Page 81 of Under the Table

“I will be,” Angelica finally answered as she leaned against the wall to pull off the heels. Without them, she was so much shorter than Hope. “That was…” Angelica swallowed before she stood up straight. “I never expected Rex to do something like that.”

“Once he gets his head out of his ass, he’s a really good guy.”

“Yeah.” Angelica sighed heavily, straightening up to look Hope over. “Are you okay?”

Hope nodded. How could she not be? She hadn’t been the one to endure any of that. Angelica had borne the brunt of it all. Hope stepped closer, needing Angelica to hear what she had to say. “You’re not like him at all.”

“Hope.” Angelica rolled her eyes and tossed her shoes to the floor with a clatter. “You’re not the first employee that I’ve crossed this line with. You know that. There’s a pattern. There’s a history. There’s?—”

The knock echoed through the room loudly. Angelica visibly jumped, and so did Hope. She hadn’t expected anything like this.

“Ange, it’s me.” Josef’s voice leached through the doorway.

Angelica’s lips parted in surprise. Hope pointed toward the bathroom and mouthed, “I’ll go in here.”

She shut the door as Angelica answered the main room door. “What?” Angelica barked.

“You weren’t answering your phone,” Josef’s said, his voice muffled slightly.

Hope stood in the center of the bathroom, her heart pounding. She didn’t want to make any noise, scared that if Josef figured out that she was in here that it’d make everything unravel around them.

“I’m busy,” Angelica said sharply. That was a dismissal if Hope had ever heard one.

“I wanted to see if you were okay.”

Hope’s lips quirked up a half-smile. Maybe Josef wasn’t all that bad under his layers of jerk. He and Angelica did have a long history of working together, so maybe he was finally coming to his senses about what an asshole he’d been.

“You’re choosing to believe my accusations now instead of when I initially made them?” Angelica wasn’t going to let him get away with this, and Hope was here for it. She wished she could be standing right next to her, providing as much support as Angelica would allow her to. “You’re better than this Josef, and Simone would be ashamed to see you this week.”

“You’re right.” Josef’s voice was a whole lot softer than Hope expected. She leaned forward on her toes, making sure that she heard everything going on out there. “She would be. I’m sorry.”

The silence was loud. But Hope knew Angelica well enough by this point to know that she wasn’t going to give an inch.

“I should have believed you. I did believe you, I just didn’t know what to do about it.”

Angelica scoffed. “Be a man instead of a coward.”

“I will. Next time. I promise.”

“There shouldn’t be a next time.” Angelica’s words echoed Hope’s sentiments.

“And there won’t be, not on my watch,” Josef retorted.

“Your words are hollow,” Angelica answered. “Did you want something else or are we done here?”

“Filming, tomorrow.” Josef paused.

God, Hope wished she could see what was going on out there, how Angelica was holding herself, the kinds of glares she was giving him, the way Josef was cowering hopefully. God, what would a man like him look like when groveling?

“Do you want to finish the episode or walk away?” Josef’s words reached Hope’s ears and dragged her attention back to the conversation. He’d said he wouldn’t do it without Angelica’s approval, and he’d meant it. That did win him some points.

“Finish it,” Angelica said without taking a moment to think. “I’m not losing any more time and energy on that bastard.”

“Call time is eight tomorrow then.”

“Fine.”

“Ange…”