Page 32 of No Holds Barred

“Yeah. You got your phone?” Lyric held hers up.

Angelica nodded. “Yeah.”

“Call if you need.” Lyric disappeared again, and when the door clicked shut, Angelica focused back on Hope.

“Sit down on the bed if you want.” Angelica shifted slightly, preparing for Hope’s weight on the mattress.

Hope tentatively sat, pressing her fingers into the blanket before she sat back slightly. “You’re still in pain.”

“Yes,” Angelica answered. She’d never been good at lying to Hope or even twisting the truth to her benefit. “They said for a week or two and then it’d ease up.”

Hope nodded and then looked out the window. “We finished filming today. It was so odd not having you there. Rex said that we’ll film the closing segment when you’re feeling up to it and then splice everything together—or something like that.”

Angelica pulled her lips tight. She hadn’t known any of that. No one had really been willing to talk to her, and they’d purposely kept her out of decisions. She just couldn’t decide if that was so she could heal or if this was the way to push her out entirely. Josef had already made overtures about replacing her for season four if they were renewed, and Angelica hadn’t committed herself to returning anyway.

“We’ll do the same when we get to Boston for the opening,” Hope mumbled, staring down at her hand which rested very close to Angelica’s.

On impulse, Angelica reached for Hope’s fingers and squeezed them. “I’m fine, Hope.”

“You know that’s all you kept saying that night.” Hope frowned. “And we all know it’s a big fat lie.”

“Then perhaps I should say that I will be fine.” Angelica sighed and pulled her hand free from Hope’s.

“I…” Hope’s face fell, her shoulders dropping. “Can we talk about that night?”

“Wearetalking about that night.” Angelica tensed, her chest tightening to the point that it was painful, although that wasn’t hard to do lately. Everything just hurt.

“No. I mean about…” Hope blew out a breath and bit her lower lip. Her gaze roved around the room, but she wouldn’t make eye contact with Angelica.

The tension hit Angelica hard. She flicked through her memories of that night, trying to figure out what the hell had happened, but between drinking and being smashed by a car, it was all a bit hazy. She’d gone out to the car to wait for Lyric, and Hope had texted or called. Or…

Angelica paused.

Right, they’d talked on the phone.

Brushing her fingers through her tangled hair, Angelica pushed her shoulders into the pillow and cringed when that move hurt. She hated not being able to just be comfortable physically. And talking about that phone call was the last thing that Angelica wanted to do.

“I was drunk, Hope.”

“Yeah? So?” Hope raised her gaze, meeting Angelica’s eyes.

Those crystalline orbs were filled with unshed tears. Angelica was about to reject what Hope had said, but she saw the fear there, the pain and worry. And it hit her like a brick wall, and she couldn’t formulate the words. She couldn’t say anything.

“You don’t ever lie to me,” Hope whispered. She reached for Angelica’s hand and curled her fingers around it. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I…” Angelica halted. She didn’t have an answer for that right now. Or perhaps it was that she had too many answers. She stared down at their joined hands, remembering the feel of Hope’s fingers against hers, the way Hope had laid her head down on the edge of the bed at the hospital and fell asleep for twenty minutes before the nurses had come back in to check on her.

“It would have changed everything.”

“It would have changed nothing,” Angelica countered.

Hope tensed, her entire body going rigid. She stared at Angelica like the words she’d just said were only meant to hurt, but they weren’t. They were the truth. Nothing Angelica had said then or now would have made a difference in how their relationship ended. It would have ended. Hope just would have been all the more devastated for it.

“Ange, you don’t believe that.” Hope shook her head slowly. Who was she trying to convince? Angelica or herself?

“I do.” Angelica sighed. “I do believe that because I know it. I know for a fact it’s true.”

“No.” Hope bit her lip. She sat back slightly, looking around the room, but then she surged forward.