Silence was the only thing that greeted them.
Hope held it. She wanted some sort of recognition from them that this was the issue in its entirety. She looked back and forth between them, proving her point. Finally, Mark broke, and his shoulders dropped.
“You’re right.” He cleared his throat. “And I don’t want to sell.”
“Neither do I,” Alexis murmured.
“Then we work on it.” Mark looked at her directly.
Alexis hesitated, holding that tension even longer.
Mark put his hand out, waiting for Alexis to take it. “Do you agree to work on it with me? We’ll work together.”
Alexis bit her lip, flicking her gaze from Mark’s hand to his eyes. Then finally, she slipped her fingers into his. “Okay. Starting right now.”
“Right now,” Mark agreed.
“Good,” Hope said, straightening up. “Now, you two, go home. Shut up and go home, and let everyone get a good night’s sleep, and we’ll start this tomorrow.”
“But—” Alexis interjected.
“No,” Hope said again. “No, go home, sleep, and we’ll start this tomorrow. We all need rest. Not just you two.” Hope looked toward Angelica, wishing that she could actually do something different tonight, but she knew they needed their own space after the conversation that they had earlier. “Tomorrow.”
Angelica’s imperceptible nod was all she needed to see to know that she was understood. They’d all be having hard conversations in the upcoming days.
“Tomorrow,” Hope said again, just confirming with herself one more time.
This was exactly what everyone needed.
Chapter
Forty-One
At lunch, Angelica’s stomach couldn’t take much more. The tension in her chest from the night before hadn’t eased, and despite a few more text exchanges with Hope before she’d finally fallen into a fitful sleep, she hadn’t managed any true rest. As production stopped for a break, Angelica looked wildly around.
Her gaze landed first on Rex and Eva, as he held her hand and walked away, probably to find Hope or to get some lunch. And then her eyes landed on Josef, as he crossed his arms and scowled at her from the corner of the room. He hadn’t said one fucking word to her in days, and it unnerved her. She’d never seen him this quiet before.
Logan stared at her curiously from the elevator. Angelica’s heart thudded hard. Cadence already knew. It wouldn’t be long before everyone else knew, and Rex had way more information on them than she ever wanted. Rubbing her thumb over her fingers, Angelica straightened her back.
Walking directly toward Logan, she stopped. “Do you have a minute to talk?”
“Just a minute?” He cocked his head at her, like he knew this was going to be far longer than either one of them could anticipate, as if he knew she was ready for a confession.
“An hour,” Angelica corrected. Her stomach flipped and then twisted in knots. She had no idea if this was the right decision or not, but she had to protect both of them as best as she could, even if it meant throwing herself under the bus.
“Yes,” Logan answered. “Conference room?”
Angelica clenched her jaw tightly and shook her head. “Not here. Let me grab my jacket.”
As soon as they stepped outside, Angelica breathed the fresh air and stilled. The trembling in her fingers easing as the full realization of what she was doing settled in her. This was the right decision. Logan hadn’t shown her any animosity or treated her poorly. If this ended her career on television, so be it. Because she was damn sure that if it wasn’t this show, she wouldn’t want to be in show business anymore.
They walked down the block and Angelica paused at the intersection. “I slept with Hope.”
She couldn’t even look at him. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. Trust never came easy to her, and she was putting so much trust in him.
When Logan didn’t say anything, Angelica had to turn and see if he’d even heard her. She met Logan’s eyes, a surprised expression on his lips.
“I’m not sorry about it either,” she added to make sure he understood. “I fell in love with Hope a while ago, but our relationship hasn’t been without complications.”
