Page 71 of Under the Table

Angelica shook her head, tears pricking her eyes. She wasn’t mad at Julian. She was mad at the fact that at fifty-five years old she was still finding herself in these fucking situations. Why didn’t it ever end? Why did people have to be such pigs?

“You need to tell Josef and Rex.”

Angelica scoffed. “They’re not going to do anything.”

“They will. Hell, if he touches you again, call the fucking cops.”

Pursing her lips, Angelica shook her head. “You realize that Josef will accuse me of doing the exact same thing.”

“What are you talking about?”

“With you!” Angelica’s voice rose loudly. “You’re so stuck in your head that you can’t see it, can you? This isn’t even about having an open marriage, Hope. It’s about the fact that I’m your boss, and that we had sex.” Her heart hammered, racing so fast that she wasn’t sure it’d ever slow down. “Don’t you get that? I’m not different than him.”

“Yes, you are!” Hope stepped forward and took both of Angelica’s hands in hers, squeezing tightly. But she didn’t make any more contact. “What we did… what I want to do again… that’s entirely consensual, Angel. I never once felt harassed by you or pushed into this by you.”

“It doesn’t matter what you feel.” Angelica threw the words out. “It matters what it looks like.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

Why wasn’t she understanding this? Angelica stepped in closer, making sure that Hope understood her this time. “I’m your boss, Hope. And if Rex or anyone else finds out what we did, I’m the one who’s going to face the consequences. Not you. I’m the one who crossed the line.”

“We both crossed it,” Hope answered. “Together. Willingly. That’s the only way this story willeverplay out.”

“You can think that,” Angelica said. “But I’m here to tell you that’s not the truth.” She stepped back, breaking contact. “I need to go on a run.”

She turned away from Hope and walked into the bright sun. She didn’t look back. She walked swiftly to the end of the block, stretching her muscles and warming her body up. Every singlenerve in her body was going haywire with energy, with pain, with sorrow, with disgust. Without waiting another minute, she pushed off the curb and started her run. She’d go until she was ready to collapse. There’d be no stopping her this time.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

“Did you sleep at all?” Rex rolled over in the bed, throwing his arm over Hope’s waist and snuggling into her side.

“No.” Hope rubbed her hands over her face and sighed heavily.

Rex tugged her into his side. “What’s on your mind?”

“Ange,” Hope admitted, wincing even as she said her name. “But not in the way you think.”

“What way then?” Rex sighed and turned over onto his back, covering his face with his arm.

Hope didn’t like this distance between them, but the only way to work on it was to start to talk more. He was right about that. And they had to talk about Angelica. She wasn’t just Hope’s lover, but she was their boss and co-worker through this entire filming process. Hope moved onto her side and pressed against Rex’s side.

“Haven’t you noticed how off she’s been since we got here?”

Rex shrugged a little but didn’t say anything.

“Like way more than is typical from her.”

“I don’t pay that much attention to Ange, honestly.” Rex clenched his jaw tight, and Hope could feel the muscles in hisbody tighten. He was trying to hold his feelings on the matter in. And she wasn’t doing a great job of explaining exactly what she was thinking or more.

“Rex, I mean it. Think about how she left that scene yesterday.” Hope pushed up onto her elbow and glanced over at the other bed where Eva slept soundly. “She practically ran out of there, and then she didn’t work the rest of the day. That’s not like her.”

“You’re right. I did think that was odd. I just thought it was Josef. The two of them butt heads all the time.”

Hope pinched her face. She wanted to address that, but it also wasn’t her place to talk to Rex about that one at all. “She said Julian touched her under the table.”

Rex tightened, pulling away slightly to look Hope in the eyes. “What?”