Page 72 of No Holds Barred

Angelica said nothing.

Not a single word.

She stared across the alley, the sunlight in her hair making the golden strands shine even brighter. “We should get back.”

Angelica broke the physical contact and stood up, brushing her pants off with her hands.

“Come on. We have an episode to film.”

Chapter

Twenty-Three

“Jess and Mel still want to fire Katherine.”

Angelica turned at Hope’s voice, glancing toward the camera that was still rolling. She’d been about to sit down, something she’d desperately wanted for the last hour as she stood over reception and talked with Jess and Mel about organization, promotions, and how to better train staff.

“I know they do,” Angelica answered, crossing her arms and putting as much weight on her good leg as possible. The doctors hadn’t lied when they said she needed to ease into bearing weight on her leg again, but it was so hard to use her knee scooter in this hotel that she abandoned it more often than she should.

Lyric had actually brought it to her several times that day just to give her a break.

“What are we going to do about it?” Hope crossed her arms back, staring directly at Angelica as if she had all the answers to the asked and unasked questions.

Why did everyone always think that?

She didn’t know what to do all of the time, and lately, she’d felt more and more as though she didn’t have answers.

“I think they should fire her.” Leanne stepped into the conversation, putting herself almost directly in between Hope and Angelica.

Angelica looked at Leanne directly, realizing far too late that she was once again front and center of the camera, and she was using it to her advantage to create the tension and arguments that Josef was always looking for from Hope and Angelica.

She could do something about this.

She could make Leanne vanish from the show and no one would remember her. And she knew exactly how to do it too. Looking directly at Hope, Angelica made sure that they had eye contact when she said the next thing, because Hope had to understand where this was coming from.

“Why don’t you do your damn job? Then we won’t be standing here talking about problems that should have been solved days ago.”

The silence was deafening.

Hope’s lips parted, as if she’d been directly attacked. Her eyes widened. Her jaw went slack. She hadn’t been expecting that, and Angelica had no way to even convey what had been about to happen. Angelica stepped even closer to Hope, wrapping her fingers loosely around Hope’s wrist to keep them physically connected in case Leanne tried to pull anything else.

She didn’t look at Leanne. She didn’t even bother to act as though Leanne was standing right there.

Angelica looked straight at Hope, moving her body between the camera and Leanne to put herself front and center as that coal of jealousy burned faster and hotter. She’d been thrown for a loop last week by Josef inviting Leanne onto the show to film. But she wasn’t going to stand down anymore. Hope was right.

They’d built this show together.

And it was theirs.

No one else’s.

Angelica lowered her voice to nearly a growl, but she kept her hand light on Hope’s wrist, making sure the contrast of touch and tone was as obvious as she could make it. Because she didn’t want Hope to be hurt by this.

“I have my own problems to solve, Hope. Pull yourself together and figure out yours.”

Angelica turned on her good foot and spun around, leaving Hope behind her. It didn’t take long for Hope to snag her upper arm and jerk her back around, Leanne officially gone from the camera’s view entirely. Angelica had to hold back the sick sense of satisfaction that rolled through her.

“What the hell?” Hope furrowed her brow, trembling as she let go of Angelica and put a small amount of space between them.