Page 67 of Under the Table

What had Hope done wrong? God, she just wanted this to work out, and Rex had actually been the one to suggest everything, not her. She hadn’t even thought it was a possibility until he suggested trying it out.

“Angel?”

“I need to get back.” Angelica stepped to the side, but Hope snagged her wrist to keep her there.

“Just talk to me already.”

“No.” Angelica glared. “What’s there to say?”

“That this is good, that we can be together.”

Angelica shook her head slowly, moving the glare into a look of pity. “You want to know what I know?”

“I want to know what you’re feeling!” Hope pleaded.

“This won’t work.” Angelica pressed her lips into a tight line. She crossed her arms and sighed heavily. “You want an open relationship? Fine. Have one. But it doesn’t work when it starts in infidelity, Hope. And you should know better. Hell, Rex, should know better.”

“Rex and I have a good marriage. He’s a great guy. I know we can make this work.” They’d spent so many hours working through all the details, creating a list of how they were going to communicate, what was allowed or not allowed. Even Rex was going to step out and maybe try dating someone. Hope had to believe that it’d work.

“It won’t work,” Angelica repeated.

“Angel…” Hope frowned in confusion. “I’m doing this for us.”

“Us?” Angelica looked surprised. “There isn’t anus, Hope. I’ve told you that. And you know what’s worse? You didn’t even ask me what I wanted.”

Hope’s heart thudded hard. They hadn’t. She’d just assumed that after their quick conversation in Kansas City thatthiswas something Angelica wanted too. That they both… “I’m so sorry,” Hope whispered.

“Don’t bother.” Angelica drew in a deep breath and sighed heavily. “I need to get back to work.” She stepped around Hope and out into the daylight.

Hope wanted to race after her, drag her back so they could discuss this more. Was it really all about one night together and nothing more? She couldn’t believe that. She couldn’t believe that Angelica believed that. So what was all of this about?

Her heart raced as she stood there in silence, the sounds of the cars driving down the street and voices of tourists her onlycompanion. She bit her lip and clenched her hands. This would be good for all of them. Why couldn’t Angelica just see that? They needed to keep talking, and Angelica needed to not just listen but tell Hope what was wrong with the plan.

She caught up with Angelica inside, again staring down Julian as he flirted with a young customer over at the bar. He had a drink in his hand. Hope pursed her lips, noting that and sighing. She just wanted to have a few minutes to actually talk with Angelica, when they weren’t running away from each other.

The sound of shattering glass jarred her.

Hope spun toward the bar where Julian had been standing, only to see a young bartender wincing with his hands in the air. Hope immediately started in that direction to see what the commotion was. Julian wasn’t yelling, but his words were unnecessarily harsh.

“Hey,” Hope said, stepping into the fray. “What’s going on?”

“Rose here dropped two bottles of top shelf liquor. Do you know how much that costs?” Julian pointed at her accusingly.

“Y-yes!”

Hope nodded toward Rose. “Start cleaning that up, will you? We don’t need anyone to get cut on the glass.”

She turned to focus on Julian, who then scoffed when he saw the young customer he was flirting with had vanished. Rightfully so. If she’d seen anyone flip like that into an outrageous anger at an employee, she’d vanish too if she could.

But this was also a side of Julian she hadn’t seen yet. Hope plucked the glass out of his hand and set it on the bar top. She leaned on the edge of it and stared Julian down.

“Typically, when on the show and when on the floor while working, it’s not encouraged to drink on the job.”

Julian snorted lightly, stepping closer and into her space. “It’s my hotel, my bar, and I’ll do what I want in it.”

“Then good luck finding a way to turn this place around.” Hope gave him the best scolding look she could manage. “And unless you do this our way, we’ll walk right out of this hotel and never look back. You need us, Julian. Not the other way around.”

Hope waited for an answer, but she didn’t get one. Instead, Julian spotted something over her shoulder, nodded at her, and then walked away. Like she hadn’t just made an Angelica-sized threat of the century without checking with anyone.