Page 138 of No Holds Barred

“That I have a harder time believing.”

“Really?” Rex raised an eyebrow at her as he held the door open for her to walk into. “You should believe it.”

When they were all seated again, Angelica took up her position and tightened her muscles. She would be ready for whatever hand they wanted to deal her.

“We have one more ethical conversation we need to begin today before we leave.” Logan looked at Angelica directly. This was the cue she’d been waiting for. “And when I say begin, I mean begin. No decisions will be made today. We’re here solely for information gathering and to have as many of the facts laid out before us that we can have. Which is only one side of the story.”

Angelica’s mouth went dry.

“Ange?” Logan stared at her.

“Right.” She couldn’t breathe. Her entire chest constricted, making this impossible. She looked to Rex, who nodded with a half-cocked smile on his lips.

He mouthed,You’ve got this.

Angelica shifted in her seat and looked around the room. While she’d been there to protect the crew, that’s also what they were there for. And if they had to protect the people she worked with from her, then she would have to let them.

“In Vermont, Hope Lawrence and I started an official relationship.”

The room stilled.

The air was sucked out of it.

Cold rushed through Angelica’s body but left her with a sweat in her palms and against the small of her back that she wasn’t going to be able to ignore. But she had to press on.

“This was a consensual relationship, and I know you’ll speak with her on the matter of how everything began and when. But I felt the need to inform you because of Josef’s threats and knowing what he’d do with this information if he obtained it first, and because I truly value the work we do. And we need to be ahead of the story and make decisions as rationally as possible.”

She didn’t know what else to say.

Everyone stared at her slack jawed except Logan and Rex.

Logan jumped in to speak next. “Ange told me about her relationship officially when we were in Chicago last week, and I made the decision then that we could finish filming season three and deal with the situation when we returned. Which is why we’re in this meeting now.”

But then everyone shifted to Rex immediately. They were all waiting for his response. She had anticipated that they would, but until the sacred moment in the hallway, Angelica had no idea what Rex would say or do. He could still turn it on her and make her out to be the perpetrator if he wanted.

Rex put his hands out in front of him, palms up toward the ceiling. “I don’t know why you’re all looking at me. I’ve worked with Hope, been married to Hope, and done both at the same time. It didn’t end well for me, but Ange…” He looked directly at her then. “She’s way stronger than I am, and I know that she’s good for Hope in ways I never was, and that Hope is equally as good for her.”

Butterflies hit Angelica’s stomach, fluttering around as heat rushed back into her limbs.

“I’ve watched their relationship from the beginning, well before they were together, and I’ve never seen either one of them so in love with someone before. Ange is softer, more personable, more herself when Hope is in her vicinity, and likewise with Hope. She’s calmer, settled, and at ease in a way I was never able to manage.” Rex nodded at Angelica, his lips twitching upward into a smile. “And in this last season, I’m glad to call Ange one of my good friends. I wouldn’t trade this for anything.”

Angelica stilled. Did he really feel that way?

Hell, if she wasn’t in a room full of people, facing an inquiry about her ethics, she might actually cry just hearing those words from him. He was the most unlikely ally in all of this. He winked at her again and turned to Logan.

“So, if you’re here to throw her under the bus and say that she has to leave the show because of this, I just need to remind you that these kinds of things happen on sets all the time. And somehow, most of us tend to survive it.”

Logan grinned at him.

Could this honestly have gone any better?

The questions flew, asking more details and Angelica provided them as best as she could, but it wasn’t the easiest. She wanted to keep as much of her love life private as possible, not just because she was a private person but also for Rex’s sake. She had to protect him too.

When the meeting was finally called, she left the room and everyone else behind her. True to Logan’s word, no decisions were made. Which still left her to plan the crew wrap party, and for that she was going to have to call Hope, which she desperately needed to do anyway.

They needed to schedule time for a very long conversation.

Just the two of them.