Page 23 of Ticket to the Stars: Part One

Deacon, on the other hand, didn’t seem to get the memo. He sat on the other side of the table, scowling as he looked all around. He looked like he wanted to murder someone, so I leaned forward and said, “Man, lighten up.”

All that did was make him scowl harder.

While I was busy riling up Deacon further, Angel was watching Priest at the bar. “Women flock to him, huh?” An off-handed comment, and when I turned to look at Priest, who was currently paying for our future karaoke, I saw two girls had approached him.

The two girls stood close together, and even though they were a good thirty feet away, I could see their smiles and hear their laughter as Priest said something to them. His back was to us, so I couldn’t see his face, but if I had to guess, I’d say he was loving the attention. He always did. Girls loved his height and the muscles and the tattoos. They went crazy over him.

And he, in turn, went crazy over them—at least he did until Pope got into trouble, and Ramona made him rein it in. The dude used to have sex multiple times every single day, and unfortunately for anyone living with him, he wasn’t quiet about it. Let’s just say when Priest was getting down, he was very vocal.

A particular detail I wished I didn’t know.

“Ah, yeah,” I muttered, sluggish in bringing my gaze back to the girl beside me. “He can’t really help it. It’s like he’s catnip for chicks.”

Deacon snickered at that, but ultimately said nothing.

Priest returned with the news that our turn on the stage wouldn’t be for another thirty minutes, along with a tray of drinks… and the two girls in tow. “Hope you guys don’t mind if Hailee and Tara join us,” he spoke with a smile, and when he flashed it toward the two girls, they practically melted into each other.

When I gave him a certain look, he shrugged me off. “It’ll be fine. You don’t mind, do you?” That was directed toward Angel, who suddenly appeared like a deer in headlights, frozen now that everybody was staring at her.

Hopefully she wasn’t that way on the stage.

It was a few moments before Angel said, “No, it’s fine.”

Priest dragged over some extra chairs for the girls, taking the middle empty seat so he could be surrounded by them. Deacon immediately moved his chair over to our side to give them some room, and he grabbed a beer off the tray and downed about half of it in one gulp.

I wasn’t technically old enough to drink, though that had never stopped me before. Angel, I noticed, didn’t go for anything, so I let the new girls have the drink Priest had gotten for me. If she was going sober, so would I.

“So,” one of the girls spoke, “I’m Hailee.” Beside her, her friend introduced herself as Tara. They were pretty chicks, I had to admit, even though, if given the choice, I’d pick the girl beside me. Angel was far more beautiful, to the point where I couldn’t understand how Priest could even look at other girls when we had Angel in our group.

But that’s the problem. She was completely off-limits. I think, if any of us tried something, Ramona would literally kill us.

Priest pointed to Deacon, saying, “Devon. And that’s Brandon and Angie.” Angie? Really? I guess it was the name he’d whipped up on the spot.

“Paul said you’re doing karaoke. I love karaoke,” Hailee said, wearing a huge smile—though that smile was mainly toward Priest. Both she and Tara only had eyes for him, and Priest drank it all in.

It was hard not to let the whole table revolve around Priest. He talked, chatting away aimlessly, and both the girls listened, hanging on every word he said. Deacon remained quiet, though after he finished his beer, he got up to order another. That left me and Angel sitting on our side of the table, quiet.

There were so many things I could’ve said, so many things I wanted to say, but it was too awkward.

Of course, one of the girls noticed, and she pointed at us both. “Are you two together?”

“What? Oh, no—” Angel was swift in saying, but Priest spoke over her, “Actually, Angie here is on a date with my friend Brandon.”

I think both Hailee and Tara relaxed now that they knew Angel wasn’t going to compete for Priest. Hailee leaned closer and said, “I think you two look super cute together.” Tara nodded, her short blond hair bobbing along with her head.

Priest was soaking it in, grinning ear to ear even as I shot him a glare that told him to stop it. “I offered our company, since I know my man can be a little awkward, and here we are.” He turned that winning smile over to the girls. “I did not expect to run into two goddesses tonight.”

Okay, at that, I had to roll my eyes.

I turned toward Angel. She’d dropped her eyes to her lap, looking uncomfortable. I leaned in closer to her and whispered, “You know, maybe this was a terrible idea. We could get an Uber home.”

“And renege on karaoke? No way.” Priest snapped his fingers. “Don’t worry. We got the stage for half an hour. I’ll solo first, get everybody nice and warmed up.” He glanced at Hailee on his right and then Tara on his left. “Either of you want to join me on the stage?”

Priest wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t sing quite like how he sang when we were on stage as Black Sacrament. Of course, prior to this, Pope was our lead singer and Priest did backup vocals, so it wouldn’t be the same, anyway.

As the girls giggled and talked amongst themselves about who would be joining Priest up there, I looked back at Angel. She now stared at the stage, a look of determination on her face. “No,” she said, loud enough to make Priest and his two girlfriends for the night whip their heads in her direction. “I’ll go first.”

I couldn’t fight the smile that spread on my lips. There was that fire. I knew she had to have something in her, otherwise she wouldn’t be here. She wouldn’t have gotten chosen.

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