Page 45 of Ticket to the Stars: Part One

I had no destination in mind. I decided to walk around the block. After all, I didn’t know this city, so I didn’t know the good parts and the bad parts. Avoiding the areas where girls shouldn’t be walking alone at night was a good plan, and I thought that by sticking to the block where the Redborne was, I’d be safe.

The Redborne was a high-rise shelter for the rich and semi-famous in this city, anyway. I didn’t think I’d have any problems.

Even the air tasted weird here. Though the streets were pretty much empty due to the time, the air tasted stale, like there was too much pollution. Not enough trees around. Not enough nature.

God, I missed home. I missed Alexa and my mom and my stupid sister. I missed my own room. The only bright side of this was that I’d probably still miss my mom and my sister and my room even if I was rooming with Alexa.

I couldn’t believe Alexa had bonded with her roomie that much already. Was that why her messages had become more infrequent? She was too busy hanging out and bonding with her new best friend? My replacement.

My shoulders suddenly felt like they weighed a hundred pounds, and they slumped as I walked along, turning the corner to stay on the same block.

The wind blew around me, whipping my white hair every which way. I shivered, and at that exact moment, I happened to pass an alleyway between two tall buildings, neither of which were the Redborne.

Someone whistled at me, and at the same time, a man stepped out in front of me. “Well, well, look at you. What’s a pretty little thing doing by herself out so late?” He wore a t-shirt that I assumed used to be white—let’s just say it probably hadn’t been a clean white in a long, long time—along with jeans that were a size too big. A tattoo of something was on his skin, a stark contrast to the whiteness of his skin tone.

The only reason I stopped was because he literally appeared before me, and if I would’ve kept walking, I would’ve run into him. The last thing I wanted to do was answer his question—which I suspected was only a ploy anyway—so I took a step back and turned around to go the other way.

But in doing so I walked face-first into another man’s chest. This one wore a leather jacket, even though it definitely wasn’t cold enough for it.

The second man was about my height, small for a guy, but his brown hair was thin and greasy, and when he grinned at me, I saw he was missing some teeth. “Where you going, beautiful? My friend here and I just want to get to know you a little better.”

Behind me, the first guy said, “Yeah, plus, bad people like to come out at night, and a pretty thing like you would be too tasty to pass up.”

I tried to look around us, but I didn’t see anybody else. I’d been alone on the sidewalk, and then these two had jumped out from the alley, catching me unaware. My heart beat faster, and I tried to act tough and stern as I said, “Let me pass, or I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” the man in front of me smirked, a hideous expression on him. He had to be at least forty years old, maybe older. “Call the police? Honey, by the time they get here, we’ll be done.”

As he said that, the guy behind me grabbed me by the back of my neck and lugged me into the dark alleyway, where the streetlights couldn’t touch. I resisted, trying to pull away from him and scream, but the other guy clamped his hand over my mouth.

“Shh, pretty girl,” he cooed, flashing me his ugly smile. “It’ll all be over soon.” His buddy behind me let me go, and he pushed me against the wall of the alley. My back slammed against the stone wall, and I winced.

This was not at all how I thought my little walk would go. This would teach me to go anywhere by myself in this city after dark… assuming I, you know, survived this. I wouldn’t doubt they had a weapon of some kind on their person; a switchblade or even a small gun.

I wanted to kick them in the balls and scream, and then I wanted to run away from them and never look back, but as they loomed in front of me, I realized I was very much like a deer in headlights, frozen, shocked by sheer fright to stand still.

The first guy took a step toward me. Even the shadows couldn’t hide his true intentions with me. I only needed one guess as to what he wanted from me, and then when he was done, his friend would get a go.

The sound of another person strolling along was my saving grace, and I was about to call out for help when the owner of the footsteps entered the alleyway. The two guys whipped their heads in his direction, and I turned my head to watch as a big, shadowy figure approached us.

“There you are,” a familiar voice rang out, and I was too freaked I couldn’t even heave a sigh the moment I recognized the voice.

Priest, AKA the big, tattooed, intimidating guy you’d want on your side in a dark alley.

Priest positioned himself between me and my attackers, standing much taller than them. “Do we have a problem here, guys?”

I couldn’t see much around Priest’s figure, but it sounded like my attackers were so caught unaware that they didn’t know how to respond at first. Their weight shifted, and it was like the world came to a standstill.

Was Priest going to take on these two alone? I mean, he was a lot bigger than them, wider and taller and definitely stronger, but two against one… let’s just say I didn’t like those odds.

“I should warn you both,” Priest said, his voice taking on a sinister tone, the warning practically growled out, “I go to the gym every day with the hope that, one day, I’ll get to kick the asses of people like you. So why don’t you both run along now, hmm? Because I think it’s clear who’ll win this fight. Spoiler: it won’t be you.”

That did it. The two guys scurried away after tossing out a half-hearted apology—to Priest, not me. Of course not me, because to men like that, I was less than worthless. Just a body they could take advantage of in a dark alley.

Priest watched them disappear further down the alleyway, and then he took my hand in his and dragged me to the sidewalk. He turned, leading us back to the Redborne. “You shouldn’t have gone walking by yourself this late at night,” he said, his signature sarcasm nowhere to be found. In fact, he still had that throaty, guttural voice that gave me goosebumps.

“Obviously I didn’t think—” I was going to say I didn’t think I’d get jumped, but I didn’t have the chance to finish, because Priest whirled on me.

Still clutching my hand, he stood less than six inches away, his tall frame leaning over mine. We stood near a streetlight, so there was plenty of light to illuminate the anger on his face. “No, you didn’t think. You didn’t think at all. You could’ve gotten hurt, or worse.”

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