Page 26 of No Holds Barred

And now she was left with the car and no way home herself.

Walking outside into the chilly spring air, Angelica let it hit her full force. The cold felt nice. A run would be better, but she was a bit wobbly on her feet still and that probably wasn’t a good idea with the amount of alcohol in her veins. She glanced down at her phone and sighed heavily.

Missed calls.

Missed texts.

All with Hope’s name attached to them.

She ignored them and shifted to the last text she’d sent Lyric.

Angelica: Cadence is occupied. I don’t think you want me to leave the car here.

She hit send and then stumbled her way to the car, unlocking the door and slipping into the passenger seat. Because she never expected to drive another vehicle in her life. Angelica stared down at her phone and closed her eyes as she waited for it to vibrate again with a response from Lyric. Instead, she got nothing in response.

Once she could see straight again, Angelica opened her eyes and stared down at her phone. She probably should wait to wade through Hope’s messages, but she couldn’t resist reading them.

Hope: Can you answer me?

Hope: Where are you?

Hope: Ange, you’re worrying me now.

The stream of messages went on. Angelica tossed her head back into the seat and breathed slowly. She was far more intoxicated than she’d thought. She was barely going to manage to get up in the morning with the hangover she knew was headed her way. It’d been a long time since she’d had a binge this good.

“Hello? Ange?”

Frowning, Angelica looked down at her phone and clenched her jaw. There was a call connected, straight to Hope. She wasn’t sure if she’d been the one to initiate it or if Hope had and she’d accidentally answered. Either way, Angelica couldn’t ignore her any longer.

“Why are you blowing up my phone?” Angelica winced as she held the phone to her ear.

“Excuse me?” Hope sounded surprised by that.

“You’ve been texting and calling all night. Whatever it is can’t be that big an emergency.” Angelica clenched her jaw, her phone buzzing. She moved it away and saw the message from Lyric,though she didn’t get a chance to read it because Hope was yelling at her again.

“You haven’t answered me. You never ignore messages.”

“Well, tonight I did. Tonight I took a break.” Angelica made sure to emphasize that word because that’s all this was. And she fucking deserved it.

“Are you drunk?”

“So what if I am?” Angelica sighed heavily, the world spinning even more than it was typically, which made it harder for her to focus and definitely harder for her to concentrate on the conversation she was attempting to have with Hope.

“Are you driving?”

“I don’t drive.” Angelica frowned. Didn’t Hope know that? She could drive, but if there was any way to avoid it, she would absolutely choose that option.

“So Cadence took you somewhere.” Hope sighed heavily. “You know she’s just trying to get in your pants.”

Angelica scoffed. “I thought you’d have a little more respect for me than that.”

“Not with what you’re pulling right now! You don’t have friends at work, remember? You don’t do relationships at work, remember?”

“That’s a lie!” Angelica seethed. “You, Leanne—I was friends with Josef once too, and we see how it all turns out. I shouldn’t do it, but I do!”

“What, because you spurn us all and push us away? That’s ayouproblem, Ange. That’s not on us.”

“You just don’t get it, Hope.” Angelica clenched her fist and looked up at the dark street in front of her. “You made me believe in fairy tales. Until you…” She trailed off, taking a breath to center herself. Luckily, Hope hadn’t interjected just yet. “I made you my whole world, and then you told me I wasn’t worthit. That I wasn’t worth…” she choked back that word, struggling to say it. “That I wasn’t worth you.”