice reverberating around the room again.

“You can’t do this to all of us. If you fuck this up, then we’re all going down with you. This isn’t just your livelihood anymore. It’s every single person who works on this show.”

Angelica took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She knew that without him throwing it in her face.