Page 49 of Culinary Chaos (Hotel Bombshell #1)

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

“ C ut!” Rex said loudly.

Angelica sighed, glad that they were done for the day.

She’d given the update she had for Luxury Suites and what she was going to be doing going forward to help Conrad.

She had her work cut out for her still, but she did believe that this hotel could at least be turned around. And it felt damn good to just be home.

Something about the travel this time had been harder on her than ever before. Or perhaps it was the work environment. She’d analyze that later. Angelica sat on the edge of the conference table, crossing her arms as the crew started to clear everything up and put everything away.

Rex, however, came directly to her. “We need to talk.”

“About?” Angelica pressed her lips together firmly. Had Hope told him finally? Were the beans spilled, and would she be outed to the entire crew over what had happened? She was the one in power, so it’d all fall on her in the end.

“Hope.”

Fuck. He did know, didn’t he? Angelica clenched her jaw tightly, trying to relax but knowing it was impossible. She was going to be kicked out of this operation so fast that she wouldn’t know what had hit her.

“We need you two to film together more.”

“What?” Angelica shook her head, confused more now than ever. This wasn’t about that kiss Hope had planted on her weeks ago? Or the conversation that Hope had tried to have with her in the elevator?

“You two have been avoiding each other. I don’t know why, but you’re both the hosts of the show, so I need you to actually be together in the same room on occasion.”

“Oh.” Angelica pursed her lips and watched the crew carefully.

She could barely bring herself to look at Rex, honestly.

She hadn’t realized it was that obvious that they were avoiding each other.

That or Rex was just particularly aware because of filming and because Hope was his wife. “What do you suggest?”

“Isn’t there something the two of you need to discuss?”

There really wasn’t. That was the disadvantage to splitting everything the way they had. Unless it was about budget, then they both sort of just went their own ways and did what they needed to do. Angelica pursed her lips in a frown before she fixed that. “Not really.”

“Can you find something?”

“Like a failed inspection?” Angelica stared at him hard. She really did want to know what he knew about that. How much had he fed to Josef? How much had just been Josef’s idea? It’d give her a good estimate of who Rex ultimately was.

Rex shook his head, his cheeks turning slightly red. “I wouldn’t do something that drastic.”

But would he stop it if someone else was going to? Angelica continued to watch him carefully, judging every reaction that he gave. “What do you suggest?”

“Budget? Hope needs a new one for all the menu changes she’s making, doesn’t she?”

“Not really, not if she stays within the budget she already had.”

“Well, can you make a discussion out of that? Maybe out of cross-training some people.”

Angelica snorted lightly. “I can barely get them trained for the jobs they have and now you want to talk about cross-training?”

Rex shrugged. “I don’t know, but we need a shot with both of you in it. We’re trying to make this a show with both of you as the leads, aren’t we?”

Angelica wasn’t entirely convinced of that.

That was the line everyone was touting, but in actual practice, she wasn’t sure that everyone agreed with that party line.

Namely Rex and Josef. Hope seemed to be far less eager to see Angelica out of the door.

She had come in here to make enemies—or perhaps not enemies just not make friends.

“I’ll see what I can come up with.”

“Good.” Rex clapped his hands together and grinned. “I’ll talk to Hope about it tonight so we can rearrange the schedule a bit tomorrow.”

“Perfect.”

“Oh, and one more thing…” Rex stilled. “Kyle and I were hoping it could be…intense.”

Angelica’s skin ran cold. “You mean an argument.”

“It doesn’t have to be a brawl.”

Hadn’t he learned enough the last time?

Rex put his hands in the air in defense. “Full transparency on all sides. I promise.”

Perhaps he had learned at least one lesson.

But the thrill of an argument had waned considerably, and Angelica didn’t want to push Hope out any more than she already was.

That phone call from Hope’s agent still rang through her mind.

It had been a fishing call, nothing explicitly stated, but there was no other reason to call other than Hope wanting out of the show and her contract.

Angelica wasn’t an idiot, despite what a lot of people thought sometimes.

“No.” She said it quietly, resolutely. She wasn’t here for a fight but to make her position clear, and she wasn’t going to back down from it.

“What?” Rex seemed even more confused than ever by her calm demeanor.

“No,” she repeated in the exact same tone. “I’m not going to start a fight with Hope just for the cameras or the audience. I’ll film something with her, a scene, a conversation, a concluding whatever to this episode, but I’m not going to pick on her in an argument.”

“I didn’t say you had to pick on her.”

Angelica flipped her gaze directly to him in surprise, but she didn’t show any other signs that she was taken aback by his statement. What was it with him? Was he here to protect his wife or to do Josef’s bidding?

Grabbing her iPad and things on the table, Angelica started to clean up her mess from the day so she could get to work on her production duties.

She still had that damn press schedule that she needed to figure out.

They were going to have to divide and conquer on several things to get the most press, but she knew Josef and the other producers would want her and Hope together on some of that.

“Ange…?” Rex said.

“I told you no.”

The door banged open, startling her. She turned around, her fingers tightly wrapped around the iPad and came face-to-face with a red-cheeked and obviously miffed Josef. What had she done now?

“You told Conrad that he was an idiot?”

“Not in so many words, no.” Angelica set her iPad down on the table and leaned against it again to settle in for this argument. This one was one that she’d willingly have. “Did he file a complaint?”

“No.” Josef’s cheeks turned red. “You can’t just insult our clients.”

“You just said he didn’t complain about me.”

“No, he didn’t.”

“So…tell me what I did wrong.” Angelica crossed her arms. The camera crew abandoned their items and scampered out of the room, but Rex stayed put. Angelica wasn’t sure if that was going to end up being a blessing or a curse. He’d certainly witness whatever was going on between them.

“You can’t be a bully and insult the people we’re here to help.”

Angelica furrowed her brow in confusion, then she pointed at nowhere in particular in front of her. “But I can bully the people who actually work for us?”

Josef froze, and the energy in the room stilled instantly.

“I didn’t say that.”

“But…didn’t you?” Angelica cocked her head to the side, glad to have caught him in his own farce. “You want me to fight with Hope all the time. Both of you do. And yet you can’t tell me to be an actual manager to the people you’ve hired me to manage. So tell me how I’m wrong.”

Josef gritted his teeth. “You’re twisting my words.”

“I’m really not.” Angelica reached for her iPad but stopped when Josef growled low.

“I’ll keep Hope on over you any day, Ange.”

“Excuse me?” She furrowed her brow at him. Had he really, honestly, just said that? She still had her mic on. She hoped everything said in this room was still being recorded because holy fuck, did he just say that?

“She listens. She plays nice with others. She works with the team. You don’t do that at all.”

Well, he did have her there. She wasn’t someone who played nicely with others, but that also wasn’t new information to him. She’d been hired with that already on his radar. “What’s your point, Josef?”

“If I have to choose between keeping you or keeping Hope Lawrence on for a season two, I’ll pick her.”

“Fine.” Angelica crossed her arms, leaning back against the table again and glaring at him. She could play this game. She could win this one, because she wasn’t going to back down. “You want Hope, you can have Hope.”

“What?” Josef shook his head in confusion.

“I signed a contract, Josef. It’s going to be damn hard to break it. I know, because I double checked it. And I’m not going to let you push me out of a show that I spent a considerable amount of time creating. This is my show, and I won’t let it go easily.”

“I’ll buy your contract out.”

“Only if I want you to. It’d actually be easier for me to run you out of the show than the other way around.

Do you know how hard it is to boot off a lead after the first season and still keep a show going?

I do. I did the research well before I agreed to work with you.

” Angelica glared at him. She wasn’t going to let him get out of this.

“What did I do to you, anyway? Because you’ve been a bear since we left Colorado. ”

Josef puffed his cheeks out, and then he looked directly at Rex. Angelica knew exactly what he wasn’t saying. He suspected there was something between her and Hope, something more than just being co-hosts of the same damn show.

And fuck it all, he wasn’t wrong.

But like hell would Angelica admit that. And it didn’t seem as though Josef was going to push it either or say it out loud, at least not in front of Rex. So perhaps tonight it was to her benefit that Rex had stayed in the damn room.

“I’m tired of dealing with you,” Josef said instead.

“You aren’t made for this job, Ange. You’re not built for television like Hope is.

You’re not young and beautiful, you’re not bubbly and ready to talk to anyone, you don’t understand how to manage people.

Hell, you don’t care about a single person here, crew or client. ”

Angelica clenched her jaw and pursed her lips.

That one stung.

As much as she wanted everyone to believe that she didn’t care, she did.

She wanted them to have jobs, to be able to make money and work and do what they were good at.

She wanted them to feel fulfilled by the work they were doing, not just managing to maintain.

And she worked fucking hard to keep as many good employees on as she could, no matter what.

He’d know that if he’d open his eyes.

“You’ve aged out, Ange. No one wants the old boss who’s so damn cold and icy that she’s not even human.”

Angelica took in a slow deep breath, keeping herself as calm as possible. Because she didn’t even have a comeback for that one. Not right now. Not while she was swimming in the sea of hurt that he was throwing her into and letting her drown.

“Josef…” Rex stepped in, putting his hands up and physically moving between them. “I think both of you might need a break.”

Angelica snorted. She grabbed her iPad, shot Rex and Josef a look, and then walked out.

She didn’t need to stay in there and be berated any further.

She reached under the edge of her shirt and ripped off the microphone wire from her skin.

She grabbed the mic pack from her waist band and handed it over to one of the crew.

She didn’t even see who, and she didn’t care.

She just needed to get the hell out of there.

She reached the elevator and tapped her toe as she waited for it to come down to rescue her from the mess she’d left behind.

She hated the fact that what Josef said bothered her.

She did care about the people who worked for them.

She cared about them, but she had a very strong boundary between herself and them—even more so with the threat of what had happened with her and Leanne in the mix.

Angelica clenched her jaw, fighting back the tears when the door opened.

Hope.

Eva holding her hand.

They stared at her oddly, not moving from inside the elevator to leave it, and Angelica not stepping inside to join them. She couldn’t, could she? Her heart hammered.

“Ange?”

Angelica shook her head and stepped inside, turning her back to the wall so she could face the door. She had to get out of here as soon as possible. She couldn’t be forced to stay in here with them. Breathing slowly, Angelica tried to calm herself down enough to make it up to her room.

“I passed the test!” Eva said, her voice bright.

Angelica had to shake her head to focus and realize that Eva was actually talking to her. “What test?”

“My math test.” She beamed.

“Congratulations.” Angelica smiled, though she feared it didn’t quite reach her eyes this time. Hopefully Eva wouldn’t notice.

“Eva…” Hope said quietly. “When we get upstairs, I want you to go into the room and get ready for bed, all right?”

“All right!” Eva beamed.

They stepped off the elevator, and Hope slipped Eva the keycard before snagging Angelica’s hand and tugging her back to stay a little. She didn’t even wait until Eva was in the room before she stared directly into Angelica’s eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“N—”

“Stop it.” Hope sighed heavily. “Something’s wrong. What happened?”

Angelica didn’t have words. All the pain and hurt that she’d been avoiding came rushing into her chest, and she couldn’t bring herself to say any of them.

Because they would hurt Hope. They’d shatter her into a million little pieces, and Angelica couldn’t be the one to do that. She had to protect Hope from this.

She just had to figure out why.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Angelica said firmly, stepping back and away. “I hear we have a scene to shoot tomorrow.”

“A scene?” Hope frowned.

God, they were still keeping her in the dark. When would that end?

“You can talk to Rex or Kyle about it. I have… work I need to get done before morning.” Angelica stepped back again. She needed to escape. Now. She said nothing else as she turned on her toes and started down the hallway.

Please just don’t follow me.