Page 22 of Ticket to the Stars: Part One

Again, I didn’t understand what was so sexy about rolled-up sleeves, but what did I know?

“If he doesn’t want to come, we can’t force him,” I told Priest. “Honestly, it might be better if he stays home.”

“No,” Priest said, refusing to listen. “He’s coming. We’re a fucking team still, even if your brother isn’t here, so get up off your ass and get changed, because the moment Angel walks out, we’re going.”

Deacon itched the side of his head, giving Priest the middle finger salute at the same time.

Priest looked like he wanted to brawl with him, but I set a hand on his arm and pulled him away, toward the kitchen. “Don’t bother with him,” I said. “If he doesn’t want to come, he doesn’t have to. It can be just us three.”

Shaking me off him, Priest scowled—something he didn’t do often. “No. That’s how it starts. First, he doesn’t want to come anywhere with us, and next thing you know he’ll be done with it all.” Louder he added, “And I won’t let that happen.”

Priest lowered his voice to a whisper to say, “These past few months, I’ve hardly heard a word from him. He never wanted to come to practice or even hang out. He’s been blowing us off this whole time, Bishop. I’ll be damned if I let him throw away everything just because he’s pouting about his brother.”

“Well, to be fair, the band was Pope’s idea.” After so many years, I, like the others, had gotten used to using our stage names. It was our thing now. When we were out in public, not dressed as Black Sacrament, we went by fake names so no one would know who we were.

I became Brandon. Priest became Paul. Deacon was Devon.

Yeah, yeah, not that creative, but whatever.Our real names were pretty much DOA.

Angel… we’d have to figure out what to call her.

“Pope’s not here anymore,” Priest whispered, “and he’s not coming back. He—” He was going to say more, but his crazy hearing must’ve heard Angel stepping out of her room. He moved away from me, toward where the hall let out into the wide-open space between the living area and the kitchen. I followed him.

The moment Angel appeared, my breath caught, and my eyes dropped to her bare legs. My gaze slowly traveled up that curvy body, and I had to fight the way heat flooded me like a furnace.

She was wearing the dress Priest had made a big deal about earlier, and let’s just say it looked even better on her than it did in my imagination.

Strapless and tight, it hugged every curve of her body, including the roundness of her tits. It ended halfway between her knees and her hips, covering enough but showing so much more. A simple dress, and yet I didn’t think I’d ever seen something sexier.

And with that white hair? God, she was gorgeous.

“Wow,” Priest mumbled, for once at a loss for words. “You look… I mean, you really look—” To me, he whispered, “Help me out here, man.”

Angel’s blue eyes were on me when I told her, “What he means is you look amazing.” That was the understatement of the year, I think. She looked more than amazing. She was drop-dead gorgeous, and suddenly I knew why Ramona had told us she was off-limits. Throw her in a band with a bunch of guys and they’d all want her.

Who wouldn’t? I mean, who the hell wouldn’t want to take her in their arms, pin her against the nearest wall, and see what kind of sounds she could make?

Okay, that was a very Priest-like thought. I had to push feelings and thoughts like that down, otherwise I’d get myself into trouble.

Angel gave me a small smile, like she was feeling shy or something. “Thanks.” Being shy in a dress like that…

That’s when I noticed her feet were bare, and she currently held onto a pair of heels. God, she was going all-out, wasn’t she? Suddenly I felt too underdressed, like I should go throw on a suit or something. Something that wouldn’t make me stick out like a sore thumb when I was by her side, something that made it look like we were together.

We weren’t. We couldn’t ever be together, but damn it… if this was anything close to what she’d look like during an actual show, I had the feelingtroubledidn’t quite cut it. She was the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen. I was speechless.

Priest and I were too busy staring at her that we neglected to realize Deacon had gotten up and joined us. He stood on Priest’s right, his green gaze zeroed in on Angel. Whatever argument he’d made with Priest about not wanting to come with us tonight must’ve been history, because when he finally tore his stare off Angel, he asked, “Well? Are we going or what?”

“My man,” Priest said as he gripped Deacon’s shoulder. “I knew you’d come around.Vámonos!” He turned around to lead us out. Angel followed him, and I was right behind her with Deacon, who, I noticed, couldn’t take his eyes off her.

I couldn’t blame him. She was beautiful. Sexy. So much more than pretty. Any guy with eyes would want her. Still, I had to fight pangs of jealousy, for whatever reason. Yeah, yeah, it was stupid; Angel wasn’t mine. She would never be mine. Things were just… it was complicated, all right?

After Angel slipped on her heels, we were off.

Angel, as it turned out, didn’t know how to walk in heels that well. She stumbled a few times to Priest’s car, enough that she had to use one of us as her stability. Priest offered, and of course she accepted, but once we got to the karaoke bar and got ourselves a table, she sat beside me.

The Wet Notes. That’s what this bar was called. A funny name for a bar whose insides looked more like a gentleman’s club than an actual bar that had karaoke. A stage sat in the far back of the seating area; you had to pay the bartender extra to get karaoke going. The place had a long list of songs to choose from.

Someone else was currently up, singing an old melody from an eighties movie. Other groups were scattered around the bar, drinking, talking, and laughing. You know, generally having a good time.

---