Page 97 of Under the Table
Hope rounded the corner and froze mid-stride.
Angelica stood in the center of the entryway where guests would check in. Her shoulders were rounded in defeat, but her posture said she was absolutely on the attack and not on the defense. The entire lobby was frozen in place, staff and workers coming to stand around the edges of the room as if this were the ultimate show down.
“You’re three hours late, and you can’t even bother to show up sober for a shift that you swore yesterday you would be here for.” Angelica’s voice rang through the room, anger and annoyance in every word. Hope knew without a doubt that she hadn’t even tried to hide it.
But she’d never known Angelica to be this forthcoming in public humiliation either. She always kept things as private as possible, and in fact, Hope had wondered how Angelica had evenagreed to do a reality television show knowing half of what she discussed with people was going to be aired across the globe.
“I’ve never met an employee so entitled, so spoiled, so stuck-up that she’d rather watch her parents circle the drain of bankruptcy than admit she has a problem and do something about it.” Angelica’s cheeks reddened, her breathing quickened, and her entire body was rigid.
Hope looked around the room, finding Harold and Christian on the edges, a camera turned on their faces as they looked on with shock just like everyone else was doing. Hope clenched her fists at her sides, digging her short nails into her palms to wake her up. But she was just as stuck as the rest of them while they watched this blessed unraveling of the iciest woman they’d met.
“You can’t work here anymore. You’re killing this hotel slowly by your very presence.” Angelica put her fists on her hips and glared at Kayla, who to her credit, barely even cowered. “You’re fired, Kayla. If they won’t do it, then I will. If they won’t save themselves, then someone has to. Get out. Now.”
Kayla’s jaw dropped.
Her hands trembled when she lifted them up halfway and then dropped them again, as if accepting her fate. Angelica didn’t move an inch. Hope leaned forward, her toes digging into her shoes and pressing into the ground as she warred with her body to make herself do something.
Kayla scoffed. Then she shook her head and raised her chin up. “I’ll be back as soon as you’re gone, bitch. My parents won’t throw me out of here.”
She reached over to grab her purse and stormed out of the hotel, her feet hitting the tile hard with each step she took. The wake she left behind was cold and frustrated. Hope’s heart raced. No one budged an inch. This was her moment, wasn’t it?
She stepped forward into the fray, breaking the circle of fear and entering into Angelica’s space. Someone needed to do andsay something, and as the costar of the show, that had to be her. The cameras were pointed at her, and she knew her microphone was going to be hot and primed for whatever she had to say.
A lump formed in her throat, clogging it up and making it so damn hard to breathe. She wasn’t good at confrontation. That was Angelica’s specialty, as just witnessed. But even then, this was well beyond anything she’d ever seen from Angelica before. The anger, the vehemence, the downright cruelty of what she’d just said was over the top.
Hope reached out to touch Angelica’s arm, but she stopped herself. Before she did that, she needed Angelica to know that she came in peace. She curled her fingers into a fist and put her hand down to her side.
“Angel?” Hope’s voice was timid, way more than she’d wanted it to be.
Angelica spun on her, eyes wide, lips parted, and anger still in every pore of her being. “I told you to stop calling me that.” The words were laced with rage.
Hope stepped back a step, as if she’d been physically pushed away by the brutality in Angelica’s words. “We need to talk about this, but not in the middle of the lobby where everyone is watching.”
Her fingers itched to touch Angelica, to have that physical contact that she was so damn sure would soften Angelica and make it that much easier to talk to her. Or perhaps she was craving that touch herself, the connection that she swore was there, but she couldn’t find a thread of right now.
“No, we don’t.” Angelica turned her body slightly, facing Hope full-on. Her baby-blue eyes looked gray now, the black of her clothes and eye liner making her seem so much bolder and stronger than ever before. “I did what no one else in this hotel was willing to do.”
Angelica clenched her jaw, the muscles bulging out. The tendons in her neck strained tightly, the hollow in between her collar bones deepening. Hope’s chest tightened. She saw no way out of this without an argument.
“Firing Kayla is one thing. Doing it in the middle of the lobby with everyone watching is another entirely.” Hope straightened up, preparing for the fight she knew was coming.
“Don’t you dare patronize me about how I do my job. This is how business works, and you need to understand that.” Angelica glared at her.
“Patronize you?” Hope’s eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline. Now who was on the defensive? “I’m not patronizing you, Angel. And if you think for one second that I’m going to stand here and let you degrade another human being, a young woman no less, then you don’t know me at all.”
Angelica pursed her lips together, crossing her arms and taking a stand. “I know you plenty well.” Angelica’s voice was low, quiet, nearly a threat.
What the hell had happened in the last few days? Angelica had turned into someone else that Hope didn’t understand. She paused a second, trying to figure out the best way to navigate this. But she very well couldn’t use most of her tactics in a room full of people.
“Ange,” Harold stepped forward, breaking the tension between her and Hope. “This isn’t the time or the place.”
Angelica grunted, rolled her eyes, and just walked away.
Hope stood there, stunned. Everyone else was just as stunned as her. They were all silent until Hope stepped toward reception and told them to get back to work.
Harold tried to get her attention, but she stepped right around him and toward the conference room where she hoped Angelica had disappeared to. She was just about to get to the door when she heard her name being called down the hallway.
“Hope?”