Angelica breathed slowly, still keeping her silence. She wasn’t ready to open that can of worms, but the fact that Lyric was calling her out on her stress meant that she wasn’t hiding it as well as she thought she was, either. Angelica waited, still keeping her gaze on Lyric’s face.
“I didn’t mean to offend you.” Lyric’s voice dropped with guilt.
“No offense taken,” Angelica finally spoke. “Thank you, Lyric.”
She made sure the dismissal was clear. Angelica went back to focusing on her iPad and the report she was reviewing. She had twenty minutes before her meeting was set to begin, and she needed to finish this first. Next, she had to fill out the reference information for Leanne, which she should probably do before her meeting as well because she certainly wouldn’t be in a mood to write it afterward. And Leanne needed it by the end of the day. Angelica couldn’t hold it off any longer.
“Hey.”
Hope’s voice reached Angelica’s ears, rocking through her. Everything she’d been working on was instantly forgotten—the reports, Leanne’s reference. She raised her gaze with hesitation, her eyes landing on Hope.
Her breath was stolen.
All of her faculties vanished.
Angelica trembled as she pushed out of her chair and stood up, her feet moving of their own accord. Hope stepped deeper into her office, the door swinging shut behind her so they were alone. Angelica’s heart thudded hard. She couldn’t remember the last time they were alone like this, when the world surrounding them was calm and gentle, when they weren’t screaming at someone or trying to hurt each other.
She still hadn’t said anything. Angelica looked Hope over, her full lips, her crystalline eyes, and the way her hair was nowchopped short against her head, buzzed along the sides and the back, but with the top a bit longer.
“You cut your hair.” Angelica’s voice was so wispy, like she was a breath away from passing out. Which, with the way her knees were still weak and numb, perhaps wasn’t that far from the truth. The thundering in her chest hadn’t stopped either. Her fingers itched to reach up and brush her fingers across Hope’s hair.
“I did,” Hope said, nothing more than a whisper to echo Angelica’s.
Why were they being so damn quiet? They were never this quiet.
Angelica licked her lips, raising her gaze once again from Hope’s eyes to her hair, and she let her body lead her. Lifting her hand, Angelica brushed her fingers across the edge of Hope’s hair. Her breath caught in her throat. Hope closed her eyes, her face falling in a brief moment of pleasure, and then she hummed.
That sound wrapped itself around Angelica and held her hostage.
Instead of moving her hand away, she trailed her fingers down and lightly brushed them over Hope’s cheek. Her skin was so soft, so warm. Hope bit her lip, her eyes flying open to lock on Angelica’s. “My hairdresser said it was too butch.”
“No,” Angelica murmured. “No, it’s you.”
Clearing her throat and dropping her hand to her side, Angelica took a step back to put some space between them. She really shouldn’t have done that. But she’d been so compelled to just touch. She breathed slowly and tried her damnedest to refocus her mind on why they were really there. But it was fucking difficult with Hope standing there in tight jeans, a black shirt, and a long yellow overcoat that was far more fashion-forward than Angelica had seen her wear in the past.
“You’ve lost weight, Ange.”
Angelica’s shoulder stiffened as she halted all of her movement. “Excuse me?”
“Not…” Hope paused, biting her lower lip. “Not in a good way,” she finished her thought. “I hope… I didn’t want… I don’t even know what I’m trying to say. Is everything okay?”
“I’m fine.” Angelica hardened, pulling on the mask and the armor that she typically wore. She shouldn’t have ever let it drop. Though Hope might have been the first one to say it out loud, Angelica had also noticed her weight drop when her clothes didn’t fit quite as snuggly as they had before. It hadn’t been intentional, but she also struggled to remember to eat most days since filming ended, to the point that Lyric was bringing her meals and clicking her tongue in disappointment when there was hardly anything eaten.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” Hope sighed heavily. “Ange, we need to talk?—”
“Hey there!” Rex’s voice boomed through the room, sending a shock wave through Angelica and shutting Hope up in an instant. Angelica looked up, finding him standing in the doorway of her office, no Eva in sight this time. Damn, was she disappointed by that, but she’d survive. She could really use Eva’s buffer right about now. It’d be an easy way to get rid of this tension that had built up in her chest.
“Hey.” Angelica flashed him a quick smile. “I’m just finishing up an email and then I can be with you.”
“All right. Cadence is just parking her car, and she should be here in a minute.”
Angelica hummed, but she was already focusing on the iPad again, emailing off the reference, closing out of the report, and ignoring the fact that Hope hadn’t stopped intently staring at her despite her abnormal quiet. “There.”
She snagged her iPad and walked toward the conference table where they’d have the meeting. She barely even looked up at Rex or Hope. She was being pulled every which way and wasn’t sure which direction she could stop and focus on. None, really. Because they had a show to film and she didn’t have the time to ruminate in the pain that was last season or the fact that she couldn’t control herself when Hope was around even now, all these months later.
This really needed to be her last season.
She wasn’t sure if a renewal for season four would be worth it, and there was a niggling voice in the back of her head wishing renewal wouldn’t happen so she wouldn’t have to be the one to make that choice.
