Page 150 of No Holds Barred

“Oh, this is exciting.” Hope bounced on the bench next to Angelica.

“It is exciting.” Angelica’s calm was such a contrast to Hope’s bubbly joy. They always were that way. It was what made them such a good pairing onHotel Bombshell. “I’ll make some calls in the morning. But today, Hope and I were just hoping to relax.”

“Of course,” Tatum answered. “I’m so happy.”

“Let’s celebrate!” Hope chimed in.

“Yes, I’ll get champagne.” Tatum stood up and walked away.

Hope moved quickly, pulling Angelica in for a loud kiss before grinning at her. “Are you really going to buy this place?”

“Apparently.” Now those nerves settled into the pit of her belly, the ones that hadn’t been there when she’d said yes. “I can’t believe I just did that.”

“But you did.”

“Yeah.” Angelica kissed her again before moving away. “I need to talk to my bosses. This will be a direct conflict for them, and I might lose my job.”

“Do you really think that’ll happen?”

“They were looking at selling anyway, so maybe it’s time for me to resign and take up my own hotels.” Angelica rubbed her palms over her thighs. “Oh, this is going to be a lot of changes in one year.”

“I think you can handle it.”

“I know I can.” Angelica finished off her wine. “Do you think that tonight we can walk into town and get a proper beer?”

Hope snorted before she devolved into a fit of giggles. “Yeah, I think we can manage that.”

“Good. Because wine and champagne just aren’t my cup of tea.” Angelica smiled as Tatum came back with the champagne bottle.

Behind him trailed Katherine, her eyes bright with excitement.

“Oh my God!” Hope stood up immediately and walked directly to Katherine, wrapping her in a tight hug. “It’s so good to see you!”

Angelica smiled in Katherine’s direction, though she wasn’t one for public displays as much as Hope was, so she stayed seated. Katherine settled the glasses onto the small table, and Angelica immediately noticed there were four of them.

“I asked Katherine to join us. I thought you all might like to catch up a bit with her.”

“Of course we would,” Hope chattered, a huge grin on her lips.

The champagne was poured and the conversation flowed. Katherine was telling them about all she had learned since moving there from Vermont when Angelica’s phone popped up with a notification. Frowning at it, she stared at the text message and the name on her screen. Her stomach sank, her entire body going cold.

She trembled as she swiped the text open to read it.

Josef: You’re going to pay for what you did to me.

“Hope?” Angelica’s voice wavered with uncertainty. When she locked her eyes on Hope, she nearly melted into a fit of tears. But she didn’t want Tatum or Katherine to see what was happening. Hope would understand the magnitude of this though. She would know just how bad this could get.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“I, uh… I need to talk to you.”

“Now?” Hope frowned. “Katherine just got?—”

“Yes, now.” Angelica stood up and walked directly to the small path that led to downtown. She didn’t want Josef to ruin Mountain View any more than he already had. Hope was behind her immediately after issuing apologies to both Tatum and Katherine. But Angelica couldn’t wait to do that. She didn’t have the bandwidth to handle it.

“Angel! Hold up! What’s going on?” Hope snagged Angelica’s arm and spun her around. “What’s wrong?”

Angelica couldn’t find the words. Instead, she simply handed Hope her phone with the open text message.