Page 2 of No Holds Barred

“Of course it is.” Eva’s voice softened immediately, as if she was explaining something a two-year-old should understand.“You’re here and I’m here. It’s when we used to do math together. Remember?”

Oh, the way she said that last word, like there was accusation in every single syllable.

“Yes, of course I remember.” Angelica stared down at the drawing. “That’d explain all the math on the fringes of the picture, right?”

“Right.” Eva grinned at her and then took the photo, setting it back where it was. “I should draw you a new one. I’m much better at drawing now than I was when I was a kid.”

Angelica nearly snorted at that one. By God, Eva had grown up this summer.

“Do you want some paper to work on it now? I don’t have much in the way of anything to draw with other than a pen and paper, but I’d love to add to my Eva collection.” Angelica folded her hands together, staring down at Eva’s bright crystalline eyes, framed by her dark hair. She really was the picture of her mother.

“I could do that.” Eva rubbed her lips together, much like Hope did. Angelica paused briefly at it and then blinked to clear the thought from her head.

All break she’d struggled to get Hope out of her mind and heart, but now, with Eva and Rex in the room with her and the knowledge that filming would pick up again soon, she was struggling with the intensity of those feelings. Finding some paper and pens for Eva, Angelica set her up at her desk and then snagged her iPad to start work at the conference table with Rex. They had a number of things to discuss, businesswise, but Angelica also wanted to talk to him about how he was planning on making this work with the split.

She just hoped that Eva would be occupied enough not to overhear or jump into that portion of the conversation.

Angelica slid into a seat and waited for Rex to settle. While he looked good, when she was this close she could see the stress lines on his face, the dark circles under his eyes, and the way he held himself.

“I’m not going to ask about Hope except where it pertains to filming,” Angelica said, keeping her voice quiet.

Rex’s shoulders visibly tensed, the line of muscle in his jaw tightening. He dropped his chin slightly as he looked over his shoulder and glanced at Eva before focusing back on Angelica. “This isn’t about Hope.”

“Oh.” Angelica wanted to smack herself in the face. It was about the fact that she had been the other woman in the entire arrangement. Even though he’d agreed to it. He still harbored resentment toward her. Of course he would. That was only natural. It didn’t help her any, however. In fact, it made the slope she was now on a whole lot trickier than it had been before.

Rex sighed heavily and ran his hand over his cheeks. “Hope and I have been working on what comes next with parenting, but not with filming. You’re right that we should start that conversation.”

Angelica stayed silent. She had no direction to go from here that wouldn’t put her in the line of fire. She was tired of all the back-and-forth, but she also knew that she’d be the one to bear the brunt of the blame as soon as everything had come out. She’d gone into her relationship with Hope knowing that.

“You and I also need to have it,” Rex said, his voice slightly louder now.

Angelica looked up immediately, locking her gaze to his. She pursed her lips and clenched her jaw, her entire body sitting on the edge of her seat as she waited to see where this conversation would go next.

“I won’t lie and tell you that I’m not going to struggle working with you going forward.” Rex sighed again, looking directly at Eva. “I still don’t know what Hope sees in you.”

Sees? As in present tense?

Angelica wasn’t going to press that one. She didn’t want to push her luck, and she wasn’t sure she actually wanted the answer to that unasked question.

“You’re cold and icy, and I don’t think you care about anyone other than yourself. But Eva seems to like something about you, too. So maybe I’m just blind to it.”

“Or refusing to see what’s under the surface,” Angelica added, biting her tongue. She hadn’t meant to speak, but they’d grown so familiar with each other over the years that perhaps it was difficult to avoid the familiarity any longer. “Do you want to work primarily with me or Hope?”

“You.” He said the word simply and firmly.

“Are you sure?” Angelica blinked at him. “I can work with Cadence.”

“I still need my space from Hope. And this is going to be new for both of us. You and I have had issues for years, but I know what those problems are.”

Angelica hummed, nodding. “The devil you know?”

“Exactly.” Rex’s lips quirked upward slightly. “And there’s the fact that Logan asked that I work with you this season.”

The hairs on the back of Angelica’s neck rose up. “Logan? Why would he ask that?”

She’d never expected another producer and studio executive on the show to step in quite like this. Though she and Logan had several conversations over the filming of the last episode and during the break about different behaviors on the set in the last two seasons. And while he’d been interested in dealing with them, this was their last season of filming unless they wererenewed, and he wasn’t willing to upset certain people for one season.

“Because Josef has been treating you unfairly.” Rex cocked his head at her. “Prove me wrong.”