Lyric popped in within seconds with a bottle of pills and a bottle of water. Angelica restrained herself from a shout of acclamation, but fuck—she’d never been happier to see Lyric. She took the pills without question and then relaxed back, waiting for them to start to take effect.
“Ange, if you need to work a shorter day, Leanne can take over for you.” Josef’s voice hit her ears suddenly.
Angelica tensed. She clenched her jaw and shook her head slowly. “No. I’m doing good, thank you.”
Like hell would she let him tell her that she needed to stop working, and the suggestion that Leanne could just step in for her added insult to injury. As if she would ever allow that. Angelica shifted to sit up straighter, a challenge to Josef and his meddling.
“Leanne is more than capable?—”
“Josef, I’m fine.” Angelica wasn’t going to let him push her on this one.
“Leanne, would you give us a minute?” Josef continued to stare at Angelica, his dark eyes beady and locked on her face.
Fuck, she was in for it now. And there was no way she could escape because she was locked in place behind the desk without her knee scooter to get her out.
“Ange, you need to get your shit together and admit that you can’t do this.” Josef leaned over the desk, forcing Angelica into an even smaller spot.
Intimidation at its finest.
“I can do my job, Josef. I don’t need you to tell me that I can’t.”
“You’re popping pills like an addict.”
“Hardly.” Angelica picked up the bottle of water to drink some more of it. Though it was going straight to her head and making her dizzy. She was certain that was because her mini-breakfast with Hope had been rudely interrupted and she hadn’t finished it. “You hired her to come in here… why?”
Josef narrowed his gaze. “Because you need help.”
“No, I don’t. And you didn’t exactly ask me about it. I talked to Logan, and you didn’t mention it to him either. Where’s this coming from in the budget?” Angelica put the water bottle down a little harder than she’d anticipated.
“I’m sure we can find a way to pay for Leanne being here, even if we have to dock your salary to pay for a substitute.”
“What?” Angelica’s eyes went wide. “Good luck trying that one.”
Josef pressed his lips into a thin line and rolled his eyes. “She’s perfect for the job, Ange. You can’t deny it. You trained her to be the best of the best, and she’s exactly what we need. Better than you, maybe.”
“Better than me?” Angelica nodded slowly. “Leanne isn’t better than me. I trained her, remember? I know exactly where she’ll fail you, and it won’t be anywhere that you’re expecting to happen.”
“Her chemistry with Hope is off the charts. Even better than yours.” Josef raised an eyebrow at her and crossed his arms as he stood up straight. “The two of them can’t stop arguing or throwing digs at each other. They’re going to make this episode the hottest episode of the season.”
Angelica clenched her jaw hard, grinding her molars together. They hadn’t anticipated that when they’d talked last night, but at least Angelica had a better idea of what Josef was hoping for in the long term.
“If you’re not careful, she’ll replace you entirely, and we’ll keep her on for season four instead of you.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Angelica fired back, hating that was her only rebuttal. He wasn’t wrong. Leanne was much younger than Angelica, nearly twenty-five years. She took care of her looks, and she wasn’t afraid of wearing sexier outfits that showed off her assets, exactly like Josef wanted Angelica to do. Which she couldn’t right now, at least not without showing off her leg locked in a cast.
“I would.” Josef laughed loudly. “At least I’d be able to manage her.”
“You might think that,” Angelica said on a sigh. “I’d beg to differ.”
Angelica looked over Josef’s shoulder to find Hope standing in the doorway listening in. She closed her mouth, letting Josef say whatever he was going to say. Because she knew then that none of it was true. And he was going to say it anyway.
“She’s got so much on you, Ange. She’s just waiting to replace you.”
“I’d like to see her try.” Angelica hardened her gaze as she looked at him directly. “If you’ll excuse me, Josef, I have a job I need to do.”
He turned around, finding Rex, Hope, and Sy staring at him with jaws dropped. “None of you can deny it either.” He flipped his hand up before he stalked out of the room.
When all of them entered, Angelica held her hand up and shook her head. “I don’t want to hear anything. I want to finish this shoot, eat some lunch”—she said that directly to Hope—“and finish out the day as quickly as possible.”
