Leanne finally walked away, disappearing into the dining area. Angelica’s cheeks burned, and sweat formed along the small of her back and chest. When Leanne finally came back and put the chair behind her, Angelica plopped down into it unceremoniously.
She barely kept herself together. Before she could do anything, Leanne was already walking away. Angelica could hear her voice grating on her nerves as she corrected Ashlee’s conversation with Cheyenne and then pushed her to get more information.
Angelica shook her head and sighed heavily. She just wanted to be back to working again like she was before, and it was damn near impossible. Hope brought over a cold glass of water and handed it to her.
“Drink.”
Angelica complied, only because the cold sounded really good right about now. She tried to focus on Leanne and make sure that she was doing exactly as Angelica had taught her all those years ago. This would only add fuel to the flame that Josef was trying to fan. She needed to prove that she could do this, that she wasn’t useless.
Hope bent squatted down, hand on Angelica’s knee as she looked up into Angelica’s eyes. “You do exactly what you need to do so that tomorrow we won’t have this problem. But tonight, don’t beat yourself up over it, all right?”
Angelica’s lips parted with an objection already on them.
“No, don’t say anything. Just do what I tell you for once in your life. No one wants to see you suffer, Angel. No one but yourself.” And with that Hope stood up and joined Leanne in controlling the situation and correcting Cheyenne. Biting her tongue, Angelica drank the water and looked on at the nightmare in front of her.
Chapter
Eighteen
“Hope.” Rex’s call was sharp and to the point, but it wasn’t filled with anger.
When Hope managed to skid to a stop, he waved her toward him. They stood near the elevator, and he had his phone out in front of him.
“What’s up?”
“You need to hear this.” He popped an AirPod into her ear and hit play on his phone.
Hope furrowed her brow as Josef’s voice filled her head. “She can’t keep up with the job.”
“She can’t?” That was Leanne. “She seems to be doing fine with healing from what I can see.”
“She’s not.” Josef laughed a little. “We’re going to need you to stay on through the rest of the season filming, and then next season, when we get renewed, you can take over her role officially.”
Shivers ran down Hope’s spine. She looked directly into Rex’s eyes, her lips parted in absolute shock.
“We can’t afford to have more drama like we’ve had this season with her not being healthy enough to work. You’re young, and you can certainly step into her position.” Josef again withthat condescending tone that Hope despised. “You’re perfect for the job. You have the energy, the skills, and you know how to turn around hotels. Your CV tells me everything I need to know. And you and Hope have amazing chemistry.”
“No, we don’t,” Hope muttered under her breath.
“You’ll be perfect. You are perfect. I already know that.” Josef chuckled again. “Just stick with it while we have this awkward transition time, all right?”
“Okay,” Leanne answered. “Thank you.”
Hope ripped the AirPod from her ear and clenched it in her first. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
Rex shook his head, a frown forming on his lips. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you and Ange, but you need to tell her what’s going on.”
“She already knows.” Hope sighed heavily. “Josef’s had it out for her from the beginning, but this season it’s picked up way worse than it was before. And Leanne…”
“Leanne what?” Rex asked, a deep line forming in the center of his brow.
“Leanne and Ange have history, Rex. Josef knows that, and he brought her in here to stir the pot. He wants Ange gone, and he’s willing to do anything he can to make that happen.” Hope bit her lip. “Like not dealing with the gossip about her being arrested for drunk driving.”
“I wondered why no one had put out a statement yet.” Rex took the AirPod from her. “I already sent this over to Logan.”
“You did?” Hope asked, genuinely surprised by that. Rex hadn’t seemed particularly keen on keeping Angelica around if he had a choice in the matter, but he also hadn’t been trying to force her out either.
“Yeah. There’s something about Leanne that I just don’t like.”
